Common Sense but not to be Overlooked

Here is what Mudock from future-fuels-and-vehicles@yahoogroups.com suggest:

What about these (somewhat trivial-seeming, or obvious-seeming, butjust asking):

1. Be mindful of the weight of fuel. Gasoline apparently weighs abit more than 6 pounds per gallon. Try not to drive around with afull tank all the time, nor drive too far out of your way to arefueling station, keeping in mind the fuel expenditure to get thereand back. Over the life of the vehicle, driving around with asomewhat lower average amount of fuel and reducing fuel expenditurededicated solely to refueling might (I think) reduce fuel use a tad.

2. Be mindful of the weight of other items in your vehicle. Keepessential items on-board, but stay on top of the issue of not carryingaround items that are non-essential. Yes, it may be a pain to clearout those golf clubs, workout items articles of clothing or otherthings that may pile up a bit, but lightening is such an importantpart of saving energy in cars, that it might help just a silght amountto recuce that vehicle weight by 5, 10, 15 pounds, on average, forthose who might tend to keep a few things handy in the vehicle thatdon't really need to be there.

3. Vehicle should be in good operating order. This may seem like ano-brainer for someone like Ernie or a car-repair-knowledgeableperson, but is definitely a challenge to diagnose and address forsomeone like me.

I had a tuneup a couple of years ago, and was a bittired of being bullied into expensive non-essential car maintenance bymechanics who are more sales-oriented than perhaps they should be.They can convince someone like me that some maintenance is moreimpotant than it is. I let my car go far too long and when it gavesymptoms of decreased mileage and poor acceleration, I didn't realizethat another tuneup (or perhaps an addressing of the previous tuneup?)was overdue.
A seemingly-somewhat-better mechanic seemed to set mestraight, did quite a bit of work on spark plugs, fuel filters, etc.,and my mileage seemed to return to normal, about 10% above where its sluggishness had taken it.

Thanks to Mudock for these suggestions.