Spending Report June 2016

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Once again, it is late in the month, and I am only just publishing my spending report for the previous month. I’ve grown tired of this project, and I’m disheartened by how much money I’ve been spending.

To further complicate things, I lost the spending report document I wrote up yesterday and saved as a Word file. I was trying to do two things at once, and managed to replace the document with a blank page. Sigh. I tried to restore the document and couldn’t figure out how to do it (even with the help of my computer guy). Sigh. So here I am, starting over…

6-1-16 Once again, I thought I’d spent nothing on the first day of the month, then remembered the auto-payment for my phone. Total spent: $34.99

6-2 through 6-5-16 Four days on the mountain with nothing to buy. Nothing spent.

6-6-16 I went to Babylon today to use the internet and get supplies. Total spent: $44.65

$17.18 to Wal-Mart for supplies

$.03 to Taco Bell for breakfast (I actually handed the cashier $2.17, but I’d just returned something at Wal-Mart and received $2.14 in cash.)

$2.09 to Dollar Tree for supplies

$6.02 to Little Caesar’s for a pizza

$6.93 to Panera for internet use and lunch

6-7-16 Today I finished up in civilization and headed back up the mountain. Total spent: 56.09

$1.89 to Panera for coffee

$35 for gas

$16.74 for groceries

$2.46 to post office

6-8 through 6-12-16 Five days on the mountain with nothing to buy. Nothing spent.

6-13-16 I tried to use the internet today, but the store I went to halfway down the mountain was closed. Total spent: $6.11

$3.11 to post office

$3 for ice

6-14-16 I had to go halfway down the mountain in the other direction to use the internet today. Because I made a 50 mile round trip, I had to get gas too. Total spent: $46.94

$35 for gas

$11.95 for lunch and tip and internet access

6-15 through 6-19-16 Five days on the mountain with nothing to buy. Nothing spent.

6-20-16 Back to Babylon today for internet and laundry and supplies. Total spent: $21.85

$11 for laundry

$.75 for water

$1.95 to Taco Bell for breakfast (The cashier gave me the senior discount. I had to decide if my frugality was greater than my vanity. Frugality won. As a friend said, to someone who’s 18, a 45 year-old person doesn’t look much older than a 55 year-old person.)

$8.15 To Panera for lunch and drink and internet access

6-21-16 More internet use and gathering supplies today in Babylon Total spent: 96.98

$1.14 to Panera for a bagel and internet use

$55 for gas

$39.75 for groceries (I was sick, so I spent extra money on juice and fresh fruit and immune support gummies.)

$1.09 to Dollar Tree for paper towels

6-22 through 6-27-16 Six days on the mountain with nothing to buy. Nothing spent.

6-28-16 Today I used the internet at the small-town mountain store, and bought ice there too. Total spent: $3.50

6-29 through 6-30-16 I closed the month out with Nothing spent.

Total spent for the month of June: $311.11

Finally, a month in which I spent a reasonable amount of money. It’s about time.

 

About Blaize Sun

My name is Blaize Sun. Maybe that's the name my family gave me; maybe it's not. In any case, that's the name I'm using here and now. I've been a rubber tramp for nearly a decade.I like to see places I've never seen before, and I like to visit the places I love again and again. For most of my years on the road, my primary residence was my van. For almost half of the time I was a van dweller, I was going it alone. Now I have a little travel trailer parked in a small RV park in a small desert town. I also have a minivan to travel in. When it gets too hot for me in my desert, I get in my minivan and move up in elevation to find cooler temperatures or I house sit in town in a place with air conditioning I was a work camper in a remote National Forest recreation area on a mountain for four seasons. I was a camp host and parking lot attendant for two seasons and wrote a book about my experiences called Confessions of a Work Camper: Tales from the Woods. During the last two seasons as a work camper on that mountain, I was a clerk in a campground store. I'm also a house and pet sitter, and I pick up odd jobs when I can. I'm primarily a writer, but I also create beautiful little collages; hand make hemp jewelry and warm, colorful winter hats; and use my creative and artistic skills to decorate my life and brighten the lives of others. My goal (for my writing and my life) is to be real. I don't like fake, and I don't want to share fake. I want to share my authentic thoughts and feelings. I want to give others space and permission to share their authentic selves. Sometimes I think the best way to support others is to leave them alone and allow them to be. I am more than just a rubber tramp artist. I'm fat. I'm funny. I'm flawed. I try to be kind. I'm often grouchy. I am awed by the stars in the dark desert night. I hope my writing moves people. If my writing makes someone laugh or cry or feel angry or happy or troubled or comforted, I have done my job. If my writing makes someone think and question and try a little harder, I've done my job. If my writing opens a door for someone, changes a life, I have done my job well. I hope you enjoy my blog posts, my word and pictures, the work I've done to express myself in a way others will understand. I hope you appreciate the time and energy I put into each post. I hope you will click the like button each time you like what you have read. I hope you will share posts with the people in your life. I hope you'll leave a comment and share your authentic self with me and this blog's other readers. Thank you for reading.  A writer without readers is very sad indeed.

6 Responses »

  1. If you use gmail, I would use Drive for your documents. It has the same options as Word and saves to the cloud which is nice. Go to youtube and find a video to introduce it.

    Marilyn

  2. When you are at ” camp” are you plugged in? The reason I ask is that I recently purchased an Igloo small ice maker. It is wonderful. Makes ice all day long, enough to fill my small rolling cooler. If fits on top of my cooler, so takes up minimal space for me. It has auto shut off, if full, or out of water. Drops ice about every 3 or so minutes, so it is quick.. It is about the size of a small breadbox. But I luv ice, and this has saved me so much in buying ice. They sell many versions. I bought mine at Wallys for 99 bucks plus 4 bucks for extra warrantee.

    • Thanks for this suggestion, Sheri. Unfortunately, at the campsite where I live and work, there is no electricity.

      Where I am, the most I pay for ice is $3.50. At that rate, the $99 ice maker would be paid for after not buying 28 bags of ice. In town I can get bags of ice for $1.48 each. At that rate, I would have to not buy 66 bags of ice to pay off the ice maker. Of course, the cost of gas and wear and tear on the van should be factored in if I am making a special trip to buy ice.

      In any case, without electricity, the ice maker won’t really work for me. But I would consider buying one if I could plug in.

      I’m also thinking about a Yeti cooler again after recently meeting a guy who raved about his.

  3. I hope you don’t give up on your spending report. I look forward to it every month. I believe it’s real and shows more about living in your van than anything else out there. (blogs youtube Facebook) While a lot of youtubers shout about how much money you can save by van dwelling you are saying this is what I spend this is life…. Plus you never seem to get upset if we ask any questions about your spending…

    • Thanks for the encouragement, Lori. I will not give up on the spending reports. The report for July is almost ready to be scheduled, so that will be coming up in a few days.

      Yes, feel free to ask me questions.

      Thanks for reading and commenting. I really do enjoy hearing from my readers.

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