Fall Garden Chores for Spring Success

 Spring can come fast in the north, so getting ready in the fall is the smart thing to do. I'm talking garden chores here. Many people get bored or tired of garden work by the end of summer as the harvest wanes and weeds take over. But if you want to be ready earlier in the spring, there is much that can and should be done in the fall.

Removing all the dead vegetation and weeding the garden beds should be a priority. Pest insects and some diseases will over-winter in the dead vegetation. Getting them out of the garden and raking the top two inches of soil will get rid of most of the pests and expose those left behind to the harsh weather, which will hopefully kill them as well.

The raised bed to the left still needs to get cleaned up but this one is properly cleared of all weeds and dead plant material. Every couple of days I will lightly rake the topsoil to expose any insect eggs to the well below freezing temps at night. This should greatly reduce to number of bugs that hatch in the spring. Later, I will cover this bed with a couple inches of mulch to protect the soil from rains and to feed the soil bacteria and worms.

I built the U-shaped raised bed recently and filled them with soil, which is still settling. The pavers were just hastily put down just to see if I had enough. I will pull them up in the spring and set them in place properly then. The weedy area will become one large bed for larger crops such as corn and potatoes. I need to till it under soon before it freezes.

My compost pile cooled down from 143 degrees to about 70-80, due to lack of oxygen. The compost had been up to 143 degrees a week previously and was hot for over three weeks. But as the bacteria digest the organic matter, they use up the available oxygen and their metabolic processes slow down.
 

So, I used a pitchfork to move the material from this bin to the one on the right. I layered this with some older, half-composted material (to add bacteria) and some fresh plant matter from my flower gardens. This adds much needed air space, to hold more oxygen, and fresh green material to help feed the bacteria.

The result, after three days, is 150-degree temperatures and you can see that the composting process is well under way. I will probably turn and mix the compost one or two more times before the cold winter air brings the composting process to a crawl. But, by late spring, I will have approximately 20-25 cubic feet of good quality compost to add to my raised beds.

Burger King Hack

 When you purchase a meal at Burger King there is a link for a satisfaction survey on the receipt. If you fill out the survey you get a code for a FREE Whopper. If two of you are going to eat, have one person buy their meal then give the other the receipt. Just fill it out, get your code, and get your free Whopper. It only takes a minute. You'll still need to buy a drink and fries if you want them, but the Whopper is the expensive part of the meal. 

Sometimes I do the survey while I'm eating my meal then go to the counter and get the free Whopper to eat later.

Why not?

Limited time offer...probably.

Composting in the Fall

Many people more or less give up on their gardens by the end of summer. They are tired of weeding and watering and have picked all the fresh produce that they wanted. Now it's time to get ready for fall and winter holidays, maybe go on one last family trip, put the lawn furniture away, and settle down into a less active schedule.

But, now is the perfect time to get ready for next year and build up your stock of compost. Early fall is my favorite time for composting. For one thing, it is less hot, less humid, and there are fewer flying insects. But mostly because nature gives us the PERFECT blend of composting materials; dry grass, fresh grass, and fallen leaves. 

I have an older DR Lawn Vacuum/mulcher, it is about 15 years old now and is still going strong. There are many other companies that make pull-behind equipment as well as smaller units you push by hand. But, you can also use a regular lawn mower and just discharge the cut leaves and grass in the same direction and then rake up the rows of material. A mower won't chop it up as finely, but it works just fine and that is how I did it for many years.

I have two adjoining properties with a total of just over four acres, minus the footprint of the two houses. I also have many deciduous and conifer trees on the property that produce plenty of leaves and pine needles. That produces WAY more material than I could ever compost and use so I only run my mower and vacuum over the areas with the heaviest accumulations of leaves. You can see different layers in my DR Vacuum that show I mowed over areas with more and less leaves on the ground. 

It's the leaves that I really want, but they have to be mixed with other "brown" (carbon) material and "green" (nitrogen) material in order for the composting process to be efficient. Why are leaves important? Your tree's roots grow to wherever the nutrients and moisture are found. Down through the top soil and into the underlying base earth. What this layer lacks in soluble nutrients it makes up for in vital minerals and trace elements that the tree needs. These elements are usually leached out of the top soil, filtering down into the lower layers. The tree's massive root system extends down into these lower layers and absorbs the minerals and trace elements it needs to grow. They are transported up into the tree and are used in the annual growth spurt the tree does every spring and summer. Much of those minerals and trace elements end up in the leaves. When the leaves drop in the fall, all that mineral goodness is now laying on top of the ground, and you can "harvest" that.

