There are many ways to cut your costs during the summer, especially if you plan on doing a lot (or any) driving. With gas prices going back up, traveling this summer may be looking more expensive than when you planned your trip. Well, there are ways to save a little bit of money on that road trip this year.

As always, what I will start calling the golden rule of frugality, SHOP AROUND!!! Comparison shopping means that you are going to get the best deal. At the same time, don’t drive 30 miles out of your way to save $.02 a gallon, that’s crazy and really not worth it. You can do price comparison on websites like GasBuddy.com and some GPS systems even have gas stations filtered by price. These websites do depend on users to enter in gas prices, so the prices you see may not be what they are for that day (or that week if you’re going to a small town).

Secondly, if you’re a cash carrying member of the population use it. Some gas stations have started trying to pass merchant fees off to gas buyers and have started charging more for gas if someone is paying with a debit or credit card. This is a legal way for the gas stations to help with how much they’re paying for credit card fees. The good news for you is that usually these gas stations that charge more for credit card transactions are usually cheaper than everyone else.

You should also perform regular maintenance on your car. Giving your car a tune up and getting the oil changed according to when the manufacturer says can lead to higher MPGs and more miles on your car. Keeping your tires inflated can also help improve your MPG’s by 3% over the course of a year, which could total to 20 gallons of gas! Air filters are another one of those little things that sometimes we forget about that can increase your fuel efficiency.

A little tip I picked up is that if you like stopping frequently for gas, don’t fill up your tank because the less full your tank is the less heavy your car is and the more miles per gallon you will average. I usually fill my car up to ½ a tank, and then refill at ¾ a tank. It is time consuming, but overall I’m getting better mileage out of it.

Lastly, if you really want to cut back on fuel consumption for your road trips, take it easy and try not drive too aggressively. The faster you accelerate the more gas you are burning.

Acetone may be a good option for taking that awful lime green fingernail polish off, but no, it isn’t a good option for putting in your gas tank.

A question posed to MSNBC was this:

“I’ve heard of an unconventional way to increase gas mileage by up to 25 percent – adding 1 to 3 ounces of acetone to every 10 gallons of gas. Is this true?”

Well, no…it is simply not true. As a matter of fact, putting acetone in your gas tank is dangerous and will damage your engine.

Acetone is corrosive. It is used as a paint thinner and nail polish remover. This is the same stuff that if you get it on your wooden table it will take the lacquer finish right off the table.

So what does the acetone do in your gas tank after you put it in there? Well, it eats at all the little rubber parts in your engine. After all, this is the same stuff that will eat a fake fingernail right off your finger. You will end up getting a much larger bill for the parts that were eaten away in your car than the 25% increase in gas mileage that you may or may not have gotten by putting the acetone in your gas tank.

Not only can this stuff eat at the rubber on your engine, it can also remove the paint from your car. It will eat right through the clear coat and through the paint on the car. This would result in hundreds of dollars worth of damage.

In my opinion, if you’re looking for a fuel additive to try to get better mileage, mosey over to the automotive department at your local store and check out the fuel additive section. When you’re there you will find everything from simple fuel additive to fuel injection cleaner. Most of them claim to increase your gas mileage.

I find that putting 89 octane gasoline in your car may do the same trick as adding some of the fuel additive that can cost up to $8 for a bottle (which also tells you to add a bottle every single time that you fill up your gas tank). Honestly, if you’re putting a bottle of $7 additive in your car every time that you’re filling up, you’re not really saving any money…It seems like you are actually wasting more money.

However, I have to say, it is about time for VW to make a more efficient car…or alternate energy car at least. When looking for a car last year, the best they could do is a diesel car. However, the better mileage with the diesel fuel was offset by the extremely high cost of diesel. boo.

Sometimes I still wonder if we’ll ever see hydrogen fuel cell cars. I know that right now the technology isn’t in place, but maybe one day.