Frugal This!

I just received an email about another little nifty site that can help you save gas. Yes I know gas has come down a bit (it’s now $2.23 near me according to Gasbuddy) but this also serves as a great mapping tool. Living in Los Angeles, I have friends that live all over the city and when it’s time to meet and catch up we are often searching for a place somewhere in the middle. Hence Meetways, a cool little site that will do all the searching for you. Enter the two address and Meetways will find the middle ground and all of the restaurants at that halfway point.

Couldn’t ask for more could you. If you like sites like this be sure to check out my post on “On The Way“.

Again, do a little research and the world is at your door.

This is a cool site. Lets say you have to go to the dentist and while you are out you need to drop off a package at the post office and go grocery shopping oh you also have to stop off at your bank to pay a bill.

Grab everything and lets go. But wait! Your dentist is on the other side of town and the grocery store  is in the opposite direction. You aren’t sure where the nearest post office is but you know that your bank is by your grocery store.  You are slowly seeing the fuel guage in your car sink to empty as you dart all over the place to get stuff done. Think about it, every mile out of your way is about .15 out of your pocket. I know, I know it doesn’t seem like much but add it up for a Saturday of errand running and you can see how much money is wasted. Honestly, I would rather spend that extra money on a latte instead of on gas. Or better yet, put it in my pocket where I can put it towards something better than gas or coffee.

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Before you leave, check out FindItOnMyWay.com This cool little site is perfect for when you want to find things on the way to your destination. Type in your starting point, your destination and then type in the places you need to hit up along the way.

Again, do your research before your errands and no one will be the wiser. In fact they will think you know your town like the back of your hand.

I wasn’t actually going to even post this tip thinking that everyone knows about gasbuddy.com but I was shocked when a co-worker said, “I wish there was a site that told us where the cheapest gas is.”  Unless you have a Costco membership (and why would I have that as a single person living in Los Angeles. I have no use or space for 120 rolls of paper towels unless I wanted to create a bed with them) gasbuddy.com is the know all of gas prices, even covering our friendly Canadian Neighbors to the north.

Enter your zip code and it will immediately pull up all the gas stations near you and highlight the cheapest one (wow $3.63 down the street from my work). Use the filters to confirm that the high end or diesel is also the cheapest in your area. But before you drive 10 miles to save $.05 / gallon on gas do the math, it’s probably worth it to go to the closer place than to drive further away.

If you feel like volunteering, sign up on their page and you can enter your own gas prices. Volunteers are entered in sweepstakes for prizes, money and of course gas cards. Not too shabby if all you have to do is look out your office window and the local Arco.

Of course I could tell you to slow down saving you even more gas but that’s no fun. And you mom already told you to do that.

If you are driving by 5 gas stations to get to the cheap one it’s going to look a little odd but just tell your passengers the bathrooms are cleaner.