Reduce your commute costs and save money

There’s little to enjoy about the commute: it takes up a significant portion of our day, we’re driving to work — which we imagine is somewhere you’d rather not be — and on top of all that, it costs us money. We would perhaps tolerate it as a necessary evil if it were paid for us, but in most cases it’s not (good work if your company pays for your vehicle and petrol!). There are ways, however, that you can reduce the costs of the commute to make them more manageable. We take a look at four such ways below.

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Find a Friend

Wouldn’t it be handy if you could instantly half the amount of money that you pay for getting to and from work? Well, you can — it’s called ridesharing. If there’s someone in the office who lives nearby to you, then why not team up, and ride into work together? He or she will drive half the days, and you’ll drive the other half. You can make even more savings if there are more people who live nearby to you. You might value the time you spend by yourself in your car, but is it really worth all the money that you spend?

Efficient Driving

It’s possible that you’re spending more money than necessary on your commute, just because you’re not driving efficiently. If you have an outdated car or your driving style is overly aggressive, then you’re probably making more trips to the petrol station than you should be. And as we all know, petrol isn’t exactly the cheapest thing to buy! If your petrol bills are becoming eye wateringly high, then look at making some changes. You could start by upgrading your vehicle to one that gets great mileage, such as a used range rover Evoque. From there, look at changing your driving style — speeding, braking harshly, and accelerating too quickly will all burn more petrol than necessary.

Avoid Rush Hour

Rush hour isn’t that terrible for your state of mind — it also costs a lot of money, too. All that idle time is buying petrol, and you’re not even going anywhere. If possible, look at leaving your home a little earlier (or later if that’s an option): that clear shot through to the office will save you plenty of petrol and time, too.

Public Transport Options

We have in our head that the only option we have is to get in our car and drive straight to the office, but this isn’t the case. If we think a bit smarter about how we get to work, we can keep costs down. For example, might it be better to drive, say, half way, and then take a bus or train for the rest of the journey? Not only will you cut down on petrol, but you might also save time, and the parking costs will probably be cheaper too if your office is located in the centre of a city, where parking charges are a lot higher than spaces further away.

Do you have clever ways to reduce your commute costs to save money?