Since moving in, a copy of Better Homes and Gardens magazine finds it’s way into our mailbox every month. And I have no idea why because neither of us signed up for the magazine.
But every month when it arrives, I thumb through it to see if there is anything interesting, and this month, the most interesting thing I found was a little blurb about how Americans, on average spend $175 a month on gasoline.
$175 a month? Is that really true?
At first the number seemed a little low… and then the more I thought about how much we drive… I was like, well, maybe the number is actually a bit high.
And so I asked the HH how much we spend a month on gas {seeing how 1. I typically don’t drive and 2. I rarely fill up the gas tank}.
And I was shocked at his answer.
EIGHTY DOLLARS A MONTH!
Yep. Apparently these days, we only go through about 2 tanks of gas.
Which I guess makes sense. I mean after all we both work from home, don’t have kids to schlep all over the place, and pretty much live in Timbuktu.
So maybe $175 a month for gas is actually pretty spot on.
What do you think?
How much are you spending a month on gas these days, and how much are you paying at the pump?
Curious minds want to know.
Have a great weekend everyone,
~Mavis
Emma says
currently around 100 a month, If we add a couple of hiking trips in, could be closer to the 175. Just depends.
Charla says
We currently spend $600 a month
Mavis Butterfield says
Wow!
kim says
We’re pretty close to you. We’re around $500 a month give or take $100 (which is less than two extra tanks of gas in our Suburban). We have two children. We still choose to have activities in the summer. We live in a rural area in northern Michigan, and everything the kids are involved with is a good 40 minute (plus) drive from where we live.
We’re paying considerably more this year than we did last year, or even the year before, but so is everyone else with active families, I imagine.
Michelle says
Live in California but we don’t have kids at home anymore so less than $50 a month now. Used to be hundreds!!
Rebecca Ann Walker says
Gas prices here in are currently at $2.79 a gallon. I am retired, so I am only spending around $30-$60 a month. I am also signed up for the Royal Farms Loyalty program, so I get 10 cents off per gallon.
Lori says
Gas was 2.89 here yesterday when I filled up. Between the two of us we probably use $80 or less a month. We live in a small town now. When we lived in a large city I was filling up sometimes every 4 days.
Katie says
I WISH we only spent that much! We’re even in Texas where gas prices are typically lower, and we almost always fill up at Sam’s. My husband and I both drive to work, and we have four kids so we get out and about. I used to budget about $225-$250 a month. But then we got a Suburban (did I mention we have 4 kids?) and now it’s closer to $300. When we went from a Pilot to a Suburban, the gas mileage decreased, BUT my husband recently got a Mini as his go to work car and he can probably last a month on a tank. I loved our Pilot, but we outgrew it, and when our kids (oldest is 5) get a little older we plan to become a road trip family, so the SUV is definitely what we wanted.
A T says
We bought a used Suburban in 2005, it is close to 300,000 on the odometer now. It is my favorite car ever! It still drives smoothly, handles great. We called it our vacation car; it has been all over the country. Enjoy yours!!
Katie says
I LOVE my Suburban! It’s a 2016 and has a good amount of miles. Hoping to drive it for a long time 🙂
Eileen says
We live north of Syracuse NY and I paid 3.06/gal yesterday. Budget $60 a month and that usually is plenty.
Donna Knight says
I usually spend around $150-$160 a month, I live 30 minutes from my job and take my brother and aunt to the grocery store and around.
Kayla says
When my husband was working out of the house, we budgeted $350. Gas is $4.39/gallon in northern CA right now. Our whole family stays home (work from home, homeschooled kids) and we still budget $250 for gas. I wish we only spent $175.
Kari says
Right now we are spending about $125-150 a month, as I shuttle my son and half his baseball team all over God’s creation. Luckily the hubby gets to drive a work truck most of the time which really saves on some fuel. We only have to fill up his diesel pickup every few months.
I do try to maximize the fuel point reward system at Fred Meyer by buying gift cards for places we frequent when they have their 4X fuel points promos. It really helps cut down on the cost.
