Save Money on Gas: Know Your Commuting Costs!

Gas prices are now firmly entrenched at $4.00 per gallon. Every mile you drive is the most expensive it has ever been. Because of that you are probably starting to do away with some of the miles you used to drive.

Some of those miles are easy to forego such as an extra trip to the store. Some of those miles can't be skipped such as your commute to work. Since you have to work, you need to know how much it costs you to get to your job.

No matter the cost to get to work, you have to spend it in order to make a living. As the price of gas continues to increase, that commute that you used to take for granted is now beginning to cost a lot of money.

Here are some examples.

At $4.00 per gallon gas cost:
If you have a 25 mile commute round trip per day
Work 5 days per week
You get 20 miles per gallon
Monthly cost $108.25
Yearly cost $ $1,300.00

At $4.00 per gallon your commute is costing you $108.25 per month or $1,300.00 per year.

If the Gas cost is $4.50 per gallon:
If you have a 25 mile commute round trip per day
Work 5 days per week
You get 20 miles per gallon
Monthly cost $121.78
Yearly cost $ $1,462.50

At $4.50 per gallon your drive to work and back will cost you $121.78 per month or $1,462.50 per year.

If the cost of fuel gets to $5.00 per gallon
If you have a 25 mile commute round trip per day
Work 5 days per week
You get 20 miles per gallon
Monthly cost $135.31
Yearly cost $ $1,625.00

At $5.00 per gallon, which many are predicting we could see in the near future, your monthly cost is $135.31 and your yearly cost to drive to and from work is $1,625.00.

In essence you could be paying $1,625.00 for the privilege of going to work.

That is for a 25 mile commute. That means you live about 12 to 13 miles from your workplace. For many, that is not the case. It is certainly not unusual to live 25 to 30 miles from your workplace.

At a distance of 25 miles from your home to your workplace, your round trip would be double the examples above. That means that you could be spending up to $3,350.00 per year to go to work. If that's the case, you better have a very high paying job.

If you drive that far to make $30,000 to $40,000 per year, you are spending close to 10 percent of your gross wages just to get to and from work. It would definitely be in your best interests to look for some alternatives to your situation.

The ideal situation would be to live as close to where you work as possible. Of course in many instances that is not realistic. Then you need to think about ways you can mitigate that round trip expense with other ways of saving money and gas.

You have to work. You have to make a living. In order to do that you need to get to your workplace. You need to be aware of what your commute to your workplace is costing you. As the price of gas continues to get higher, it becomes a bigger and bigger factor in your workplace decisions.