As I write this on March 13, the average price for gas in the U.S. is $3.63 per gallon. That’s up nearly 70 cents cents from a month earlier, according to AAA. 

Now is a great time to start tracking your fuel expenses, earning rewards on your spending and cutting back where you can. Here are three ways to soften the blow of rising gas prices.

1. Track your mileage

The gas you use to drive to job sites or conferences is a deductible business expense. 

Most accounting software — including QuickBooks Online, Xero, Zoho Books and Freshbooks — supports mileage tracking. You might not even have to look at your odometer. QuickBooks’s mileage tracker app uses GPS to automatically track your mileage, for instance, and then you can categorize each trip as business or personal. 

After that, you or your accounting software will use the IRS mileage rates to calculate how much you spent on gas. For 2026, that’s 72.5 cents per mile for small businesses. 

That means, for every 100 miles you drive, you can record (and deduct) $72.50 in expenses. That should cover not only the gas, but also some wear and tear on your car. 

Remember, a deductible expense doesn’t mean you’re actually spending less at the pump. Instead, it increases your expenses. That reduces your profits. And since you only pay taxes on your profits, that results in a lower tax bill. Here’s more about how deductible expenses work.

There are some exceptions to who can use the standard mileage rate. If you’ve claimed certain tax deductions or expenses in the past, you might have to track the actual expenses of using your car for your business instead. Check the IRS’s rules here.

2. Get a business credit card with cash back on gas

You could be getting up to 3% cash back on fuel. That takes a $4 gallon of gas down to about $3.88.

Here are NerdWallet’s top picks. For new businesses, I’d recommend:

Business credit cards are a great way to separate your business spending from your personal spending. It can also be nice to have a little flexibility while your cash flow is uneven — you can make purchases when you need to, then pay down the card when that payment you’re waiting on comes in. 

3. Replace short trips with other modes of transit

This is easy for me to say — I sold my car when I moved to Chicago and get around mostly by bike now. But give me a minute on my soapbox.

Car ownership is getting awfully expensive. The median car payment in the U.S. is now $767 for new cars and $537 for used ones, according to Experian. The typical loan lasts more than five years. And commercial auto insurance costs around $150 per month on average, according to Insureon. 

Most U.S. residents don’t live in a place where riding a bike everywhere is possible or safe. Even if you do, you might not be able to schlep your tools or inventory on one. And I know I live in one of few cities in the country with frequent, convenient public transit.

But many of us could replace at least a couple of trips with walking, biking, carpooling or another alternative. Those changes add up — first it’s a few dollars saved on gas, and then it’s hundreds of dollars every month when you can stretch your fully paid-off car for an extra year.

NerdWallet’s Karrin Sehmbi finds and shares these grant opportunities.

Pilot, a business bookkeeping software company, recently partnered with Hello Alice to create its new Small Business Growth Fund. This grant opportunity totals $250,000 divided into:

In addition to the cash prize, grant winners receive one free year of bookkeeping from Pilot — a value of nearly $1,200 for its base plan.

You can use the capital for a variety of business needs, including equipment purchases, employee hiring, expansion, marketing and more. Complete the application by March 31. 

Click here to see the application.

Eligible applicants must hold a lead exec role in the business, be a legal U.S. resident and be at least 18 years old. The grant program is open to U.S. for-profit businesses that earned between $5,000 and $5 million in revenue in 2025. Multi-level marketing businesses aren’t eligible.

Keep the ball rolling on grant applications! Visit our small-business grants page for 50+ additional grant opportunities and tips for securing a grant.

U.S. unemployment rose from 4.3% in January to 4.4% in February. Here’s NerdWallet’s commentary on that, along with the rest of the information we got in the February jobs report.

There’s a lot of data to suggest that when unemployment goes up, more people start businesses. And we’ve found causation, not just correlation. In a NerdWallet survey of 425 current small-business owners conducted online by Harris Poll in October 2024, 25% said they started their business because they got laid off. 

I certainly hope a layoff isn’t in your future or recent past. But if it is, there’s a long history of entrepreneurs using it as a launchpad. 

If you find yourself unemployed and starting your business sooner than you expected:

There’s no shame in a layoff. Instead, you might find yourself joining a long tradition of “necessity entrepreneurship” — starting your business in less-than-ideal circumstances, but starting it nonetheless.