Uncommon Cents

Let’s review: I am continuing to try to get my gasoline usage pared to 5% less than what I established as a baseline a few weeks back. In order to do so, I determined I need to try to keep my weekly mileage at 247.7 miles or below; 247.7 miles would use about 9.98 gallons of gas. Last week I had my first success in meeting the 5% goal. How did things go this week?

Not quite as well.

For the week ending on Saturday, June 21, 2008, my statistics were 265.6 miles driven, approximately 24.80 miles per gallon, and about 10.71 gallons used this week–all over my goal. This time the culprit was a funeral on Saturday night that was a considerable distance from home–almost 38 miles round trip. Without that trip, I would have met my goal for the week. That is, unfortunately, three out of four weeks I’ve failed to meet my goal of using 5% less gas.

However, if you combine the total mileage and gas used of the four weeks, the result is interesting: 999.8 miles driven and 40.23 gallons used. Divide that by four weeks and your result is 249.95 miles driven–just 2.25 miles above the target–and 10.0575 gallons used–only 0.0775 gallons more than the goal. I’m right there, just a little above where I want to be overall. My guess is that if one day every two to three weeks becomes a “no drive” or at least a “no driving outside my little town” day, I’ll meet my goal overall just fine and dandy.

We’ll keep looking at this as I struggle with this goal over the next few weeks.

Tags: Budgeting, Frugality, Goals

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