People work hard for their money, but don't make their money work hard for them. It's time to fix that. The last Wednesday of every month, Saverist whips your income into shape with smart, practical advice.

Photo by hrtmnstrfr.

We know high gas prices are a headache, and prices aren't expected to get much cheaper in the coming years. Although it's easy to place the blame elsewhere (for example, on oil companies), there's a need for personal responsibility. Our love of driving fast is burning a hole in our wallets and our resources. Saverist is here with three simple tips to help with the pain. Take our suggestions with a glass of water and call us in the morning.

Find Cheaper Gas

The first thing to do is know where to get gas: check a site like Toronto Gas Prices to get the current price of gas at pumps near you. (Generally, independent gas stations give better deals than the big guys.) Not only does saving a penny per litre on gas net you about $20 a year, but knowing the best deal ahead of time prevents you from feeling like an idiot when you pass by a cheaper gas station.

Try not to go out of your way for a cheaper gas station—travel at most 1.5 kilometers one way for every cent per litre that you save. That is, a station offering gas for two cents per litre less is only worth it if it is closer than three kilometers away.

Pay Less For Gas

The next thing to do is know how to pay for gas: most stations have loyalty programs worth joining (Shell shells out Air Miles, Petro-Canada provides Petro-Points, and Canadian Tire carries Canadian Tire money) and offer discounts if you use their affiliated credit card. Shell and Canadian Tire have recently introduced credit cards with gas rebates to compete against Petro-Canada’s wildly popular credit card. Shell offers a percentage discount to gas prices (3% for a “Premium” card with a $49 annual fee, 1.5% for a basic no-fee card), Canadian Tire offers a tiered fixed amount discount (of two to ten cents per litre), and Petro-Canada offer a fixed discount (of two cents per litre).

Using the average fuel efficiency for new cars (8.6 litres per 100 kilometers) and the estimated driving of 20,000 kilometers a year, the cards are best used to purchase gas only, especially the Citi Petro-Canada credit card, which, including Petro Points rewards, nets you around $50 a year in gas savings (or around 2.3% in savings). Following closely behind are the Shell no-fee credit card (2.1%) and the Canadian Tire credit card (1.9%). (Ignore the Shell Premium card, which falls behind (1.2%) as the hefty $49 fee for greatly eats into your savings.)

The credit cards don't yield as well on non-gas purchases, so there's less incentive to use them outside of the gas station. The one exception is the Canadian Tire credit card, which increases the gas savings from two cents a litre to ten cents a litre when you spend a grand on the card monthly. The higher discount nets you around $180 a year in total savings, or a return of just over 1.4% on your total bill. By comparison, most other rewards-based credit cards tend to give back 1% or less.

Use Less Gas

The final thing to do is to know how to drive you car. To save on the pocketbook, you don’t even have to drive less—there's a not-so-secret secret for saving up to 20% on your gasoline bill without cutting back a single kilometer. Ready? Drive slower.

For most cars, the best fuel efficiency is at speeds of 65 km/h to 95 km/h—anything higher and for every kilometer per hour, you lose about a percent of fuel efficiency. So, scaling back from 120 km/h to 95 km/h is like having an extra quarter tank of gas. At today's gas prices, that means savings of $500 to $600 a year. (Can we mention that the amount is post-tax money—or about $750 to $900 of pre-tax salary?)

Of course, it's not just driving too fast, but also all the accelerating and braking impatient drivers do that costs people extra fuel. People constantly rush trying to squeeze a few extra minutes into their day. Still, the amount of time people save driving fast isn't worth it: even on a perfectly clear highway, for a 40 minute commute, driving 120 km/h instead of 95 km/h means gaining a whopping 10 minutes extra. Let's put that into perspective: 10 minutes each way to work and back or, say, an all-inclusive trip to Cuba for a week with your savings?

Imagine the change possible if everyone drove at the speed limit: most drivers would save on average about the amount Americans are getting in their economic stimulus cheques. Isn't that a gas?