I’d rather not post this because I’m gagging on the numbers. That said, this exercise is not one in which I am intending to show you how ‘frugal’ I am, but more along the lines of when I posted “I can’t believe I am a drunk.”
Moving out of my house and into my RV did cut a lot of my expenses, but I started with a pretty high bar of spending and still have a lot of room for growth.
- RV Insurance: $98
- Diesel Fuel: $748 (this is one I cannot believe, but it is correct)
- Propane $33 (I have a propane generator)
- RV Maintenance: $9 (weighing my rig; she’s about 200lbs overweight)
- RV Parks: $307 (more free/cheap camping this month)
- Dining: $192 (includes taking a friend to dinner)
- Groceries: $256 (artificially low as I’ve been trying to eat all the food I’d stocked in my pantry for Alaska)
- Car Rental: $352 (This should be partially written off as a business expense, as I needed a car to go to a bunch of work meetings one week.)
- Tourism: $42 (museum and three events at McDonald’s Observatory)
- Internet: $64 (Verizon WiFi)
- Misc: $50 (electric heater; I was blowing through my propane.)
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Good news is that I am making progress on my credit card debt! This one I always like to show in context – from a high of about $51K (on three cards) in the summer of 2009 to one card:
American Express: $28,906
(Interest rate is prime plus 6%)
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I get a lot of questions about ‘why’ I am paying off so much credit card debt and not just walking away. The issue is that my business is completely dependent upon my credit rating. (If I get a ding on my credit, it effectively shuts down my entire business.)
That said, my credit scores aren’t great. It seems owing a lot on your mortgage has become a bigger part of the scoring equation. These indicators of why my scores are low have a couple of new statements about real estate account balance. (I haven’t refinanced yet.)
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I’m feeling better! Thanks for all the well wishes on the vertigo…
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30 Comments
Congratulations on the credit card progress!
My electric space heaters have made a big difference in how often the furnace starts up. With two heaters (one on high, one on low) and most of my windows insulated I am good down to about 30 degrees before they need help from the furnace. If my befuddled brain could remember to turn one of them off before using my hair dryer, curling iron or oven I could probably run them both on high. Since I do not have to pay for my electricity I have also gotten very creative at using my microwave/convection oven instead of gas stove and oven.
Congrats on the credit card progress!
Your RVing costs seem right in line with that we experienced on months of heavy travel. Thankfully, in theory, you have choice over your fuel costs by slowing down the pace
Good work. Paying down debt is a drag. But, it feels good to make progress towards being debt free. With fingers crossed, I hope to be done in six years.
You live frugally! We also learned to use electric heaters to save on propane.
Actually a high credit score rating is between 720 and 850 so you’re doing great!
And I hope not walking away from the debit is also because it would just be the wrong thing to do. Good to sleep at night knowing we’re working toward freedom of being debt free rather than letting others bear the burden of our financial problems.
Oh, I meant to mention that just a few minutes ago I posted links to some terrific RV websites detailing financial information on womengosolo Yahoo group plus information on camping in New Mexico state parks.
Credit cards are misery. When I was accepted to law school (Ohio Northern), every cc company sent me a card. Why not? Future, big earner.
I wish I’d cut up every one of them.
It took 4 years to pay them off and I settled the last 3.
Usurious interest and yearly fees are killers. When you get your balance down under 10, offer them a settlement based on actual money owed. May work.
Nothing ventured, right.
I love Capital One’s Viking commercials. Sure is apt. No, they are not f*cking kidding.
I agree with the commenter above and am surprised and saddened that people are actually asking why you aren’t walking away. It’s the sad state of affairs in the US that no one seems to think they are responsible for their own actions….that includes paying off ones debts. There’s no “easy pill” for life’s difficulties.
I actually think that bankruptcy and/or settling debts with big bank creditors is sometimes the right option. (Not with small businesses or vendors, though.)
Banks have been extremely deceptive in their practices with regard to fees, charges, interest, and rate hikes. (I’ve experienced most of them – changing my due dates then charging me late fees and hiking my rates to 30%, charging me $300 to lock in a 1.9% rate, then changing it to 14% two weeks later, falsely reporting a late payment that sunk my scores and from which other creditors started hiking my rates, etc., etc. etc.)
There have been big exposes on how much of the ‘debt’ that is owed is the result of scams, fees, and deceptive practices on lower income and working class people. (Practices that are now illegal.) Big businesses write off debt without any moral qualms, but like to perpetuate a myth that it is ‘immoral’ for you to not pay them.
I don’t think people are morally obligated to pay that back. I have my masters degree in ethics and hold a strong view on this ‘moral’ claim!
But, to argue the other side, I have actually, through tyrannical management, been able to keep my interest rates and fees low. (They drop all those things once you call them on it.) So, the money I owe is actually money I spent and I just kind of want to pay it back….
Jennifer
I think people who just “walk away” from debt for reasons other than grave medical issues (of their own or family members whom they are helping) lack an old value called “honor.”
You can feel a sense of pride that you are paying back what you owe.
I do wish there was a way people could just stop gaining additional debt and be able to pay off the principle without all the added interest.
I also wish savings accounts earned prime plus anything!
Good luck in the new year for further progress!
Jennifer. I really enjoy your blog. You share yourself instead of just places you have been. Your transparency is priceless.
“So, the money I owe is actually money I spent and I just kind of want to pay it back….”
