I am and I never even knew there was a name for it before today!

Hypermiling is a way to drastically reduce gas consumption. Here are two great articles that describe it. The first one has the very clear definition at the bottom. The second one goes into more detail.

Tricks squeeze every drop from the tank

Take it easy and get 30 percent better mpg - May. 9, 2006

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Mom to dd (age 9) and ds (age 11)
blogging daily about purpose and personal identity

My husband does this obsessively! He always says to me "Drive like you don't have brakes."

I find this much harder to do with an automatic car than with a stick. In my Honda Odyssey (which is not available as a stick), I sometimes catch my right foot going directly from the gas to the brake.

This technique, of coasting more and not accelerating quickly also saves significant wear and tear on the car, saving you more money down the road!!

Very true. I do have the advantage of driving stick. It's much harder with an automatic.

PS I saw your ticker. Way to go. The hardest part is getting started. I'm proud of you.

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Mom to dd (age 9) and ds (age 11)
blogging daily about purpose and personal identity

My husband does this sometimes too. He swears it works.

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"Gardening is a way of showing that you believe in tomorrow."

It does! You should get him to show you how.

A couple of years ago our air conditioning broke in the car. We didn't have the funds to get it fixed. Still don't. Our car isn't worth what getting the air would be. Right away we noticed a HUGE difference in gas milage.

I also follow the other things, rolling to a stop, driving at or just below limit, etc. It's fascinating to see others writing about it now.

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Mom to dd (age 9) and ds (age 11)
blogging daily about purpose and personal identity

I've done this for a couple years now. I can really see a difference from driving 5-10 mph under the speed limit as opposed to the speed limit or above.

Now, if everyone would do this....

I have always done the coasting to a stop thing. Now what I do is turn on my air but only for part of the time. Cool air recycled is ok. My car has an auto feature so if I say I want the air to be 75 degrees it will keep it there and only turn the AC pump on to maintain. Well if I go a few degrees higher it is barely noticeable and the AC doesn't run all the time either.

My Honda has the feature that if you are crusing at a certain speed for a period of time it will actually switch to a fuel saving mode that draws less gas to the engine which is only necessary for accelerating. It is how my Minivan will get close to 30 mpg on the highway.

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Grace

Wife to Stoney

Mommy of Sarah (9), Hannah (7.5), and John(5)

I have started tracking my mpg when filling up my tank. I have found a difference (though not much but it would add up) when I am driving highway and off highway. I usually drive alittle above the speed limit on the highway and off highway I drive the speed limit. Well I have found that I average about 26mpg off highway and 23mpg on highway since I started being more conscious. It really makes me think and I have to say I now am trying to get into the habit of giving myself about 15 extra minutes to and from places to allow myself to not feel that I need to drive the speed limit or over the speed limit. I am interested to see what my mpg will be after next week since I just filled up today.

That's so funny! The other day while driving through our subdivision my husband made the comment that nobody was completely braking at the 4-way stops. I joked no one wanted to brake b/c it wasted gas. Granted, these articles aren't advocating "rolling stops"...but tell me you haven't done it just so you didn't waste gas.

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Jenny, wife to Brad, mommy to two crazy little kids with one on the way!

Thanks for those articles. I do some of those things, but I know I can work on the accelerating and breaking tips. I thought the parking tips were interesting too. I never would have thought of some of those things.