I have finished up my June budget numbers and it is quite painful after all is said and done. I just about had heart failure when I realized we were $83 over budget for gasoline! $83? I have $100 per month budgeted for gas. I know its summer, but Princess Penelope has NOT been driving around that much. And then it hit me --- Princess went to visit her Dad for a week. That required meeting him halfway one weekend and then again, the next (he lives 250 miles away). For each trip I burn roughly a tank of gas, or about $40 --- so multiply that by 2 trips, and there's my $80 over budget (the $3 I can live with).
I usually fill my car up once a week at Sam's Club where the gas is about .20/gallon cheaper than everywhere else in my town (I'm usually less than half empty when I do). It is on the other side of my suburban town, but I am usually over there at least once a weekish running errands so I fill it up then. Princess Penleope, however, is a different story. She is rarely over on that side of town, so it seems ridiculous to give her my debit card and my Sam's card and send her on a special trip to fill up so she fills up a bit closer to home, which is definitely pricier but infinitely more convenient than sending her to Sam's.
Anyway, I noticed in this week's Publix ad that they are running a special wherein if you make a $25 purchase, present your coupon, you can get $10 off of a $50 gas card. Depending on what options are available, I think I might take advantage of this for Princess Penelope. It will cost me more in initial outlay, but $10 is $10 and I might just be able to shave a bit off of July's gas budget. Wouldn't THAT be good!?!?!?
I finally figured my gas budget was inadequate. I never paid much attention to the cost since it's something I need. I try to combine trips but do make a few library trips - 1-2 per week sometimes - and a few other errands. Well someone posted in a blog a month or so ago about Discover card's cashback bonus $40 Shell cards for $20 each - I had enough for 2 cards so snagged the deal(sure wish I'd let my savings build once I saw that deal!) Well turns out I had about $3 left after one fillup and I have a civic with a small tank! Same thing the 2nd fillup and 2nd card. Now I have about $6-$7 combined on both cards so guess I'll use one for close to 1 gal then swipe the other for another then use my Discover card LOL! I don't usually go inside and buy the overpriced drinks and stuff.
ReplyDeletePrincess Penelope has a civic too! I'm very fortunate that my office is 5-10 minutes away (depending on how many red lights I hit) and her school is only about 10 minutes away in rush hour traffic. I didn't think to budget for the extra road trips this summer so that kind of threw me off. I'm hoping getting her the gas card will help her to budget her gas a bit too.
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