Ever leave the parking lot at the Sioux Falls airport and feel a little crushed after a great trip? I did on Monday because that lot crushes your wallet.

Before I left on my trip to Alabama, I asked my wife if I should just take a Lyft to the airport and not pay for parking. She figured, and I agreed, it will be about $25 to $30 and a Lyft would probably be about $12 - $15 so it probably wasn't worth it.

But would it have made better financial sense to just take a Lyft instead of paying for $8 a day in the long-term lot or $7 a day for the so-called economy lot?

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For my nearly five whole days that my car was sitting there the cost was $40 for the long-term lot. Had I taken a Lyft from my house to the airport it would have been $18.99 based on an early morning pickup price I checked, plus the tip I would have given. The ride home, had I scheduled it for this coming Monday night, would have been $18.90, plus the tip.

So after tip and tax, it would have been more than $20 each way to get rideshare to the airport. That would definitely not have been a better deal to catch a ride home. I didn't check Uber, but I'm guessing it would have been very similar.

However, parking in the Economy lot is capped at $35 per week, which is coincidentally the same price as the five days I was gone.

So there's the math. If you only go somewhere for two or three days, it's definitely cheaper to pay for parking. If you're going somewhere for over a week, take a rideshare to the airport.

I suppose my wife could have dropped me off at 4:30 in the morning and picked me up at her bedtime, but as much as she loves her sleep, I'm guessing the $40 was worth it.

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