Two years ago I went from a four-bin composting setup to a three-bin system. I miss that fourth bin. But a three-bin layout still works pretty good. One bin strictly holds finished compost where it "seasons" or ages and nutrients stabilize. It still breaks down a little bit through earthworm and insect activity, but bacterial decomposition has more or less stopped. That is the compost you can safely add to your garden and flower beds. A second bin is where I start the composting process by throwing in rough material without much regard for layering or establishing a green and brown ratio. It is sort of just a holding bin, but decomposition still occurs during the warm days of summer. I compost everything; weeds, sawdust, kitchen scraps, animal carcasses from the fall and winter hunting seasons, everything goes in the bin. This year, the bin to the right of the one showing below was the raw materials bin. To the left is the finished compost bin (it is fully covered to prevent nutrient leaching from rains).

In the fall, I mow and vacuum up a full trailer of leaves, grass, and pine needles (about 48-54 cubic feet). Then I start transferring rough material from the right bin to the center bin. I shake it and break it up so the material gets spread out in the new bin, which also aerates it. Oxygen is vital to good composting. I put down a layer 6-8 inches, and then add a layer from my lawn vacuum of 6-8 inches. I alternate layers of old, partially decomposed material with freshly gathered material. This transfers active microbes, worms, and other carbon digesting insects to the new material. It jump starts the composting process.

 

Old and new, old and new layers

 

 

 

This year, I lucked out and was able to get a large, free bag of coffee grounds from a local Starbucks. Most Starbucks will have a bin somewhere in their store (or you might have to ask) where you can get free bags of grounds. Coffee grounds are a rich source of nitrogen and will greatly accelerate the composting process. The micro-organisms also react to caffeine the same way that we do...a huge boost in energy! I spread a heavy sprinkling of coffee grounds on each layer of new material.

Using the old and new material I filled my bin to the top, over 70 cubic feet of space.

Four days later, after 24 hours of steady rain, the compost had settled down about 12-14 inches into the bin, just from its own weight and some initial decomposition. In the center of the bin I inserted a long-probe thermometer to check on how well the composting process was coming along.

Success! Outside air temperature is 51 degrees (F), inside temp is 143 degrees (F)! That heat, if you don't already know, is generated by the metabolic activity of the bacteria feeding on the composting material. This is considered "Hot Composting", which will kill most weed seeds and undesirable bacteria, making the resulting compost safe to use in food producing gardens. This pile will stay at that temperature for a couple days, it might even get a bit hotter, and then it will slowly cool down  due to a lack of oxygen in the pile. I will use a pitch fork to move all this material from the center bin to the right hand bin in mid-November to reintroduce fresh oxygen into the material and it will heat up a second time as the bacteria flourish again. Then the pile will cool down and go dormant during the cold winter days. But in the Spring, I will reap about 20 cubic feet of finished compost for my gardens.

22 October 2023 UPDATE: I had planned to turn my compost to remix and aerate it but before I did that effort I stuck the thermometer deep into the pile again and it was still 140 degrees F. So, I decided that is was doing just fine as it was and I would check it the following week and see how it is progressing.

5 November 2023 UPDATE: The core temperature was 70 degrees while the air temperature was 52. I decided to move the compost from one bin to another to aerate and mix the material. There was some half composted material in the bottom of the second bin so I forked that onto a trailer and my intent was to mix this old, cold material into the mix. As I dug out the new material just starting to compost, I made sure to completely break up any clumps by bouncing it on the pitchfork or by twisting the fork rapidly. This created very loose, airy material, which I spread out in the new bin. I layered in some of the old compost as I went. This looser mix, all fluffed up, filled the bin to the top. I checked the temp three hours after I was done moving everything into the new bin and it was just over 60 degrees.

10 November 2023 UPDATE: The compost core temperature was 152 degrees this morning with overnight air temps of 30 degrees. That is a hot pile. Fresh oxygen, and perhaps the introduction of some partially composted material, really kicked the biological activity into high gear.

