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Figuring out Gas Expenses
Do you know much money you’re currently spending on gas? I didn’t until just recently. Two months ago, I started working at a new job and my commute distance has gone from about 20 miles round trip to 90 miles round trip. Because of this, I’ve been wanting to know how much money I’ve been spending. After seeing what I was actually spending on gas, I was shocked.
I created a Google Sheet that asks for some data such as:
– how many miles you drive on a normal day (like a work day)
– how many miles you drive on other days (like a weekend)
– your vehicle’s average mpg
– which state you live in (to pull an average gas price for that state)
The information that is generated is as follows:
– how many miles you drive per week, month, and year
– cost of gas for every week, month, and year based off the octane that you use
How Much I Spend on Fuel
Like I pointed out earlier, I now have 90-mile round trip commute in the Bay Area. Five days out of the week I make this commute for work, and I drive about 25 miles during the weekend. This amounts to 500 miles driven a week, 2,000 miles driven per month, and a total of 24,000 miles every year.
| Mileage Info | ||
| 90 | miles | # of Miles driven per normal day |
| 5 | days | # of Days for normal day |
| 25 | miles | # of Miles driven per off Day |
| 2 | days | # of Days for off Day |
| 500 | miles | # of Miles driven per Week |
| 2000 | miles | # of Miles driven per Month |
| 24000 | miles | # of Miles driven per Year |
Here’s what my fuel economy boils down to:
| Fuel Economy | ||
| 20 | miles/gallon (mpg) | Average Fuel Economy of Vehicle Driven (mpg) |
| California | state | State you Drive In |
| $2.79 | as of 10/19/16 | Average Gas Price for 87 Octane for State you Drive in |
| $2.89 | as of 10/19/16 | Average Gas Price for 87 Octane for State you Drive in |
| $2.99 | as of 10/19/16 | Average Gas Price for 87 Octane for State you Drive in |
I drive a 2003 Toyota 4Runner V6 that has an 18 City / 21 Hwy Gas Mileage Rating. Since I drive mostly highway, I made the average 20 miles per gallon. I also indicated I live in California (and I use 87 octane) so it pulls the average gas price for that state. It pulls this from average prices of gasoline from gasbuddy.com from 10/17/16 that I inputted.
Finally, the Google Sheet provides the following data. I apparently spend about $70 each week, $280 each month, and $3,350 each year on gas. Holy cow…
| Gas Usage by Octane and by Time Frame | Cost (87 octane) | Cost (89 octane) | Cost (91 octane) |
| Weekly | $69.75 | $72.25 | $74.75 |
| Monthly | $279.00 | $289.00 | $299.00 |
| Yearly | $3,348.00 | $3,468.00 | $3,588.00 |
Cost of Commuting Calculator
Below is a link to the spreadsheet I created and it is available to the public. Hopefully this help you get an idea of where you stand on fuel spending. In the future, I’ll likely take this information and develop it further to do some additional analysis. I think it may be useful to use this and do a comparison with alternative vehicle options such as hybrids, electric cars, and diesels. I’ll keep you posted!
