All Aboard the Dad Bus

I created this post as part of a sponsored series with Socialstars and Shell; all opinions are those of DadNCharge's alone. #ShellCrowd

My phone has this cool function on it that updates the traffic situations based on how much time I spend in a particular place. For most of the time, when I worked out regularly it would tell me that I would have a fifteen minute commute to my local YMCA, assuming I worked there as I religiously exercised almost every day. My phone therefore would refer to the place I spent most of my time as "work" and give me approximate travel times to get there periodically about the day.

Recently, I injured my back and while I have been taking a two month hiatus from the gym, I have been able to go about my normal routines of housework, grocery shopping, and running errands with and without the kids. Sometimes it means I am taking them to school or driving them to an after school activity but all the while keeping the minivan going most of the day from place to place. 

But work took on a whole new meaning the other day when my phone notified me that it would only take me five minutes to get to "work". I didn't recognize the location so I looked it up on Google maps. It was my local gas station. 

Apparently, I spend more time at the pump than I realize. It's understandable though as I am usually in one day driving one kid to preschool, driving to run errands, driving to pick up kids and drop them off all day long. On weekends, family time is spent going on adventures together. In the winter it is especially hard because you want to escape being trapped inside so you drive, somewhere, anywhere to not be stuck at home doing laundry. Anything but the laundry. 

I remember when I was younger, I worked at a pharmacy where one of my jobs was to make in house deliveries of patient's prescriptions. It wasn't a normal service you'd see today and I used my own car to make the deliveries. That meant making sure I always had gas but as a high school student, that wasn't always easy to come by. Sometimes if I got lucky, a person would take pity on me and tip me for coming to them and I'd use that money to fill up my tank. Most of the time that crumpled up wad of ones would sit in my front jeans pocket until the needle was close to E. 

Of course back then, a gallon of gasoline was less than ninety-nine cents but I never worried about the price of gas, as it seemed pretty affordable. Fast forward to today and factor in a family of five and out everyday needs. All of that driving around really adds up.

I don't know how many times I've looked at my fuel gauge and have done a double take thinking "Didn't I just fill this up the other day?"  So the real question is how can we help our families be more conscience about our spending? How can we get rewarded for the things we already buy so it helps us out with fuel costs?  Enter the Shell  Fuel Rewards® program. 

Whenever you shop, dine or make other day-to-day purchases at any merchant or restaurant participating in the Fuel Rewards program, you earn cents-per-gallon discounts on fuel known as Fuel Rewards savings. The savings you earn between fill-ups are then combined to drive down the price you pay at the pump. Shell's new Fuel Rewards® program helps its members save at least 3 cents per gallon and the sign up is completely free. 

Join the #ShellCrowd by signing up for the Fuel Rewards card and start saving your family money at the pump. You can link existing credit cards with the Fuel Rewards card and start earning points through dining, on-line shopping, and travel plus Shell will provided exclusive offers for Fuel Rewards members.

Saving can be easy with Fuel Rewards and everyday savings will add up instantly. You won't be scrounging those pockets for money just to fuel up because your card will automatically give you discounts right at the pump. Sign up as new member today and start saving $.25 cents per gallon bonus! Pretty soon you'll find that you're approaching the prices we used to remember so you can spend it on more important stuff like coffee.