With the price of gas climbing about $0.10 per week in my area, I thought it would be interesting to figure out how much I am spending for each mile I drive.
I drive a 2006 Chrysler Pacifica AWD. Not very gas efficient at an average of 16 miles per gallon. A gallon here is now $3.95. Total suckage.
My job requires me to drive, an average of about 20 miles per day. Some days I drive significantly more and some less. I do get reimbursed for mileage driven for work purposes, but only at a rate of $0.44 per mile, not quite the federal reimbursement rate.
I also drive about 15 miles per day for personal reasons; mostly to take my kids to school and daycare and then picking them up. Three kids in three different places means more driving. Thankfully once the school year ends, they will all be at the babysitter’s house.
After some figuring this is what I came up with, it costs me about $0.25 per mile. I rounded up the price per gallon to $4.00. Then I figured that I get 16 miles for each $4.00 spent, meaning that 4 miles costs me $1.00 and each mile is $0.25.
On a low mileage day I may drive around 35-40 miles. That’s a total of $8.75-$10.00 a day that I am spending just to be able to go to work. On the weekends, I try to drive less, but if we go camping that adds about 46 miles to get back and forth to camp. So, to go camping for the weekend it costs me $11.50 in gas.
One good thing, for both reducing the amount of money spent on gas and the environment (Carbon footprint), is that my husband carpools back and forth to work. He works at our local airport which is a total of 45 miles round trip. His truck gets even worse mileage than my Pacifica at an average of 12 miles per gallon. He’s thereby saving $15 per day!