Lana says
We spend about $60 a month because we are retired but back when I was running five kids everywhere and Hubby was commuting 30 miles one way to work it was around $300.
I get TWO copies of Better Homes and Gardens on the same day each month and I did not subscribe either. We also get magazines addressed to our kids and we have been empty nesters for eight years and they did not subscribe to them either.
Jen says
It seems like most magazines are just a bunch of ads these days. I subscribe to a few that actually have interesting content, but most are just ridiculous. And I get unsolicited magazines in my mailbox, addressed to me, AND then they send bills, invoices, and email demanding payment! My Mom used to pay them, thinking she had subscribed or somehow felt she owed them for postage, or felt sorry for them.
Gas just under $3 a gallon in Northern Illinois. Driving a Civic really helped with gas mileage.
Jenny says
And three days later, around 3.40 per gallon, and will go up for the holiday weekend.
Elle says
Ummmmmm, I go through 6-8 tanks a year. This includes trips to our mountain cabin 2.5 hours away which replaced a full-time job that was 85 miles/week. I put 3500 miles on my car in 2020 whereas I usually drive about 5k/year.
I cannot remotely imagine driving so much as to spend $175/month
Jeanine says
Currently….price of gas is $3.90 per gallon. I use GasBuddy when we go on any trips to find cheaper gas. We live in California and have a high gas tax….but the weather here is nice and I love living here. We spend about $85 a month. With the pandemic…last year I probably spent about $35 month. Didn’t go anywhere except 6 miles into town just to get groceries or supplies. No kids at home anymore, which helps.
Jen says
GasBuddy is great! It’s an app, where you can see all of the local prices, so you can decide where to get gas. Of course, it’s important to help by adding in the prices you encounter. To encourage that, they have a drawing everyday for $100 of gas. Kids think it’s like a game!
Ramona says
I live in Boise,Id. area. Average price of gas here is $3.40 a gallon. I don’t do much driving except for groceries and that is about a 25 mile round trip just depending on how many stops I make. I try to get gas at Costco where the price is around $3.15 a gallon. The past several months I have spent around $30. a month for gas. I guess going nowhere helps. Mavis did you count the gas you spend for your boat since on one post you said you used your boat to go mail some packages?
Bonnie says
Yesterday paid $2.76 at Walmart in Rome GA. Looking at my bank statement, I paid $172.00 in May. I drive 30 minutes to work and drive to church several times a week and all over the place. That being said, i love my Toyota Corolla. It gives me great gas mileage. It’s paid for Praise the Lord!! No like car payments.
Diana Wright says
We paid $4.49 a gallon in Marin near San Francisco yesterday. I do not know how much we spend on gas each month as I never fill the tank, not my job! We travel a lot so gas is just part of the trip. It takes 1 1/2 tanks for us to drive from San Diego to San Francisco and we usually come up here almost every month. We are actually thinking of moving to live closer to family.
KC says
I wonder if they’re taking total-gas-sold and thus averaging truck drivers in there? Or if they left out diesel and thus aren’t?
(methodology matters for interpretation of data!)
Jules says
With 5 kids at home and three of them going to work every day plus gas prices between $3.20 and$3.40 around here I think we spend about$500 or more. Ouch
Lindsey says
Gas here is $3.34, although I rarely pay that much because I shop at the same store to earn points toward gas discounts, up to a dollar a gallon. We never, ever buy from Home Depot or Lowes without pricing the items first and then going to the grocery store and buying gift cards, which gives us more points. I cannot remember the last time we didn’t have enough points to get a dollar off every gallon of gas. We live about three to five minutes from the various stores we use (mostly groceries and drug store, as we have been living off our accumulated clothing instead of buying new…), so don’t drive that much. We have a pick up we use in the summer due to gardening and animal transportation stuff and a van for other times (bought when we went from one Irish wolfhound to two of them. They are larger than Great Danes, so it was impossible to fit 300 plus pounds of dog flesh into our truck).
Last month we spent $68 on gas.
HollyG says
I’m so lucky to spend $0.00 a month on gas. A few years ago we bought a used Nissan Leaf and put a charger in the garage. Now I have a clean garage and no gasoline bills (or oil changes).
