How far will you go out of your way to save money? I try to combine trips as much as possible in order to justify the expenditure of the gas when I save money. However, some places aren't that far out of the way. For instance, I went to Sheetz today, because I could get a 2.00 sub which is about two dollars less than subway would charge...Sheetz is about a half an hour away, and subway is about 20 minutes or less. However, I did go to the free ATM at Sheetz so that made the trip a bit more worthwhile. Getting gas there with their discount card would have been great too...but that part didnt work out. I also saved a little bit on food because while I was in town I grabbed a few items from the less expesive grocery. So, I mean the difference in transport was pretty minimal. What about you?
I think I'll only drive a little further if I actually save money after factoring the gas I burn on my way there and back. And it's always advisable to shop only once or twice a month. Saves you a lot of money on gas. And if you've got loyalty cards that reward you once you've got enough points to buy some product that's the store you should buy your stuff from that week, day or month depending on how frequently you shop.
When we travel to the provinces where the price of gas is relatively cheaper, we would gas up just a little more than enough to get there. Once the price meters show lower numbers, that's the time we would have a full tank. And in going home, we would again stop in that gas station for another fill up. We're not really going out of our way to get a bargain, we are just grabbing the opportunity because we are already there. It was actually not our original idea. We learned of that in one trip to the province when we rented a van. The van driver taught us that trick of getting a full tank in the province for a cheaper gas price.
Gas isn't always the factor though. I mean sometimes I just need the exercise of getting up and getting out of the house. I would be bored to death if I had to stay in here all the time, besides you may miss specials and clearance items you wouldn't get to see if you were limiting your shopping so much. I will never be a once or twice a month shopper! Yes, sometimes it is not a matter of going out of the way, but just combining trips in a way that makes sense. I love to shop at Kroger, and SuperTarget and stores that are not that close to here. My bank is near some of them. However, when I go, I make sure to make multiple stops to make up for the extra gas expenditure.
The farthest that I will go to save money is to walk instead of commute if the distance is just short and it's not that humid, and to cut down on food that I don't really need, like soda and junk food.
Going out of the way to save is good as long as it's worthwhile so the sensible thing to do is to assess the opportunity cost before undertaking the venture.There is the possibility that you may save on a good or service but u might lose out because the cost of obtaining the saving is ot worthwhile.
If it is necessary. I had to make two trips to the same store simply because I had someone who could not make up their mind about an item. I could have done that in one trip, it was a waste of gas and my precious time.
Some items cost so much that the distance traveled to get them doesn't really matter. For instance, where I live they a place (or maybe places) where the slogan is (or is something like) "Drive a little. Save a lot.". I mean, if you're paying 10,000 USD for a car, then what does it matter where you get it? Unless, of course, if you're speaking of 2000 miles or something.
