One Month, One Tank – 14 Years Later

For the past few months, rising gas prices have been a top news story. You may remember a similar crisis in 2008. I do because our family actually became a news story because of it. We were living in Austin, Texas, and John was working for a news station as a web producer. He was riding his bike to work most days, and the station decided to do a segment about riding a bike to work in lieu of driving to save on fuel costs.

John would rather bike than drive any day, but it was also helping us make ends meet. I was freelance writing and staying home with our three-year-old. We were living in a small townhouse that John had found for rent while out on a ride one day. It was within walking distance to just about everything we needed: grocery, pharmacy, library, post office, video store (remember those?), a few restaurants and a gym. I chose our son’s pediatrician based on recommendations, but also because his office was literally a short stroll away. We were able to manage fine with one car, a 2001 Saturn station wagon, which we bought used. Our budget was extremely tight and having one car, not two, made a huge difference.

So back to our 15 minutes of fame. The station planned to send a reporter and a photographer one morning to get some footage of John packing up for work and beginning his commute. He mentioned to me that the news crew might want to talk to me, but I didn’t think too much about it.

The news segment ran in early July 2008. At the beginning of the piece, the anchor states, “We’ve challenged the Miller family to go one month on one tank of gas.” What? We were already doing a lot; what more could we do? You can watch both segments to see how we did in the links below.

You’d think after going through this crisis in 2008, people would have changed their habits. I remember the 70’s oil crisis. Those news stories featured lines at the pump and higher prices and then smaller cars became more popular because of it. I can’t say I saw this the second time around. It’s like people had amnesia, as soon as prices came down, they were buying even bigger vehicles. Manufacturers and their advertising agencies have a vested interest in selling bigger models – they simply make more money from them than smaller vehicles.

SUVs seem to be the default now when choosing a new car, and if you lived in Texas as we did, you noticed trucks becoming massive. Last summer, I literally needed a stepladder to climb into the backseat of a co-worker’s truck when a few of us went to lunch together.

I can’t help but hope that after this crisis people will have had enough, and start making decisions that will not only save them money, but reduce air pollution, traffic congestion and dependency on oil for the long term.

In October of the same year, we moved to San Antonio and didn’t have that prime location where we could walk to everything anymore. We still managed with one car for another three years. I’m writing another post which explains how we did that, which will run later this month.

A short but serious list for using less gasoline:

1. Never let your vehicle idle. Ever. Running the motor while waiting is against my religion. If you’re talking to a friend, picking someone up or waiting at a drive-through, turn off the engine. Roll down the windows. Get OUT of the car and go in – it might even be faster for food pickup. If it is a hot day, you don’t have to stay in your car when picking up kids at school, camp or practice – that’s the hottest place to be. There’s often a shade tree or bench where you can wait, check your phone, read a book and then pop back into your car when the line starts moving.
2. Combine errands. Be strategic and see how many you can do in a single trip. Are they all really necessary? What can be eliminated? Years ago, I stopped buying clothes that needed dry-cleaning because it was just a hassle dropping off and picking up, not to mention an expense I could do without.
3. Take the first parking spot available, unless you have mobility issues. Driving in circles looking for a closer space is a waste of time and so bleeping frustrating. Avoid it and you’ll be in and out much faster and with more gas in your tank.

One Month, One Tank videos

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