my frugal side

I will be the first to admit that at times I spend more money than I am supposed to. If a great deal comes around that I believe will not come around again (at least for a long time anyway), I will grab it - a spur of the moment decision, if you may. Duksim doesn't always appreciate this side of me, but old habits are indeed hard to break. This applies really to things that I perceive we would need at some point in the future, like computer supplies, household products, etc.

But at other times, I take the time and hunt around for good deals (comparison shop), and when I encounter a deal that seems to be the best of the bunch - then I go for it. Sometimes, however, this tactic backfires on me and I end up regretting the decision. Yesterday was a prime example of this. I started the day with less than a quarter tank of gas in my car. I had to go to Skokie for a project that morning. Around noon, my boss and I went out for lunch to a Japanese restaurant down the street. We took my car. Afterwards, I commented that I needed to fill up somewhere with gas. She mentioned a station ahead of us, but I saw that regular was $2.21/gal. I decided against it, and passed it up. Ended up going back to the Skokie site to finish the project without filling up. On the way back to my office, I saw a gas station that had regular for $2.14/gal. Thinking there must be a better deal at another place, I passed that one up too (shouldn't have done that). Unfortunately there was no other station with a better deal on the way back to the office. There weren't any others with a better deal when I left the office at the end of the day to go to the gym either - in fact, the prices were much higher. Argh!

I left the gym later to go home running almost on empty now, but I refused to cave in and pay a higher price than I needed to. I couldn't go back to the $2.14/gal station because that was all the way back at Skokie somewhere and I was in Morton Grove. I decided to head back home, hoping for the best. I passed a Citgo on Milwaukee that had $2.14/gal. Perfect! I pulled in, and just as I was about to insert my credit card, I checked the sign again - and for some reason it now said $2.19/gal! Was I seeing things? I could have sworn it said...argh! I packed everything in and left without filling up. I decided to fill up at the Gas Depot near home - the price is not the lowest, but I was gradually caving in at this point. When I got there, I pulled in - but all the pumps were roped off! What the...??? Moving closer, I realized that they were in the midst of replacing all the pumps with new ones. ARGH!!! I gave up and went home - my car now literally running on fumes. This morning I sheepishly ended up pulling into that Citgo station on Milwaukee and filled up - but only $5 worth (price was still at $2.19/gal). Now I am back up to a quarter tank of gas...good enough for me to continue my hunt for low gas prices. As of now I haven't found a low-enough price to cause me to pull in, but at least I'm not running on fumes anymore - at least not yet anyway. Argh...maybe I'll just drive back up near my mom's place - the Marathon station over there always seems to have the lowest gas prices for some reason...all the way back up in Arlington Heights...double argh!!!