I often think "Can this expenditure possibly make any difference, financially, during the rest of my life?" and the answer is usually "no." But that's a tricky thing. Today, I could buy a quieter dishwasher, an oven for which the self-clean feature still works, a quieter fridge, a wetsuit that is easier to take off, a shortboard, a new iPod touch, a tire inflator, a new bike rack, an iPad, some new hiking boots, a lobster dinner, a lighter bike, a bigger chainsaw, and a few other things. The answer is "no" for each of those, and "probably no" for all of them together. If I buy more stuff tomorrow...
It's a good question to ask, but I prefer "Would I rather spend the $66 on parking or on __________ extravagance?"
Would you enjoy the experience of winning $66? That's how I see it, since riding my bike 12 miles is fun.
When we went to Hawaii, I dropped Lena at the airport, parked the car at a friend's, and walked the 3 miles to the airport at 4 AM. It was fun.