Monthly Expenses

Hey all,

Can any new drivers give me an idea of their monthly expenses while out on the road? I'm looking to drive to try and bank money to pay off some crushing student loan debt, at least initially, and am wondering what I can honestly expect to be taking home after taxes and whatever it is I end up spending on the road.

If you're kind enough to answer, please assume that I have no other bills. I do, obviously, but I'm looking more for what you spend on food and any incidentals that come up that a new guy wouldn't think about.

Thanks

My better half controls the cash for our house and I get my allowance of 100 bucks a week from my pay and I do pretty good on that. Granted she buys food for me to keep in my cooler every 3 weeks when I come home but I usually only spend 75 to 80 a week in good at truck stops. The rest of the time I eat out of my truck. Living in the road isn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be but it is pretty expensive. Especially if something breaks like my lunchbox cooker.

I wait until I'm in the midwest or south and stock up at Walmart once every month or two. I spend between $50 to $150 on drinks... snacks... personal stuff... clothes... sneakers.. cat food and litter. I spent 180 in MS for about 3 mos worth of stuff.... soooo cheap there compared to NJ. I usually spend $100 per week on truck stop food... don't have a fridge.. but keep drinks cold in cooler. But I sit in the restaurants a couple times a week for decent meals.

My pay can range between $300 to $800 clear per week.... avg is 650.... that is after my insurances (health vision disability life) and what I owe prime for chains pet fee and locks. My health insurance gets cut in half after my 1st year.

I was in the hole twice when I went home but my FM gave me 2900 miles before or after each time so that I could offset the next week.

I gave up my apt..... so saving $1100 in rent... another $300 in utilities.

Big expenses were my blue tiger headset $120. My 500 dollar mattress cause I needed a really soft one. Fridge... micorwave... tv.... I haven't bothered with them yet... priorities hahah

Prime charged me $1000 as a pet fee.... they take 50 per week. The chains ans locks came to like 700 I think and they take them weekly. So my pay is slowly going up. I'll have that all paid by September.... so in guessing checks will be more like 700 clear avg and 900 clear for the good weeks.

We spend between $200-$250/week on groceries, supplies and meals for two people. That includes eating out (we're both tying to lose weight so we try not to eat in the truck stops more than once or twice a week), and any toiletries/medicine/etc. that needs to be stocked up that week. I don't skimp when it comes to groceries as that is our only major expense besides cell phone bill and health insurance. I also find that if there's food I actually want to eat in the truck I'm much less likely to eat in a truck stop. If you are going to live out of the truck you'll definitely be able to bank quite a bit of money, we are planning on buying a house next year with the money we've saved.

Yup, stocking that cooler is key, a single trip to a truck stop runs me about $10 and I'm a non smoker, drink snacks and sandwich only! Very easy to blow thru the money this way, $20 a day for 1 person here. If u don't get the fridge, invest in the plug in cooler, for $100 it will pay for itself quick enough. I too am losing weight, so keeping a bunch of fresh fruit in the truck, it's the best snack for when I'm driving, and I can get a variety so I don't get bored, plus if I run out I can grab a few from a loves for $1-2 bucks :) and I use the diamond status on my loyalty card for unlimited free refills each month, I'm a coffee drinker and sometimes iced tea, at $1.50-2 for a coffee I can spend well over $10 a week on just coffee, that's pushing $50 a month O.o so I opt for free when I can :D basically between frugal shopping and planning ahead I've run many weeks where I spend $0.00 while I'm on the road, I treat myself to a chipotle and a movie and feel really good about it when that happens. :)

Ull tell ya what did shock me this week... my health insurance is better than I thought! My doctor ob/gym Appt had a $50 copay... but I paid nothing for my birth control. .. which shocked me. This made me feel better about the 50 copay. Then I went to urgent care for an ear infection and did not have an immediate copay there. They will bill me 30% of the bill... which turned out to be less than the copay with my federal employee insurance I used to have. Then... I got my antibiotic and paid only $2 for my Rx. I'm paying like $60 per week eight now and thst drops to $22 per week after I'm with Prime a year. Sooooo.. yeah I'm happy ;)