We took this picture the first time gas prices got above $3 per gallon. They are significantly higher now.
Ouch! Recent months have seen our transportation costs exceed their rightful budgeted amount.
With the price of gas soaring in the States and our far-flung, car-dependent lifestyle out here in the West, it’s time to reconsider the cost of all the little running here and there that seems so important.
Here’s what I find so shocking: we drive older cars, little Jeep Cherokees, which my husband is able to work on and for which he can inexpensively get parts. But with gas at almost $3.50 per gallon, it costs $1 to drive 4 miles! If I’m not willing to spend more than a few bucks on a shirt, why am I going to spend $4 or $5 driving to the store to buy it?
So I’m thinking through my shopping strategies, asking myself:
- Can I live without that ____ ?
- Is there a place closer to home for me to buy it? For example, is laundry soap at Target (a 20 mile round trip) really that much cheaper than the laundry soap at K-Mart (3 mile round trip)?
- And the biggie: What errands can be looped together? (The K-Mart shares a parking lot with Grocery Outlet. In addition, it’s less than another mile to both Costco and the bakery outlet, aka “stale store”.)
What this means for my wardrobe is fewer trips to Value Village, which is about 5 miles from home and isn’t on my “regular loop”, and more stops at the Goodwill I drive by on the way home.
What about you: Is the price of gas changing your shopping habits?
Great things to think about. Gas is still @ $2.99 last time I drove by, but it isn’t even something I’ve thought about as far as how much does it cost to get to the store…
Not yet but you’re making me think it should!
Definitely! I haven’t shopped my old favorite thrift stores on the other side of town for months. What I’m finding is that regular stops at my closest store yield just as much great stuff. Plus, it shares a parking lot with Big Lots, where I can buy a little of everything on my regular shopping list.
I’m finding the same thing – I can do just as well by just stopping at the close one. Maybe it helps that I don’t need much. 🙂
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Definitely! I try to wait and then plan my shopping trips carefully. Although I did that before, too, so maybe not so much.
Actually, I’ve found that – on some occasions – going to the “closer” store is *worse*! Why? Say I want to go to a close-by Target. But tomorrow I want to go to the mall, which is further away. Often, there’s a Target (or what have you) close to that mall. If I went to the closer Target today, I’d pay for gas to and from Target today, and then again for gas to and from the mall tomorrow. Something to think about. 🙂