That’s the gas savings, but the wear and tear cost per mile is currently set at $0.65/mile. Not to mention my time is worth something too.
But my weird gas costs… Last Friday I reported paying $2.92/gallon for 88 gas at Sheetz. Earlier this week it jumped up to $3.22/gal. But then today it was $2.76/gallon. Holy wild price swings… You can save a lot just by hitting the timing right.
I live in a high-traffic area. Driving a 10 mile round trip could easily take me half an hour (or more, depending on the time of day). Definitely not worth my time to save $2.
I also shop around for the lowest gas price. It just became a game. Annoying, I know. I combined errands and filling up with gas rather and not make an extra trip to the station.
Remember this?
But he’s right, if you think about dollar cost averaging and unpredictable price fluctuations.
If you pick a dollar amount like $20 and always stop the pump when you reach it, you will end up paying less than the average cost of gas because of dollar cost averaging.
If gas is $2 a gallon, you’d get 10 gallons. If it is $5 a gallon, you’d get 4 gallons.
The average price of a gallon is $3.50 (for the folks that bought 7 gallons in 2 visits their cost fluctuated from $14 to $35) and paid $49 for 14 gallons.
The dollar cost averager following Shaq’s advice (bought a certain $ amount, regardless of price, buys more gallons when it is cheaper and fewer when it is more expensive) only paid $40 for 14 gallons.
It’s even less expensive, if you only buy gas when it is $2 per gallon and never by gas when it is $5 per gallon. The problem is the future gas price is unknown and may never get to the lower $2 price again. You can’t simply fill up less when gas prices are high and wait until they are low again to fill up more. Gas prices may not drop for months, and you are likely to need gas before then. For example, the $5.29 I paid for gas a couple weeks ago seemed high at the time, but now $5.29 seems low compared to the $5.69 at Costco today. Who knows how many months I’ll need to wait before I see $5.29 gas prices again.
I go to Costco each ~3 weeks and fill up then… filling up the whole tank. Costco is usually the lowest price option on my local region. If I am low on gas and happen to be driving through a different area that has lower prices than Costco, then I may fill up at the other location, again filling up the whole tank. If you instead only fill up a partial tank, you also need to consider the additional cost for the larger number of fill ups. The IRS uses a $0.65/mile estimate, although the exact cost per mile will vary wildly, depending on your specific vehicle.
99.9% of my driving in within 10-15 minutes of my house. I don’t need an app to tell me what gas stations have the best prices. It’s consistently the same ones. The closest which is usually cheapest I drive by on my way out and my way back home making it pretty easy.
My mechanic advised me to not buy cheap gas (places like Costco,Kum and go, etc) and to stick with places like Shell, Conoco, Phillips 66. My car failed the emmissions test (need to replace catalytic converter) and he said those cheaper gas places sell inferior gas. I found a Shell station that usually has pretty low prices.
Here in my neck of the woods, I’ve seen the same tanker truck fill the reservoirs at the Costco and at the nearby Shell, so I’m inclined to believe the old wives’ tale theory.
yeah, I think all Costco gas is ‘top tier’ certified, which means it contains all the detergents that you would find in a major.
I heard that the reason to buy Costco gas is because it’s higher quality.
Costco is not cheaper where I am. Sometimes it’s more expensive. It’s not convenient and is always packed. I usually buy my gas elsewhere.
Since electric rates are regulated I don’t have to worry about where to get the cheapest electricity since I charge my car at home. I love not feeling jerked around by fluctuating gas prices. And yes, I know electricity will prob go up next year. But not in the next day. It’s peaceful.
Gas blends can be different between name brands and the “cheap gas” places. The name brands will use detergents to help keep the internal combustion chambers cleaner woth less carbon buildup, which will raise compression over time.
Not always, but sometimes, “cheap gas” stations don’t use all the detergents that the name brands do. But it’s impossible to tell and you won’t get a straight answer out of anyone in the booth. 
Have to pay for all those writers’ union pay and benefits increases……and the costs of settling with the actors union hasn’t been included yet.
The great part is we don’t have to pay Netflix unless we want to. I am fine with the cost because I cut the cord many years ago and saved tons and still save tons compared to cable/sat.
My streaming and internet is now under $100 per month. When I cut the cord my cable and internet was around $240 per month.
I don’t have Netflix. But the thread is about inflation and streaming platform prices are only going to up.
Sure this post is about thoughts about inflation.
My thought about inflation is to change my spending habits on things that I feel like have gone up too much and I can do without or there is a substitute product that is cheaper. I also only buy certain things at the grocery store when they are on sale. Plus with the increase in fast food and restaurant I eat at home more often.
My thought about inflation is not to just sit around and complain about it and let companies charge me more when I can find it cheaper other places. Sure I am lucky that I don’t rent and don’t have to deal with rent increases, but that was done by design years ago. Same could be said for the cost of college. I always knew college was expensive so we made sure that the kids were high stats and had good activities so scholarships would be plentiful and the cost would be below the average.
I will say this I was raised where if you wanted to better your situation you work at it. I would say most people on this board are like that. Most people here are successful in life. I will say I learned complaining with your voice will not get you far, but complaining with your feet will.
If the government was paying $500 for a hammer I wonder what they cost now. 
@GKUnion There was never a $600 hammer. It was all because of the way the government did accounting then.
The myth of the $600 hammer - Government Executive (govexec.com)
I don’t know which is worse a $600 hammer or procurement and budget tracking processes so inept that a $600 dollar exists on paper.
To me the $600 hammer was always a metaphor for indulgent military program spending practices.