I would love to do work from the truck (instead of driving the truck)! The bf does have a laptop and I hear about medical transcriptioning all the time. And with a set of headphones (which I have) I can listen and type all the day long. I don't know any body personally that does it and when I see ads online I fear that they are scams so I never go into it. I just have to talk to some people with legit companies to see how that works.

I would bring the cats in the truck but... I need bf's agreement. I never asked him how he felt about it.

Selling the car ... hmm. I guess but I just bought it in december. $9000 and I financed the whole thing with no money down (I have excellent credit). I prob still owe close to $7000 on it. I do wonder if anyone would buy it at that price. Also there was a leak in my car wet that the carpet and it smells. I would have to recarpet (at least the passenger side) before I sold it because no one will take it with that smell!

One cell phone.... I guess we could get by on that. There's so many things I haven't thought of before. I mean the majority of my calls and texts are to the bf. My mom and I are pretty close but she works at a 9 - 5 like me and so we email all day long so it would still work out....

Cutting out my car and my cell would cut out $400 right there.

I still have my monthly min of around $120 for credit and my $178 a month for school loans. So still $300 a month for me expenses wise.
Bf's cell phone is $30? And his car insurance may be $160 a mo. I can't really remember so I'm guestimating total expenses for us: $500 a mo. Plus $160 for food (according to your numbers) $660 a mo expenses which leaves $740 a mo savings (on his current salary).

Wow Snowbunny!!! I really am just going to copy and paste this whole convo and see what he says. I hope I'm not forgetting something major because it really looks doable from here.

I'm really excited because I hate my boring job and would have no qualms about leaving.

Of course the bf won't be solo until the end of October at least.

Although we assumed that they would team him or that he would buddy up with a friend that he knows. And I'm not sure what type of route Werner has in store for him once he's done with his training.

If we were to do this I'd really have to wait past his training to see what permanent situation Werner puts him in.

__________________
Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.

Oh and Nana you are so inspirational.
I get scared stiff about driving the truck - I wish I could just hve my bf as my trainer so I wouldn't be afraid to make mistakes!!
I think that's more what I'm scared of.
Looking like a dummy in the trucking school because I assume everyone else will know what they are doing but me.
I guess that I'm sure with time and practice I can back up and drive. You're right, I can do anything.
The thing that makes me wet my pants right now is being in a trucking school with prob 99% men who know more about driving and parking than me and prob have no faith that I can do at first glance because I have #####.

__________________
Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.

Yes, you would have to wait until he is settled by himself...

You see this is something my hubby and I cannot do becuase of the kids...youngest is 4 so we have a while to go, but if we had met 10 years ago.....oh to be young again!

Anyway, if your bf agreed you would have time to get all your ducks in row...if you need help with budgeting just let me know...my husband laughs at me and my spreadsheets! LMAO

wait a min... if I left my apt to cut out all these expenses, what would I do with my stuff in our apt? Clothes, furniture, TV's, kitchen stuff, books. Is there a storage unit big enough for an entire home's worth of stuff?
And then where would we go on our home time? Actually I think his mom would put us up but again that has to be discussed.
His family actually has a 2 family house. They live in the bottom and his sis and her son live on top. And actually just this weekend his sister told me that if we fell on hard times she would move downstairs with her family (into bf's old bedroom) and we could have the top apt.
His family is amazingly nice to me...

__________________
Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.

Are non truckers allowed to take showers in truck stops?
Am I hijacking a thread?
Does this convo need to be moved elsewhere?
Oh the questions!!!

__________________
Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.

Ok...Maybe we need to start a new thread....I dunno...I will writing till we get kicked out, I don't know if we cn move all this stuff to a new one...

Anyway, yes you can rent a storage unit if you want. Personally, i would pack up all the albums and keepsakes, and sell the rest! But again...that is just me personally, I do not yet have all the furniture that I want for "keeps" and don't plan on getting it till kids are grown! LOL

Home time would be with family...You see for us, again this is just me living out my fantasy with someone who could actually pull it off! LOL, would be to take time off in all areas of the country, you know a weekend in the Poconos, stopping at bed and breakfasts, checking out sites and sounds all over....then for only holidays and special events go home....

Again, this might not work for you...got to think...what is it that you have always wanted to see and do?? Here is your chance, once you start the family, and as long as your bf is still a driver, these things get put on hold, or get worked into his schedual...not knocking the life, just putting it like it is....

Yes non-truckers are allowed, becuase you would be considered his partner (team) and you would only have to pay for one shower...There are others who can give you more info on this one...(am just going by what my husband has told me, will give him a call in a bit and ask him again)

Well I guess I can sell some stuff but I don't wanna sell my books and movies and I don't imagine anyone will want to buy my clothes. People are so cheap I don't even imagine I would get a good price for my furniture - all of which is less than 2 yrs old!

