How to Find the Lowest Gas Prices in Your Area

The first major step in saving money on gas is to change your driving habits. This is a tough one for us free-spirited Americans. We love to get out and drive to movies, to the park, or just drive around and see where the road takes us.

American teenagers have always loved to take their cars to popular hangouts and just drive around. This practice is called "cruising," and most cities have areas where this is practiced. In many areas, the place where cruising takes place is called "the strip."

Teenagers can really eat up a lot of gas over a weekend with this habit, and their parents are feeling the pinch! But teens aren't the only wasteful consumers of gas. Their parents are also making a lot of unnecessary trips that cost them a lot of money on gas.

Let's look at some of the most common wasteful uses of gas, and how you can make changes:

1. Stop going to the store so often! Make very detailed lists, and be very careful not to leave anything off. Before you make a trip to the store, go through your entire house to be certain you haven't forgotten about anything you need.

Check food first, but also check on things like laundry detergent, toilet paper, diapers, medications, and ask your children if they need anything for school. Buying everything in one trip rather than several smaller trips can save you a lot of money on gas.

2. Find ways to stay home with your family and still have a great time. Rent movies through a service like Netflix rather than driving to the video store, order pizza rather than picking it up, and find fun hobbies the whole family can enjoy.

3. Use car pools for work and after school activities. These are two of the largest gas-consuming activities, and car pooling and splitting the cost of gas can save everyone a lot of money.

4. Make your kids take the bus to school. Even taking your child 5 minutes down the street to school and picking them up is a substantial use of gas. Your kids aren't too good to take the bus, no matter what they may say!

5. Speaking of the bus, you're not too good for public transportation either, you know! Not all cities have reliable public transportation, but if yours does, make use of it whenever you can.

Continue reading below for even more ways to save on gas until prices eventually fall back to consumer-friendly levels (which may be a long time).

Now that you've taken steps to reduce the amount of gas you're using overall, it's time to learn how to cut back on gas consumption when you have no choice but to drive. We all have to get to work, and many of us aren't fortunate enough to live in cities with adequate public transportation.

In this case, you're going to have to drive, but there are some easy ways to reduce the amount of fuel you use when you do drive.

1. Keep your tires fully inflated. Most people don't realize that their tire pressure can make a huge difference in the amount of fuel they use, but it's true! Check your tire pressure at least once per week and be sure they're inflated properly.

2. Drive more slowly. Higher speeds use more fuel, so you should always drive the slowest possible speed for the zone you're in.

3. Drive in the right hand lane. Not only will this signal to other drivers that you're driving slower, but it will also allow you to avoid the grooves in the road caused by other drivers. If you keep your right tires on the white line on the right, you'll stay out of the grooves and minimize drag that can slow you down and force you to accelerate.

4. Speaking of accelerating, don't do it! You'll have to at times, of course, but avoid accelerating unless it's absolutely necessary. Take advantage of things like hills and the wind drag of other vehicles to allow you to coast without using your gas pedal. Acceleration uses a lot of fuel.

Just making a few simple changes can have a profound effect on the amount of money you're spending on gas. You might be able to slash your fuel spending in half just with a few simple changes. For the average family, that might amount to a savings of $50-$200 per week or more!