How Mustachian Are You at Running Errands?

[Retired To Win]

My personal blog's motto is "making the most of my time and my money."  When it comes to doing errands, I try hard to live up to that.  Only once in a blue moon will you catch me running out on a one-stop car trip for something or other I have run out of.  I almost always manage to get all my shopping, banking and so on done in one single weekly trip.  And that saves me my time and my money.  :D

How about you?  How many times a week do you end up running errands?

[2ndTimer]

If I take the car I try to double and triple up on the errands.  If I take the bike I don't worry about it so much because taking the bike is so much fun and healthiness that having another errand the next day is a good thing.

[lostamonkey]

The only shopping I do on a regular basis is grocery shopping and I stop at the discount grocery store on my way home from work. Banking is a 10-15 minute walk from my place so I usually walk or stop on my way home from work.

[MayDay]

I have tried really really hard to group my errands.  I usually do them all once a week.  The problem is that one trip with 6 errands is soul sucking and I hate it.  I come home crabby and miserable.  I also make a lot of impulse purchases by the last few stops.

It really was much more pleasant to only have to go into one store.  This has strengthened my goal of moving to a more walkable/bikeable community so that I can easily swing by one store at a time. 

[Le Barbu]

If I take the car I try to double and triple up on the errands.  If I take the bike I don't worry about it so much because taking the bike is so much fun and healthiness that having another errand the next day is a good thing.

Same for me, I get exited if I suddenly "have" to go out for a quick bike errand once or twice a day. If it is a car trip, I just postpone...

[CommonCents]

I aim for it, but it doesn't always happen.  Generally its more from the save time factor than the save money factor.  That said, there is a limit to how many errands I want to run in one trip as MayDay notes.  Returning the library, buying groceries and doing a dump run - check, that's standard.  Adding on dropping off suits at the cleaners, swinging by another store or two, on the way to/from a friends, etc. ...that starts to take a toll.  Not to say I won't do it, but I find it's stressful.

[APowers]

I generally try to group errands, but I don't stress about doing so. I do try not to make trips for just one thing when it means driving to the next town over (30min each way) just because that's not efficient at all.

[Zikoris]

We typically squash our errands into one or two weekend walking outings. If something needs doing during the week, we reroute our walk home to accommodate it. This works because we live somewhere in the middle of everything.

[Artemis67]

I work at home, so I have no commute, and take the bus to weekly volunteer gigs. If I did have a car commute, I'd combine any errand-running with my trip home in the evenings, and leave the car sitting in the driveway all weekend.

I intentionally bought a house in a neighborhood where there are five supermarkets, a Trader Joe's, a produce stand, a post office, two drugstores, a library, a pet supply store, an art supply store, and two hardware stores within easy walking distance. I also live near a major transit hub, so if I need to go further afield, and won't need to carry much home, I can catch a bus. In this town, taking the bus can be much less of a headache than driving, especially if I have to go downtown, so I'm a heavy transit user.

Then there's all the stuff I buy online, taking advantage of coupon codes, specials, subscriptions, and free shipping. Why go out to get nonperishable stuff when I can just have it delivered to my doorstep?

So the car sits unused most of the time. I take it out a couple of times a month for a big Home Depot-Office Max-Costco-Petsmart run. But I keep a list of things I actually need, and shop strictly from the list (unless a truly spectacular deal presents itself), and always make several stops on any given trip.

Efficiency is part of it. But mostly, I just plain hate shopping, and dealing with my fellow shoppers, and driving around town, so getting it all done as quickly as possible, in one shot means I get to kick back and not think about it for a couple of weeks.

The only time I take the car out for a single errand is if I'm taking a cat to the vet on a warm day. On cool days, they're fine waiting in the car while I do other errands on the way home, but I won't leave them in a (potentially) hot car. That happens maybe three times a year, though, so it's not a big deal.

 

[Nancy]

I'm super efficient at errands and plan my bike/walking route accordingly (no doubling back ever!). To be honest, I have a minimal number of errands, so this is super easy to do.

[The_path_less_taken]

Live far from town so ONLY do errands when have a work gig in town. Then it's post office/store/bank/library/friends/feed store/Costco etc.

[Daisy]

If I did have a car commute, I'd combine any errand-running with my trip home in the evenings, and leave the car sitting in the driveway all weekend.

This is exactly what I do. I have a clownish commute, so I can alter the route home a million different ways to hit any errands I need to do. The goal is to not drive for errands on weekends. I optimize it so much that I purposefully plan my meals to make sure I have enough to get me through the days I know I don't want to drive for errands. And I try to combine as much as possible in one day. That way I have days on my drive home where I do a few errands just so that I have other days I can drive straight home to workout or stay at the gym at work to workout. Once I'm in "errand mode" I'd rather get it all out of the way. So my errands don't add any extra miles to my non-errand life. It's all part of the commute.

I'm not sure what I'd do when FIRE'ing because I hate to leave the house JUST for an errand. It's usually combined with a drive to/from work or to/from visiting family which is also a clownish drive away. When visiting family, I usually sleep over or at a friend's place just to avoid driving back and forth if I have stuff in that area two days in a row.

