April
15,
Left
C's on Wednesday and made it to Pennsylvania at 9:30pm boon docked
in the Wal Mart parking lot. Bonus was that Wal Mart now has free
WiFi Used that to let people know I had made it to my destination.
Visited
with a friend most of the day on Thursday. She's a farm girl and when
I left I was gifted fresh eggs, homegrown sausage, and bread. Yum!
Stopped at my storage locker to drop off a few things to make room in
the van easier to stretch out when there isn't so much stuff in the
way.
Today
I faced one of my biggest fears. Using a propane stove. I am
absolutely terrified of gas but I made C a promise to work to over
come the fear. It took me about fifteen minutes to get enough courage
to turn the knob and put a match to the burner but I did it not once
but twice. Life will be a bit easier now that I can deal with a
propane stove. Still terrified but that is sometimes part of being a
traveler.
The
local park has pavilions that have electricity which for the most part
are unused at the back of the park. So I can work on my sewing,
writing, and my taxes. In the front of the park not only do the
pavilions have electricity there is also free WiFi so I can actually
send my tax forms via the Internet and update the blog, talk to
people, and promote my items for auction on Facebook.
As
the profile states I had started this blog to be about dating. While
the main focus changed it still will include the dating or at least
connecting with women who are interested in dating.
With
that said I do belong to a couple of dating sites and have talked to
a couple of woman there but nothing beyond that other than they were
younger than what I had listed on my profile (39-61) and after one or
two conversations just wanted to cyber.
So
I was kind of surprised when a gal started commenting on my posts in
the group I belong to on Facebook. It took me a while to realize they
were actually flirting with me. I can be slow at times. Lol I decided
to message them about a comment that felt unfinished.
Come
to find out they were trying to work up the courage to message me lol
both of us are shy or is that guarded when it comes to opening up
because we've been badly hurt?
I
am enjoying the openness of our talks and the flirting although I
think I suck at that part pretty bad. It is comfortable talking to
her about pretty much anything. I am glad that age to me is just a
state of mind and I tend to like older better lol.
We
talk almost daily, which I look forward to, and we have a standing
date for when I make it to a certain northern state. I can't promise
anything beyond friendship at this moment but we shall see where
things will go.
I'll
be in PA for a while with maybe a side trip to see a friend in upper
New York on the western side. I need to downsize my unit from the 10
x 10 to either a 5 x 10 or the ultimate no unit at all which would be
the best for my budget.
The
fur kids need to have their annual check up and shots where I will
ask our awesome vet for a recommendation of a vet in AZ so I won't
have to make this trek every year. Not that my friends here would
mind but until I win the lottery it does impact my budget pretty
hard.
Speaking
of budgets if you are deciding to be come homefree you had better
understand just what that will entail for your pocket book.
Gas:
price of gas is not guaranteed to be the same everywhere you go. It
can be higher or lower than what you budgeted for. Right now in PA it
is $2.29 a gallon for regular and summer is just around the corner so
it could go up higher.
A
full tank for the van costs me anywhere from $40 to $60 and I get
450-550 miles per tank. So my budget is around $120 -$180 a month.
Insurance:
We all need it if we are driving any sort of vehicle on the road. The
cost will depend on the type of insurance you have. For the moment my
insurance costs me $35 per month and that isn't full coverage.
Something I am working towards.
Food:
Unless you have great friends that make sure your pantry is stuffed
beyond full you will have to figure out just how much you need and
the cost will vary from place to place. Right now my food bill is
basically milk (mostly powdered), and bread. So around $20-$40 a
month.
Pet
Food: Depending on the pet this can get expensive. For me it is $40 a
month for ferret food and $20-$30 for cat food. Then you add in
litter for the cats and potty pads for the ferrets the combined price
is about $45 a month.
Vet
care: unless you have a fund already set up you need to add it in as
a monthly expense. Just for this month the vet will probably cost me
$500 for all four fur kids unless I can get Boyd and Dood their shots
at one of the local low cost rabies clinics offered monthly. Most
don't have the rabies vaccination for ferrets let alone the distemper
one.
Phone:
I use a tracfone but am working to upgrade to straight talk. So at
the moment I spend between $10-$40 a month depending on how often I
am talking to people. The straight talk will give me unlimited talk,
text, and data for around $45 a month.
Storage:
My storage runs me $50 a month and thankfully the guy that owns the
storage place is awesome as I am behind a little bit right at the
moment which will be remedied when I sell some stuff on the auction
site and do the weekly flea market here in PA.
Mail:
Unless you have someone to pick up your mail at your home base you
will either have a post office box or a mail box at the local UPS
store. I have the later and it costs me $51 every three months. They
will hold your mail up to three months. Which is nice.
Maintenance:
Many don't remember to include this in their budget. Oil changes,
tires, fluids, and other surprises can be needed on the road. I try
to keep a budget of around $100 just encase of need but am working to
have a savings of $1000 to be on the safe side but at the moment it
is at $0 as I had to use most of that for said oil change and fluids
for the van.
Mis:
This covers going out to eat, a hotel room, campground fees, and any
other thing you might want to do but isn't covered in the other
categories.
For
me this is often at $0 but am working towards having a small bit set
aside.
For
the most part my budget is around $540 a month but can go as high as
$700 or drop to around $275 depending on the month and what I am
doing.
So
budget for the higher and if you don't use all of it in the month put
the rest into a savings of some sort.
Safe travels,
Jo
