Life on the Road

Disclaimer

I freely acknowledge that I am a numbers geek. I realize that I spend all day looking at numbers, and that I can be competitive and numbers driven. I know this. So before you start thinking to yourself, "Wow, Shelley has way too much time on her hands. Therefore I need to comment on it to let her know how much time she wastes"...know that it took me less time to run these graphs than it did for you to type a comment. :)

This stuff truly does interest me. I started tracking these numbers in an Excel spreadsheet in 2001. Takes about 15 seconds to update whenever I fill up, and I just do it now when I write the entry into my checkbook. I love tracking stuff like this. Especially now that my commute to the office has gone from 7.84 miles roundtrip (daily) to 80.84 miles roundtrip. Last year, I commuted less in one entire week than I do now...commuting one way in one day.

That said...

I filled up today at the gas station in Tacoma, which for the record, is normally about 8 cents cheaper on average than filling up in Olympia. It was the 157th time I have fueled the BMW since I bought it in 2005.

I went back to compare the last few years of my life at the pump, starting in the beginning of 2006. At that point, gas was $1.90 a gallon. It's pretty amazing to see what's happened given the price of oil over time.



The next few charts show the difference of living in the north end of Tacoma and working downtown and moving to Rainier while still working in Tacoma. In 2006, I used 702 gallons of gas for 22.15 miles per gallon. You could definitely tell when I did long road trips -- the MPG in town was about 19.75 and on the highway, closer to 26 or 27.

I drove 2144 miles less in 2007 - using 110 less gallons of fuel. My MPG increased slightly to 22.65.



This year, I have driven 15,257 miles...through today. With all the highway driving, my MPG has increased to 26.30. At this rate, I am on track to drive 25,312 miles in 2008.

It's a little more than driving around the Earth one time at the equator.



The scariest part?

This is what I spent on fuel in 2006 and 2007...and to date in 2008. At this rate, I will spend nearly the exact amount in 2008...that I spent in 2006 and 2007 combined.



Wouldn't you say that a Toyota Prius looks pretty good right now? Beep, beep!