I've become that person who drives around comparing gas prices before filling up. I have a fuel watch app that tracks prices at every station in my area, and I check it obsessively. Last week, I drove an extra fifteen minutes to save three cents per gallon. The math doesn't even make sense.
My tank holds fourteen gallons, so saving three cents means I saved forty-two cents total. I definitely used more than forty-two cents worth of gas driving to the cheaper station. But somehow, the principle of not paying more than necessary has become more important than logical economics.
My spouse thinks I'm being ridiculous, and honestly, she's probably right. I've calculated that my time spent comparing prices, driving to cheaper stations, and thinking about gas prices is worth way more than the money I'm supposedly saving. Yet I can't seem to stop.
It's become a weird competition with myself to never pay the highest price. I've even researched fuel-efficient driving techniques and hypermiling strategies on forums. I found bulk fuel cards on Alibaba, though I'm not sure they'd actually save money for personal use.
Anyone else get weirdly obsessive about gas prices, or is this just my strange quirk? At what point does frugality become counterproductive? Should I just pick a convenient station and accept whatever price?
Gas price obsession has consumed more time and energy than its worth
byu/kkdndndndndnen inFrugal
Posted by kkdndndndndnen
39 Comments
Decide what you can budget for gas every month.
When you have used up your gas money, walk or ride your bike.
Dude you have a mental health issue, not a financial management issue. I’m serious.
Why don’t you value your time?
Costco. If not, find whatever grocery store gives you fuel points and use them.
This sounds more like mild OCD/mental illness than anything.
This is NOT a frugal activity…change your ways or get help
I think it’s good that you recognize that it’s not really “frugal” for you to do it the way you are doing.
We’re lucky that we have one of the lower priced places closest to our house, however there’s a couple stations within about 15-20 minutes that are considerably cheaper (9 or 10 cents a gallon) and if I’m passing them I’ll fill up there if I’m low but I won’t drive to them just for gas.
I often wonder about this, particularly when I’m at Costco and the gas line is 6 lanes wide, 10-20 cars deep in each line, people are honking, the attendant is yelling at everyone that the pumps stretch to whichever beside your gas tank is on, it’s cold and snowy and everyone’s nerves are shot from having just shopped at the heck-scape that is Costco — all to save a couple of bucks on gas.
I’m frugal in most areas of my life but I don’t cheap out on my sanity.
It seems like you’re unhappy with how this has affected your life. If so, stop doing this for a few months. Only go to the most convenient station that’s on your way home from work or close to your house. After breaking the toxic habits you describe allow yourself to start again, but just do it in a healthy and productive way.
I finally found my wife’s Reddit account! She does the same thing. She’ll drive 20 minutes to save three cents.
My method is to find the cheapest place already on my route. Currently, this is BJ’s. I believe they are a regional wholesale club similar to Costco or Sam’s club. I save at least 30 cents a gallon compared to regular gas stations and it’s already in my way.
Practically a cash back credit card will be more rewarding. You can get up to 5 cents per dollar spent at any convenient station.
OK, so sometimes the money isn’t the point, it’s the principle of the thing! Still, you also need to consider that your time and energy are valuable. Why waste it on saving pennies?
We all have to have hobbies… the flip side of this is called fuel hacking.
Parker’s or Sam’s is where I try to stop at. I will not drive 10 miles down the road for 5¢ cheaper if it’s out of my way, the wife will, but not me. I think at some point you have to ask yourself if the distance and the time are really worth it?
I’m with your wife on this one.
If / when you get an EV the “saving on fuel” game changes completely. If you can charge at home, in most cases it’s much cheaper than gas and electricity prices are much more stable than gas. You plug in when you’re done with the car for the day, and it’s charged up when you leave the next. If you can only use public fast chargers some are cheaper at certain times of the day, but the best is when you find a free slow charger by the grocery store/other store, gym, a park, or a movie theater – it feels really cool leaving with more fuel than when you arrived.
Since this is r/Frugal I feel like I have to say you don’t need to buy a new Tesla or Porsche to get an EV. There’s really cheap used Chevy Bolts or Nissan leafs that would make great second cars for a family that already has more than one, and in most cases you can slow charge it from a regular household outlet.
You are wasting your time, and your money. You are very likely not saving money if you are driving around comparing multiple gas stations each time you have to fill up.
Get an electric car. It’s the ultimate frugal vehicle. Nearly 0 maintenance and costs me about $6 in electricity to drive 250 miles. I wake up everyday with a full tank.
My time is worth more than to drive around for 30 minutes to save $1.50.
Nope. The Costco a mike from me is 80c cheaper a gallon than the gas station across the street, and I get 5 pct back on top of that.
I’ll ficus more on daily food costs.
Kroger does $0.03 off every gallon with their card.
