Expenses: summary of my expenses for ALL years

Kaylee's not-a-blog » Human stuff » Expenses » summary of my expenses for ALL years

There's been considerable interest in my expenses, so I created this page to give a quick summary/overview of all years.
It should highlight how important it is to buy a vehicle in good condition.

"Vehicle repairs" includes routine maintenance (i.e. oil changes).
"Vehicle other" consists of insurance, registration and title fees.

year	Total	Monthly	vehicle Repairs	vehicle Gas	vehicle other	Miles driven	Food	food cost/ calorie-day	Everything Else	non-van monthly
2018 (December)	$3,501.27	$3,501.27	$2,602.69	$484.65	$209.35	2638	$111.57	(not tracked)	$93.01	$204.58
2019	$7,985.41	$665.45	$4,418.72	$1,263.99	$519.71	6133	$1,079.74	(not tracked)	$703.25	$148.58
2020	$2,676.48	$223.04	$86.83	$751.83	$160.11	5056	$1,164.93	($2.58)	$512.78	$139.81
2021	$2,381.46	$198.46	$519.49	$722.71	$158.14	3130	$489.05	($2.52)	$492.07	$81.76
2022	$2,958.64	$246.55	$772.89	$258.17	$169.01	671	$1,038.89	($2.24)	$719.68	$146.55
2023	$1,656.18	$138.02	$60.00	$175.20	$192.32	567	$828.34	($2.18)	$400.32	$102.39
2024 (YTD: Nov)	$1,136.57	$103.32	$ 0.00	$167.93	$193.00	647	$281.53	($2.75)	$494.11	$70.51
cumulative Totals	$22,296.01		$8,460.62	$3,824.48	$1,601.64	18,842	$4,994.05		$3,415.22
Monthly Average	$309.67		$117.51	$53.12	$22.25	262	$69.36		$47.43	$116.80

Average Monthly Costs:

As of the end of Nov 2024, I've been a van dweller for 72 months.

My average non vehicle specific costs have been $116.80 / month (i.e. "Food" and "Everything Else").

The total cost for my first 4 months (during which I had 2 major breakdowns) was $7,836.29 for a monthly average cost of $1,959.07.
The total cost for my next 68 months was $14,459.72 for a monthly average cost of $212.64.

Notes:

Current (2024) Year "unusual" expenses:

My "zombie" AGM House Batteries finally died. :(
I don't have enough money to do a full replacement, so instead bought a single 55~ AH AGM replacement.
So far, it has been performing extremely well! :)

My "food cost / calorie-day" will (probably) go up significantly this year, because the local discount grocery store has become unuseable, due to a switch from terrible to crippling noise-zak. :(
I may be able to get help from local Friends, and/or make an Americans with Disabilities Act complaint.
I also plan to make much more use of local food pantries, including checking out ones that are further away from me. That strategy should keep my total food costs down.

I'm experimenting with letting my cellular plan "lapse", then re-activating it after 1-2 months.
I'll report back on how that works out, stress & logistics wise.

2024-Aug-07 Update:
Food Pantries:
I finally got up the nerve to try a 2nd food pantry. :)
It's more than twice the gas away, however it allows one visit every month (vs one every three(3) months), provided about 30-ish days of food, lets "clients" pick what we want from the shelves (vs all food being hidden & picked by a volunteer without input from the "client"), and had some kewl stuff. :)
Highlights were: a pack of name-brand precooked brats, two dozen eggs, two squeeze mayo, bag of potatoes, two boxes of Triscuits (date expired), two boxes of Cheerios, 48oz bottle of cooking oil, dry milk powder, cocoa powder, 6-pack of glazer donuts, 2 gas station hot sandwiches (one with BACON), a pound of walnuts, 2 pounds of frozen carrot dices, and a 4oz bag of VERY GOOD chocolate covered almonds. :)
I've made egg salad (eggs+mayo) 6 times, and 5 crockpot carrot cakes (from scratch). :)
Had the brats with (crockpot) baked potatoes. :)
I'm saving the cocoa for winter. :)

After the initial (stressful) sign-up, it was a much better "experience" than the sometimes awful (depending on the volunteer) closer food pantry I've been using (and will probably stop going to).
I plan to check out two more food pantries.

2024-Dec Update:
I've used two further food pantries (four in total):

a "mobile" pantry where one just drives up and receives two boxes of prepacked food
Review: They were very brusque and not ready for a fridge-free person, however the paperwork was trivial and there was some nifty stuff (my favorite was six ears of fairly fresh sweet corn).
a rural church-based pantry which is, by far, the kindest and most helpful of them all! :)
Review: They were flexible/non-pushy about the paperwork, genuinely listened to me, and kept suggesting & pointing out cool foods that I might like (e.g. really good chocolate chip cookies, "aged" Gouda cheese, individual applesauce cups).

