Everybody is probably guilty at sometime in their lives of wasting huge amounts of money on big ticket items, then penny pinching somewhere weird which makes absolutely no difference in your long-term family financial outlook. Aren’t you?
My pet stupid money saving routine is to try and get the best gas price. It is a noble thought. As the price jumps and drops like the temperature on a Midwestern spring day, you think you’ll be able to hit the pump at the exactly the low point to fill your tank up at the cheapest possible rate.
This, of course, doesn’t happen, because you then drive 10 miles down the interstate to see the $3.19 price per gallon you just paid is $3.09 per gallon three exits south. !@#$%^&*()_+_)(*&^%$#@!
You bang your head on the steering wheel. You berate yourself for your idiocy. You plan to use this new gas station next time you drive this way to ensure you get the best price. But when you do that, the pattern has shifted and it has raised its prices before all the other surrounding stations. !@#$%^&*()_++_)(*&^%$#@! Again.
The irony involved in this scenario is the belief that over the course of time you are saving a worthwhile amount. You aren’t. Trust me, I’ve done the math many times. But it doesn’t stop me from continuing to try and save pennies that turn into dollars and then 20 bucks and then maybe even $50 over the course of a year.
Here are the multiplications and additions if you want to do the exercise: Say you save 10 cents per gallon and you put 10 gallons in your tank a week because you bought a fuel efficient car to save money and the environment over the course of the rest of your lifetime. That’s a buck a week. Yippeee.
Okay, now with 52 weeks in a year, you have now saved $52 for 2014. That’s if you can find a 10 cents saving by moving from one pump to the next.
Yet how many people like me go around searching for the cheapest gas? How much gasoline do you expend driving to the less expensive station? Now there’s a question few of us consider, so let’s not go there.
The point is our psychic, emotional and intellectual energy is spent on something trivial rather than an area where you can really save, like going to a high school sporting event rather than a professional one. Think about those savings.
Take a family of five to a Kansas City Royals baseball game. We’ll presume $200 to walk in the gate at $40 per ticket, which is a somewhat in-between price for seats at a Major League baseball game.
“Hey guys, want a hot dog and soft drink?” Ooops, you are now 50 bucks deeper in debt, since one of your kids wanted peanuts, you grabbed an $8 beer and your youngest had to get some ice cream.
Round two of food and trinkets could be another $50, or if you exercise maximum restraint, maybe you walk back to your car for that $250 total, which is actually $260, since parking cost another $10. Do you ever wish you owned a slab of concrete near a pro stadium or downtown in a major U.S. city? I sure do.
If you went to that high school rivalry baseball game instead, you’d all get in and be fed for $50 max, and the drive there and back would be shorter, so you’d save on gas. There’s a $210 savings. Do that five times a year and support your local high school.
Like families, businesses penny pinch, getting rid of potted plants, wall hangings and coffee for employees, when they need to save 5-10 million bucks. The math doesn’t work.
Big ticket items are where you get savings. Make sure you keep the coffee for workers. It’s good for morale. We all need more of that.
My pet stupid money saving routine is to try and get the best gas price. It is a noble thought. As the price jumps and drops like the temperature on a Midwestern spring day, you think you’ll be able to hit the pump at the exactly the low point to fill your tank up at the cheapest possible rate.
This, of course, doesn’t happen, because you then drive 10 miles down the interstate to see the $3.19 price per gallon you just paid is $3.09 per gallon three exits south. !@#$%^&*()_+_)(*&^%$#@!
You bang your head on the steering wheel. You berate yourself for your idiocy. You plan to use this new gas station next time you drive this way to ensure you get the best price. But when you do that, the pattern has shifted and it has raised its prices before all the other surrounding stations. !@#$%^&*()_++_)(*&^%$#@! Again.
The irony involved in this scenario is the belief that over the course of time you are saving a worthwhile amount. You aren’t. Trust me, I’ve done the math many times. But it doesn’t stop me from continuing to try and save pennies that turn into dollars and then 20 bucks and then maybe even $50 over the course of a year.
Here are the multiplications and additions if you want to do the exercise: Say you save 10 cents per gallon and you put 10 gallons in your tank a week because you bought a fuel efficient car to save money and the environment over the course of the rest of your lifetime. That’s a buck a week. Yippeee.
Okay, now with 52 weeks in a year, you have now saved $52 for 2014. That’s if you can find a 10 cents saving by moving from one pump to the next.
Yet how many people like me go around searching for the cheapest gas? How much gasoline do you expend driving to the less expensive station? Now there’s a question few of us consider, so let’s not go there.
The point is our psychic, emotional and intellectual energy is spent on something trivial rather than an area where you can really save, like going to a high school sporting event rather than a professional one. Think about those savings.
Take a family of five to a Kansas City Royals baseball game. We’ll presume $200 to walk in the gate at $40 per ticket, which is a somewhat in-between price for seats at a Major League baseball game.
“Hey guys, want a hot dog and soft drink?” Ooops, you are now 50 bucks deeper in debt, since one of your kids wanted peanuts, you grabbed an $8 beer and your youngest had to get some ice cream.
Round two of food and trinkets could be another $50, or if you exercise maximum restraint, maybe you walk back to your car for that $250 total, which is actually $260, since parking cost another $10. Do you ever wish you owned a slab of concrete near a pro stadium or downtown in a major U.S. city? I sure do.
If you went to that high school rivalry baseball game instead, you’d all get in and be fed for $50 max, and the drive there and back would be shorter, so you’d save on gas. There’s a $210 savings. Do that five times a year and support your local high school.
Like families, businesses penny pinch, getting rid of potted plants, wall hangings and coffee for employees, when they need to save 5-10 million bucks. The math doesn’t work.
Big ticket items are where you get savings. Make sure you keep the coffee for workers. It’s good for morale. We all need more of that.