This will be TNPC’s 10th year of publication. It has been a long
time and the Internet has gone through many changes. One of those
changes forced us to change our name in 2003. Spam filters had
gotten so aggressive that our original name was swallowed up. Hence
the start of the acronym TNPC.

Many people wrote yesterday asking what had tied up my time. In a
nutshell I accepted a job outside the house and our children are
beginning to have many activities outside the house. The combination
has me busier than I ever remember being in the past.

My plan at this point is to send shorter emails more frequently.
In the past your copy of TNPC tended to be more lengthy and With so
much email flooding your inbox you will find the shorter issues
easier to digest. We will use the blog to share even more hot tips
and ideas. This will give you and other readers the chance to share.

That brings us to the item for today. As We all know gasoline
prices are rising quickly. The price of gas brings mixed feelings
for me. On the one hand it is disheartening when I have to fill the
tank then on the other hand, my day job is with an oil company.

My family is large. We drive a large vehicle. My wife took a road
trip recently and it was over $120 to fill the tank. Toward that end
someone sent me this little tool:

http://autos.msn.com/everyday/gasstations.aspx?zip=&src=Netx%3C%20/A%3E

Type in your zip code and see the local gas prices. Truthfully, it
isn’t that useful to me. All the local stations are just a few
blocks from my house. To reach any more I have to drive to the next
town. But maybe it will help you.

It could be useful when planning a trip to know when and when not
to fill up.

Related. I wrote a blog post a couple of years ago on how I was
applying dollar cost averaging to my fuel purchases. You can read
it here:

http://www.tnpcnewsletter.com/blog/2006/01/19/gasoline-and-dollar-cost-averaging/

Let me know what you think. If you have an opinion or tip that will
help others leave a comment at the blog.

Talk to you soon.

~ Dan

Dan Butler
TNPC Newsletter

Gas prices are jumping up and down regularly. If you drive a large car the cost can be significant between fill ups. Now I am not one to argue about the cost of gas. The stock of the Oil & Gas Company I used to work for has finally reached a price that makes it attractive to sell.

My van burns through the gas quickly. So to manage the ever changing price of gasoline I have started practicing dollar cost averaging when I purchase my gasoline. Most of us have heard of the Dollar Cost Averaging in the Stock Market. Basically you invest a set amount each month in the market. The prices fluctuate but over time your investments even out. Dollar cost averaging is attractive because it takes little work to implement. In fact it can be automated most of the time.

You can apply this same technique to purchasing your gasoline. In my case I chose ten gallons of gasoline as my averaging amount. So when I stop by the gas station I put ten gallons in. By not filling the tank I am poised to save if the price dips. Should the price go up I am not out as much as I would be if I filled the tank.

When the price gets low – say under $2.00/gallon here – I go ahead and put more gas in. Usually fifteen to twenty gallons.

This is all relative. I drive a large vehicle that gets low gas mileage. But if you divide the number of people transported by the cost per mile my travel is actually more efficient than many people with their high gas mileage small cars who travel alone.

To try this with your gas purchases simply determine how much gasoline will fill half of your tank. That is the number I use for my averaging. Give this a try and know that you are averaging paying less in general than you would if you filled your tank at every fill.