Good on Ya, you have character and what Merikay calls honor!
Your expenses: Fuel plus Campground Fees is $1,055. What kind of an apartment and where could you have rented for that amount? I can assure you it would not have been as nice as where you have been living.
Geesh … this is an important discussion, but I need to point out that it’s easy to lump sum people and assume the worse when debtors “choose” to walk away from their debts. As Jennifer pointed out, the world of credit cards and interest rates is very complex, and a lot of people are being unfairly lured into getting more cards and slipping further into debt. It’s way too easy to fall into the trap of bringing up honor and labeling bankruptcy and settlements as wrong. Our government and advertising networks are partly to blame, and as is the weak economy, which has caused good people who were on top of their game to fall heavily into debt and teeter on the verge of homelessness. To label bankruptcy and settlements as dishonorable and wrong, straight across the table, really makes me sad.
I’m having a problem with the $748 in diesel fuel. You said in your writeup on the rig that you get 15 MPG. If you paid $3.25 a gallon, you would have used 230 gallons and have driven 3450 miles. Really? The last time we spent like that in a month was when we went to Alaska. Accounting error?
I really did. I did the same math and then a detailed Google Map of my travels to check. I couldn’t believe it.
It was the fact that I took two trips home to see my husband at the Gulf and also went to visit my family in DFW for Thanksgiving. Add those to my wandering through New Mexico and I got to close to 3,500 miles last month….
Lol. Jennifer, you remind me of the saying “Better to travel hopefully than to arrive.” I like movement, but for me it is a means to an end.
Bob, who thinks it is sometimes better to arrive.
So ask yourself, how many miles a month did you drive when you lived in a home? Point being, some of the 3500 miles would of been driven irregardless of domicile choice.
Full timing in an RV, without ‘traveling’ around a lot, would be akin to living in a mobile home park… boring!
Kudos to you Jennifer!! Keep on paying that debt – it will feel wonderful when that is done. I ‘quit’ the whole credit card business when I finally came to my sense and realized how much I was paying in interest and all that jazz. I now payoff my balance every month and never pay a penny to interest. If I know I can’t pay it off, I don’t get it.
Thanks for sharing your list of expenses. Gives us a peek to what it could be like when we hit the road. Uhmm…when we find a rig.
Spring time is our goal!
Kari
I suppose the older I get the more I am comfortable living oblivious to everything. It seems I am a lot happier not knowing things like from how much overweight my View may be to what my credit rating is. Don’t fret about the fuel charges. Just figure they would be one third to a half again more if you had a gasoline engine. At 17.5 mpg I am smiling every time I am at the gas station…especially if a big diesel pusher RV pulls in alongside.
I want to second Karen V.’s statement that a credit rating in the 700’s is now considered ‘excellent’. It used to be that you didn’t think you were doing great unless you were at 800 or more, but I think the financial institutions had to revise their standards after some of the shenanigans they pulled on us consumers. One example I experienced was having my credit limit dropped drastically on my home equity line of credit, even though my payments on that and everything else had always been timely. This happened to me and lots of other people, which dropped our FICO scores dramatically through no fault of our own. Mine is in the mid 700’s now and I’m happy about it. You should be too, Jennifer, you’re doing great.
I get the feeling you live this RV life because you get the best of both worlds by mixing your business with pleasure. You must be making a killing at your job to be paying your credit down so fast. You have not said what your line of work is (should we play “What’s my Line?”)but I wager that it may have something to do with real estate, possibly selling foreclosed homes on a short sale? Am I close? Don’t mean to delve but you do move around a lot and you rent a car on occasion, possibly to meet clients. Just trying to put the pieces together.
We book seminars around the country, so I have to check out hotel venues in different cities. (I need good credit to sign the contracts with vendors.)
I don’t mean to be enigmatic! I mostly just try to protect my husband’s privacy. (We are in business together.)
Last week I rented a car for a 2300 mile trip. It took only minutes online to find a $150 weekly rate with unlimited miles. At 40 mpg (actual) the fuel savings made it a no brainer to leave my truck at home. They were easy miles but still, keeping them off my odometer, tires, oil & brakes was a bonus!
Food for thought next time?
Kudos for paying off your debts! Regular deposits to the First Bank of Karma are bound to pay dividends eventually.
Love the blog. Now that AK is a check mark, what other trips are on your list?
I think my next big adventure is to not have a plan! ; )
I am going to Quartzsite, though. Other than that I’m just trying to go where the wind blows…
Jennifer
“I think my next adventure is not to have a plan …” I LOVE THAT! Reminds me of that phrase ‘Jello Plans’ (I think from Andy Baird). Hope to see you in Quartzsite or NM sometime.
I have been reading your blog for months. I have found it very inspiring, please keep up the great work. And congrats on paying down your debt!
Jennifer;
Love your blog and wish I had the resources to buy/live in an RV and travel! You’re one lucky lady and I’m so envious of your travels!
Quick question: what job do you have that is dependent on your credit score, as I can’t think of any…
Cody
Thanks, Cody. I answered that question on comment 21. I have a line of credit that I’m dependent upon to run our business.
Jennifer,
What an inspiration you are. I’ve surfed most of your Blogs and the web site. My wife and I hope to join the RV culture soon after her retirement. Your story casts confidence.
Dave
Fresno, CA
good share.
nice articles
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