What’s your best tip for budget travel?

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My best tip for budget travel is simple: buy it before you need it.

I’ve spent years figuring out how to survive on the road as cheaply as possible without turning the trip into some sort of endurance exercise.

Before I leave, there’s ice in the cooler and plenty of water. Depending on the trip, there might be another cooler with sandwiches, fruit, snacks, or whatever else keeps me from paying twelve dollars at a truck stop because somebody put turkey and cheese between two pieces of bread and wrapped it in plastic. There’s a thermos of coffee because highway coffee adds up too.

If you smoke, buy your cigarettes before you leave—unless you’re traveling through a state where they’re cheaper. Then common sense says wait.

But the biggest savings happen before the engine ever starts.

Research the trip.

Check fuel prices along the route. Know where you intend to stop instead of waiting until the fuel light starts negotiating with you. Compare lodging prices before you’re exhausted enough to pay whatever somebody asks for a bed. Find a few places where you can get a decent meal without paying the convenience tax that comes with being tired, hungry, and unfamiliar with the area.

And pay attention to when you leave.

If my route takes me through a major city, I try to time the trip so I’m not crawling through rush-hour traffic. Sitting there idling, creeping forward twenty feet, stopping, and doing it all over again burns fuel while accomplishing damn near nothing. Sometimes leaving an hour earlier—or waiting somewhere comfortable for traffic to clear—can save fuel, frustration, and a considerable amount of colorful language.

Then there’s the vehicle itself.

Before a road trip, service it. Check the oil, coolant, tire pressure, and lights. Most of those things affect how efficiently or reliably the vehicle operates, and the lights are simply something you want working when darkness catches you two hundred miles from home.

A properly maintained vehicle is generally cheaper to drive than one you’re asking to limp across three states on hope and dashboard warning lights.

Besides, maintenance in your driveway is usually cheaper than repairs beside an interstate.

If you drive a Flex Fuel vehicle, there’s another calculation worth making.

Don’t look only at the price on the pump. Look at the cost of moving the vehicle down the road.

On my most recent trip, E85 was $2.39 a gallon while regular unleaded was $3.39. My F-150 averaged roughly 19 to 20 miles per gallon on E85. E85 generally gives you fewer miles per gallon than gasoline, but with a dollar-per-gallon difference, that mileage penalty didn’t automatically make it the more expensive fuel.

That’s where research—and a little arithmetic—pays off.

Before leaving, find out where E85 is available along your route and compare its price with regular gasoline. More importantly, know approximately what mileage your vehicle gets using each one.

And don’t take any of this as me saying, “E85 is cheaper, so use E85.”

It isn’t always.

If the difference between E85 and regular gasoline is only twenty or thirty cents a gallon, the mileage you lose may eat every penny you thought you were saving. Your vehicle matters. Your driving habits matter. The route matters. The price spread matters. Hell, even how heavily you’ve loaded the vehicle matters.

That big number glowing on the gas-station sign can fool you.

E85 at $2.39 versus gasoline at $3.39 made sense for me. Put E85 at $2.99 against gasoline at $3.19, though, and I’m pulling out the calculator before I’m pulling out my wallet.

Cost per mile is what matters.

And that principle extends beyond fuel.

Plan your stops, not just your route.

There is, however, a point where frugal becomes cheap.

If I’ve been driving for hours and need a proper meal, I’m stopping for one. If I’m tired and need a decent hotel and some sleep, I’m getting a room. I’m not driving another hundred miles half-awake because somewhere down the highway a motel might be twenty dollars cheaper.

That’s not frugal. That’s foolish.

Saving money isn’t worth making yourself miserable, and it damn sure isn’t worth making yourself unsafe.

Budget travel isn’t about squeezing every nickel until Jefferson hollers. It’s about keeping as much money in your pocket as reasonably possible while still getting where you’re going comfortably and safely.

The road will always have expenses.

What gets expensive are the decisions you make when you’re hungry, tired, running low on fuel, stuck in traffic, or staring at a warning light with another three hundred miles to go.

By then, your choices have become considerably smaller—and usually considerably more expensive.

So, if I have one piece of advice for traveling on a budget, it isn’t spend less.

It’s plan more.

Because the road charges extra for poor planning.