Lessons From An Empty Gas Tank

While driving to a meeting, I notice my gas gauge is low. My range indicator shows I have just two miles to go before empty. (Yes, I’m one of those people).

I’m right near a gas station charging $2.25/gallon (I’m in the northeast United States for frame of reference). I know there’s another station about five miles up the road that is charging $1.99/gallon.

Unsure if I’ll make it that far (I know from experience that I can drive for a bit even when the indicator reads “zero”), I pull into the closest station.

“I’ll just throw in five bucks or so,” I think to myself. “Then I’ll stop at the cheaper one to fill up.”

Being short on time, this isn’t the best option, but I’ll be damned if I pay more than I have to.

As I’m pumping my gas, I calculate how much I’ll save by filling up at the second station. When I realize it’s less than four dollars, I decide to fill up now and save myself the time required to stop again.

Would it have been nice to save four bucks? Sure. But is my time and sanity worth more than that? Hell yeah it is.

As I finish my drive, I’m thinking about how I can better reconcile my deal-finding prowess (it’s one of my superpowers) with not feeding into limiting money beliefs.

Money mindset is something I’ve been working on for a bit. It’s a push-and-pull process, that’s for sure, but I’ve learned some interesting things about myself.