I live, write, and garden in the PNW with my husband of 28 years, disabled daughter, adult son, and my 84-year-old mother. We have paid off $250,000.00 worth of debt (if you include the interest) in the last fifteen years and as of 6/12/2020 are 100% DEBT FREE!!!!Well, gas prices have hit over $3.00 a gallon here so I will not be making any extra trips to town. I wanted to go in today, but I cannot justify it when I have to make a half trip today for soccer practice, a trip tomorrow and one on Saturday. Used to be I would make two runs on the first Friday of DH's pay cycle, one in the morning to do all the banking and a Costco run while the kids are in school, and then back in again in the evening for Rose's dance class.
I have set up an automatic funds transfer to send $10 to my long term savings account every Thursday, so that brings that account up to $125 as of today. I will have to pick the kids up from school tomorrow instead of waiting for the school bus to come so I can get into town early enough to do the banking. So I won't be able to deposit the $50 in my wallet into long term savings until tomorrow, or the $19 into the freezer money until Monday. These credit unions are on opposite sides of town and both close at 5. I can only get there as soon as 4:30. At least my checking account CU has a drive-thru that stays open until 7, so no worries there.
Fortunately the school is on the route between my house and town so there is no backtracking or wasting of gas. And on Monday the freezer money CU is on the way to Tobias's dance class, so again, no backtracking or wasting of gas.
I will save my Costco run for Saturday after the soccer games. I hate, hate, hate going to Costco on Saturday. On Friday I can do all my shopping, wait in line, and get out to the parking lot in the same amount of time it takes me just to wait in line for the cash register on Saturday.
Come to think of it, though, I'm not really out of anything I need from Costco. Maybe I can just skip the run this month. I think it has just gotten to be a habit to go once a month. My freezer is full, now that the produce market is open it beats Costco prices, and I'm trying to eat down my pantry, and I still have plenty of Omega 3 eggs, Kleenex tissue or T.P., so there isn't a real reason for me to go, other than entertainment value (which can get expensive).
Hmm, maybe I should challenge myself to get through this pay cycle without going to Costco at all. That could definitely save me some money. Okay, so that will be my goal for this pay cycle, along with cutting out extra town runs to save gas.
Trying to Cut Back on Driving
April 20th, 2006 at 05:18 pm
April 20th, 2006 at 05:25 pm 1145553936
I'll be interested to hear about your Costco experiment. I quit going monthly when I moved further away from ours.... Noticed my bill for the groceries went way down. I have never added Costco back in. Sure saves time too!
April 20th, 2006 at 05:44 pm 1145555070
April 20th, 2006 at 06:01 pm 1145556087
Also Winco is in town with the cheapest food prices and DH usually stops there on the weekend when he goes into relieve for lunches. However, I have also started keeping a little cash here at home and gave YD a short list mid-week to stop at Winco on her way home from junior college for a few things.
I rarely go to town and work at home so I only fill up about once a month or so. Our gas is still about $400 a month for DH and YD who both drive to town and YD actually a little further to the JC 5-6 days a week.