How would you like to work on your patience while you save yourself some money? About a month or so ago, my husband was talking with my dad about the price of gas. Neither cared for the increase and felt terribly sorry for those in other countries who pay far more than we do. During the conversation my dad mentions that my uncle pays close attention to his “RPMs” while he drives and that by doing this, he’s getting more miles out of his tank of gas.
So, the end of last month I decided that I’d try to keep our vehicle at or below 2000 RPMs. I had no idea the impact this would have on the way I drive. I’m not one of those cursing, obscene gesturing and honking aggressive drivers. I actually thought I was a pretty laid back driver until I began this experiment. I’m guessing I was fairly impatient as the added seconds it now takes to get from zero to forty-five was quite frustrating in the beginning. I kept telling myself to “calm down” because my brain was screaming, “speed up!”
Something very surprising happened though. I became much calmer than I was while I drive. I had no idea how tense I was getting just driving to the store. Watching the RPMs truly tested my patience and as a result grew patience in me. Waiting for the engine to gradually accelerate is actually kind of peaceful to me, whereas gunning it to get somewhere quicker was only adding to my tension and frustration with other drivers. Of course, I can’t say my new found patience is rubbing off on impatient drivers caught behind me while I’m “waiting to accelerate”. I’ve been honked at a few times but I just figure that I’m helping them work on their patience too. I told Erik I needed to get a “Honk for Jesus” bumper sticker so when they honk in impatience I can think it’s because they love Jesus.
Who can blame those folks though? While I wouldn’t display my irritation of slower drivers in an abusive way, I certainly found myself aggressively looking for a way around the person. Inside my temperature would be rising and I’d be thinking, “What is this person’s problem – move already”. Certainly doesn’t put you in a worshipful mood on your way to church, or anywhere else for that matter.
Incidentally, I didn’t begin this little experiment to see my attitude change; I hoped to see my monetary output on gas change. Isn’t it beautiful how God uses such seemingly simple ways to change us? In addition to changing my attitude while driving, we noticed at our last fill-up that we got two more miles to the gallon than before. That’s an increase of about 40 miles per tank of gas. I don’t know exactly how much this will save over the long run (gas prices change too frequently) but I know it will add up. Erik is doing the same with the car and seeing changes there also.
We’re driving less to save on gas too. We plan to keep up these habits even if the price of gas were ever to drop below a buck again (man, wouldn’t that be something). Evidently much of America wants to save as gas usage has dropped significantly. Since seeing a few changes to how we drive and doing some “trip planning” help our pocketbook, we’ve started seeking out ways to cut other costs. Electricity is top on the list since our electric bill has been sky high for almost 5 months straight. We still have more research to do on that but are excited about finding new ways to keep our cash from flowing out the door so quickly.