How Can I Maximize My Mileage?
How Can I Maximize My Mileage?
You may be thinking that this blog post is about getting the most optimal auto mileage, and, in a sense, it actually is related to that.
However, I’m not really talking about getting more miles per gallon, although that would result in an even bigger payback from this concept. About 30 years ago, I was working for a bank and came up with an idea. Whenever I went to see bank customers or prospects, I used my car to get there. Of course, the bank paid me whatever the current IRS rate was at that time, $0.31/mile. Today that rate is $0.70, simply because the cost of gas, insurance, and vehicle maintenance has risen dramatically since then.
I drove 500 miles per month on behalf of the bank when I suddenly had an idea. I thought that if it cost me, at that time, $0.07/mile for fuel ($2.10/30 miles per gallon) and I was getting $0.31/mile in 1996, what was I doing with the rest of the money?
With this concept in mind, I started to closely track this. Assuming I was driving 500 miles/month for the bank, I received: (500 miles X $0.31/mile) minus (500 miles X $0.07/mile) = $120/month above fuel costs. This may not sound like much money today, but 30 years ago, it added up nicely.
Think about it. $120 would allow me to drive another 1,714 miles to take my family somewhere fun, or it could pay for $250 of car service twice per year, and I’d still have: 12 X $120 – 2 X $250 = $940 left over. That could pay for car insurance on both our cars, instead of taking the funds out of our paychecks.
Alternatively, we could have saved the extra funds toward a car replacement every few years. The possibilities are endless. I am not suggesting this is a “money maker.” However, at today’s current rate of $0.70/mile, if I was at the same amount of (500 miles/month X $0.70) less (500 miles X $3.00/30 mpg) = $300 each month. Would you be able to find a use for those funds? I’m sure most people could.
The key is that this takes discipline. As former Notre Dame football Coach Lou Holtz stated, “Discipline is not something you do to yourself. It’s something you do for yourself!”
I hope you found this discussion helpful. Wishing you the best of success in the coming year!
“If you measure something, you can understand it. If you understand it, you can control it, and if you can control it, you can improve it.” The same holds true in your monthly budgeting.
The reality is that it is nearly impossible to complete & follow a monthly budget without improving your overall financial position. There are several reasons for this, so I would challenge you to do this.
First, just developing a budget for yourself will raise your awareness of what you have for revenue or income sources and then also boost your cognizance of how much you are spending each month. Next, you will come to grips with the reality of one of three facts. Either you need to boost your income sources, reduce your outgoing expenditures or, thank goodness, if you have more income than expenses, you can then save some money. Of course, this is fantastic! You just need to determine where you will store or invest those extra funds each month…
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