Try to minimise start-stop drivingOne fuel-saving strategy that might take some practice is minimizing start-stop driving. Anticipating the road ahead gives you more room to accelerate and decelerate gradually, and it can make a big difference to your car's fuel consumption. Repeatedly accelerating and then braking takes more fuel, so if you see traffic ahead or you're approaching a stop light, try to glide towards it at a steady speed where possible. If you do have to stop, be gentle on the gas pedal when you take off again.Driving in heavy traffic can make this particularly tricky, but if you're stuck in a jam, accelerating slowly when traffic moves is still the best way to minimize your fuel usage. If you're queuing downhill, it might also be possible to let the car roll when traffic moves rather than using the gas pedal. In general, being aware of how much you use the accelerator and minimizing rapid acceleration wherever possible will always be beneficial for saving fuel.Don't use the A/C if you don't have toWhile drivers in the warmest parts of the country might need to keep their A/C on most of the time, if you live somewhere with a more temperate climate then it's worth being picky with when you use it. The most fuel-efficient way of driving is to keep the windows up and the A/C off, but that's not practical if it's hot outside. There's no one-size-fits-all way to work out whether it's more efficient to keep the windows down or the A/C on, but in general, the lower the speed you're driving, the better it is to keep the windows open.If you're driving at low speeds in the city, keeping a window down to stay cool can be beneficial, as it won't cause much additional drag. When you're driving at higher speeds — particularly if you're on the highway — having a window open can lead to significantly more drag, which can increase your car's fuel consumption more than having the A/C on. As such, it's usually best to keep the windows closed and the A/C on while you're racking up highway miles.Drive in a higher gear if you have a manual transmissionManual transmission cars only make up a tiny proportion of sales in America, with CarMax reporting that over 97% of its customers drive an automatic. Still, if you're one of the small minority of drivers who does drive a manual, it's worth watching where you shift if you're looking to save fuel. Part of the fun of driving a manual is being able to pick your own shift points, and pushing the engine up to the higher parts of its rev range whenever you want to.However, driving fun and efficiency don't usually go hand-in-hand. The most fuel-efficient way to drive is to shift gears at lower revs, and use the highest gear you can when you're cruising on the highway at a steady speed. You might still need to drop down a gear to overtake if a gap is small, but where possible, try to stick in your cruising gear while overtaking if you have the room to do so.Set your cruise control to a lower speed on long tripsNo one likes to feel like their journey is taking them longer than necessary, but cruising at a slower speed on long journeys can make a big difference to gas consumption. One government study in the U.K. reported that dropping your cruising speed from 70 mph to 50 mph could cut fuel usage by up to 25%. That kind of drop in speed is a significant one, and it's not necessarily practical to do, particularly if you're on a high speed freeway. However, dropping your cruising speed by even just a few mph can potentially save on gas.It might feel like you're going much slower than usual, but a small drop in speed won't make as much difference to your journey time as you might think. A 200 mile trip at a constant speed of 70 mph will take two hours and 51 minutes, while at a constant speed of 65 mph it will take three hours and four minutes. You probably won't notice the extra 13 minutes you spend in the car, but you might notice the lower fuel bill when you head to the gas station.Don't carry unnecessary items in your carOne of the easiest ways to reduce your fuel bill is to regularly clear out your car so that you're not carrying around heavy items when you don't need to be. Having too many unnecessary items in your car will make its engine work harder, since there's more load to carry around. The odd soda bottle or misplaced screwdriver won't make any difference, but if you're the kind of person that's liable to leave their heavy camping or fishing gear in their car after a weekend trip, there are potentially big fuel savings to be made.Having children to ferry around can also result in a jumble of toys, spare clothes, and supplies building up in the trunk. So, when you have the opportunity, it's worth sorting through everything to see how much you really need to bring with you on daily trips. It might only end up making a small difference to your car's fuel consumption, but then again, you might also end up being surprised about the amount of unnecessary things you end up carrying around.