Travel Control

We did pretty well over the past week. I am on a "project" to limit our driving, and therefore, our consumption of diesel fuel. Since we are not traveling on long trips soon, there is already a good reduction in the miles driven, but I found it sort of amazing just how many local miles we were putting on the truck.

We must drive 14 miles from Jojoba Hills to the first group of stores in Temecula. If we want to go to Costco, it is another 6 miles, and if we need to go to our doctors, it is 4 miles beyond that. Driving around within Temecula between businesses will generally take another 5 to 10 miles, so any trip to town will be a minimum of 28 miles, and if we shop around we can expect to drive 45 to 50 miles. Doctor visits are usually combined with shopping, so those trips run about 60 miles. At an average of 18mpg from the truck and an typical cost of $4.45 per gallon for diesel, trips cost from $7 to $15 per trip.

There are two ways to approach this problem: 1) try to optimize the driving on each trip, and 2) limiting the number of trips. Limiting the number of trips is much more profitable.

One technique we find most useful works with both approaches. We maintain detailed lists of what we want to purchase and where we want to go to purchase those items. Until there are enough items to warrant the cost of the trip, we just do without. In some cases, we teach ourselves the need to plan ahead and be sure we have required supplies in stock.

Another approach we are starting to use is to purchase quantities of staples so we do not have to shop for those items so often. We don't buy 4 roll packages of toilet paper anymore, we buy 24 roll packages. It is good that we have a lot of storage space in the basement of our rig.

So to keep within our fuel budget, we are starting to exert travel control. We are limiting the number of trips we make to purchase those things we need. In the long run, we will save a lot of money this way.

Looking ahead, we need to start working on a cooperative plan with our neighbors so those who are going into town can make purchases for us. More on that later.

sam, the Prudent RVer

 

Comments

[Deb]

Paula and I have been doing that kind of planning for several years. I try to limit my shopping to once a week. Unfortunately, much of what we eat is perishable and won't last more than a week, so we can't really go longer than that. Having out freezer helps us also take advantage of meat sales and other stocking up -- although I'm ready for a larger, more energy efficient (ours isn't even frost-free) freezer. We're also careful to purchase only those bulk items we will actually use. It's easy to get caught up in buying bulk when you don't really need all that -- although that's where sharing with your neighbors can work.

Maybe you-all should set up a cooperative store, one based on filling orders rather than keeping stock.

[Michael]

We have been combining errands for years. We plan the order of places we go to keep from driving back and forth across town. We are fortunate that most everywhere we shop is within 3 miles of home so we don't have the long trips you have.

You may want to look at carpooling with other when going shopping too.

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