This week’s Money Makeover is all about saving money when you’re out and about in your car. Personally, a large proportion of my budget is spent on my car as I have a 25 mile round trip to work each day so I need to know how to save as much money as possible to try and reduce that.
First of all, make sure you’re paying as little as possible for your car insurance. Look at the link at the bottom of this post for week four for the best way to do that.
Next, make sure you have breakdown cover in place because if you do break down, it’s going to cost a fortune to get you and the car back home. There’s all sorts of deals around for breakdown cover so have a look at a cash back website and see if you can find a good deal which will give you some cash back too. I pay under a fiver a month and it’s been an absolute godsend on a couple of occasions.
Then you can try and reduce your fuel consumption when you’re out and about driving:
- Make sure your tyres are inflated to the right pressure.
- Don’t use the air con when you could just wind a window down.
- Turn the engine off as soon as you get where you’re going.
- Accelerate smoothly without over revving and keep an eye on your rev counter. You should stay under the 3000 revs mark and really should be changing up a gear when you hit 2,500 revs on a petrol and 2,000 on a diesel.
- Apparently, if you drive at 70 mph you are using up to 9% more fuel than at 60 mph and up to 15% more than at 50 mph. 80 mph can use up to a massive 25% more than you would use doing 70 mph.
- Don’t use your car for journeys where you could walk.
Budget for expenses like car tax – did you know you can buy car tax vouchers from the post office so you can buy some each month and it won’t be a big chunk out of your budget when it’s time to pay for it. If you’re really good, you could also save a little each month in case there’s any repairs need doing but I’m personally not great at this. Yet!
Keep your car in good condition – check your oil and tyres regularly. It’s much cheaper to keep on top of it than pay out to repair something if you don’t.
Don’t forget to check your driving license as they expire after so long and there’s a hefty fine and points waiting for you if you get caught driving on an expired license.
And one final thing! Make sure you have your very own Emergency Car Bag ready to go!
There you go – there’s lots to keep you busy this week isn’t there. Your task this week, should you choose to accept it is to make sure you have breakdown cover in place on your car!
If you get chance this week, why don’t you try and save money using at least one of the above ideas.
Previous week’s Money Makeover posts
Week One – Money Makeover Introduction
Week Two – Sort our your spending
Week Three – Dealing with Debt
Week Four – Get a better deal on insurance
Week Five – Energy Money Saving
Week Six – Cut the cost of your home phone bills
Week Seven – School Holiday Moneysaving
Week Eight – Get what you’re entitled to
