Can't convince the wife

[sarguy01]

Originally Posted by ecoprincess

For all you men out there trying to get you wives to drive more efficiently try to sit down with her talk to her about why you are passionate about driving more efficiently (Give reasons other then just money) Let her know that it would mean a lot to you if she took more interest in what you have interest in, and then ask her if there is anything she would like You to show more interest in.

Cute idea: Buy her a little notebook/pen, set it up for her to log her fills *Date *Miles *Gallons *Price (somewhere in notebook add in a few tips that you use for her to read(keep it easy to understand))

Cute idea: Start her a garage on here for she can be more involved (You can upload a picture of her car for her and everything )

~Ecoprincess (Wife to be of Daox)

This isn't just a wife thing though. I know plenty of men that get in and drive, with no care in the world when it comes to saving fuel. For various reasons, they don't want to put in the effort, or maybe they have some other issue that keeps them from focusing on driving for mileage. Like a nervous driver maybe??

Welcome to the forum!

[Insight for life]

When my wife see's how happy it makes me when she tries to hypermile it makes her want to be more intentional about it, honestly I could care less about the actual mpg she is getting, its the fact that she is trying. like ecoprincess said she is taking interest in the things I am interested in because she loves me. For that I am very grateful.

[Frank Lee]

Originally Posted by doviatt

As I was driving my lovely wife home from dinner last night she though it was cute to mention "Did you know your car will actually do 80MPH?".

Reminds me...

Bob was in trouble. He forgot his wedding anniversary. His wife was
really peeved.

She told him, "Tomorrow morning I expect to find a gift in the
driveway that goes from 0 to 200 in 6 seconds AND IT BETTER BE THERE!!"

The next morning he got up early and left for work. When his wife woke
up, she looked out the window and sure enough there was a box
gift-wrapped in the middle of the driveway.

Confused, the wife put on her robe and ran out to the driveway and brought
the box back in the house.

She opened it and found a brand new bathroom scale.

Bob has been missing since last Friday.

[Fat Charlie]

It's not so much that it's "not just" a wife thing- it's a "not as intense about this as I am" thing. Since most users here are guys, and they most likely share cars with their wives, it looks like wives don't care about fuel economy. But that's only compared to people here- but I'll bet any wife that's been complained about here does better on FE than the neighbors!

My wife doesn't care about mileage... compared to me. But she's ahead of most regular folks. I've got her tires aired up and keep the economy button pressed to make her transmission help out a bit. I've got an UltraGauge in her van showing instant, short trip and long trip mpg. She's aware, and is on board enough that I'm driving a new Fit instead of a second minivan- even though she doesn't feel safe in small cars.

Out of everyone I know, a few people know I drive for mileage. A couple respect it as an accomplishment but have no desire to do so themselves. One person allows it to interfere with her life to the point of dictating what kind of car we buy. She doesn't get the mileage I do, but that doesn't mean she isn't a part of it.

[redneck]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

Reminds me...

Bob was in trouble. He forgot his wedding anniversary. His wife was
really peeved.

She told him, "Tomorrow morning I expect to find a gift in the
driveway that goes from 0 to 200 in 6 seconds AND IT BETTER BE THERE!!"

The next morning he got up early and left for work. When his wife woke
up, she looked out the window and sure enough there was a box
gift-wrapped in the middle of the driveway.

Confused, the wife put on her robe and ran out to the driveway and brought
the box back in the house.

She opened it and found a brand new bathroom scale.

Bob has been missing since last Friday.

Which reminds me...


MEN DO REMEMBER ANNIVERSARIES

A woman awakens during the night to find that her husband was not in their
bed. She puts on her robe and goes downstairs to look for him. She finds
him sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee in front of him.

He appears to be in deep thought, just staring at the wall.

She watches as he wipes a tear from his eye and takes a sip of his coffee.

'What's the matter, dear?' she whispers as she steps into the room, 'Why
are you down here at this time of night?'

The husband looks up from his coffee, 'I am just remembering when we first
met 20 years ago and started dating. You were only 16. Do you remember back
then?' he says solemnly.

The wife is touched to tears thinking that her husband is so caring, so
sensitive. 'Yes, I do' she replies.

The husband pauses. The words were not coming easily.. 'Do you remember
when your father caught us in the back seat of my car?'