We have the NICEST couch too but I guess that will have to go...

I do like to travel and see touristy things but he may not get a route that takes him all over. The route he has now with his trainer is just from Maine to Delaware basically and he passes by Jersey alot ( where I am ) and that's how I get to see him.

Plus I thought once you were on the road for a company your time was not your own and you don't have time for sight seeing and vacations.

I assume this lifestyle - if I went with him - would just be for a few years to get a deposit for a house under our belts and then once we got a home I'd settle down into a more normal life with kids and he would be on the road alone, or with a teammate of his choosing.

We get to shower together?

If I did pull this off my mom would die! It seems like such a big risk, a big change and my mom always sees the worst case scenario in any situation...

__________________
Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.

My husband is OTR, so he is EVERYWHERE...there is always time...waiting for a load...getting somewhere a day early...being ahead of schedual....but for us right now, its him all by himself, saying I wish you were here....sigh....

Just something to think about, anyway.....

And if you have the nicest couch...save it! See about storage, or if a family member will look after it for you....

Please don't feel like am pressuring you, either! You got to do whats best for you...And YES, ask for mom's opinion! Lay it out on paper for her, and other family and your bf...

oh yea I would have to involve everyone cause I would need their help.

You are not pressuring me at all. I am so happy you suggested it because I've been so lonely (like all trucker wives) but I thought I just had to sit and take it because I didn't think riding with him was an option if I wasn't driving.

Now that we are talking this out it all seems doable (scary but doable) and I would LOVE to make this work if we could.

I really do wanna do it but when I when something sounds good I usually run (impulsively) full steam ahead without thinking about all the details and so that's why I keep asking questions because I'm trying to cover all my bases so when I talk to my family about this I am knowledgeable about what I want to do.

I really do appreciate all your advice and information!

one other prob is that my parents own my condo and me and the bf rent from them. If I get out of the condo my parents will have to find someone else to rent. They won't like that. They knew the day would come because we weren't going to live in the condo forever but they sure didn't expect us to leave by this year!

I need a time line! Even if the bf agrees to all this, I dunno when to start selling my stuff. Luckily my parent still have a room I could use. If they find a renter early I can move in with them. Mom would like that actually LOL

__________________
Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.

Okay.....I have some things to say. First off: if I am inspirational it's because I spent far to many years of my life afraid to try. I still struggle with it. *nods*

2. You can not let your mother's opinion be the center point of your life. Seriously. I did and it took almost TEN years for me to become more my husband's wife than my mother's daughter.

3. Sit down and make a list of what YOU want your life to be like. It doesn't matter what you put you will be the ONLY person to ever see this list. It can be jobs, house, weight, lifestyle, spiritual etc........ANYTHING you wish to be your life.

4. Should you go on the road you can store things, I have things in storage currently. But take it from someone who had an entire house burn to the ground........things are just that.......things. I can put into the back of a van the things that truly matter to me......photos and my mother's paintings...some gifts from my kids through the years and two antiques that were my grand parents. I can even live without my christmas musical snowglobe collection and my collection of pigs.

5. don't do this on a whim......living in a truck is difficult. more so than imaginable. YET......it's so freaking wonderful that I greatly miss OTR. You have so little to worry about. so little to clean. you're together. you see things and Oh my goodness the sky! the sunrises and sunsets, the mountains. you meet people. you can with a few words of kindness absolutely change the day of the waitress in Tulsa then the next day do it in L.A.

6. The worst part for me is lack of privacy and the lack of a good hair dryer in the truck. the 12 volt dryers are horrible.

7. Back to the list: we have the ability to make our lives as we wish them. You take that list and you can make goals. Then you make plans on how to reach those goals.

8. money: you can either blow money on the road or make money. One of the reasons we chose to change our lives and do this was money. And despite what others may say.....you can still make money in trucking. We do. And we watch it carefully so that we don't blow it. We've almost paid off all our debts .....in less than a year. Imagine that. Incredible.

9. As for being afraid to make mistakes: I was 52, hugely overweight and my self esteem was in the toilet when I walked into the school. The first day I was over 2 hours late due to a huge traffic accident......then poured my urine sample down my leg. I believed I couldn't do it. I almost didn't pass the DOT and workwell test but these young men started cheering me on. Every step of the way my instructors and other students wouldn't let me quit. So honey I understand about fear. I actually stood on the range and cried when trying to learn to maneuver the truck. But I did it. And some companies WILL let you S/O be your mentor. At swift if it's your spouse they'll train you for free. But if you want it......you can do it.

10. Your time isn't always your own but if you sit for 2 days somewhere....you can get out of the truck and go see something.

I know there's more I want to say to you.....but my grandbabies want me to play

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