Gas prices: Making buying new cheaper than used!

[englishteacha]

Our baby's due soon, and we've been looking for bargains on the last few things we need for her arrival. I've been stalking Craigslist. The high chair we'd like appeared on CL the other day, in a town about 90 minutes away, for $20 instead of the $55 it costs new. Figuring in gas prices, though, it would cost us more to go get the gently used high chair than to go to Walmart in our town and buy the new one. That's so sad! I remember my parents driving all over the place to get a bargain, and always coming out ahead, even with fuel costs. Guess those days are over!

Personally, I prefer to buy things secondhand when I can. It usually saves me money, it's more environmentally friendly, and helps the local economy instead of some giant business somewhere else. With the cost of gas, though, my secondhand bargain hunting will have to be close to home, or in a location I would be going to already.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Really makes you think twice about going anywhere. I remember one day just on a whim taking off right after work to go trout fishing. Cost me about $10 in gas. Today, the same trip would cost $40 in gas. Not enough to make me go broke, but you think about how you spend $40 much more than you think about how you spend $10. I can't just drop $40 on a whim.

 

[SaraJayne]

Our baby's due soon, and we've been looking for bargains on the last few things we need for her arrival. I've been stalking Craigslist. The high chair we'd like appeared on CL the other day, in a town about 90 minutes away, for $20 instead of the $55 it costs new. Figuring in gas prices, though, it would cost us more to go get the gently used high chair than to go to Walmart in our town and buy the new one. That's so sad! I remember my parents driving all over the place to get a bargain, and always coming out ahead, even with fuel costs. Guess those days are over!

Personally, I prefer to buy things secondhand when I can. It usually saves me money, it's more environmentally friendly, and helps the local economy instead of some giant business somewhere else. With the cost of gas, though, my secondhand bargain hunting will have to be close to home, or in a location I would be going to already.

I'm also factoring in gas prices when it comes to most things.

 

[wdw4rfam]

It really is crazy. I check my receipts when leaving a store now, because I have been overchrged so many times, and when I get home realize that its not worth driving back to get my money back- and they probably know that.
We just drove to WDW a few weeks ago, and it cost us $450 in gas alone. The first time we drove it only cost $200-$250, and that was just 5 years ago.

 

[shortbun]

We've been writing down what we need to do and errands we need to run outside the house so we can combine. Happily, we bought a Vespa a couple of years ago so DH can run several local errands using that. Can't do the grocery shopping though. Like today, DH had a dental appointment so we sat down and decided that since the paint store was in the same block, he should go ahead and get the paint for the living room AND buy lunch at the Chipotle next door. He also walked across the street and shipped a few things that we needed to return from online shopping. Didn't use the Vespa but still made one trip out of what could have been two or three.

 

[happygirl]

Thankfully our gas prices are dropping hopefully they continue to

 

[LJSquishy]

Well, technically it still would have been way cheaper for you to drive the 90 minutes and buy the used high chair. There is no way it would cost you $35 in gas. lol It would probably cost you less than $10 to drive there and back (Assuming gas is approx $4/gallon, unless you are driving a gas guzzler that gets like 5miles/gal in which you should replace that vehicle). You do have to weigh in whether a $25 savings is worth it to you to have a gently used vs new product, though, especially if you are planning on having more children.

 

[Hannathy]

Well, technically it still would have been way cheaper for you to drive the 90 minutes and buy the used high chair. There is no way it would cost you $35 in gas. lol It would probably cost you less than $10 to drive there and back (Assuming gas is approx $4/gallon, unless you are driving a gas guzzler that gets like 5miles/gal in which you should replace that vehicle). You do have to weigh in whether a $25 savings is worth it to you to have a gently used vs new product, though, especially if you are planning on having more children.

I beg to differ! 90 minutes away could easily be 100 miles. It is going to cost $35 easily to drive 200 miles, especially if you factor in the oil use also and wear and tear on the car and tires.

Plus no way would I drive 3 hours to save $30 bucks. You also have to factor in how much YOU are worth an hour!

Where are you buying your gas that you can drive for 3 hours for $10 bucks? You are way way low.

 

[NYEmomma]

Instead of looking on CL, since your local one can cover a fairly large amount of area, see if you can find some local swap groups on FB. I'm a member of several that you have to live/work in my city or the cities that border it (or be willing to drive and deliver yourself). Some are even specifically for baby/child items.

I've gotten almost everything for these babies secondhand and have barely had to drive at all. In fact, I've had a LOT of people deliver items to be after learning that I'm pregnant twins, lol, and I've met a few people that actually live within walking distance of my house.

Good luck! I stalk CL and the FB groups daily for baby stuff!

 

[englishteacha]

Update: It would cost me $22 in gas to get the high chair, making the overall cost $42. Since the high chair retails for $53, it's a $10 savings.
However:
I happened to find a $10 Fisher-Price coupon so the new high chair cost about the same as the used one, so we planned on getting the new one after running the numbers. There was one in a damaged box that had a couple scuff marks on the high chair, so Walmart took 10% off, making our new high chair (with coupon) $38, cheaper than going to get the used one. Didn't bank on getting a "scratch and dent" high chair, but I don't think baby will mind much. Hoping my Magic Eraser will clean them up.

NYE Momma: I just discovered, thanks to your prompting, a FB group for our county. Of course, our county is gigantic, but since I live in the populated part, I hope I can find some bargains in our area.

I've done well finding things for baby secondhand, mainly through my school district's version of classifieds. CL is hit or miss since Maine is so darn big, but I've found a few things in our area.

 

[tink_n_pooh]

Well, technically it still would have been way cheaper for you to drive the 90 minutes and buy the used high chair. There is no way it would cost you $35 in gas. lol It would probably cost you less than $10 to drive there and back (Assuming gas is approx $4/gallon, unless you are driving a gas guzzler that gets like 5miles/gal in which you should replace that vehicle). You do have to weigh in whether a $25 savings is worth it to you to have a gently used vs new product, though, especially if you are planning on having more children.

I disagree, 90 minutes of driving in each direction could easily cost me more than $35.00

 

[usnuzuloose]

Update: It would cost me $22 in gas to get the high chair, making the overall cost $42. Since the high chair retails for $53, it's a $10 savings.
However:
I happened to find a $10 Fisher-Price coupon so the new high chair cost about the same as the used one, so we planned on getting the new one after running the numbers. There was one in a damaged box that had a couple scuff marks on the high chair, so Walmart took 10% off, making our new high chair (with coupon) $38, cheaper than going to get the used one. Didn't bank on getting a "scratch and dent" high chair, but I don't think baby will mind much. Hoping my Magic Eraser will clean them up.

NYE Momma: I just discovered, thanks to your prompting, a FB group for our county. Of course, our county is gigantic, but since I live in the populated part, I hope I can find some bargains in our area.

I've done well finding things for baby secondhand, mainly through my school district's version of classifieds. CL is hit or miss since Maine is so darn big, but I've found a few things in our area.

Most of the time if I am not in any hurry I wait and keep checking craigslist for something to see if it comes up in my area.