Managing your spending while on the road

As every truck driver or traveler knows, your biggest single expense on the road is food. Its very easy to spend $200 a week or more on food and drinks. I got tired of spending so much on it so here’s what I did.

#1 Create a budget. But to create a budget you have to figure out what you are spending to begin with. So first you need to keep track of everything you buy for two weeks, and how much it cost. Categorize it into food/drinks, stuff you need for the truck, and random stuff such as that pack of thermal socks you just had to have “because its on sale” and that giant slim jim at the checkout counter. Look through the list and mark off the stuff that you know that you didn’t really need to buy. Then from that, figure out your average cost per day to live. Write that figure down. Then figure out how much you would like that figure to be and write it down. If you’re like me, you are going to have to compromise between the two figures. I knew I didn’t want to spend as much as I was spending, but I didn’t want to live off granola bars and cans of fruit and rice either. So I set a figure in the middle.

#2 Give yourself an allowance. In my case, all my bills are on autopay because I live alone and so I have no one to do my finances at home. I couldn’t keep track of all the money always going into and out of my account so this is what I did. I opened a second checking account. I then had my bank automatically draft my weekly budget for living expenses out of my first checking account into my second checking account each week. I then keep a notepad with me and write my expenses on there as they come up. As the week progresses, I can figure out how much I have left in my “allowance” and decide if I need to be more conservative in my spending or if I can afford to splurge a little. Another option to giving yourself an allowance is going to Walmart and getting one of those visa gift cards. That way you don’t have to worry about going over on your bank account. When the money is gone, its gone. End of story.

#3 Reduce your food costs by making food yourself.
Ok. Now that you made a budget, you need a way to eat a little cheaper as well.
Here’s what I did. I got tired of spending $6 or more on a meal once or twice a day, and $1.39 for Pilot coffee two to three times a day.

Do you realize that’s roughly $400 a month? Easily? That’s a rent payment for a some people or even a mortgage in my case. That’s a $400+ could be more cool toys you could be buying the kids or taking your wife out to dinner or maybe even putting into a retirement account.

So the first thing I bought was a 12 volt cooler so I can always have a stock of fresh foods instead of living off canned foods. All those preservatives are bad for you. I personally use this Vector 12-Volt Portable Mini Fridge Cooler & Warmer AC/DC Refrigerator and always have a stock of bananas, cottage cheese, milk for cereal, lunch meat, cheese, and sometimes eggs.

So how are you going to cook this food? I use a dual burner propane stove like this Coleman Two-Burner Propane Stove. This one is about $50. There are cheaper ones, as cheap as $20, and even cheaper if you opt to get a single burner one, or they go on up in price to well over $100.
I like propane because it is cheap and clean and you can boil water or cook things extremely fast. Now if you were able to get a huge inverter, an electric skillet such as this 12″ Electric Skillet may be another option for you. And for safety’s sake never use one of these inside the truck! I usually put mine on the catwalk. I use one side of the stove to cook food on while I make coffee on the other, using an ingenious yet simple device called the percolator. (For everything you ever wanted to know about the perculator, and quite possibly more, see this link)

I make a lot of pancakes with eggs on this thing for breakfast. I also make a lot of soups, pastas, macaroni and cheese, etc. Anything that is cooked by boiling water.

#4 Don’t buy stuff from truckstops if you don’t need it right away. And if you can’t refrain yourself from buying stuff in truck stops, stop going to them. Or forget your wallet in the truck on purpose when you go in. Or if you already know what you are buying, only take in enough cash for that item. Some items in truckstops are priced reasonably, but for the most part you can get those work gloves or that tv/dvd combo for much cheaper at Walmart, Target, Kmart etc. And don’t forget to keep your receipts on those type of items so you can write it off on your taxes!

#5 Don’t live on cash advances. I’ve never had a problem with this but I have heard stories of people taking out more on advances than they are making. Stories of people living off of not their current paycheck, but next week’s check. Cash advances are there for emergency purposes or so you don’t have to front your own money for scales, tolls, or possibly lumpers. They are not to be used as a line of credit, like a loan or a credit card. Control your money, don’t let it control you!

So in a nutshell, the key to not overspending on the road is to

• Give yourself an allowance. Make a budget and stick to it. Quit buying stuff you know is overpriced and that you don’t need
• Reduce your cost of food itself by eating out less. Utilizing a 12 volt cooler, a propane stove, and a percolator for coffee, tea, cocoa etc.
• Shop around when buying random items needed for you to do your job or for the truck itself
• Only get cash advances to use on tolls or scales. Don’t live off them.

This article is original material by Antoni Pestka and was published on this 21st day of April, 2008. This article may be reproduced or printed, if and only if it remains in its original state, completely unedited, and no profit is made. This message must remain at the bottom of this article, including this link to the author’s website. http://peachfuzzandreno.wordpress.com

Tags: Finances & Spending, truck driver, budget, traveler, expense, allowance, money