Have you ever calculated how much your household spends on gas?

"Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo" (thetomselleck)
06/22/2015 at 01:35 • Filed to: Monies

I was staying up too late going of our finances with a fine-toothed comb as I do once in a while. As I lazily glossed through the “necessary expenditure” area of the monies (basically: shit you need that isn’t a true bill), I threw out the usual ballpark number for groceries, but decided to for surprisingly the first time ever tally up what gas really costs us.

For the sake of simplicity, assume $3/gallon.

Wife commutes 46 miles per shift 21 working days a month, plus 500 miles for social purposes, in a vehicle getting 21 MPGs

I use my pickup maybe 1000 miles a month for odds and ends, which gets barely over 22 MPGs.

This comes out to a little over 110 gallons consumer per month.

That’s $330 a month. And that’s just for two people.

What you got?

DISCUSSION (32)

6Cylinder > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
06/22/2015 at 01:47

96 Honda Civic. Should get 35 mpg. I really at the most get 30 cause I’m a little heavy on throttle. 2000 miles a month. Three dollars a gallon.

$200 a month.

911e46z06 > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
06/22/2015 at 01:56

What do I got? I got 6 V8s, a twin-turbo V6, a straight six that’s tuned for serious business, and 3 more cars that are either old or shitty. I put a lot of effort into not thinking about how much I spend on gas.

TheD0k_2many toys 2little time > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
06/22/2015 at 01:58

Lifes too short to care about mpg. Thats why i have a 4banger that gets 18mpg and a truck that will do the same. Also a miata but that doesnt count lol

Blunion05 drives a pink S2000 (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST) > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
06/22/2015 at 02:16

I last filled up for $2.43 per gallon (Houston). My dad drives, I drive, and my sister drives. My sister goes through 16 gallons in her Sonata in two weeks. She fills up at any of the same stations I purchase from, so generally she is filling up at the same prices I am, as is my dad. That’s $39 rounded up in 2 weeks, and $78 for 4 weeks or 28 days.

My dad’s Windstar guzzles fuel at 18mpg. He drives an average of maybe...22 miles per day. That’s nearly $84 over 28 days. My dad’s (1996!) Econoline also guzzles fuel at 18 mpg. Only sees driving on days that our customers need meat packing supplies. Covers probably 65 miles per month at most, coming out to nearly 4 gallons of consumption. That’s about $10.

Driving my Cobalt, I get 24 mpg in all city driving and 28 mpg in mixed driving. Majority of my fill ups are around 28 mpg. I am filling up to 10 gallons once every one and a half weeks or ten days, which is when I’m getting 28 mpg. So in 28 days I’ve consumed approximately 28 gallons, coming out to $68.

So in my home, we spend a combined total of approximately $240 in fuel per month.

At the end of January, however, gas prices in Houston were $1.60 ish for a week or two. I filled up 11 gallons at a Stripes for $1.47 , the cheapest out of the entire metropolitan area. I stopped by at the perfect time, because when I drove past it the next morning, it had gone back up to the $1.60s.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > Blunion05 drives a pink S2000 (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST)
06/22/2015 at 02:32

Math is power!

Berang > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
06/22/2015 at 02:38

Last fill up cost about $20, and I fill up about 2.5 times a month. But then I spend $5-ish on lead replacement a month too. Still not so bad.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > TheD0k_2many toys 2little time
06/22/2015 at 02:42

I pretty much don’t care about MPGs anymore. I want vehicles that are dead reliable, and I have other expenses that are more important than untimely car repairs. I think there are many people that hang on to their “gas hogs” because, shit, they work, they’re paid for, they like them, and they know them.

M54B30 > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
06/22/2015 at 02:54

It was so easy when we had two cars, two jobs and two drivers, but now we have 3 cars and 1 driver (wife is deployed).

I’d say i put about $50/mo in my BMWBMW (daily driver), $25/mo in my carolla (2 tanks!) And maybe $20/mo in my Montero (don’t drive it much unless i need something big moved).

But I’m a hermit - when my wife left on her deployment, i quit work to stay home with the kid. We leave for an occasional sightseeing or field trip and grocery shopping but i don’t have family here to visit or many friends. However, i try to space errands throughout the week so i have reasons to get out of the house

PS9 > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
06/22/2015 at 02:58

$24.

Denver Is Stuck In The 90s > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
06/22/2015 at 03:00

I have an app for that, here’s last month:

Kinja'd!!!

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s
06/22/2015 at 03:02

Are you a cautious driver or does the Ranger have a 14 gallon tank?

Denver Is Stuck In The 90s > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
06/22/2015 at 03:04

It actually has a 20 gallon tank, and somewhere in there I changed my spark plugs and gained 2mpg. I average about 16mpg now

TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
06/22/2015 at 03:07

I dont really want to think about it. Four vehicles moving all week, two of which have hour long commutes to opposite ends of the city, and it must be well over $1000 a month. A 08 Silverado, a 92 Sable, a brand new CX5 and a Focus in closed loop, so it probably gets worse milage than the truck does. 250km on a tank is no bueno.

TheD0k_2many toys 2little time > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
06/22/2015 at 03:13

Well i just buy gas hogs cause they are more fun. gotta use gas to go fast or pull lots of stuff

Echo51 > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
06/22/2015 at 03:18

Over a period of 907 days of accounted for fill ups, i’ve diven 28,961km, filled it with 2347 Liters of gas over a total of 89 visits to the station, and spent a grand total of 26,441 DKK. That’s 620 gallons for 4035$. I use 120$-ish a month on gas.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
06/22/2015 at 04:09

Fluctuates but on average I spend about £20 a month on fuel, I don’t drive that much.

kanadanmajava1 > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
06/22/2015 at 05:30

I drive so little that I don’t even refill every month. I commute to work with a bicycle.

