Don’t Top It Off

I grew up in Oregon where you get to sit in your car and have friendly guys in baseball caps fill your gas tank. They even wash your windshield and check your oil sometimes. My parents moved to California when I was 19 and I visited them from time to time. I usually tried to fill my tank just before leaving Oregon so that I didn’t have to fill it myself. I could make it to my parents’ house and almost back, but just shy of the Oregon border on the return I usually had to refill it. I confess I had to ask for help more than once.

Now that I’m living in California, I’m an old pro. In fact, I kind of like how fast I can do it myself. Now when I visit Oregon I have to mentally stop myself from jumping out of the car at a fill-up station, especially if the service is slow.

One of the tips I’ve learned from my husband, a California native, is not to “top it off.” Topping off the gas is done by people who like the cost to be a round number. I used to always top off the gas because I figured the more gas I loaded into the vehicle, the less often I would have to stop for more fuel. Jay is the one who told me that topping off the gas costs me the extra money, but doesn’t actually inject any more fuel into the car. So I’m literally paying for something I don’t get. Apparently the cars reject fuel after they reach a certain level, which is why the gas pump automatically stops in the first place.

I can’t help but think about eating and how true this is when we top off our food. When we keep eating even after we’re full, we pay for calories that we don’t need nutritionally. The cost is more fat on our bodies. Hey, I’m the first one guilty of this. I love to eat! In fact, I love to overeat! But perhaps if I apply a little logic, like I do now with filling the gas tank, I can save myself from paying too high a price.