The Money List: April 2024

what I spend living on the road, debt paydown, goal setting

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

• April $360

• March $400

I had been paying $400 monthly on my car payment. However, in the interest of trying the Snowball Method of debt payment, I reduced the payment to it’s minimum. Going forward this amount will remain $360.

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 - $67.88

This is May’s payment as I paid forward last month.

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.

The Changeables

The Dreaded Credit Cards

• April $466

• March $500

I have 3 cards - one for car repairs (Card C) and 2 regular ones (Card 1 and 2). With last month’s Snowball decision, Card 1 is priority. I dropped Card 2 and Card C down to minimum payments. Card 1 got it’s minimum payment plus $155. The total amount paid is lower this month because of my Stuff payouts. See below.

Groceries - $313

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

• April $500

• March $276

Yikes! Two reasons for this significant increase: gas prices jumped almost $1 a gallon in Tucson during the month and I started my travels back east. I expect to see a high number in May too.

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.

Oddly, I only ever seem to get one car wash a month although my intentions are always weekly. It is a luxury that I can’t seem to allow myself to indulge on a weekly basis. I’m forever moving it from one to-do list to another.

Out to Eat - $111

Lower than last month but I can’t be too excited about that as my coffeeshop spending is higher. So it is almost a wash compared to last month.

Coffeeshops - $67

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.

This amount is higher as I am traveling back from Arizona to the East Coast. When I am traveling versus stationary in a campsite, I utilize coffeeshops far more. Plus how can you not visit coffeeshops when in Austin, Texas? It is like the capital of great coffeeshops.

Laundry -$6

I got lucky this month with laundromats as I was able to use one of my previous laundry cards. Woohoo a repeat laundromat! It’s a first for this trip.

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 - $2083

Let me break this down for you as the amount is significantly higher than last month.

• $1505 federal taxes

• $78 subscriptions (Britbox, Hulu, Paramount+, Patreon, Substack)

• $101 books

• $150 tattoo

• $48 haircut

• $56 hobbies

• $146 stuff

I’m calling the catch-all category Stuff because it will be the only-happened-this-month items or emergencies or things I purchased.

Whoa! I thought last month was pricey. April was even worse, mostly because of federal taxes. I am self-employed so I have double the taxes to pay. Not fun but I very much enjoy the freedom of self-employment.

I forgot to add in subscriptions last month. The amount may seem high but there are reasons. I use Paramount+ to download shows when I have wifi then I don’t have to stream when I’m sleeping in my car. I am a TV addict and love to watch a few shows at night. I use enough data on my phone plan already. The Patreon and Substack subscriptions are because I believe in supporting indepentent creators.

On that same note, I decided to help support indepentent book stores and authors by buying a book at each store I visit on my travels back east. Therefore, my book purchases are high for April and I expect they will be for May too.

Two splurges: tattoos and hobbies. I was lucky enough to meet up with Abi from Ink by Abi and get some cute finger tattoos. As for hobbies, it was time to restock some stickers and things.

Savings - $0

Nothing. A big fat zero. The amounts I did save during April went to my tax bill. It felt good to be able to pay in cash though.

Total: $4194

*amounts are in US dollars

*all amounts have been rounded to the nearest dollar

*all writing in italic is copied from last month as descriptions

Debt Paydown and Goal Setting

My mission is to pay off my debt (credit cards and car) by THE END OF THE YEAR!

March was the decision month. April was tax month. I feel like I accomplished a lot financially. Some debt paydown, taxes paid, plus some fun stuff.

May is going to be more of a heads-down let’s get this thing done month. Anything that was a large purchase or planned has been taken care of. I think. For most of the month, I will be stationary which helps with gas and food.

The Plan

I am using 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.

In April, I did put aside more than half of May’s bill money. I didn’t include the amount in savings as I think of the money as already spent. These particular bills are on autopay. Plus I have half of my car payment awaiting me to make the other half.

Once I arrive at my destination, I will be back to working 6 days a week.

May’s plan of attack:

• Finish paying May’s bills

• Save for June’s bills

• Then put all money toward Card 1

• Put $15 per work day into savings

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

Keep on trying,

Patricia

                                              Find the joy in things whatever it may be

How are you doing on your financial goals?

Leave a comment. Let’s start a conversation.

Currently:

• Reading - The Women by Kristin Hannah

• Watching - The Rookie, Season 6

• Listening - American Scandal podcast, Season 26