'Yes, I remember!' said the wife, lowering herself into a chair beside him.

The husband continues. 'Do you remember when he shoved the shotgun in my
face and said, 'Either you marry my daughter, or I will send you to jail for
20 years?'

'I remember that too' she replies softly.

He wipes another tear from his cheek and says...

"I would have been released today."


>

[poomanchu]

20 years for...? Doesn't make sense. Frank's made me lol.

[Xist]

EcoPrincess! Welcome!

I think that my best suggestion is to say "Okay, you get X MPG. If you slow down and save gas, we will take the money that you save and then"--dinner, vacation, opera, something that she would enjoy, but maybe something that would be a little difficult for you, so if she sacrifices her overwhelming desire to get there first, you will sit through the opera. No, you would not end up saving money, and you would be stuck going to the opera, but maybe she would continue driving that way without extrinsic reinforcement.

RedPoint, utilities are included in my rent and my roommates are always leaving lights on. One is almost never in his room, he spends as much time in the front room as I spend in my bedroom, he even usually sleeps out there, but he always has lights on in his room. It seems like whenever I leave my room, every light in the public area is lit, but there often isn't anyone there, or they are in the living room, but the lights are on in the dining room and kitchen. After several months of me turning off the porch light and trying to remember to turn it on, my roommate complained about walking up in the dark, so I have left it on, so far, but I just looked into it. I do not like my options too much. Phillips makes fluorescent bulbs with built-in light sensors for $8 and G.E. makes screw-in sensors for $12.

Doviatt, of course she drove 80 MPH to buy shoes! They wouldn't come to her!

I hope that doesn't hurt your MPG too much this tank.

Awesome. Multi-quote failed me. I am trying to remember who else wrote comments to which I wanted to respond.

Frank Lee, I liked your ideas about making her pay her expenses and adjusting times so that you can be punctual, and that was an awesome joke!

Old Teleman, my sister has described me as honest to a fault. I only believe in lying to my enemies and I do not have any. Sometimes, I have been in bad situations, where telling the truth only seems to cause unnecessary problems, but I do anyway. That may violate the concept of self-preservation, but never as much as telling a woman that she looks fat!

Poomanchu, the joke was that had he not married the daughter, he would have been ending his twenty-year prison term.

Xntrx, I thought about the speedometer calibration, too, but is she "keeping up with traffic," racing everyone, or what? She might notice if everyone was suddenly driving 85 MPH, and then if you sell the car, do you tell them that you adjusted the speedometer, and therefore the odometer?

If you could somehow mess with the throttle cable so that the accelerator has the same travel, but never reaches WOT, she might just decide that the car has lost power over time, which does seem to happen, but like with the speedometer calibration, if it is sudden, she should notice.

I do not know what you could do besides install a governor. Maybe you could do that and reduce it 1 MPH per week.

[gone-ot]

They say "Truth hurts"--and it's true--especially when a husband hesitates while answering the "...does this make me look fat..." question (ha,ha).

[aerohead]

https://www.google.com/search?q=us+m...w=1600&bih=786

Originally Posted by usmclowrider

I enjoy trying to get the best fuel mileage possible, but my wife doesn't even try a little bit. And we just got a hybrid so her excuse is "well it already gets better mileage so why bother". I have tried to convince her that gas is one of our highest and most user controlled expenses we have, but she still won't listen.

She enjoys doing the couponing thing and saving money on a lot of our other consumables, but she drives 75 on the highway and won't take it easy at the stoplights. Anybody here have any ideas on how to convince her to take it easy?

Show her photos of the US military personnel killed in action,defending the safe passage of that 50% of foreign oil in her gas tank that she's wasting.

[sarguy01]

Originally Posted by aerohead

https://www.google.com/search?q=us+m...w=1600&bih=786

Show her photos of the US military personnel killed in action,defending the safe passage of that 50% of foreign oil in her gas tank that she's wasting.

Your search shows KIA in Afghanistan. I am in the military and have yet to been told by my commanders that one of the reasons we are fighting the terrorists in Afghanistan is to protect the safe passage of oil.

We are fighting a war on terror. Don't turn this into a political argument or bring up conspiracy theories. This is a forum dedicated to saving fuel.