Normally this is what you do when pulling into a parking lot. You enter the lot and immediately head for the parking spaces nearest to the entrance to the mall or the store where you are going to shop. Usually there are not any parking spaces available near the entrance since everyone looks for the nearest spots like you.

Since you did not find any spaces initially you drive up and down the closest rows to see if you can find a parking place that is reasonably close to the entrance or you sit in one place and wait for a parking space to open up.

Both of these behaviors will cost you gas mileage and will cost you money. When you sit and wait to see if anyone will vacate a space you are running your engine but not moving. You are getting zero miles per gallon when you are sitting and idling like that.

Alternatively if you are slowly cruising along the parking rows still hoping to find a close spot, you are burning fuel at a tremendous rate relative to the speed you are going. Inevitably you have to stop behind another car that is waiting or you stop at spaces that you think are opening up. Once again this causes you to idle and again you end up getting zero miles per gallon fuel economy.

Think how much fuel you will burn in a year if you only spend 1 minute a day waiting for a parking space. Assuming 30 days for an average month, to make a simple calculation, and assume you are burning fuel for an extra 60 seconds or one minute each day, then you would be burning fuel for 30 minutes or a half hour each month.

At 30 minutes per month, you would be unnecessarily burning gas the equivalent of 6 hours per year. Now, would you ever consider leaving your car sit and idle in your driveway for six hours burning gas? Of course not. But that is exactly what you are doing with your current parking habits.

How can you improve gas mileage by changing parking habits? What is the answer to all of this wasted fuel? The answer is very simple and very easy, instead of trying to park close to the entrance, park far away from the store or mall entrance. As you go farther from the entrance there are more and more empty parking spaces. If you go to the rows far from the entrance, immediately upon entering the parking lot,you will find a parking place right away.

By parking far away, you save all the gas you would have burned waiting and looking for a close in parking space. Not only will you improve gas mileage and save money but you will get a little extra exercise by walking the extra distance to the store entrance. It's a win for your pocket book and a win for your body.