This trip, living in the truck, is my life’s dream. I need very little money. I have no credit card debt. I love to walk and investigate nature. I have a hard time thinking of ways to spend money. I sit, with a pair of binoculars, and watch the desert ants scurry. I stroke the palo verde bark. I am surprised by rabbits and road runners next to the truck. I eat bizarre food combinations. I pick up rocks and investigate them. Life is sweet.
As you may have read in past blog posts, I am now living on $495/month. I found out the reduction from $639 was because of mandatory health insurance. (I had thought that here would be some kind of cut off point for the mandatory part of the insurance.) So. What to do? I pay $395 every 6 months for truck insurance. I pay $20 each month for mail forwarding. That is the extent of my bills. I have deleted Netflix, Kindle Unlimited, and Amazon Prime. I will stop the blog when the year contract is up. I will still pay for the New York Times. Seems that I need some kind of news reliability. Podcasts are free, so far. They provide hours of entertainment. That means that all I have to worry about is food and water and camping and gasoline. I have the full breakdown of the budget here. I love the scrimping and fussing with the budget. I feel that I am gaming the system somehow. So many years of traveling with a backpack and much tighter budgets has enabled me to enjoy life without a bunch of money. I have been lucky. I have the truck (thanks to R and S). I have a phone (thanks to R and S). Periodically friends send money, which I tithe, then celebrate with pizza (thanks Deb and Cindy). Friends have sent teas, ramen and sardines! I have boundless curiosity about the wild and wonderful places that I visit. And libraries offer free internet access and books to read. Today I took my first paid shower ($12) for the month. It pushes my “laundry, showers and camping” budget over the limit by $2, but the gasoline budget is under by $65. Food budget this month so far is under by $28, so stopping at the grocery store today is a must. Its almost the end of the month as I write this. I still have money in the bank, still have food to eat, and am squeaky clean!
Truck Camper Hints 
Hi! I have followed your blog for several years and am simply astonished by your ability to live on a tiny budget and by your wonderful attitude. I have a converted-to-camper van which I love and do camping jaunts of months at a time (I also share a house with a friend when not traveling). I would love to meet you someday and share road stories. Meanwhile, the biggest question I have is how do you spend only around $65 a month on groceries? Please do a post on this for me (or email me if you prefer) and for others. It would be an inspiration and a great guide for reducing the cost of food. Thank you and happy travels.
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Food budget for the month is $110. I don’t buy organic, and buy canned stuff. Don’t have a problem. Also don’t eat as healthily as I should. Spam is my meat, as well as tiny cans of chicken or tuna. Just finished month’s shopping for $68.72. I eat ramen with V8 and canned veggies. As a treat I get ginger and/ or onion. Sweet potatoes are cheap and easy. You can do it … it just takes a while to get used to the tight budget. And all of your friends telling you how unhealthy you are eating! 😁
On Wed, Feb 5, 2020 at 11:03 AM Truck Camper Hints wrote:
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Always love your posts.. Miss you tons.. Stay safe my friend.. Much love,db
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Hugs to you db. You can guess from this post that I won’t be sending you more albums. Money WAY too tight. Am sad about this. I loved looking and finding. If I get a job I’ll start up. Missing you.
On Wed, Jan 29, 2020 at 1:17 PM Truck Camper Hints wrote:
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It looks like you now have health insurance since you pay for it ! Did Medicare ever send you a card you could use if needed ? It’s unbelievable we would charge seniors with NO income for this basic right of health care. You are enjoying the life of this planet in such a complete way. Love to you.
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I am enjoying this life SO much! I do have a Medicaid card. Very sad that others are in my situation without the extreme budgeting/camping/hiking experience. Fingers crossed for next election. Hugs to you and Bill.
Pickett
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