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On the Subject of Store Cards ...

After much consideration, my husband and I have decided not to renew our Sam's Club card this year. When we first got it, we used it a lot, but not so much any more. I've been reluctant to get rid of our Sam's membership, though, because we could still fill up our gas tanks cheaper there. At least, that's what I thought.

A couple of months ago, my husband and I both needed gas in our vehicles. I was on my way to drop our daughter off at day care, and he had to get to work early. We drove to our local Sam's -- which, by the way, is not en route to either the day care or where we work -- to get gas, and as we pulled into the lot, we knew we had chosen poorly. The line at each pump was super long.

As we idled our engines waiting our turns, it occurred to me that the savings on fuel is not all that great. Gas at Sam's was 5 cents cheaper a gallon that day than it was at another station I passed. Because my car takes 16 gallons of gas, that means gas was only 80 cents cheaper, assuming my car was sitting on empty. After driving out of my way to go to Sam's then idling in line for about 20 or so minutes, I probably burned 80 cents worth of gas and then some.
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