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The little bit of relief we saw in April is gone: Gas prices are spiking again, and filling your tank now costs a good $20 to $30 more than it did before the Iran war, depending on the car.

In the last two weeks, the national average for a gallon of regular unleaded has climbed 53 cents to $4.56, according to AAA data released Thursday. In California, the most expensive state, the average has soared past $6. All told, the average price is up more than $1.50 a gallon since the war began at the end of February.

This is now clearly more than a blip — and could be forcing some trade-offs. If you have to be on the road, you may be cutting other parts of your budget to compensate; If you don’t, a simple errand may now be a cost-benefit calculation.

So what?

You may have more control over your gas costs than you realize. Even if you can’t drive any less, how you drive and use your car play a big role in determining how far each gallon of gas can take you.

Using fuel economy stats from the U.S. Energy Department, we crunched some numbers to help you gauge whether it’s worth making some changes. Some of these steps could even help you offset the entire war premium on gas.

Lighten your load.

It may be tempting to keep that jumbo bag of dog food in your car until the last possible minute, but there’s a cost to carrying around extra weight. And the smaller the vehicle, the bigger the impact.

•   Every 100 pounds of extra weight can reduce your gas mileage by 1%, costing you nearly 5 cents more a gallon at today’s prices.

•   Strapping a cargo box to the roof is even a bigger drag (think: wind resistance,) reducing your fuel economy by 2% to 17% — or between 9 and 78 cents a gallon — on the highway.

Watch your speed.

Want to get somewhere faster? It’s going to cost you. The faster you drive, the more resistance your car has to push through, reducing your fuel economy.

Although fuel economy is different with different vehicles, it generally tends to drop off rapidly when you’re driving over 50 miles per hour. The Energy Department says you can assume each 5 mph over 50 mph is like paying an extra 7% per gallon of gas. By that math, going 70 mph instead of 60 mph on a 60-mile trip saves you 10 minutes but costs you 64 cents more a gallon. Pushing your speed to 80 would shave 15 minutes from your trip but cost an extra $1.28 a gallon.

Go easy.

Aggressive driving, like braking fast or hitting the gas hard, can lower gas mileage by 15% to 30% on highways and 10% to 40% in stop-and-go traffic. At today’s gas prices, that could cost as much as $1.82 more per gallon.

The Energy Department recommends using cruise control on the highway to help maintain a constant speed.

Turn your car off when you’re parked.

Idling burns fuel — roughly a quarter- to a half-gallon per hour, depending on engine size and AC use. And get this: Idling for any more than 10 seconds uses more fuel than stopping and restarting your engine.

Roll down your windows briefly before turning on your AC.

Although hot weather can help with fuel efficiency, rolling down the windows or using air conditioning can drag it back down. Under very hot conditions, using AC can reduce fuel economy by more than 25%, particularly on short trips. To reduce demand, the Energy Department recommends driving with the windows open for a short time before turning on the AC.

Keep your tires properly inflated and don’t skimp on oil.

If you’ve ever tried riding a bike with quasi-flat tires, you know you have to pedal harder to make progress. The same idea applies to your car. Underinflated tires generate more rolling resistance. For every 1 PSI (pounds per square inch) drop in average tire pressure, gas mileage can drop by 0.2%.

(Pro tip: The proper tire pressure for your vehicle is usually listed on a sticker in the driver's side door jamb or the glove box.)

Using the manufacturer's recommended grade of motor oil can also improve mileage by 1%-2%.

Related Reading

5 Reasons to Pump the Brakes: The True Costs of Speeding (AAA)

Why Gas Prices Could Soon Cool Drastically In These 5 States (The Hill)

Gas Cost Trip Calculator Table with Examples (SoFi)

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