Two dollars really is significant (and I am not the only one who thinks so)

So I have posted multiple times about the habit I got into of driving to work and how I conducted this very careful time and cost analysis aimed at making myself feel better about this activity. Mostly I was trying to justify spending $280 a month on parking when I live in a city with such great public transportation. Yes, that's right - $14 a day to park at my office when I already live downtown. Why do I think I have to justify this? It's a luxury I can afford and besides - my analysis yielded the following result: I only save $14-20 per week if I take public transportation (and that means driving one day a week - cause let's be realistic people). Saving $56-80 dollars a month wasn't worth the time it would take me to take the bus/walk to work in the morning. There is a catch though to the $14 a day thing - you have to be in the office parking garage by 8 a.m. - otherwise it costs you $21 - in which case the time/cost calculation changes. I frankly think $14 a day is really reasonable.

It all started last year, at exactly this time, when I was doing radiation treatment and had to go to the hospital every day for 7 weeks, what a pain. It made sense to drive. Then it continued through the winter, cause, well, it was winter. Then it continued into the spring, cause, uh, well, it rains in the spring. Then I felt guilty so I did some calculations and realized that by the time I drive one day, take the train to a meeting a couple of days a week, take a cab home from two meetings, and take a cab one other day when I work late - well, I don't save that much money. Plus, I really like the convenience of the car - I like to be able to leave and know that I can be home in less than 10 minutes - that I can drive to a meeting, or stop at the store. I just like it. I did feel bad about not getting any exercise though and I do really love to walk. It takes me about 30 minutes or a little longer to walk to or from work.

Turns out I like to drive when: it's snowing, raining, might rain, is extremely windy, excessively humid, if I am going to a meeting anywhere north of Division street after work, if I think I may be stuck there really late, am running late and have an obnoxiously early conference call, if I don't have the right shoes already in my office, or I am extremely busy. You might wonder whether that doesn't cover literally every day of my life. It doesn't though - I did walk quite a bit for about 3 weeks - but then I got busy, it rained, the wind was blowing and well, I've been driving again lately. So here we are - trying again to prove to myself that I might as well drive because I don't save that much money if I don't.

Much to my shock and horror when I pulled out of the parking garage two weeks ago - the rate had gone up to $16 a day. That's $16 if you are in by 8 a.m. Shocking I know. $280 a month to park seems reasonable. $320 however does not. That's almost 4K people. Suddenly we are talking about a savings of $24 -30 per week or $96-120 a month. What would I do with that money - it's not like I would save it. I would just buy clothes. That amount does seems a little more significant though. That might make me re-think my desire to drive on days when it might rain, and um, well, on days when it might rain. When I look at it on a daily basis - I think $6 - I save 6 by taking the bus/walking part way to work and taking a cab home. But that's still only $120 a month and some days it isn't even a savings of $6.00 - it's more like $4.00. For an extra $120 a month - doesn't it just seem worth it to drive?

I am being completely seriously actually about the rate increase. $14 was reasonable. $16 is not. I might need a new strategy. But who am I kidding anyway (I wonder how high it would have to go for me to actually stop driving) - there is no way in hell I am going outside in order to get to work all winter when for just $16 per day I can go from inside my condo to inside my office without ever setting foot outside. I mean - who wouldn't do that who could afford the luxury right? I might now have to bite the bullet and do monthly parking - which I swore I would never do. I just kept telling myself that I would maintain a balance where it would always be slightly cheaper not to do monthly parking. Plus - that always gave me a reason to walk - I wouldn't be wasting my monthly parking fee while walking - I would actually be "saving" money. They have probably jacked the monthly rate up also.

Anyway - I got in the elevator and a colleague said to me - did you notice they raised the parking rate? I said yeah - it's ridiculous isn't it? She said yeah - for $14 I'll do it, but for $16, forget it. I'm glad I am not the only one who feels that way. (Except she stopped driving, and I am still trying to make myself feel okay about the fact that I am going to do this every day until at least March).

So - who here wants to see if I can make it through another winter without turning my heat on even once? No - this isn't a matter of I would rather park than have heat (cause yes, I can afford both) - it's just that for some reason, I don't need to turn the heat on in the winter - it just stays 68-72 degrees no matter how cold it gets outside. The good news is that my gas bill never goes above $12 per month - in fact last month it was $3.96. Which can only mean one thing - that I am only eating microwavable food.