Petrol costs money, this is one of those nasty facts of life. It seems like every year that goes by, the price of petrol seems to go up too, which makes the simple logistics of daily life rather difficult if money is a bit tight.

There are a few little tweaks you can make to your daily commute that will cut down the amount of petrol you use, and therefore cut down on how much you have to buy, which of course saves money.

It all depends on your car, the distance you have to travel, and how you drive really, but just being a bit more petrol aware will cut your bills.

Keep up to date with maintenance

Your car will run much more effectively and reliably if you keep on top of its maintenance. For example, regularly change your oil, make sure your tires are properly inflated etc, these are all simple things but have a huge effect on your car, and how cost effective it is when it comes to running it.

Look at your driving style

You probably think you’re the best driver in the world, most people do, however looking at how you drive might save you some petrol. For example, aggressive driving, and stopping and starting, accelerating and decelerating often, these all use more petrol, which is unnecessary usage. If you can, try and maintain a steady speed for as long as possible for your journey, and avoid accelerating unnecessarily.

Look at your route

We mentioned before that stopping and starting uses more petrol, when compared to steady constant speed. If you regularly travel through an area that has a lot of traffic, a lot of traffic lights, rush hour traffic etc, then see if you can change your route to take you through an easier flowing area, or maybe look at leaving a little earlier to beat the rush hour commute traffic.

Look at your car

I guess the other option is to look at the car you have and how it uses petrol. A hybrid might have a higher initial buying cost, but when you look at how effective it is to run, you will save big on your petrol costs, and will probably recoup your initial price back quite quickly through your savings. It’s certainly something to look into.

Money, money, money – it’s an expensive world we live in!