Hyper what??? Hypermiling and Other Tips to Potentially Cut Costs

The rising costs relating to fuel and food are affecting all of us on both the work and home front. Everyone is looking for ways to make their dollars go a little bit further. Just yesterday a colleague introduced me to the concept of hypermiling. According to a August 2006 story in the Washington Post, it is a method of increasing your car's gas mileage by making skillful changes in the way you drive, allowing you to save gas and thereby have an easier time withstanding the rising oil and gas prices.

Recent news stories have highlighted the cuts being made by businesses being hit hard by rising transportation costs. Many trucking companies have been forced to take vehicles off the road because they were losing money on every mile driven. Even police departments are feeling the crunch. A small department in north St. Louis County is switching some of its officers over to patrolling in golf carts instead of police cruisers which use more gas.

Tips for hypermiling:

• http://money.cnn.com/2006/05/01/Autos/driving_for_mpg/index.htm
  
• http://www.edmunds.com/advice/fueleconomy/articles/120880/article.html

Pine Lawn police department possibly getting golf carts for patrol:

• http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/12ECAB1482DBFC5A8625743E0011352F?OpenDocument

Saving money in your business can be as simple as looking for alternative ways to obtain the products you use every day. Books such as "Homemade : how to make hundreds of everyday products fast, fresh, and more naturally" from the Reader's Digest Association give recipes on how to create low-cost alternatives to store bought products such as cleaning solutions.

A new book entitled "Stirring It Up: how to make money and save the world with coupons" by Gary Hirshberg, founder of Stonyfield Farm, shares the secrets that helped his company skyrocket to success, and argues that traditional business practices are ultimately counterproductive and have helped create many of the problems that threaten to make the world uninhabitable. Hirshberg will explain how Stonyfield's counterintuitive way of doing business demonstrates that companies can be environmentally conscious, and will prove that in doing so, they can make bigger profits than their more conventional counterparts. This book will appeal both to consumers who want quality and a better world, and companies who want steady profits and growth.

Both of the books mentioned above are available through the Jefferson County Library.