Basic Emergency Preparedness

   There is an entire movement of so-called "Preppers", people that expend a good bit of effort to ensure they are prepped for any kind of emergency. The extreme faction are the Shit Hits the Fan (SHTF) types that are convinced that an apocalypse or Doomsday scenario is right around the corner. They train, study, practice skills, and stock away supplies enough to live for years if there is a total collapse of the American society. Current events in the news don't do much to prove them wrong though, really. The other end of the spectrum are those that stock up on enough needed items to get through a short-term emergency due to weather/geologic disasters, narrowly focused terrorist type attacks (taking out the electric grid for example), or a short term political or criminal crisis. 

  Either way, it behooves every household to take some basic precautions and have what is needed on hand to get through at least a couple weeks without outside assistance. 

  Food and water: I advocate keeping a 30-day supply of food in the house that can be prepared even if the electricity and gas systems are shut down. Freeze-dried foods last 25 years if stored properly (in a cool, dry, dark location). Basic beans, rice, and noodles will also store for a long time if repackaged in oxygen-proof containers and stored properly. Water is harder to store, plastic bottles will eventually start to break down and leach chemicals into the water. You can bottle your own water in canning jars and you should also buy two, good quality water purification systems. The type and the quality will be based on whatnaturally occurring water is available close by your house. Then you need an independent means with which to cook your food. Camp stoves with plenty of fuel work fine. I have several Coleman stoves and keep two gallons of "White Gas" stored for use. Unleaded gasoline can also be used in a pinch. I also have a "Solo" twig burning stove to supplement the Coleman stove. The Solo stove also works great, it is just a little bit slower to bring a pint of water to a boil.

  You need a means to heat your house if you live in an area where temps drop under 40 degrees. My house has a fireplace in which I inserted a wood burning stove. This stove is far more efficient than an open fire in a fireplace and can keep my entire house above 60 degrees even on the coldest winter days (proven five years ago when we lost power for five days in December). My wood stove has a fan to circulate air around the firebox to gain efficiency. I powered that fan with a car battery and an inverter to convert 12 volt DC power to 120 volt AC power. I also had a fan at the back of the room to move warm air to the rest of the house. Another option is to set up tents inside the house so your own body heat can warm up a smaller, enclosed space. A single long burning candle can keep the air inside the tent above freezing at least. If you don't have a fireplace or wood burning stove, you need to store several dozens of long duration emergency candles. These can be bought online.

  My car battery lasted for the five days but after that emergency I decided to upgrade to a "Solar Generator" power bank. I bought a small unit from Ecoflow, there are lots of companies selling these set-ups now. My system can store and provide 1,600 watthours of electricity and has 400 watts of solar panels to recharge the battery bank each day. That is eight times as much power as the car battery had and it can be recharged each day as needed. 1,600 watthours would power a 100 watt light bulb for 16 hours of continuous use, for example. Modern LED and CFL lights use a fraction of that wattage and could stay on for days. Every household needs to have the means to generate and store electrical power. Gas and propane/natural gas generators are good, but what happens when you can't get fuel? I can charge my battery bank in an hour with a generator and then use that power for an entire day. That would stretch out your fuel for a couple weeks probably. 

  You need a good supply of non-electrical lighting systems. Batteries wear out and just go bad. But you can buy rechargeable AA and AAA batteries and cheap solar chargers for them. Go to the Dollar Store or Walmart and buy a dozen or so solar garden or walkway lights. That little 4x4 inch solar panel will charge a single battery in a couple hours of direct sunlight. Then pop it into your flashlight and you are good to go. I have several motion activated solar-charged lights for my outdoor sheds and garage. These have larger solar panels and you can charge these during the day and then use them as emergency lights in the house and as security lighting at entrances to your house. Candles and oil lanterns are good, plus they provide some heat. The gas mantle lights are very bright though the mantles can be fragile.

  Blankets and sleeping bags above and beyond what you normally have on the bed are needed. Wool is best and you can buy military surplus wool blankets at surplus stores and online. Remember, the house is not going to be heated to 72 degrees so you need more warmth from sleeping bags or blankets. 

  Medications. You need to maintain a fresh supply of any meds you normally keep on hand such a cold and flu meds, pain relievers, allergy meds, etc. You won't be able to replenish once the roads and stores are closed.

  Don't forget about your pets. Stock up on their food and meds too.

  The time to start putting together these supplies is now, they won't be available when a crisis is looming. A few dollars a week is all you need and over time you can build a kit that will ensure your safety and comfort. But you need to start now.

