Now that a barrel of oil is almost [but not quite] as expensive as a barrel of printer ink, today's post is going to show you some ways to save money the next time you fill up your gas tank in the United States. Obviously, the easiest way to save money during this energy crisis [or "price instability" or whatever we're calling it this week] is to stop using private transportation altogether. Most municipalities have wonderful mass transit systems that are both efficient and cheap. Just do a Google search for the name of your city plus the words "mass transit" for more information about all of the public transportation options that are available to you.

RELATED LINK: http://www.tourbus.com/gas-prices-news.html

RELATED LINK: http://www.tourbus.com/mass-transit-news.html

However, living in Southern California where the automobile is a part of our culture, giving up my automobile just isn't feasible. [Try mapping a bus route from John Wayne Airport to Cal State Long Beach, a distance of only 20 miles, and you'll see what I mean.] For us crazy Californians -- and I'm willing to bet the same is true for most Americans -- what we really need is a way to comparison shop for gasoline, to find the cheapest gas prices before we get in the car and head to the pumps.

Fortunately, there are a BUNCH of gasoline price comparison sites on the internet. The biggest is the American Automobile Association's "AAA Fuel Price Finder" at http://aaa.opisnet.com/.
(NOTE: that if you have a Pop-Up blocker, you will have to over-ride it for this page to work - HINT - hold CTRL key down and click on the picture of the person putting gas into their car.)

Key in your state and city or your zip code, choose a search area radius of three, five, or ten miles, and click on the "Search" button and the site shows you a list of gas stations in your area and the prices they are charging for regular, mid-grade, and premium gasoline.

The American Automobile Association compiles their pricing data from credit card transactions at more than 85,000 outlets around the country as well as direct feeds from individual chains. The site displays the last price received over the past 7 days at each location...

From http://aaa.opisnet.com/Methodology.aspx

Here in Irvine, self-serve regular ranges from ~$2.72 to ~$2.88 per gallon. That doesn't sound like too much of a price difference, but by going to the cheapest gas station instead of the most expensive I can save almost $2.40 each and every time I fill up.

While the American Automobile Association gets its pricing information directly from the source, several new sites have popped up recently that get their pricing data directly from consumers like you and me. These sites include, in alphabetical order:

http://www.fuelmeup.com/main.php

http://gasbuddy.com/

http://www.gaspricewatch.com/new/

To be completely honest, none of these sites knock my socks off. Someone recently combined http://www.gaspricewatch.com/ with Google Maps to create

http://www.ahding.com/cheapgas/

but even that isn't as accurate as the AAA Fuel Price Finder. But that's just my opinion.

Another source for up-to-date gasoline price information is your local media. With gasoline prices skyrocketing recently, most local television stations, radio stations, and newspapers regularly compile lists of the cheapest local gasoline prices. Just head on over to

http://dir.yahoo.com/

and search for the name of your town and the word "media." At the very top of the search results page, under the words "Related Directory Categories," click on the "News and Media" link for your hometown. This shows you links to all of the media outlets, and one of them probably has gasoline prices posted on their web site.

I hope this helps!