My co-worked commutes with his ’07 V6 Mustang and he live nearly 70km away. When the fuel prices were really high he used €700/month for fuel.

Stapleface-Now Hyphenated! > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
06/22/2015 at 07:05

Both my wife and I drive pretty efficient cars (hers: 2010 Corolla, mine: 2015 Civic). I'd say between the two of us we go through roughly 6 tanks of gas a month. Figuring the math at say $2.50 a gal, that comes out to about $180 a month. I pay ALMOST that much a month in tolls.

NoneOfYourBiz > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
06/22/2015 at 07:13

Wait... people don’t do this?

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/auto-ca…

http://www.fuelly.com/

Seriously, every damn tank. Fuel economy trends are correlated with engine health. It’s a cheap way to keep tabs on your engine.

Funktheduck > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s
06/22/2015 at 07:37

2 mpg for plugs? Wow, I've never gotten a noticeable jump in mpg after a tune up.

Funktheduck > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
06/22/2015 at 07:39

I spend a ton on gas. Part of my job though.

Funktheduck > NoneOfYourBiz
06/22/2015 at 07:42

The app I was using lost all my data (about 20k miles worth) so I gave up.

nFamousCJ - Keeper of Stringbean, Gengars and a Deezul > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
06/22/2015 at 08:08

About $20 a month.

The company vehicle however considering it drives from 11-4 and is idling the whole time it’s on site.. now that’s another story.

beardsbynelly - Rikerbeard > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
06/22/2015 at 08:29

$150 a month.

It’s easy to calculate cause I live alone.

so very alone.

Meatcoma > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
06/22/2015 at 08:46

I drive 110 mi/day for work and my car averages 25mpg, if I add in another 100 mi for the weekend, evening errand runs that is 650/wk, that’s 26 gallons a week for 26x3x4=$312/mo.

My wife drives 120 mi/day for work and her car averages 28mpg, but we take her car even more on the weekends/evenings so she probably puts 150 mi on the weekends/errands. 750 mi/wk so 750/28= 26.8x3x4= 321/mo.

so we spend about $633/mo on gas.

TheRealBicycleBuck > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
06/22/2015 at 09:27

When I finally joined the smartphone drones, I picked up an app for tracking mileage. Here’s what I found:

‘94 Mazda B3000 - from 8/12 to 3/15 - min 15.7 mpg, max 21.0 mpg, ave 18.0 mpg,

‘14 Subaru WRX - from 4/14 to 6/15 - 17.1 mpg, max 23.0 mpg, ave 18.9 mpg

I track my wife’s 2013 explorer occasionally. It usually gets around 22 mpg with me driving, and around 13 mpg pulling a trailer. The max on it is 27 mpg.

The fun stuff - In the WRX, I average 1,114 miles per month, have burned 857 gallons of fuel since purchase, and have spent $2,633.36 for fuel (an average of $174/mo).

I have records for my truck going back nearly 18 years, but most of it is in a notebook. It’s amazing how close the WRX and the Mazda are in fuel mileage, but how different they are in performance. Even more amazing to me is how the behemoth (the Explorer) can get such good mileage. That says a lot about how I drive her car (usually with her in it) and how I drive my car when I am alone. :)

WillyJimmy > TheD0k_2many toys 2little time
06/22/2015 at 10:06

I stopped caring about MPG when I realized it’s cheaper to own a hooptie with no payment and cheap liability insurance. Since I only live 7 miles from work I’m only filling up about 2-3 times a month anyway, even visiting family and friends, shopping, all that. At under $30 a fill up, I figure I got it made in the transportation department.

Sir_Stig: and toxic masculinity ruins the party again. > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
06/22/2015 at 10:14

185 CAD last month, 836 CAD year to date.

MPA > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
06/22/2015 at 12:00

Last year on my own, I spent $2,398.34 on gas, covering 18,306 miles. I bought a C6 last year to go with my ‘09 Accent DD, and split the mileage between the two. I also had a ‘06 miata that I traded in on the C6, but I barely drove it from Jan 1 til mid-march:

06 miata - 356 Miles - $28.91

06 Corvette - 8,826 miles - $1,383.02 ($0.156/mile)

09 Accent - 9,324 miles - $986.41 ($0.106/mile)

This year, I’ve spent $496.48, covering 5,298 miles

06 Corvette - 525 miles - $99.07 - currently has 3/4 tank, so #s are skewed

09 Accent - 4,773 miles - $397.41 ($0.083/mile)

Interesting to see how the cost in gas has affected how much I’ve spent - I’ve driven the Accent 51.1% of what I drove last year, and it’s only cost me 40.2%.

Hey, y'all, watch this! > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
06/22/2015 at 12:51

About $200 - $250 in a car that gets about 28 MPG.

LuczOr > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
06/22/2015 at 13:24

Both my wife and I drive about 60 miles per weekday. She drives a V6 AWD Rav4 (about 19MPG) and I drive a 4.0 V8 BMW 540i (About 15.5 mpg). Ballparking $3.30 for gas in Portland, I spend about $460 on gas every 4 weeks just for commuting to work. Add in weekend mucking about and random trips to Eugene or hiking trails and I think we can call it $550 per 4 weeks.

Newsboy > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
06/22/2015 at 13:52

Yup, runs about $300/month.

We have a municipal electric company that only charges 3.5c/kwh, so I’m switching to an electric car ASAP.

A year’s worth of gas in a Fiat 500: $2000.

A year’s worth of electricity in a Leaf: $150.