Saving Money on Gas

The TLDR is use the GasBuddy app for the best savings and use the Upside app for additional money back. My referral codes for each are at the very bottom. The codes give both us a little bonus.  Below, I share the back story, my system for max savings, and more info about each app.

The backstory:

Did you know I occasionally drive rideshare (Lyft and Uber) for extra income?

When I started working in rideshare last summer I immediately noticed that gas was my biggest overhead. It was by-far the biggest expense eating into that income stream. So for the first time ever I took a serious deep dive into ways to save money on gas. I dove into google, read a bunch of articles and blogs, and tried out the apps and options that seemed the best. I was as comprehensive as I could be, and if you know me you know I can be very meticulous and detail-oriented. There might be more complex and bigger-saving systems then what I’ve figured out, but I want simplicity.

The savings system:

  1. Use Gasbuddy app to find the outright cheapest gas within a reasonable distance or along a route. It can be filtered to show the lowest price with or without deal alerts.

  2. Use GasBuddy “Deal Alerts” for discounted gas.

  3. [optional] Use Gasbuddy Plus (a paid membership) for an additional gas discount on top of the Deal Alert discount.

  4. Before swiping your card and pumping gas, activate the GasBuddy Deal Alert AND check the Upside app to see if the gas station you’re at also has an Upside cashback offer. If so, activate it for an addition 1-20 cents back per gallon.

  5. If necessary, upload a picture of your receipt into Upside. Sometimes they’ll apply the discount automatically, other times they require a receipt to be uploaded

  6. Pump your gas and enjoy your savings, repeating this process every time. :)

It might sound like a lot of extra work, and maybe it is if you’re used to just swiping a card and pumping, but these extra steps on a smartphone become a pretty comfortable and quick routine after enough times going through it. If you don’t want to or need to save money then its not worth the effort, but I like knowing that I may be shaving up to a few dollars off every $25 I spend on gas. It adds up over time, and the long-game is the point. I’ve used this system for a little under a year and have saved approximately $200-$250 in gas for spending just an extra minute or two at the gas pump.

More details on the two apps and how they work:

GasBuddy—

There’s 3 versions of this app. Free, Plus, and Premium. I’ll tell you something I wish I knew a year ago. Don’t bother with the Premium version unless you want the added benefit of 24hour-roadside assistance via AllState. I already have AAA, so that benefit is pointless to me. The Plus version is essentially the same perks, minus the roadside assistance, but for less money.

Premium = $10/month

Plus = $89/year ($7.42/month

Free = free

Another important detail is that GasBuddy is utilized via a debit-style gas card they provide, which is linked to a debit/checking account of your choice. They only debit the discounted amount, not the amount shown at the pump.

Upside—

This app does cash back, meaning once you’ve accumulated enough  (typically $15 minimum to start) you can then transfer that amount directly into a linked checking account.

Referral codes—

GasBuddy: EGFM56M

GetUpside: CODY42373

I rushed through this blog because its late right now and I’m ready for bed. Let me know if you’d like clarity on anything, have any questions, and/or if you’d like a visual walk-through. I’d be happy to come back and spruce up this post if you’d find that helpful.