We spent a lot of money this weekend. But we saved a lot of money too. The BP gas card deal at Publix is a great opportunity to save gas money, but its important also to conserve gasoline by exploring ways to decrease our usage. Now that we have $500 in gas cards, I would like them to last a long time, like maybe 5 months.
I'm not even sure if we can make it that long, so lets do the math. Based on our driving last year we drive about 20,000 miles a year in all our vehicles - one car, one truck, two motorcycles and my bicycle. If we continue to commute and travel at the same rate, we will consume about $144 of gasoline each month (assuming average gas cost is $2.80 per gallon). So maybe five months is a little optimistic, but if we ride our motorcycles and I bike to work more, we can cut gas use down to $100 month.
2009 miles
|
vehicle
|
mpg
|
cost/yr
|
cost/month
|
6348
|
ST1300
|
45
|
394.99
|
32.92
|
2375
|
Rebel
|
70
|
95.00
|
7.92
|
7706
|
Camry
|
28
|
770.60
|
64.22
|
2508
|
Explorer
|
15
|
468.16
|
39.01
|
1230
|
bicycle
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
20167
|
total
|
cost->
|
$144.06
|
The Irish proverb "it is a long road that has no turning" is a warning to add some twists and turns into your journey so that the path you are travelling does not seem long and boring. It means that when you get tired of the frugal behaviors and always cutting back, just acknowledge that you need some change. Even for a day or a weekend, give it up and splurge.
As I was saying before, we spent a lot of money this weekend and I think that was our turn in the road, to get off the frugal path - yet its planning for future needs and taking advantage of getting discounted gas.