Finding Ways To Save Money
So what’s the solution? Well, there really isn’t a solution. It’s just a part of driving a truck. But there are things you can do to help soften the blow. When you’re hired on with a company, they should have you on what is known as “per diem” pay. This is basically a system that gives you a certain percentage of your pay, tax free. This pay is so you don’t have to keep all of your food receipts and deduct them at the end of the year for your taxes. I’ve spoken with a tax specialist, and he indicated that “per diem” pay is far better than saving all your receipts and deducting them, because everybody truck driver he’s ever come across has saved more money on the per diem pay than if they had deducted from actual purchases. But, if your company doesn’t have per diem pay, be sure to save every single food receipt as all meals on the road are tax deductible. You can also deduct other purchases made while on the road. If you get a hotel for the night, buy a DVD, get a CB Radio, buy work gloves…all tax deductable! Save all your receipts!
Be smart about your meals. Instead of getting the buffet, order off the menu. It’s usually about the same price (and many times cheaper), and the servings are usually large enough to where you’ll have food left over. Take that food to go! Most trucks have a space / hookup area for a small fridge or electric cooler. I have a small Coleman electric cooler that cost about $50. Well worth the convenience of having it on the truck, and it pays for itself after a very short time. You can also get a small microwave in the truck too. Get one for cheap at a Goodwill store. I’ve seen them there for as little as 5 or 10 bucks. Eating left over meals is a great way to save cash. Now, instead of spending $30.00 for two buffet meals for lunch and dinner, you’ve spent $8 for lunch and $7 for dinner.
Picking Up Groceries To Go
Any chance you can get to Walmart, pick up as much as can fit in your truck comfortably. Buy cases of your favorite soda. Buy a few gallons of water. Remember how I said a 1 liter bottle of water costs $1.50 at the truck stop? Well, a gallon of water from Walmart costs about 75 cents. Remember that fridge / cooler I was talking about? Get some sandwich meat, mustard, mayonnaise, etc., and stock up that fridge. While sitting at a customer waiting to be unloaded, sometimes a good ol’ fashioned sandwich is just what you need. I buy little packs of sandwich meat from a company called Buddig. Any Walmart has them. They are individually packaged and cost about $1 a piece. They are supposed to have enough meat for two sandwiches, but I usually use the whole pack on one sandwich. They last much longer since they are in small sealed packages.
Finding Inexpensive Meals To Go
Subway is king. Most Pilot Travel Center truck stops have a Subway inside, and it’s one of my favorite places to stop. I usually get a $5 footlong sub and eat half, then eat the other half later. After taxes, that’s a little over $3 per meal. Not bad! And a little healthier than a restaurant, buffet, or greasy burger and fries.
Saving Money On Other Purchases
Aside from food, which is an obvious necessity, the money spending is really up to you and how you want to live on the road. Casinos almost always have truck parking. Try not to get wrapped up in the gambling. A lot of truck drivers form gambling habits. Do you want a small TV for the truck? Do you want satellite TV? A DVD player? How about a game system to go along with your TV? Want a CB radio? A laptop? Wireless internet for that laptop? A beefed up sound system? Satellite radio? Do you plan on visiting the truck stop arcades often?
I chose to purchase a CB radio, got an old TV from my parents, and already had a game system which works as a DVD player. My laptop has wireless internet, which I often use to watch TV and movies on via www.hulu.com (excellent and free service with minimal commercials). I also have the Coleman electric cooler for the truck, satellite radio, and my biggest entertainment expense is DVD movies (usually buy a $9 pre-viewed DVD every other week or so). Aside from that, I don’t have much. But I still manage to stay pretty happy out here.
Truck driving will challenge your financial spending. This is not a glamorous career, and it’s not for those who need material things to be happy. This career will never make you rich either. But if you love to drive, want the freedom, and have the self discipline to watch your spending, you’ll be able to chuckle at the poor souls trying to get to work at 8am in their business suits, while you’re starting your day heading off into the country in your favorite t-shirt, sneakers, and sweatpants, with 400 miles ahead of you.
Until next time, drive safely!
TruckerMike
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you are absolutely correct. You see those drivers all the time that are complaining about being broke as they walk off to get the buffet. Right now I do not have a fridge, but I do eat my fair share of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Another thing that I eat a lot of is the manchurin noodle cups. You can get free hot water from any truck stop, and they are pretty good. I am out for 14 days at a time and I think If I had a fridge, I could actually pack all my food for the 14 days. Maybe one day.
Another great post Mike,
Drive Safe,
Rob
Mike,
Good advice and very timely for me as I’m now waiting for my trainer and have dreaded the thought of eating from truck stops. I’m hoping my trainer stops at Wal-marts or other stores occasionally. We have a per diem plan and I signed up for it after crunching the numbers. Great idea about casinos. Awesome post! Be safe in all your travels!!!
Rick
hopefully soon!
Very sound advice for wanting to reel in your expenses while on the road.
