Drive Extra Mile to Save Gas, or Don’t
By Drew Johnson on Friday, October 5th, 2007 :: 12:41 pmCategory: Drew's Corner
Credit card debt forces you to re-examine all your financial behaviors. Bankruptcy, credit counseling and debt consolidation programs require you to adjust your spending habits to cut down on your debt, but I’ve found there’s an even bigger motivator for saving money: not having any money.
Even though I’m a single guy with relatively few expenses, I still manage to live paycheck to paycheck every month. Part of the reason for this is that I just bought a new car, part is that I like to live a fairly expensive lifestyle – I eat out frequently, go to the movies. Basically I spend money on stuff that is fleeting, so basically I’m kind of an idiot.
Being an idiot about money is okay, I guess, when you’re still somewhat young. But my years of being “somewhat” young are fast coming to a close. Sooner or later I know I have to bite the bullet and become fiscally responsible. I’ve already fought my way out of bad credit once, and I’m not eager to go through a debt management program anytime soon.
So, when I started thinking about saving money, I examined my spending habits to see where I could cut back. I cut out the caviar, gold-flecked chocolate, weekly manicures and butler service.
Just kidding.
The first thing I noticed when I looked at my spending was that I was dropping a big portion of my income on gas every month. Like 50 bucks a month. That’s a lot for me. Used to be I could just fill up the tank anywhere in town and I wouldn’t be broke afterwards, but those days are gone. Nowadays I’ve got to put 10 bucks in at a time.
I started to pay attention to gas prices. For some reason, the gas stations closest to my apartment charge up to 20 cents more than the lowest prices in town. That’s huge. I noticed that the station close to my office has the cheapest gas in town, so I decided that from now on, I would only fill up my tank at that station. Two or three times a week, before or after work, I drop in and put in 10 bucks. That helps me monitor my spending and it’s good to know I’m saving a few bucks.
Now, the title of this post is “Drive Extra Mile to Save Gas, or Don’t” and I mean that literally. If I need gas but I’m nowhere near a cheap gas station, I won’t drive 20 minutes for cheap gas – that negates the benefit of buying the cheaper gas. Rather, I’ll put a few bucks in my tank at the more expensive station, and fill up at the cheap one by my office next time I’m in the area.
The moral of this post: fill up on the cheap stuff only when it’s convenient! The point of mindful spending is to think about your habits and adjust them to streamline your budget – not stubbornly adhere to a practice out of principle.
Author Bio: Drew Johnson is an expert in the various methods of debt reduction and has successfully reduced his own debt. Read additional articles by Drew on Debt Management, Credit Management and more.
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