Recalculate and model

1. Over the past few weeks, I have gotten some GOOD deals. Between the local consignment shop, Banana Republic gift cards from gifts and credit card points, and a 30% off Family & Friends coupon for BR and the Gap I have purchased:

3 dress shirts
3 t-shirts
1 dressier short-sleeved shirt
Light-weight 3/4 sleeve sweater
open-fronted light-weight sweater
Jeans
Brown leather belt

For ~$30. That's right. Not including what the two shirts from the consignment shop may have cost in a previous life, I got ~$344.44 (if you go by all the suggested prices) or $189.99 (if you go by all the marked down and clearance prices) for $30. I think I can stop complaining about not shopping now.

2. In other news, I know I have had some pretty brilliant ideas in the past, but some of my recently implemented methods of savings really are working.

The speed limit here is 70 mph for cars and 60 for trucks. I used to drive close to 80 mph when commuting in the absence of bad weather, traffic, or idiots. I decided I would slow down. Now I hover around 70 usually, but have driven home at a mere 65 behind an 18-wheeler who was breaking the wind for my little Jetta. Why? Because if you decide to drive that way, it is actually quite relaxing and you get WAY better gas mileage. I have filled up at the same gas station and pump the past two times so I could figure out my gas mileage controlling for variation between pumps (oh, the scientist in me despite all the other gross estimates I am about to make).

Drumroll please!

3 mpg MORE driving the way I do now compared to the way I was. That works out to an extra trip to (or from) work. I may have over-estimated how much I would save last time I calculated it out (~$700), but with these new data (yes, 'data' is plural), I still save between $300 - $550 per year!

Bear with me for the rest of the math (and logic)...or skip to the punchline. I essentially "save" a gallon of gas every time I fill up (as in I use one less gallon per full tank because of the saved gas mileage). Now, if you consider that there are 255,917,664 registered vehicles on the road, and if each vehicle slowed down a bit and aimed to getter better gas mileage, and you assume people fill their tanks once a week (I fill mine every 4.5 - 5 days), every vehicle would end up NOT using 52 gallons a year...

Punchline: As a country we could NOT use 13,307,718,530 gallons of gasoline every year by just driving ~ 65 mph. That seems like a pretty significant number to me. Despite all the gross approximations, I think they were reasonable approximations. People could save money, the country could reduce dependence on foreign oil, and we would all win...I think. I am sure there are people who like to drive fast who think this is absolutely a ridiculous idea. I propose to start the trend, when police cars do not have their lights flashing, they should drive the speed limit (and not weave in and out of traffic and stay off the phone, but these are different issues I have observed while commuting), and public vehicles that would never need to go fast (like a department of transportation plow or a department of energy "official car") should have a speed thing (I forget what they are called) so that they CANNOT go over a certain speed. I know this has been suggested by many, and here are some arguments for reduced speed limits that would be even lower than 65 mph. Heck, if speed limits were reduced and police pulled people over, they could increase ticket revenue too, thus solving another local budget problem. I would be interested to see an actual modeling of this idea with real numbers broken down for car types, etc., but I still think I am pretty brilliant.