May Budget Review
Monthly Review: May 2020 - 85.6% Savings Rate
Lets quickly hit the big events from May:
Van is fully complete!
Solo Road Trip to Mississippi
Took Dad camping
Took Mom camping
Lot of great times with the family
I’d been quarantined for 2 months and was going insane. Especially with the van nearing completion. I had two last big items to complete on the van. The most intense was the ventilation fan which requires cutting out a 14 inch square in the roof.
My combination of going stir crazy and needing my brothers assistance in cutting a giant hole in my van led me to a roadtrip to Mississippi.
Everyone has their opinions on what is/isn’t safe with the pandemic. I fully respect the seriousness of the virus but I also felt like me traveling in a van by myself with no hotels, indoor dining, or grocery shopping interactions was actually very safe despite the distance traveled.
I’ll break down more details on the travel in the Travel section but the only interactions I needed to have with strangers was for a walk to the bathroom along my route.
After-Tax Income: $9,923
This is higher than my typical months were I only have my base check coming in. See my compensation is 80% fixed and 20% variable.
They will talk about that full number as “Total Comp” or “On Target Earnings”. Basically, when you’re hired on you’ll hear that On Target Earnings number as your salary but in reality it could be more or less. It could be as low as 80% (although that’s highly unlikely). If you or your region meet all the goals assigned to you, you make the full 100%. And if you overachieve, you get paid a little more.
A typical month in Massachusetts for me without any of the variable pay is $8,538. The variable piece isn’t even spread throughout the year so you might notice spikes in certain months if you follow along. There’s also things like Restricted Stock Units vesting but I’ll try to explain all that more in the futue.
Expenses: $1,431.77
Overall the expenses were under my average since moving to Boston but maybe not as low as I’d expected with the pandemic situation.
Most of the additional costs come from the gas needed to travel around 3000 miles and gifts such as anniversary presents for Leslie and birthday stuff for my brother.
Going Out: $16.22
Taco Bell: $3.21
Taco Bell: $3.00
Taco Bell: $7.97
Uber Eats: $2.04
I love Taco Bell. Hate me all you want. Two of the visits were on my trip to Mississippi while the other was for a Cinco De Mayo themed dinner I did for me and Leslie.
In fairness to me, I was trying to get Chipotle for our dinner but the app refused to work and interior dining was all shut down.
I also utilized my $15 Uber credit for a $17.04 meal via uber eats leaving me with the small bill of $2.04.
Free Food
I’ll freely admit when I come home, I generally don’t spend much money on groceries. But I do try my best to cook up somethings my family doesn’t normally get.
The most meaningful dishes to me on this trip was the breakfast I got to cook for my Aunt. A group of us stayed there with her as she mourned the loss of her husband and we got up the next morning for his funeral.
I decided to cook one of my favorite breakfast dishes. They’re an open face breakfast stacker. Biscuit half covered in eggs, cheese, and bacon. Then you sprinkle a little cilantro and truffle salt on top. I think that’s one of those meals we’ll all remember fondly.
I also brought in my Sous Vide (appliance that cooks things via a water bath) to showcase how well it cooks a steak.
The fam was happy to grab some steaks for me to cook so they could see the magic happen. It sounds strange but if you’ve never had a Sous Vide steak…you’re missing out.
Groceries: $34.79
I spent a large part of my month in Mississippi so my grocery costs were much lower than normal.
Full grocery cost breakdown:
Dollar General $2.14
Gardners $24.15
Kroger $2.87
Stop n Shop $5.63
Bills: $1007.82
Standard Bills mostly with an additional annual fee for some online storage
Rent - $837.50
Internet - $18
Spotify - $10
etc
Travel: $0
While there were no travel expenses, other than gas which is its own category, I covered quite a few miles.
The trek down to Mississippi was 1,250 miles each direction. On top of that, I took my parents on two individual trips to check out the van setup.
