Tonight we took the car to church instead of the van because the car needed gas the worst. It matters because the cheapest gas station around here is on the way to church, kind of in the country. It is always a couple of cents cheaper than the stations in town, which I find to be strange, because there is so much competition in town. There are at least 6 stations all within a mile or two of each other in town, and you would think that they would compete against each other and lower prices would be the result. But the cheapest is this little truck stop station that is 10 or 15 miles from any town and many miles away from the next gas station! (it does not even show up on either my KY gas prices link or the msn gas price page) You would think it would be a higher price since there is less competition! Who can figure gas stations out? I have also noticed on my Kentucky gas price do-hinky at the side of my blog that the lowest price in Kentucky is now down to $1.88/gallon! (at Mt. Sterling again) I am pleased with our $2.11/gal though because many of the highest price areas in Kentucky are towns all around us, here in eastern Kentucky. We are in a good gas price spot compared to those immediately around us!
Anyway, the car had gone its maximum 330 miles on the tank of gas and the needle was below the red "E". It took a full 16 gallons, which means it got a disappointing 20.8 miles per gallon. It had always gotten at least 22 miles per gallon in the past. (Of course the oil change on Friday may have already helped that.) The good news was that it only cost $34 to fill it all the way up. At the last price I filled the car up for ($2.45/gal) it would have been $39. I’ll take a $5 savings every time I fill up! I am also glad that it had dropped from that $2.19 price on Friday. By waiting a few days I saved 8 cents a gallon for $1.28 all together! You might say, “big deal, $1.28 is not much” but I say that it’s $1.28 more that I have in my pocket, and it can really add up after a short time. Now when we fill the van up, it will really be noticeable because it has a 30-gallon tank!
Speaking of the van, I will not have enough to fill it up this week because I’ve been spending money. The big purchases were the $30 oil change to start it off and then I bought another shotgun for $75. (too nice of a gun at too nice of a price to pass up) Tonight's fill up of $34 totals my spending at $139. That only left $83 out of my $222. I’ve also purchased several small things like a $3 lunch, a couple of $1 cokes, a $4 flashlight, $14 in ammunition for my new gun, and some other misc. items leaves me only $50 in my wallet now. If I were to get 30 gallons for the van it will cost over $63 even at $2.11/gal. I will probably only get $20 or $30 in the van and wait until we see how the groceries will run. My wife is planning another grocery trip probably tomorrow. She says we are low on many things but she still has all of her $200 from this pay period. The last shopping day was back on September 8th and she did not spend all of the $200 from that pay period, so maybe there will be some left for more gas? Or perhaps I’ll just wait until the next payday and then maybe we will have $1.88/gal gas like Mt. Sterling!
I am also looking at an S-10 pickup truck that runs good and looks nice for $1,300. My car’s days are numbered, I’m afraid. It needs breaks right now and the transmission has been slipping since last spring and the loud exhaust makes it sound more like a junker than it is. When the transmission goes I don’t think it will be worth fixing. I really like this little red 4-wheel drive truck! It seems to be well worth the price. It also gets the same gas mileage as my car and the air conditioner works! (my car’s does not) If I knew exactly when my car will die it would really help. The problem would be, however, that it only can have two passengers, whereas my car hauls 6. (the bucket seats in the truck are in good condition!) The other problem is that we would need to take most of the $1300 out of the credit union account, which is earmarked for keeping us warm this winter. We could maybe swing it, though, but we would then have very little for Christmas shopping.
Speaking of keeping warm, we will probably order the first fill-ups pretty soon. We still have some propane left from last year in the tank (we have already used it a couple of nights) and I want to wait as long as possible to order it, but before it gets so cold that we are in an emergency. I like to wait because that money in the credit union is earning interest, and the longer it sits in there, the more interest it earns. Even if it is only a couple of dollars, that’s a couple of dollars saved!
This post has gotten rather long to be just about money. It seems that it has been one continuous ramble, but I think it has helped me to remember where my money has gone from the last paycheck and to reflect on some of our future money decisions.
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