 

Building a new Wood Shed

    During the winter, I partially heat my house with a wood stove insert in my living room fireplace. The insert is the smallest high-quality stove I could find online, back in 2005. I have an all-electric house and electric heat is the least efficient and can be the most expensive of all heat systems. Right now though, with home heating oil at near record highs, it might be debatable which system is most expensive. Regardless, it can cost a lot to heat an all-electric house. I did the math a couple years ago and I save approximately $300 a month on my electric bill by burning wood through the cold season.

    To do this, I need about three cords of dry, seasoned hard wood. So, many years ago, I built a "temporary" woodshed from large pallets and some left over roofing material. I described that build in an earlier post at this link. Link to the post showing me building my old shed in 2014: Feed Yourself During Hard Times: Building a Pallet Woodshed (eatbettercheaper.blogspot.com)

    Last year, I needed to move my old shed closer to the house due to some mobility issues and wanting a shorter walk with wood. I used one of my tractors to slide the old shed about 60-70 yards across my yard. Doing this, though, removed the brick foundation from under the shed that protected the wood floor from ground contact and rot. So, I knew I would need to build a new shed this year. 

    My original plan was to build a shed that was 12x16 feet but when I checked lumber prices and availability, I found that ten-foot lumber and eight-foot roofing sheets were available, but 12-foot lumber and ten-foot roofing sheets were in limited supply and quite a bit more expensive. So, I downsized to a 10x16 foot footprint. This also made it easier for me to man-handle the lumber, I had no help building this shed and I'm 62 years old.

    I found a reasonably level spot in the backyard just outside a fenced in portion out my back door. It took me a full day to put down a simple foundation, level it, and get the sill-plates in place. (I am not a carpenter so if I use the wrong term for pieces of the building, please excuse my mistakes). I built the walls in sections and then tipped them up as sub-units and used a combination of clamps and bracing 2x4s to hold things in place until I could nail or screw pieces together.

    You can see that my old shed has seen better days, though it is still usable and would have lasted another year or two. I will start transferring the wood from the old shed to the new one and then disassemble the old shed. The roof panel will be used to cover a new shooting range back stop and the good slats from the pallets will be used in the new shed as interior wall boards. 

    The shed has three partitions. The eight foot long, four foot deep, and up to eight feet high center partition will hold the bulk of the winter's wood. It can hold two cords if I go eight feet high. Then there are two four by four by eight areas on either side of the main storage area. One will hold all split pine and the other will hold whatever wood is leftover at the end of the burning season so I can start off the following winter with a significant store of dry seasoned wood. I typically start cutting firewood in September. I have 31 acres with plenty of standing dead trees so while seasoning is not required, the wood is often damp and needs time to fully dry after I cut and split it. With all the storage space being used, I could have four cords of wood on hand.

    The horizontal 2x4s, which the siding will be attached to, are cut from salvaged lumber from a patio roof I demolished a couple months ago. The boards I used for the main partitions are old boards from my sister's pool fence that I got from her about ten years ago and had stored waiting for a good use. The frame is fully braced to prevent racking and it is pinned to the ground with three-foot-long rebar. The floor is packed shale with a topping of 2a Modified stone, which will pack down to a very solid surface as it gets used.

    The siding is rough-cut pine; one inch thick. I bought it from a hobbyist Sawyer that has a VERY basic sawmill setup. Quality control isn't great, so I had to edge and trim each board as I went. I also used used motor oil to seal the end grain top and bottom since the wood was not fully air-dried and I didn't want the boards to check too severely. I paid $300 for 350 board feet of this lumber: a very good price. I started out using nails but quickly shifted to construction screws since I just couldn't hold the board in place while hammering nails into it. This was easier, but far more expensive. I used at least $150 worth of screws in this build; nails would have been about $40-$50. 

    I can't even count the number of times I went up and down that ladder; there are 75 boards on the siding. Once all the siding was on, the frame was pretty solid and steady.

    There are lots of ways to install a roof, but I went with a top ridge beam with the roof rafters tied into that. There are five 2x6 posts going from the cross rafters (going from one wall to the other). Those cross rafters are further supported by the 2x6 posts I used to create the three internal partitions. So, the roof load is very adequately supported. The twenty 2x4 roof rafters had to be custom cut, which was a slow process at first but got easier and quicker as I got experience. I used 1x4 slats set at 24-inch centers on which to screw the roof sheeting. The roof peak is 13.5 feet from the ground with a 40-degree pitch, which should shed water and snow very well.

