ROAD TRIP: Easy way to calculate gas costs

Summer is for the freedom of road trips and millions of Americans plan to hit the highways this Memorial Day weekend.

The high price of gas is going to leave less money for hotels and fun on those trips, but don’t let it ruin your time on the road.

AAA has a tool that will help you budget and know how much money you’re going to drop on gas for your next road trip. It also shows the average price of a gallon of gas in the U.S.

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AAA’s gas price calculator is simple and free to use.

Just type in the nearest starting point and ending point for your trip. Then select the type of car you will be driving on your adventure. Then hit the calculate button.

I decided to see how accurate the calculator is when it comes to calculating costs, and was pretty impressed with the results.

We drove from the Kansas City area to my sister’s home in Oklahoma over the weekend. We filled up before we left, stopped at a gas station in Oklahoma and made another stop at a station in Kansas to fill up on the way back.

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AAA’s gas calculator estimated we’d spend $112 for the roundtrip. The trip ended up costing us about $120 for gas, which is pretty accurate since the tracker doesn’t allow travelers to put in actual addresses or destinations.

I did notice that the gas calculator estimated the highway gas milage on my 11-year-old SUV is better than what I normally average. If you want to know EXACTLY what you’ll spend on gas before you leave, you’ll need to do the math yourself, but AAA’s gas calculator is an extremely easy way to get an estimate that’s pretty close to what you’ll actual need to cover your miles.

Overall, I think this free tool is a great option to help anyone budget, claim their baggage and pay off debt to allow more freedom in the future.