So far, I've been gifted 325.3 days (76.0%) worth of food (mostly from food pantries), and bought 102.5 days (24.0%) worth.

Cellular:
So far, I've paid for 5 out of 11 months of cellular service.
I qualify for free "Lifeline" service, and have been researching that, however there's a lack of objective & technical info about it. :(
(Yes, I will be publishing a detailed analysis and review.)

Vehicle Repairs:

During the first two months after buying my van, it had two major breakdowns, including a seized engine which required a replacement.
I alone had made a major error in judgement in blithely trusting several online individuals, and failing to have the van inspected by a trustworthy professional.
I hope others will learn from my mistake.

After my 2nd major breakdown, several generous people donated a total of $2,342.70 to help cover my costs.
Throughout my original journey to pick up & return in the van, then during all my first year breakdowns, many people provided priceless technical and morale support - thanks to you all! :)

Vehicle Gas:

The Covid pandemic hit early in 2020, which both limited my travel options and temporarily reduced the cost of gas (just in time for Spring Migration!).

In mid-2021 I had another major repair issue, and yet again a shop bungled the repair so badly, that I could not risk migrating South for the winter, which was physically & mentally gruelling, however did reduce my gas expenses for late 2021 and early 2022.
In early 2022, gas prices skyrocketed. :(

From Fall 2021 thru now, I have skipped winter migrations to save money (i.e. the first time, it was due to yet-another major mechanical issue, the 2nd year it was due to "admin" issues, the 3rd year I intentionally decided (early) to skip migration, and have tentatively decided to skip it again for winter 2024-2025).

Vehicle other:

At the end of 2019 I switched insurers, which is saving me over $400/year.
I only have liability insurance, and am a middle aged female with a squeaky clean driving record, hence the low rate.

My van is registered in South Dakota, under their "Nomad" provision (as far as I know, it's the only state that allows the homeless to register without hassles).

Food:

Note that I do not have a fridge in my van, which can be somewhat challenging.

Throughout 2020, I gradually increased my food stocking levels, partially as a result of COVID shortages, partially due to having gained enough experience that I better understood what foods worked best for me.

In mid 2021 I had another major mechanical problem, which dramatically limited my van's movement, so I ended up depleting most of my food stockpile (i.e. the actual cost of the food I ate in 2021 was about eight hundred dollars).

In 2022, I rebuilt my food stockpile, to the highest level ever, largely to have a better baseline, and partly due to aggressive buying whenever there were particularly good sales (there was rapid inflation through most of 2022).

I've received some modest donations of food (e.g. free meals while visiting Friends), and (starting in Sep 2021) five times have gone to a local food pantry (each time I was given about three weeks worth of food).
I have tracked free food by days, and am excluding them from the total used to calculate "Cost per Calorie Day".

Contrary to popular opinion (and the USDA's policy), it's extremely difficult for the rural homeless to get SNAP (aka "Food Stamps"), and food banks/pantries are often very minimal (e.g. the closest one to me allows only one visit per three months, and provides only 2 to 4 weeks of food per visit).

food cost / calorie-day:

Since early 2020 I have been tracking the calories of all food bought (yes, that's tedious, yet interesting, and an easy way to estimate my food inventory).
Beside the "Food" column, I've added "cost/calorie-day", which is the total spent on food divided by the total calorie days of that food, for that year (I've excluded the calories & days of all gifted food).
In other words, this is my average spent to buy one calorie day of food, based on a 1700 calorie day (i.e. the average for a female).

My daily cost went down for 2022, mainly because:

Inflation invoked my Fear response, albeit in a Competent manner. :)
I gave up some more expensive food items, particularly items that jumped up in price (e.g. no more Walmart mini pies).
I was more focused on stockpiling sales.
I optimized Dollar General (I'll write up details, soon-ish).

For 2023, initially my daily cost went up somewhat ($2.48/day), mainly because I did a major pre-Deep-Freeze supply run that included stocking up on several pricier food staples (cheese... lots & lots of cheese!).
Since then, my 2023 daily cost went down ($2.18/day) to somewhat below my 2022 average, which initially surprised me!
I reviewed my purchases, crunched some numbers, and the main factor is that I stocked up on several very low cost staples, including (listed low-to-high by cost for a "woman" day (i.e. 1700 calories/day)):