    The roof panels are 3x8 galvanized steel panels. Once fully installed, which took 30 roofing screws for each panel, they were surprisingly solid. I later had to go up on the roof to put a temporary ridge cap along the ridge to weather-proof it. I bought the twelve panels from Lowes, and I think they were about $42 each. In this picture you can see the gaps between the siding boards. They were tight together when I installed them, but they are drying and shrinking fast now that they are exposed to the air and sun. That is not a problem for this application, I need good air flow to dry the firewood. 

    I still need to enclose the gable ends and I intend to add sliding doors to the two ends. But otherwise, it is ready to go. I towed my log splitter inside, added a shelf unit to hold my wood cutting tools, and I braced some of the 2x6 posts with a 2x4 across the width, which also created a space to store my long ladders. All in all, I am very happy with this build. It is a very solid (way over-engineered) building that will last for decades. It looks good in the yard (better than the old, crooked shed) and gives me a place to get other things that were cluttering up the yard, out of sight.

 

Update 21 January 2023: I finished closing in both gables last week end.

 Getting the angles and lengths of these boards right was harder than expected. What I ended up doing was temporarily attaching a horizontal board across this wall and resting the vertical gable boards on this to keep a clean, straight line. Once I used a level to make sure the center board was perfectly plum, the others stayed true as well. The angled tops of the boards tuck up under the roofing metal so it made a nice, water tight seal. I have lots of wood left to do the two large door openings.

Repairing an 18 Volt Lithium Battery

 I have been building a 16x10 wood shed to replace a "temporary" shed I threw together a couple years ago. We all know the old saying, "Nothing is more permanent than the temporary." But I wanted a new, bigger shed so that I can store all my wood cutting equipment in one place and out of the weather. I will show the shed in a later post.

But what is relevant to this post is that after I was done working last weekend and was putting away my tools. I somehow missed my two Ryobi batteries, which were sitting on a stump. So they got rained on, a lot. I would have thought that these battery packs would be water tight, but they are not. Yesterday, when I tried to charge them, they wouldn't take a charge. The charger showed there was a fault. Yup, water got in the batteries.

These batteries are $79 a piece, not cheap. And these were two fairly new replacement batteries.

Well, I had no idea what damage had been done but I learned long ago that nothing ventured, nothing gained. So I decided to take the battery packs apart and see what I could do to revive them. Fingers were crossed.

The battery pack is held together by five star-drive screws; one in each corner and one at the top of the post that inserts into the drill handle.

These all came out very easy with a star-drive bit that I have. I got this set at a Lidl store near me. Very good quality tools.

Below, you can see the star-drive bit.

Once it was opened up I found two more tiny screws holding the circuit board to the bottom of the battery pack. I was really surprised to see such a full circuit board but these are smart batteries that sync with the smart charger to protect the components, to not burst into flames (a big problem with lithium batteries), and to regulate the charging process. 

My guess is that water was short-circuiting the bare solder spots. I dabbed off as much water as I could, shook the piece to get water out from the inside, and then dried it further with a hot air hair dryer. It took about twenty minutes to do each of the batteries. I let them cool down, reassembled them, and then tried them in my drill. Both work perfectly. 

Money saved.

Each time I do a repair like this I learn something new, which helps me to repair other things. Having a solid background in science, especially Physics, comes in very handy. I have a huge assortment of tools as well. But for this job I only needed a star-drive bit and a tiny Phillips Head screwdriver (from a glasses repair kit to do this repair.

Don't throw stuff out until you give repairing a try. Even if you can't fix the item, you will learn something usable the next time.

save Money even with the High Cost of Gas and Diesel

This post is slightly off-topic but any money you can save in one area can be used to buy more in another area. a couple years ago I rented a car to drive to a wedding 660 miles away. I didn't want to put the miles on my car, which already had 109,000 plus miles. I wanted a larger car than what I own for a more comfortable and safe drive. I rented a Nissan Altima.  I cannot be sure but considering how much power it had I believe it was the six cylinder motor.  

So what I want to talk about is Hyper-miling techniques. Hyper-miling is a term that was coined quite a few years ago to describe the tricks used to get the highest mileage possible out of your car. I started using the more conservative, basic methods about ten years ago. Using the easiest techniques I was able to routinely get 24 mpg out of my 1992 Ford Explorer. The Explorer was rated at 16 mpg, when new, and mine was 17 years old.

