Calculating your Gasoline Costs (calculate for gasoline sold by the gallon)

If you would like to figure out how much you are spending each time you drive somewhere, you can get a fairly accurate calculation by first determining the actual mileage that you get on your vehicle and then calculating how far places are and how much gas is used. For those who've forgotten how this works, I'm going to provide a step-by-step guide:

1) Calculate your mileage.

You can either use the published mileage for your car, or to be more accurate, calculate your actual mileage.

1a) The next time that you fill your tank, fill it until the pump auto-stop clicks.

1b) Before driving away, zero out your trip odometer.

1c) The following time that you fill your tank, fill it until the pump auto-stop clicks.

1d) Divide the number of miles on your trip odometer by the number of gallons that you pump. This number will be your miles per gallon (mpg). For example, 229.9 miles divided by 9.234 gallons equals 24.9 miles per gallon.

229.9 mi / 9.234 gal = 24.9 mpg.

2) Determine how far you drive.

One way to do this is to use a website like http://maps.google.com. Ask the site to give you directions from your home to a destination. For example, it might be 5.2 miles from your house to the mall, but remember to double it for the round trip, which would be 10.4 miles.

3) Determine how many gallons your trip takes.

You might want to try http://www.gasbuddy.com, a site that lists gas prices for many cities. Alternately, you can just check with the price at your local gas station. In our example, you might find that gas costs as little as $3.97 per gallon and as much as $4.13 per gallon, depending on where you buy it.

4) Calculate the number of gallons used on your trip.

Take your distance of travel and divide it by your mileage. In our example, it's 10.4 miles divided by 24.9 miles per gallon equals .418 gallons for your round trip to and from the mall.

10.4 mi / 24.9 mpg = .418 gal

5) Calculate the cost in gasoline of your trip.

Multiply the number of gallons used by the price of gas. In this example, the lowest this trip could cost would be .418 gallons multiplied by $3.97 equaling $1.66 for your round trip. The highest price would be .418 gallons multiplied by $4.13 equaling $1.72 for your round trip.

.418 gal * $3.97 = $1.66 per roundtrip
.418 gal * $4.13 = $1.72 per roundtrip

6) Cry

Now would be a good time to figure out how to minimize your driving.