[Retired To Win]

I have tried really really hard to group my errands.  I usually do them all once a week.  The problem is that one trip with 6 errands is soul sucking and I hate it.  I come home crabby and miserable.  I also make a lot of impulse purchases by the last few stops...

As I stated in my original entry, I do all my errands in one single weekly trip.  Doing it that way doesn't weigh on me at all.  I set the time aside for this ahead of time.  I mentally make it into a driving outing.  And I work off a totaly itemized LIST, so that potential impulse buying gets pretty much squelched.

[golden1]

I never do just one errand unless it is on the way home from work, because that way it costs me virtually no gas.  I save up 3-5 errands for the weekends and do them all at once. 

[Elderwood17]

We are bad at this.  My DW works out of the house so she tends to run a single errand just out of boredom to get out of the house.  Sometimes she will drive into "town" (10 miles each way) to drop something off at the bank, etc, even though I could easily do it but I think she just needs the activity and interaction to keep from going stir crazy at home.  We have discussed it but I think it is just her wiring to get out and be where people are.

[Retired To Win]

The only shopping I do on a regular basis is grocery shopping and I stop at the discount grocery store on my way home from work. Banking is a 10-15 minute walk from my place so I usually walk or stop on my way home from work.

Doing errands on my way to or from work is not an option for me because I am already FIREd.  Sometimes, however, I do include doing an errand or 2 on my drive to one of the parks where I hike.  In those instances, because the primary reason for the driving is the hiking, I don't try to jam a whole bunch of errands into the trip.  But I do try to squeeze in at least one.

[Fastfwd]

I really hate shopping and will get most things delivered and bought via Internet. Small things like bread I can pick up on the way home from work. Groceries are done once a week in a single store. Clothes shopping is once a year for a few hours and lots of $$$ and then I never want to go back. Have I mentioned I really hate shopping?

[LiveLean]

About 90 percent of my non-Craigslist purchases, including clothes and gas, come from Costco. Fortunately there's one five minutes from the house. I average 1-2 trips a week.

[Artemis67]

I took the bus to my volunteer gig this morning, remembered that there's a Home Depot not too far off the bus route home, and decided to stop and grab materials so I have the option of working on a DIY project tomorrow. I could have waited a few days until I took the car out on a shopping run, but no, I am badass, and have mastered hauling lots of stuff home on the bus.

[Retired To Win]

I took the bus to my volunteer gig this morning, remembered that there's a Home Depot not too far off the bus route home, and decided to stop and grab materials so I have the option of working on a DIY project tomorrow. I could have waited a few days until I took the car out on a shopping run, but no, I am badass, and have mastered hauling lots of stuff home on the bus.

Good for you, but I don't think I could have talked a bus driver into letting me on a bus with my most recent Lowes purchases (2 sets of folding doors, 4 4-foot long shelves, and a few 8-foot long two-by-fours).  :O

[Mrs. Frugalwoods]

We've cut out most traditional errands by ordering the bulk of our household goods from Amazon (love the free shipping and our Amazon cash-back Visa).

We do need to grocery store it at least once a week, but we're in walking distance so we usually just stop by the store while we're out on a walk. We drive to Costco once a month and stock up. We've gotten it down to a pretty good science and only need to go for that monthly trip.

The only time we get stuck in a driving trap is when we're doing home improvement projects that end up requiring more materials/tools than we anticipated. Unfortunately the Home Depot is not walking or biking distance, so we've gotta drive out there. This stinks when we need to go multiple times in a weekend (which only happens when we have some sort of unexpected home project that morphs into a bigger project...)

[Carrie]

I do my one errand (grocery store) exactly one time per week.  I have no other errands.  I get my books online from the library and I do all of my banking online.   What else do I need?  I get gas once every 6 to 8 weeks, and usually can make that coincide with a doctor appointment or grocery run.  DH hits the wine store on his way home from work.   
If I forget something,  I do without , change the meal plan or recipe.  I buy TP & other household stuff at the grocery store.

[KBecks2]

One day I had calculated that I had driven like 30 miles driving "around" to various stuff. I don't even remember what I did that day, but it was multi-stop errands.  That was an unusual day.

Sometimes I do need to get out of the house, but most things are close to home.  Bank, grocery, Walmart are all very close.  Target is a short drive.  The mall is a short drive.  Certain speciality shops are further away.

I think it is good to shop as close to home as possible.  I would like to try biking in summer or in warm weather, esp. if we get a cheap bike trailer or hook up those homemade panniers to haul groceries.

[MBot]

Where I live most places are within 2-3 km of my house.

My two workplaces (both walking distance) are near 2 of the 3 malls in the city. Usually if I need something it's easy to go before or after work.

But once a week we get out of the house and drive to another place to play board games. And often do errands at the same trip. Saturdays are for grocery shopping with the car and any "big" errands.

[chouchouu]

We don't have a car and pretty much everything is walking distance. I stay at home, since I carry everything I make multiple trips a week for groceries since it needs to fit in the stroller but I like taking the kids to get groceries, it's an outing they enjoy.