One the way to the wedding, I had two days to drive so I could take my time and enjoy the ride. I decided to see how high I could get my mileage on the trip so I applied the normal hyper-mileage techniques I routinely use and was able to reach an average of 43 mpg. The car is rated for 31 mpg. So that is a significant improvement. What difference does that make? Well, on a 660 mile trip it is something like this:

660 divided by 43 = 15.35 gallons. At $4.25 a gallon = $65.24
660 divided by 31 = 21.25 gallons. At $4.25 a gallon = $90.31

What are some of these techniques I use? Read below.

1. Keep the car tuned up. Properly running cars are more efficient and produce less pollution. A regular schedule of maintenance for you car is the first step to even having a car with which you can hyper-mile. I recently had my 2015 Ford Edge with 103,000 on its V-6 engine gone over by my mechanic, which included a tune-up. I went from 26.2 mpg combined to 30.1; an improvement of 3.9 mpg.

2. Use performance parts when you can. High performance spark plugs, for example, like iridium-tipped "performance" spark plugs create a larger combustion spark which contributes to fuller, more efficient burn in the combustion chamber. This provides slightly more power, better fuel efficiency and lower emissions. There are also low restriction air intakes and exhausts that greatly improve power and efficiency.

3. Align and balance the wheels. Being out of alignment causes additional rolling friction and reduces mileage. The tires will also wear down unevenly requiring early replacement.

4. Check tire pressure regularly. If the tires are incorrectly inflated, there will be excess drag, or insufficient surface contact with the road, causing significant decreases in fuel efficiency.

5.  Take everything you don't need out of your car. The more weight you're carrying, the harder the engine has to work. 

6. Drive as if you don't have brakes — coast as much as possible. Plan ahead so that you aren't required to brake very much. Careful coasting will reduce your gas usage. Braking always wastes gas.

7. Accelerate as if there is an egg between your foot and the gas pedal. Unless there is an emergency, keep your RPMs below 3,000. 

8. Gather speed on level roads or while going down hill. Let gravity do some of the work for your engine.

9. Use momentum to get over small hills. Bleed off speed, slowly lose speed as you climb up and over the hill. It there is a downhill on the other side, start coasting even before you crest the hill. Your momentum will carry you over.

10. Time lights so that you can move through them without stopping. Even rolling forward slowly when the light turns green will help you avoid inertia. Starting to move forward from a dead stop uses far more gas than if you are already slowly moving forward.

11. Plan routes so that you only take right turns. This reduces the time you are sitting still at a light; burning gas but not moving anywhere.

12. Try to run all your errands at one time. A warmed up engine gets better mileage than a cold engine. Drive to the farthest away place first and then work your way back home.

13. DO NOT idle your car to warm it up in the morning, that wastes a tremendous amount of gas.

14. Be careful with using Cruise Control. Cruise control's sole purpose is to keep your car at a certain speed. If the road is mountainous or hilly, it will shift down to a lower gear to maintain speed. The best mileage is obtained by staying in the highest gear possible for as long as possible.

15. As much as possible, stop/park your car facing down hill. Pulling out from a dead stop AND accelerating uphill is a double gas waster.

16. Drafting. Drafting is the technique of following a moving vehicle close enough that the air pushed out of the way by the vehicle in front of yours lowers the air resistance for your car. This is the same technique used by race car drivers and Canada Geese flying in the V formation. There is a great deal of danger involved with this technique because to be successful you have to stay within 2-3 car-lengths behind the other vehicle. Don't do it unless you can devote 100% of your attention to watching the other vehicle. 

17. Limit use of your air conditioner. I run it when going down hill and turn it off when going up hill. Air Conditioners put additional strain on a motor, especially smaller, lower horsepower motors.

18. Open your windows for cooling up to 40 mph. Much above 40 mph and the added wind resistance is worse than running the air conditioning.

19. Keep your speed down. Different cars get their best mileage at different speeds. The sound of the engine will give you a good idea. If it sounds like it is running hard, then it is. Generally, staying below 60 mph is best.

20. Park so that you can pull out without having to back up first. Any movement that is not in the direction you need to go is wasteful. Pull through parking spots so that you are facing out.

These are the more conservative methods and you can expect to gain at least 24% mpg with practice. That can effectively reduce fuel costs by a corresponding 24%.

Drive smart, drive safe.