Frugal Tip Friday: Vehicle Maintenance

Frugal Tip Friday: Vehicle Maintenance

This week’s frugal tip comes from the fact that I get stern lectures a lot about vehicle maintenance! Vehicle maintenance is very important to your vehicle’s health and overall sustainability. The better you take care of your vehicles, the longer they last and the better they run thus saving you money.

Vehicle maintenance is very easy and, once you have your routine down, takes about 20-30 minutes. I will give you a simple routine with seven easy steps that will make maintaining your vehicle a breeze. By the way, this should be done at least bi-weekly, but every week is better.

Vehicle Maintenance List

1. Check tires. 
    Check tire pressure on each tire with a tire pressure gauge. The tire pressure should be the pressure listed on your tires or the pressure recommended by the vehicle’s manufacturer. Also, check over tires for any obvious problems like cracks or things embedded in them.

2. Open the hood to your vehicle.

3. Check the level of your antifreeze/coolant.
    Always keep this full or at least above the minimum level. Ignoring this will cause some very serious and costly problems for your vehicle. Trust me on this one.

4. Check oil. 
    Make sure your vehicle is on a level surface when you do this. Also, make certain your vehicle is cool and has not been running for at least 30 minutes. Hot oil will give you an inflated reading. Pull the dipstick out, clean the dipstick with a rag, reinsert the dipstick and pull back out. At the bottom of your dipstick should be two lines. The line at the top indicates full and the line at the bottom indicates very low. Your vehicle’s oil level should always read full. Always. If not full, add a quart. If you need to add more than one quart of oil, you need to call your mechanic.

5. Check windshield wiper fluid. 
    Add more if needed.

6. Close the hood of your vehicle. 

7. Check the windshield wipers.
    I would not say this is a must-do thing, but not doing this can cause other problems. Like when your windshield is dirty, run the wipers with fluid, and have a big mess because the wipers are cracked or worn down and not cleaning. Check the wipers for cracks and clear out any debris that might be in the wipers.

Pretty easy, eh? This vehicle maintenance will help you to stay on top of any issues that might pop up as well as keeping a smooth running vehicle.

Numbers 1, 3, and 4 cannot be ignored. Ever. Trust me on this one.

Thanks for reading! Have a great day!

The Self Sufficient HomeAcre

Sharing is caring!

One thought on “Frugal Tip Friday: Vehicle Maintenance

  1. Hi Erica!
    This is very good advice indeed! Thanks for sharing with us on The HomeAcre Hop 🙂

    The only thing I would add is, in winter check to see that you have a snow brush, ice scraper and some gloves, blankets and snacks on board…just in case!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *