Second Month Of Cardwelling Progress Report
My second month of cardwelling has now concluded. I worked nearly the entire month as a temp at Interim. It will be 4 weeks tomorrow, which is how long the assignment was slated for. I'm not really sure if it is ending or continuing, guess I'll find out. I've been able to build up some savings so I can make some investments into my car for maintenance, solar power, and cooking. I'll need some more savings for traveling and living expenses.
For a little over the first half of February, I closely tracked my spending in GnuCash. After that point I started to have some money in my account so I was less concerned about it and ultimately didn't keep up with it. The pie chart below gives you an idea of my expenses.
This chart does not include student loans which I am avoiding paying for the time being. The Other category includes a $20 subsidized health insurance plan. The Online Services section is for servers I have for personal and business use. The Gas, Dining, and Groceries sections are actually higher but I didn't track them for the whole month. There are definitely some opportunities to save on food costs once I get a cooking setup going.
One upgrade I made this month was my phone plan which is now unlimited data. The first month I had a 2 GB plan and it was way too limiting unless I did everything only on public WiFi which kind of defeats the purpose of having a data plan. I have Straight Talk which with taxes and everything costs $61.43 per month. I've been happy with it, but my bottleneck now is power. My phone battery doesn't last that long so while I don't have to worry about data, I am running out of power now. I need to get my power situation upgraded next.
Look on eBay for unlimited Verizon MiFis for $5 a month. That's what I got. Works great. For now. Mind you, that's at 3G. But hell, I'm watching a movie on Amazon right now at that speed. My phone plan is PagePlus Cellular at its cheapest plan, $10 (plus tax) a month with auto payments. Not many minutes or data, but that's where the 3G MiFi comes in.
Wow you really got the phone cost minimized. I'll look into those options. Do you know roughly what your total expenses are per month? I'd be interested especially in your food costs and the types of meals you make.
Not exactly. I just started tracking closely a week ago with Mint. Overall, I'd say the total is similar to yours.
Hey dude. Just moved to Sierra Madre. I've got a battery for you to use. It has inputs for solar panels, wall charging is faster though. I'll also give you choice of my gas stoves. I'll see if I can drive up next weekend.