cooking oil ($0.55/day at Walmart)
brown rice ($0.75/day on sale at a regional grocery store)
ramen ($0.89/day at Dollar General)
elbow mac ($0.95/day at Walmart (3lb box))
popping corn ($1.22/day at a regional grocery (it was cheaper than Walmart, so I stocked up))
saltines ($1.24/day at Walmart (I recently bought 3 pound-boxes, mainly for summer peanut butter use))
tortilla chips ($1.27/day on sale at a regional grocery (I bought 4 bags and regret not buying more))
UPDATE: they had another, even better sale, that worked out to $0.86/day... and I bought 8 bags. :) I would have bought more but they're bulky.
soda ($1.31/day at a regional grocery ("generic" in 2L bottles, which is the cheapest way to buy ready-to-use soda))
"squeeze" mayonnaise ($1.34/day price drop at Walmart (I bought 3 bottles))
burger & hotdog buns ($1.52/day on sale at KwikTrip (I bought 4 bags, and expect similar sales around the 4th of July))
UPDATE: there were no tempting sales for the 4th of July, however KwikTrip later had an excellent sale on their "french rolls" which are much nicer than cheap hotdog buns.
butter ($1.59/day on sale (fairly common))
potato chips ($1.77/day on sale at a regional grocery (generic/house brand))
flour tortillas ($1.77/day at Dollar Tree)
eggs ($2.00/day at KwikTrip)

If anything, I'm now (almost) overstocked on such staples, and I expect my cost/day to gradually increase for the rest of the year, particularly since I'm trying to buy more fresh vegetables & fruits. :)
This year, I'm experimenting with growing small batches of sprouts, which is working out well, and saving me money on lettuce (which is overpriced and far less nutritious than sprouts).
My tentative goal was to be close to $2.30/day for 2023, which I more than achieved. :)

Everything Else:

After my first two major breakdowns (both occurred during my first two months of van dwelling), I realized I would have to reduce my budget significantly, and set these limits:

$125/month for all food & "personal" expenses (i.e. hygiene, clothing, medical, luxuries, and all other non-vehicle/non-utility/non-work type expenses)
$5/month for luxuries (originally, I set it to $10 for 2019, found that was easy, so halved that in 2020)

I've had no difficulty keeping well within these limits. :)
For all non "personal" expenses (e.g. equipment, and the equivalent of "utilities" in a conventional house), I have no set limits, however I strive to be very frugal.

General Frugality:

Other areas where I save:

During part of 2019 and much of 2020, a Friend donated several data cards for use with my mobile hotspot.
In mid-2020, I had moved to an area with no coverage for my pay-as-you-go phone plan (AT&T GoPhone), so I let that lapse.
Late in 2020, my cellular data provider (StraightTalk) mistakenly "bricked" my mobile hotspot, and it took well over a year to get a replacement
(note that as of early 2022, I'm paying $25/month for phone & data (with "Visible"), which has been a significant budget increase ($300/yr), so I have been trimming other expenses).
I have no medical insurance.
I have no "banking fees".
I have only paid for one shower (I do regular "bird" baths, and have had free showers while visiting Friends (typically about twice per year)).
I do laundry about once per 2 to 4 months
(I boondock, and am a :) genuine Introvert, so I only change clothes when they're actually smelly/dirty).
I cut my own hair about 1 to 2 times per year (using an ultra cheap EMT shears to chop off the end of my pony tail).
I've never used any of: tobacco, alcohol, illicit drugs, makeup/etc. I'm Square. :)
I have zero interest in fashion so dress very simply (most folks immediately identify me as a Geek), and rarely buy clothes.
In 2022 I did spend $50.70 (that's the most I've spent in 5 years) replacing clothes that were full of holes, and buying more underwear (so I can go longer between laundry runs).
Food wise, I regularly experiment with frugal substitutes for the foods I crave (e.g. pizza),
and with ways to save cooking fuel (e.g. crockpot, dash heating).
I enjoy solving problems. :)
One of my primary sources of entertainment is free Library audiobooks and ebooks.
My main other hobby is bird and wildlife watching.
None of these pursuits costs much. :)
I spend most of my time creating Code and making other contributions to pro bono computer projects.
I have a Meaningful Purpose in Life so am content living very simply. :)

Updates:

2024-Apr-24: Reviewed details of "Everything Else" for all years, adjusted category of some items.
2023-Dec-15: Added "non-van monthly" average column (i.e. total of "Food" and "Everything Else").
2023-Jul-12: Added cumulative "Monthly Average" row (i.e. for each column/group of expenses).
2023-Jun-05: Added cost per day analysis of some recent low cost food staples.
2023-Feb-15: Reviewed details of 2019, adjusted totals, added donations, added new notes section "Average Monthly Costs".
2023-Jan-11: Reviewed details of 2020 & 2021, adjusted totals.
2022-Sep-04: For 2020 onwards, beside "Food" column, added "cost/calorie-day" (see explanation in "Food" area of "Notes" above).
2022-Jul-01: Added auto-generated "cumulative Totals" row.
2022-Jun-10: Added spacer columns for easier viewing, and new "Miles Driven" column.
I still need to review and update a few relatively minor items.
2022-May-02: Added a Notes section, partly to answer some questions/statements that were posted online.
Added "Year To Date" numbers for 2022, which shows my major food restock in January & February.
I will try to update this most months.
2022-Mar-14: Created this page.