And if you’re shopping there in wednesdays or Fridays (can’t remember) you get extra fuel points. I’ll often bank them over the month then you have a full month to spend them all the way or incrementally up to $1.
Hope you’re ok buddy.
Personally, I have a general rule since I have a small 14gal tank. .30 cents or more is worth it. But that’s only because where I live there is a gas war going on and I live by both the cheap and expensive stations. On the city of Denver side it is about $2.40/gal, but If I travel a mile over to the gas war (arapahoe county), it’s $1.83/gal rn.
You should also consider top tier gas into the mix. I believe its well worth the price difference.
Easy solution that worked for me: get an electric vehicle and never have to worry about gas prices again!
As somebody else has said, just get a costco membership. They have always been cheaper than alternatives. Go during their slow hours, and it’s never an issue.
Yeah it’s not worth hunting around to save a couple cents
Frugality has already reached the point of being counterproductive. Even if it was 30 cents cheaper at the station 15 minutes away, at best you saved around a dollar. Thats presuming youre even filling the entire tank. Thats still an extra 30 minutes of driving added to your commute.
I just join the rewards programs of various gas stations id go to. I pass 6 on my direct route on my way home/work and fill up then so I dont have to make a special trip to just get gas. Theres another thatd take a little mile long detour that I sometimes go to since its around 2 stores I frequent.
Cheap gas could be damaging your car.
Obsessing over prices is damaging your mental health.
Both of these are not positively contributing to your life.
It’s time to find a healthier alternative.
Be well and prosper.
I have the same size gas tank as you.
I do not chase gas prices in my car
Now my husband’s truck, he has a huge fuel tank, we don’t necessarily chase, but I utilize gas dealsI get.
For the work I do, if my stats are high enough, I get two $.75 off through Upside, every two months. I’ve always hit it, since they started it, which was two years ago.
Between the two Phillips, it’s around 55 or $60 I get back. Now that’s nothing to snuff at. And rarely do we have to drive any further than the corner gas station.
For his truck, we try like hell to save money because it takes 100 to fill it up
My little bitty gas tank, we don’t even use gas rewards because it’s not worth it. I’ll give them to my husband, so it benefits us more.
Yeah, I don’t do it unless it’s like 15 cents less
My partner is extremely frugal, which is fine, but the gas thing always makes me scratch my head too. Going out of your way to save perhaps a dollar in total is just not worth it to me, especially with the time and mental energy it expends. I just go where is convenient honestly. If it is grossly overpriced I will sometimes just get a half tank.
The only time I compare is when I fill up the diesel. On my gasser I just go to Costco and get a cheap lunch while I’m there.
>My spouse thinks I’m being ridiculous, and honestly, she’s probably right.
Not probably. She’s definitely right.
>Yet I can’t seem to stop.
Do you want to?
>It’s become a weird competition with myself to never pay the highest price. […] Should I just pick a convenient station and accept whatever price?
You realize there’s some middle ground here, right? You don’t have to pay the highest price, but you also don’t have to just accept the price because it’s at the location you chose. You’re not aiming for perfect, you’re aiming for good enough. It’s good to save money, but it doesn’t have to be The Cheapest Gas Ever.
But you’re *not* saving money, you’re actually spending more by doing this. Why?
You need to find a way to convince yourself that whatever station is most convenient on your daily route IS the cheapest no matter what the price is. If you’re that obsessive about saving, play the game and consider things like wear on tires, wear on mechanical parts, exposure to danger (more time on road = higher chance of an accident), putting yourself out of position with perspective to where the rest of your errands are located. Gas might be 15 minutes away from your current location, but are you working toward or away from your end destination? Most likely it’s not convenient or what you would think an efficient route looks like.
No one here is smart enough to diagnose anything but at-least work with what you have got. It’s not about getting the cheapest gas it’s about how not to wear down your tires which will cost you more than gas was ever worth. Flip the mind set.
I know which stations are usually the cheapest and most expensive around me. Unless I’m saving more than 25¢, I don’t really care.
I mean ill avoid getting gas if I need it if I pass a station at 2.19 and the next ones are like 2.49 in town because ill go out again near the cheap station. But im not going to drive 20 minutes out of my way to save 3 cents a gallon that’s not saving you any money.
Are you me? I do this with ordering anything online. It gets so bad that sometimes I just don’t even buy anything.
We have one local station who always seems to have a price of one or two cents less per gallon than the other stations. Their lines are always long. Meanwhile you can zip right up to the pump at any of the other stations, fill up and go about your day. The cost difference for me is usually around 20-30 cents. Definitely worth it to me to pay that little bit extra. My time is worth more than that.
If you have a garage, get a used EV. Problem solved!
Just go to your local costco or sams and you will get the best price always. The quality of gas will be good too. And value your time…I dont even think you are saving anything with the roaming around and looking at the app.