Is it easy our difficult to keep up on finances on the road?

Im planning on my first full year OTR trucking to have no car, no house, only food, cell phone, and probably internet payments, im just not sure how it is to keep up with finances on the road, im not sure if ill get carried away with food or something like that just wondering how most drivers react I guess?

 

It ain't hard, direct deposit, online banking and automated payments for most all my bills.
I only have to mail a rent check, I got so lazy, that I put 4 or 5 monthly rent checks in an envelope and they cash one each month, plus it saves on postage.

I use a debit card for eating out at sit down restraunts,

 

Ok sounds great thanks for the reply, safe driving

 

Well, just be decently modest in your day to day expenses and you should he doing quite well with so few bills. Just make sure your phone has your banking app on it. Makes it easy to bill pay and all that.

 

I would start by making a budget. List all of your monthly bills and allocate money for food, etc while on the road. You need to put something in your budget for entertainment. Don't forget about saving. Most don't think about saving for a rainy day. You should save something out of each check. When I first started driving I established a budget and deposited a minimum of $25/week into my savings. If I made more than my budget allows, I put the balance into my savings. It was amazing at how quickly my savings grew. I use a debit or credit card for everything I spend on the road. It is a good way to track what you are spending. With today's technology, you could pay everything online and set up your bills to pay automatically. That could include something into your savings account.

Drivers are allowed a certain amount of per diem deductions without having to keep receipts for each day you are on the road. Unless you have a permanent address you can use, the deduction may not be available to you. If you are not paying rent, you might arrange for a friend or family member to allow you to use their address. Make sure to keep all your log books for back up if you claim the per diem. If you plan on keeping all of your receipts, you can make a file folder and keep it in the truck. I keep everything for each load in an envelope. If you are a company driver and only want to keep your receipts for the per diem, then you could use an envelope for each week or month and put them in the file folder. It is important to keep things organized from the beginning. Everything you spend on the road can be deducted. If you spend less than $59/day, you may be as well off taking the standard deduction.

 

Not a driver, but the best I ever did with a budget was when I limited myself to cash transactions. I would set my budget at the beginning of the month and take out cash. When you run out of money by week three, you know you're blowing your budget. Then again, when you were extra frugal, you could treat yourself at the end of the month, or dump some extra money to savings. You really feel the difference when you are handing over cash compared to swiping a piece of plastic.

I don't know if I would be taking out a months worth of cash while on the road though. It would probably be wiser to make a weekly ATM withdrawal instead.

 

ATM's cost money. If you plan on using cash, get yourself an envelope and keep your cash in it. If you write down the amount each time it will remind you how much you are spending. You could have enough cash for a month but put money for each week in a separate envelope.

 

That's sounds pretty much like what I wad thinking but I plan on putting closer too $100 a week in saving probably more, and ill be using my moms address

 

If your on the road and you stop at Wal-Mart you can buy something and get cash back for FREE. I always like free

 

I went in industry in exact same circumstances; found out food at truck stops and other off-the-highway parasitical establishments to be exspensive. So WalMart-it whenever possible. TOOLS: usually dont have to concern yourself w/this other than what employer has on packing list. Your trainer should fill you in on what you'll need, like a pair of vice grips to hold a (stubborn) tandem lever in place while adjusting the weight of the load.... speaking of tandems, you may want to go to Lowe's and check for a 2.5 Engineer's Hammer ($12): not only heavy enough to knock those difficult pins in, but the hammer strike-face(?) is the same size (circumfrance) as the pins... also comes in handy for negotiations of night-time parking spots. Sorry, bad joke. Anyways while waiting for your assigned truck after training, check out thrift stores, yard sales, & flea marts for tools for the time being. COMMUNICATIONS: very important (depending upon which company one is condemned to) Trac Phone (Radio Shack,$10-12) comes in handy when my T-mobile coverage is kaputt (Wyoming & Montana)... $40 for 400 minutes, use it for internet purposes mostly-go into Browser Settings and disable JAVA and IMAGES and that $40 on that phone can last a month or longer depending on how much you like to read. Almost forgot, while at Walmart get a headlamp ($12-16) to wear for situations when you need two free hands... then later on get that (300-600) flashlight you want-from a reputable sportings good store. Cant think of anything else for the moment.....