Bought 2 small gas tanks last night at Walmart...

Call me crazy but I was walking around the local Walmart last night after work and decided to purchase (2) gas tanks for $3.12 apiece + tax. The adjacent gas station still had gas posted at $2.59 a gallon which was suprisingly low for the area.

So headed over to the gas station and filled them with 4.276 gallons of gas for $11.11. Crazy? Maybe. Bad decision from a personal finance perspective? Lets see.

So my net cost for the gas tanks was 2 x ($3.12 + $0.22 [sales tax]) = $6.68 and my net cost for the gas was 4.276 gallons x $2.59/gallon = $11.11.

I use about a tank of gas (about 11 gallons) every 5-7 days which means even if gas prices spike for 2 weeks after the hurricane I will need to refill during this period.

Lets run 3 quick scenarios assuming everything else is equal:

Scenario	Value of Gas	Savings on Gas	Result
$5/gallon for ~2 weeks	$21.38	$10.27	$3.59
up $1/gallon to $3.59 for ~2 weeks	$15.35	$4.24	($2.44)
gas prices stays the same	$11.11	$0.00	($6.68)

Well the results are mixed on simply saving money by buying the tanks and filling them up. However, I think there are some big benefits not highlighted in these scenarios:
1) I can save the tanks till the next hurricane type event and they won't cost me a thing.
2) The hurricane completely disrupts our gas supply chain making gas unaccessible for weeks thereby making it one of the most precious commodities available and I have 4.276 gallons more than most people.

I figure a sunk cost of $6.68 is maybe along the lines of the "Be Prepared" scout motto more than anything. Its worth it to me to reduce my exposure to the unknown event that maybe coming.

I will follow up when I use this gas and see what the end result is. Hopefully I'll be able to report that it was a complete lost of $6.68.

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