Bonnie says
Curious about your electric bill. How much did it change your bill after getting the electric car?
Veronica Norris says
We spend close to $400 a month. Gas and diesel is over $4.00 a gallon here.
Jenny Young says
We are empty nesters but my husband still goes in to work 4 or 5 days a week plus I go pick up my grandson 3 days a week to watch him while his parents work. Beyond that I have one errand day a week, we go to church once a week & maybe get take out once a week..
We budget between $75 & $100 a month. That covers gas, oil changes, tags & license renewals, ect. We live 5 miles from work/our son & about 10 miles from the grocery store & church. We drive a 1996 Honda Accord & a 2015 Toyota Camry.
Pamela says
We are upwards of $500 a month. That isn’t counting mower gas which adds probably another $60 a month. 🙁
pamela s says
Nothing since I am not working at the moment. At my current pace I would need to fill up every 2 to 3 months. BUT at the price of gas where I live , and at my usual rate of consumption, I would probably spend $65-$80 per month. Usually 2 fill-ups.
Stephanie says
Is that per household or per person? Combined, we’re probably in the neighborhood of $150 each month, but I only account for $30 of that.
Cathy Lielausis says
I don’t own a car and I carpool with my sister for groceries and such, so no gas costs. What interested me about your clipped image is that it didn’t suggest cutting back on driving! How about getting a hybrid car? Both would help reduce your carbon footprint as well.
Mary says
Here in the interior of British Columbia, gas is $1.44 a litre… which is about $5.60 a gallon. Two of us, both retired, but not home bodies, are spending around $300 a month on gas *(and diesel for the VW car). That though does include gas for the ride on lawn mower…
Wendy M says
I use an electric lawn mower, only work one day a week, shop one to two days a week and drive my husband to doctor appointments several times a month. Gas is 2.95/gallon. I spend between 40-80 a month, depending on how much running I do.
Wendy M says
That should read, I shop one to two days a month, not a week, smh.
Vicki Fetui says
At the beginning of the pandemic, I found that I got about 4 weeks to the gallon! Now, since I am still working from home, but with more getting out and about than then, I spend between $30 and $ a month.
Zadu says
I purchased a plugable hybrid about 4 months ago, then got a work from home job. I don’t drive much, and when I do, it’s mostly on electric/battery.
I’ve filled the tank once since I bought the car and a full charge of the battery will take me about 32 miles and costs less than a dollar in electricity.
So if I can go 350 miles on a full tank and it costs me about $45 to fill the tank ($3 a gallon, 15 gallon tank, more or less) and we’ll say $1 for 30 miles of electric, and I’ve driven the thing about 2,000 in 4 months (500 miles a month average)…
I’ve spent about $100 to drive 2,000 miles. In 4 months. Not bad!
Thanks for the interesting question; the geek in me appreciates stuff like this.
Linda Sand says
We are retired so, during the pandemic, our gas has been used for twice a week trips to the grocery store about five miles from home and an occasional trip to the doctor about 15 miles from home. How much would that be?
Dianne says
We’ve spent about $300 since January. Both retired, this includes 3 trips approximately 225 round trip. Grocery store, library, appts.
Won’t pay over $3 a gallon for gas. That is ludicrous! Glad we our retired and empty nesters.
Dianne
Rebeka says
Southern Idaho, gas is about $3.16 at the lowest, and I drive a lot, spend over $300 a month .
Ann Burgess says
We don’t spend a penny on gasoline. Our new car is electric. Our electricity bill has increased, but by only 20% of what the gas would have cost.
Linda T says
Gas went up to 2.99 a gallon today in southwest Ohio, up about 10 cents from last week. We haven’t been out too much yet, but today I went yard saleing and drove more than I did ALL of last year.
Nancy D says
We live 10 miles from town and care for elderly parents several times a week. My husband drives a full size pickup and at 3.40 a gallon it’s almost $90 to fill. He does carpentry so needs the larger truck to carry lumber and equipment. My small suv only fills up once a month. Our current gas budget is $300.