Unlimited Quarantine Friendly Travel - $50 Per Year
The life saver of this trip was my annual membership to BoonDockers Welcome. This service provides you. with unlimited stays across thousands of hosts, all for only $50 per year. To participate you. need an RV, camper, or campervan conversion.
The conversion needs to be fully self-sufficient. That means you can’t go in their house to use the bathroom or dump things in their yard. The $50 is really all you ever have to spend but there are optional amenities at some locations. Some have power, water, internet, and/or waste dump facilities.
And they have places all over the country, right along the routes you’re probably already taking.
Having the membership meant that on my way to and from Mississippi, I never interacted with anyone. The only people I came across were those I’d pass on the way to a bathroom. I’d say I came in contact with less people on the entire trip than I would on one trip to a grocery store.
Taking The Parents for a Spin
One of the things I wanted to do on my trip down was spend plenty of time with my parents. I thought we could take the van out on a test run with all the new goodies (solar panel / vent fan). So I planned two separate trips.
The first one was with my dad. The Boondockers spot was a lot right on the Tennessee River. It had a big covered concrete area with power, a gas fire pit, a sink, and plenty of room. I’d imagine a camping spot that was nowhere near as nice would run me $30 per night, but thanks to Boondockers Welcome…it was a simple free reservation.
The next trip was with my mom up to an Amish community in Lawrenceburg, TN. We had an awesome Boondockers spot on a small farm. The nice couple even left us some strawberry jam.
The trip was largely planned around visiting the different amish homesteads so shop their homemade goods but unfortunately we picked one of the few days per year that they do not setup shop due to a religious holiday. We had some nice hikes and enjoyed the time on the road though.
Miscellaneous: $217.29
Mostly presents for others, few items for my vent fan / solar panel installation, and belt/shoe combo for my Uncle’s funeral that I wasn’t prepared for.
Leslie Anniversary: $90.13
Brother Bday: $50
Belt/Shoes: $35.85
Lowes: $24.43
WalMart: $11.89
Plex App: $4.99
Finishing Touches On The Van
As I said, some of these expenses were for the final touches on the van. The first big piece was the ventilation fan. Everyone is aware of how hot a car can get in the sun since you’re obviously not supposed to leave a child or dog inside.
The ventilation fan greatly reduces the heat by circulating fresh air from outside. The fan can be used to pull air in or also push air out. That means it is also good for exhausting out air when cooking.
The first step was cutting a 14 inch square hole in the roof. My brother was a huge help here, and when I say help, he did most of it. After seeing him do it, I think I could but he’s a pro.
From there you’d fit in the different pieces and seal everything up. I was very nervous about rain obviously but we used layers of windshield adhesive as well as other professional grade clear adhesives to make a lifetime water-tight seal.
Camper-Van Electricity The Easy Way
From there the last major thing I needed was power. I already had a large battery bank that routed to some plug-in extensions. The battery pack has 540 Watt Hours of electricity and was plenty to do what I wanted.
It’s a simple box with all the controls and plug-ins already there. No need for fuses and inverters. The only problem was I’d have to charge it up periodically. This could be done by plugging it into the cars 12v cigarette lighter plug but then you had to worry about forgetting to unplug and running down your car battery.
So I decided to add on a solar panel. The awesome thing is how cheap solar has gotten. A panel was $85, the mounts were $15, then a few bucks for connections. Here you can see both the solar panel and the exterior of the vent fan. It has a shell so it can be used in the rain.
The other nice thing about having the electricity is being able to take my mobile projector setup with me and use over and over. I sat up the “Movie Theatre” in the yard for my nieces and nephews to watch the new Sonic movie.
Gas: $155.65
Takes a lot of gas to go roundtrip from Boston to Mississippi. Luckily the Van averaged 30MPG on the way down! I ended up driving a bit faster on the way back where it averaged closer to 28MPG
Big Picture: Net Worth Increase $26,653.41 to $450.433
I won’t begin to understand why the stock market has seen any bounce back here in May but I’m happy to see it.
Via savings, I contributed $8,491 to the cause while my investments added in $18,161
