Avoid the Rush Hour

If you have a flexible work schedule, try to arrange your day so that you can avoid the road jams during rush hour. When you drive at the pace of a speed-walker, your gas mileage takes a nosedive.

If you shift your commute, and drive during off-peak periods, you'll spend less time on congested roads, consume less fuel, and you could save a good deal of money.

If you have a 15-mile commute, and 10 miles of it are spent creeping along the highway at 5 to 10 miles per hour, you could save between 300 and 400 gallons of gasoline per year by driving during off-peak traffic hours.

Spending less time on the road means you'll have more time to do other things-such as finding a way to use that extra $1000 you saved on gas.

If just 5 percent of commuters steered clear of the road during congested periods, the total annual savings could be almost 2 billion gallons of gasoline. The amount of money saved-about $6 billion-could pay a six-figure salary to more than 6,000 American workers per year.

Sources:

Fuel economy guide
Bowling and Grippo's MPG estimation calculator
U.S. census public transportation table