Nancy D says
*we live in SW Washington state
Amy W says
I wish it was only $175 each month! We budget $350/month most of the year, but $450/month for months with adventures. Living in SoCal, it takes more than $80 just to fill my mid-size SUV.
Terri Lindeke says
We haven’t been going much beyond our own neighborhood. My Prius had a 1/2 full tank when we got home last spring and went directly into lockdown. We topped it off last fall. I just filled it again the other day. We have 2 trucks. We license 1 for the winter, then 1 for the summer. Big Red is a summer truck for pulling a trailer. It’s been filled 1 time. The Tacoma is a work horse. It’s been filled twice. So we have only spent an obscenely little amount on gas. We have spent a fortune on wood as we were home and rebuilt 2 decks, added a lot of fancy fencing, and 2 new decks, a double waterfall, installed another fountain. And a whole lot more. So gas is used to the grocery store… the lumber yard a block from that… and not much else. We are having FUN
Dawn says
I fill up once a month. So $30-35 is normal for me, but my work is only five miles from home.
Ann says
I live in Western NY and gaze is $3.09. Pre pandemic I was paying $120/ month and my husband $140- so $260 on average. I am working remotely so now our monthly average is $180-200. We live in the country and need to drive 25 minutes to get most places.
Nekey says
Georgia here. 🙂 The pump prices are usually $2.79-2.89 a gallon. Our family spends about $160-$170 per month. My husband works from home, but I have a part-time job out of the house. For us, it’s all of the errands that need to be run, or driving “kids” around.
Elle says
In my C300 that is less than 2 gallons of gas in a month. 1 gallon for the Dr round trip. So at our current Boise rate, $9.45 in a month with a Dr appt. (love my car and my gas mileage!
Laura says
I live in So. California and gas was $3.79 at Costco when I filled up on Tuesday. We spend between $100 and $120 a month. It was way less at the beginning of the pandemic. We’re retired so I don’t have the commute I used to.
Elle says
I investigated this magazine delivery issue a few years ago. Advertisers are paying for random mailing to “get their product out there” in front of more people and say it pays off. We’ll get 3-6 months and then we get a “magazine renewal” notice and many people do it! (why is beyond me but it works!). We are now on our 5th, I believe, different magazine that we never ordered as my HH is not into GQ 😉 and I am not into Cosmopolitan. Of course, we never get suckered by the magazine renewal so their effort is lost on us. Right now, we’re getting 2 subscriptions simultaneously.
Marjorie Fritsch says
We budget 300 a month currently and it’s fairly close to that. Before I changed jobs in may, it was closer to 600 a month.
Diana says
A tank fillup for me is about $60-70 (26 gal tank) and I have a diesel truck. I just checked my ‘books’ and I’m averaging $27.78/mo. Yeah you read that right! Criminy – I haven’t filled up since early April! I didn’t realize I’d become that much of a hermit… yikes…
Leslie says
I estimate $40 a month: I have a Prius (love it!) and live only about 4 miles from work. During Covid, i may have spent less than $20. Too many Americans drive gas-guzzlers!
Fifitr says
Very interesting to see what a broad range of spending there is, just to live life. Over in the UK we pair of retirees spend the equivalent of about $70 per month, but our price for gas is around the $7.50-$8 mark per gallon so the comparable figure to those being quoted is probably more like $30 a month. We made a conscious decision a few years ago to move to a small town so we could walk everywhere for everyday shopping, and try and buy as much here as we can, especially since the Covid shutdowns have impacted on small businesses so much. Banking, large furniture, fancy shoes and some white goods require a trip but otherwise we can hoof it. Most of our spend is on visiting elderly relatives a couple of hours drive away.
Jess says
I still have to go to the office everyday so I’m at $200 on a non busy week (assuming I don’t have many weekday or weekend task), ~$250 if I’m busy during the weekend and busy after work on the weekdays.
Jon says
$1136/month over past 12 months. Infiniti Q50 RS400 averaging 15 mpg. Only use Costco Top Tier gas @ $4.32 per gallon.