The little things

[Thymeclock]

I can't believe I'm reading this... No, on second thought, having been on this forum for a long while it shouldn't be so surprising.

It reminds me of a famous joke about OCD:

A guy sits in a field in Kansas, repeatedly clicking his fingers. Click, click, click.
A woman walks up to him and asks why he’s compulsively clicking his fingers.
‘To keep the elephants away,’ he says.
‘But there are no elephants in Kansas,’ the woman says.
‘See!’ the guy says, ‘It works.’

Do you really believe doing these insignificant, compulsive things will actually improve your FE to any measurable degree? Or does it just make you feel better knowing you are doing everything imaginable, regardless of measurable result?

Sometimes I think this really is the OCD list.

[ecomodded]

Never been tested for OCD but.. who knows ! I do repeat a stupid attempt at saving gas. I EOC into parking spots despite not making it into the spot every single time requiring me to restart the car to move it 4 ft.
I am pulse and gliding when appropriate so the EOC to a parking spot is a attempt at saving a wee bit of gas to do more hypermiling with and save yet more gas.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by ecomodded

I EOC into parking spots despite not making it into the spot every single time requiring me to restart the car to move it 4 ft.

Glad to see someone else admit to doing this.

I almost never misjudge the coast to parking spot these days, but when I first started doing this it was not uncommon. Sometimes I'd just push the car the extra couple feet just to avoid starting the car again.

I know these things don't add up to anything significant, but now that it's a habit of mine, no extra thought is given to these little tricks. Coasting into a parking spot or grabbing my sunglasses first is just as natural to me as putting on the seat-belt or remembering to grab my keys before locking.

[Fat Charlie]

I'm actually a lot more relaxed now than a year ago. Stressing about not burning gas is better than when I was stressing about time and trying to make that next pass, which would set me up for the next pass, getting ready for when the road opened up and I could really make time...

[PaleMelanesian]

Sure, each item may not be measurable in the context of a whole tank. There's a lot of noise in daily driving that drowns it out. However, most of these items are measurable and verifiable as beneficial on their own in controlled testing. They ARE beneficial, and adding all of them together adds up to something useful. Drops in a bucket, maybe, but eventually you can fill a bucket with drops.

There's a reason the title is "The little things".

[Thymeclock]

Originally Posted by PaleMelanesian

Sure, each item may not be measurable in the context of a whole tank. There's a lot of noise in daily driving that drowns it out. However, most of these items are measurable and verifiable as beneficial on their own in controlled testing. They ARE beneficial, and adding all of them together adds up to something useful. Drops in a bucket, maybe, but eventually you can fill a bucket with drops.

There's a reason the title is "The little things".

Expression of an OCD behavior makes the subject feel better. That's why the behavior is repeated constantly.

Doing any of the things described may not do any harm, but it doesn't provide any measurable benefit either. Those who do it will provide rationalizations that theoretically there should be some benefit. That leads to a belief that there must be some benefit, even though it is not realized in fact. Unfortunately, in the case of actual MPG gain, the sought after benefit is either negligible or inconsequential. The only benefit is in the validation of the self-reinforcing OCD behavior: it makes you feel good about doing it, and so you continue doing it despite any evidence of actual benefit.

In any event, apparently those who do these things have lots of company here.

[Fat Charlie]

The guy's getting 71 mpg in a 31 mpg car. That leads to a belief that his nervous tics work.