The Money Edition: March 2024

What I spend on the road, Debt paydown, Goal setting

Apr 10, 2024

Did you grow up in a household where discussing money was taboo? I did. Maybe it was my perception, maybe it was fact. Regardless, discussing money made and money spent has always been a source of anxiety. I tried with my kids to make it a little less daunting. Now to work on myself.

Personally, I love reading others’ money resets, roundups, tell-alls and yet I’ve never felt confident enough to publicly announce my own. Here we go. This is it.

I am on a mission: to pay off my debt, share what I spend living on the road and hopefully in the process make money sharing less anxiety-ridden.

The Unchangeables

Car - $400

I have been paying extra on my car payment. It is normally $360. I bought my current car used in October 2020. While there was a little bit of car selection during that timeperiod, I had to go with what I could afford that had a few of my requests. There was no wiggle room in pricing during that timeperiod with the lack of inventory. I put Car in the Unchangeable category because I pay the same amount every month.

Car Insurance - $93

I have both comprehensive and collision since I have a car loan.

Life Insurance - $21

I’ve never been a big proponent of life insurance until the pandemic. For whatever reason, it affected my need to provide a little something for my adult children to spend when I kick the bucket. So I got a baby sized term policy for them to have some fun money.

Gym - $27

I live on the road and a gym membership is a must-have for me. When I started out back in August, I said it was not necessary. After a week, I ran screaming for my phone to purchase a membership.

Cell Phone - $72

A necessity. I do share a plan with my kids. We each pay our portion with a slight deduction from auto-pay.

Storage - $136

For me, a storage unit is a must have. Even though I travel, I have a lifetime of stuff. It is very pared down to a 10x10ft unit but I still have things I’ve collected that I have no desire to get rid of. March’s amount is higher as I paid March and April.

The Changeables

The Dreaded Credit Cards - $500

Don’t freak out. This amount is not the minimum payments. I do pay extra. Not proud of the fact that I allowed my credit cards to creep up so high. But there you have it. The secret is out. I have 3 - one for car repairs and two that I’ve had forever with the balances going up and down.

Groceries - $246

With a small space (my car), I shop when I need. Mostly. I am a sucker for the random buy when I am Doordash shopping for someone else.

Gas - $276

Surprisingly, this amount has dropped since I started #suvlife. I think the reason is I don’t drive as far doing only Doordash. When I had my apartment, I drove for Amazon Flex as well as Doordash and Amazon Flex can be a LOT of miles.

Car Wash - $10

This is a luxury item, I realize. However, since I live and work in my car, a clean vehicle feels more like a must.

Out to Eat - $148

This amount is a lot more than normal. I allowed myself to spend a little freer one week as I considered it a vacation week (even though I worked).

Coffeeshops - $24

First off, I don’t drink coffee. I am a tea drinker through and through. Give me a good hot chai latte anyday! I use the term coffeeshop because it is universally known. Coffeeshops has its own category for two reasons. One, it is a luxury that I love. I love the vibe of coffeeshops whether it is a Starbucks or a locally owned shop. (Especially if it is a tea house). Two, because I use coffeeshops for charging purposes and wifi. Therefore, I may visit coffeeshops more than the average person.

Laundry - $10

So far laundry seems to be a once a month thing. What I hate about laundry on the road is the switch over of laundromats to prepaid cards versus coin operated machines. Most places have a minimum too. What this practice gives me is a handful of cards with partial balances on them in multiple states/cities. The cards are begging me to return to these locations to use up the balance. Maybe next year. For now, I probably have over $10 sitting unused.

Water - $6

Purchasing water may not be something you would think of unless you live on the road or in a country with undrinkable tap water. I have 4 one-gallon jugs that I use and refill when needed. I drink a lot of hot tea and water so I do refill frequently. The refill price has been between $.35 - $.50. I was surprised to find refill stations fairly easily in most places.

Stuff - $322

I’m calling the catch-all category Stuff because it will be the only-happened-this-month items or emergencies or things I purchased. March was pricey as I had to replace my car refrigerator ($186). Totally worth the expense! It was also my sister’s birthday and I sent her a little something. I splurged on a lapdesk (that I love and can’t believer I traveled so long without one) and a pair of locally made earrings. Plus the Tucson Book Festival happened and Meryl Feinstein (Pasta Social Club) was presenting/cooking. I had to go. It was a must. The festival itself was free but I purchased her cookbook and bought fair food. Lastly, I bought an Arizona Land Trust permit.

Savings - $300

Almost forgot to add this category. This savings is for my emergency fund.

Total: $2,591

*amounts are in US dollars

*all amounts have been rounded to the nearest dollar

Debt Paydown and Goal Setting

Like I said, my mission is to pay off my debt (credit cards and car) by THE END OF THE YEAR! It is a lofty goal, especially since the older I get the lazier I can get. However, there are times, lots of them, that I have to tell myself to stop working. My intentions is to treat this mission like a seasonal job. When I was working seasonally, there was always an end date so whenever life seemed hard I would focus on the end date. Magically, time would fly by as it does with so much of life. December 2024 will be here before we know it. I’d like to enter 2025 with no debt.

The Plan

I am going to use the snowball method. The snowball method is putting all your extra money towards the smaller balance first. Then as you pay off debt, adding that payment money to the next debt while paying the minimum on everything else. I was paying a little extra on everything. While I enjoy seeing the balances go down on everything, I think for this mission I will be able to keep the momentum going longer if I see SOMETHING paid off. Also, once my emergency savings gets to a certain point, I will redirect that allotment to debt.

There you go. It’s out in the open. My intention is to update every month.