A couple of things to add; Plan a budget that works and stick to it. Buy enough groceries for your time on the road and if you have anything left over in your budget, treat yourself to a restaurant meal or two, or better yet, deposit that money into your savings.
Also, don’t forget about hidden costs, such as your health. Eating restaurant food, especially fast food, buying processed junk at the grocery store, will certainly impact your health at some point. And of course, having poor health means having to pay doctor bills, hospital bills, and the price of prescription drugs, not to mention the cost of taking time off to deal with medical issues.
So, make wise choices at the grocery store: Stay away from soda, all you really need is water. Avoid the fried stuff, try to stick with cold-cuts, baked or even grilled, if you can. Tuna is perfect, easy to prepare and great for you. Sweet potatoes, oatmeal, whole grain bread instead of white bread, low-fat yogurt — all good. Instead of chips or beef jerky, whatever your poison is, get plenty of fruit and healthy snack foods. There are chips and popcorn and all kinds of other snack foods available that don’t contain all those bad cholesterol building and artery clogging ingredients, just check out the nutrition facts and the list of ingredients. And if you have room in your cab, get a small juicer, make a gallon of juice with fresh fruit (and vegetables) before you head out, drop in some protein powder if you want.
In the long run, you’ll be healthier if you stick to a good diet plan, and it’s easy as hell once you do it for a while and it becomes second nature. Sure, treat yourself to a burger and fries on rare occasions, but after changing your habits, you may not even have the desire to eat anything greasy. You’ll save money on health costs, you’ll be more alert and focused while driving, possibly saving you more money because you’ll be a safer and happier driver. You’d be surprised what a healthy diet can do for your attitude and overall mood.
-Bob
VERY well said Bob! Here’s something I found out in a big way for myself some time ago:
If people realized how easy it is to make healthy eating their lifestyle by eating healthy consistently and not just consider themselves as “dieting” they would kick themselves for not doing it sooner. Great advice top to bottom. Thanks!
Yeah, that’s a good point. It’s not really a ‘diet’, it’s a permanent change in your eating habits. As with any big lifestyle change, it’s not easy to do at first… It definitely takes some willpower, especially if you’re addicted to certain types of food. Anyone can do it though.
I am loving the advice and suggestions I am reading on this site. It is wonderful that all you drivers take the time to post this when I am sure some of you would rather be sleeping right? Lucky for us!
I was a previous OTR driver and it cost my husband and I approximately $1000.00 to $1400.00 a month eating out of the truck stops. It was crazy and we were eating big unhealthy meals. Both of us love to sit down and have a meal and a good cup of coffee. But along with that comes the unhealthy issues. I gained a ton of weight and that creates havoc on every part of your body inside and out and we both were tired after eating a big meal and then wanted to just take a nap, which in this industry was not always and most times not possible. So, eating a big meal was counter productive for us financially and physically. We did have a fridge in our truck so we stopped at grocery stores and stocked up on what we called “ordervies” which consited of fresh fruit and vegetables, cheese and crackers and sandwich stuff. We would have our coffee in the morning and along about 10/11 am I would create a cheese, meat and vegie tray. That was our ordervies. It was healthy and not heavy so it didn’t make us tired. Then mid afternoon I would make us up a gormet sandwich out of the sandwich meat and the vegetables used earlier in the ordervies tray. It was good, healthy and really saved a ton of money running up and down the highway. If our schedule permitted, we would have a hot meal in the evening when we knew we where going to shut down for the night at a reasonable hour.
There are alot of grocery stores up and down the highway you can get into. Of course Walmart always does. The key is, if you see a store and need to replenish some items, take the few minutes to stop, don’t wait thinking you just get it down the road. You may not find another store, now you are out of groceries and guess what? You will be in that truckstop having that $20.00 “heavy” meal and that $20.00 could have bought a couple of days worth of good, healthy, nummy foods. And, it’s true, you will feel better, and after about 3 weeks you will start loosing the cravings for those high calorie/high fat, greasy foods. AND DRINK LOTS OF WATER. YOU WON’T BELIEVE HOW GOOD YOU WILL FEEL.
Take care of yourself out there. Don’t forget how important you are to yourself and others!!!!!
My wife and I bought a dorm type refrigerator at Lowe’s with the extended warranty.
It was much cheaper than a truck fridge and much larger. I have strapped down on our TOP bunk and after the first one blew(wonder why? ahem) the second one has been going for over a year. It runs off our 1750 watt inverter.
We have a microwave and toaster too.
In 9 years we have eaten in truckstop restaurant 3 times. Our daily food expenses never run over 10-$15. We eat some Mexican food about 3 times a week.
Changing our eating habits and preparing food ahead of time and on the road has my 5’7″ wife at a too skinny 130lbs and me….well never mind me. Also, we gave up all soda pop 2 years ago and my wife had drank Coke exclusively for most of her life. That is if she was 95% of her fluid intake was pop.
Bill