A Proud New Member...

Yesterday my boyfriend and I took the leap to becoming BJ's members.  I had always been against the type of store where I have to pay money to spend my money.  How could I be saving money if I paid $50 just to be able to walk through the door?  (I have the same theory on cover charges at bars as well).  However, after a little bit of research and a lot of talking to people who were members, I decided to take the dive.  Spending the $50 hurt a little, but supposedly the rewards will be worth it. 

One of the main reasons we decided to make the switch was because of gas prices.  There happens to be a BJ's on the route that both the BF and I take to work, and the member price for gas there is about 15 to 20 cents cheaper per gallon then all the local gas stations.  Since I drive a giant, gas guzzling pick up truck, I decided that at nearly $4 a gallon, I just couldn't afford to be filling the tank constantly.  But at least if I'm saving money at the pump I can feel a little better about it. 

A question that I've gotten a lot before is:  If you're trying to save money, why do you drive a giant pick up truck that eats gas like it's going out of style?  Well my friends, the answer to that is simple.  I own my pick up truck.  If I were to get a more gas efficient car, I would have to take out yet another loan.  And since the whole point of my money saving is to eliminate the loans I already have, I can't see how adding another loan to all that would be justifiable just to save money on gas.  It's sort of like a devil you do know is better than the devil you don't sort of situation.  My truck is a bit old, but it runs.  It doesn't have any major issues besides guzzling gas, so I can't justify getting rid of it. 

However, I do justify driving the truck another way.  I hardly drive it all Summer, so it's not using very much gas when gas prices are generally the highest.  How do I manage to drive my truck so minimally in the summer?  I drive my motorcycle instead.  Yes, I know, this is totally unexpected.  A young girl like me riding around on a big black Yamaha motorcycle?  But folks, when I tell you that I save so much money on gas and maintenance I am not kidding.  (It's also really fun).  My motorcycle has a gas tank that takes just about 3 gallons of gas.  So, even if my tank was bone dry, it would cost me no more than $12 to fill.  But how far can I really get on 3 gallons of gas, you ask?  You would be amazed.  When I fill my gas tank in the summer, I can usually go 3 or 4 days of constant riding on that one tank.  I mean, there are days that we've gone on lengthy, lengthy rides where I've had to fill up more often, but on average I can ride for much longer, on much less.  And when you factor in that Monday through Friday the only real time I'll be riding is my commute to and from work, well I can probably go the whole week on just the one tank.

Think about it.  When was the last time you went a whole week on $12 worth of gas?  And no, you can't count that week you had the flu and didn't leave the house for 5 days.  My motorcycle (which I bought used and got a really good deal on) was probably the best investment I could have made.  I would recommend buying one to anyone who wants to save a little money on gas and have fun doing it.  The best part?  Motorcycles are also very cheap to maintain. 

But, I digress.  This weekend will be my first trip to BJ's to hopefully save a significant amount of money on my grocery shopping.  I am hoping that I can slash my spending on meat and paper goods, and I will most likely fill my gas tank while I'm there. 

We'll see how it goes!