Hypermiling (More ways to give yourself a raise.)

Remember how I talked about reducing your car use to increase your monthly income? Well, people said they NEED their cars and they just couldn't get rid of them. (Yes I know there weren't any comments, but in this day of RSS feeds many people just e-mail the author when they have soemthing to say.) So I was looking for some options and I read about hypermiling.

Now, a lot of these techniques are things I learned to do when I was in college trying to fill up my gas as little as possible. In fact I did some of the more stupid things they list when I believed myself to be invincible, like turning off the engine and coasting down the Grapevine on Interstate 5 going into L.A. What an idiot. But that does not discount the value of some of the safer techniques.

For instance, the whole air conditioner debate. Most cars do not have a thermostat for the internal temperature of the car that connects to the A/C attempting to regulate the air. Most of the time you turn it on and try to make it colder, until someone starts rubbing their arms and then you switch to warm and thus begins the A/C Wars. I like the idea of turning on the A/C for a while and then turning it off, but leaving the fan on, blowing the cool air around internally. Then in a little while turn the A/C back on and give the air a refresher cool.

I, myself, am driving less. We are actually paying rent for an office space that is cheaper than the cost of the regional bus pass so we are making money by paying rent. Cool huh? That said, when we do have to drive, and having 2 kids I know there are sometimes when you just have to drive, you can bet I will be hypermiling as much as I safely can to conserve our gas, our money and our sanity.

Relative Income (or Give Yourself a Raise - part 2)

OK, so you make $40-80K per year and your work 50 hour weeks. You own your business and spend your evenings answering e-mails, and all day planning meetings, going to meetings, and networking to get more clients. Your weekends are often scattered with you meeting with clients and answering e-mail on your PDA when your partner isn't watching.

Want to make more money? Spend less time. If you value your time for yourself as greatly as you charge your clients for it, (Which you should.) then you are wasting your own money by taking your time for granted.

Let's say you are a massage therapist who charges $60+ an hour for your services and you spend 5 hours this month trying to get your books in order... (5 x $60 = $300) How much money would it have cost you for a local bookkeeper to do it for you in half the time? Perhaps $80 per month? So by spending $80 on a bookkeeper for the month, you save $220 this month. And you now have 5 more hours to spend with clients, go on a date, or something else that brings you pleasure instead of causing you headaches.

Your time is so very valuable, and if you trade it simply for income, or even worse perceived income, then you are cutting your real wealth right out from underneath you.

Give Yourself A Raise

It all comes down to perspective, but seriously think about this before you dismiss it as some hair-brained, granola ideal. Ride your bike.

Save over $500 per month.

It happens so fast. First you just start driving less. Using your bike on occasion and you that your monthly gas bill has dropped by let's say $100. That's less than 2 tanks of gas infind today's market. Just ride your bike enough to eliminate 2 tanks for gas. If you are currently driving an SUV, this will be even faster.

OK, So now that you're riding once a week you should notice that you are more awake when you get to work, you have more energy in what you do and you are saving money. All these things feel good. So you ride more often. You save more money.

Give it a few months at this level. If you have a gym membership (that you probably don't use enough to get the value from it) then you've just put yourself in a place to save that money too.

Now you have reduced your gas bill and your maintenance costs. Commute driving is the worst kind of driving for your car, and a reduction of this kind will save your brakes, your clutch, your oil AND your sanity. In a short while you've just given yourself several hundred dollars a month extra to spend. But WAIT, there's more!

If you can go this far, then perhaps you can go a little farther... How many cars do you have in your family? Do you and your partner both have one? If you have kids is there one for them? How much are you paying a month in insurance?
Why not get rid of one of those cars?
You've now saved gas, insurance, maintenance and your gym membership while simultaneously increasing your energy and improving your health.
Well Done!

Of course, bicycling isn't the only way to give yourself a raise. More to follow...