You’ve got time. You can do this.
People dimmer, more out of shape, less money, older, weaker, (pick more words) have done this.
The times I have made this work I went crazy from fear. Did everything I could think of to save money. You will think of more and better things to do.
Unplugged everything! except the stove and refrigerator. If I wanted to watch tv I plugged in then unplugged right after. So many things pull electric power even when off. Lived in a house so turned off the water heater (breaker box). Turned it on 30 min a day to take shower and run washing machine. 30 min later it was off. There is 30-50 gal of hot water and takes long time for it to cool. Water heaters are well insulated. Summer time was able to not even use the water heater. Showers were tepid not cold. -I told a walking partner about the water heater thing. She poo-pooed but then tried. Told me it took $15 a month off her electric bill and that was before our recent rate increases.
Paid for water so captured the water that runs till gets hot from tap or shower. Gallon jugs or plastic buckets. Water captured was used for washing machine, watering garden in summer, even flushing toilet. Yup do the toilet thing too, yellow let mellow.
Got rid of cable TV, Netflix, Amazon Prime. Either TV came over the air, got DVDs from library or fed a neighbor’s cat and watched some tv while petting the beast. Phone and internet costs are huge. Find ways to cut, do without. Go slow in buying new gadgets or phone plans to save money. Things may, will, change when you hit the road.
Turn down the heat or up the AC or just off. Spend time in the library. Sleeping mattress on the floor is cooler than the bed. Heat rises so closer to ceiling is warmer. If you live in a townhouse sleep and live in basement in Summer and top floor in winter.
Cut my water, electric bills more than in half.
Looked at every bill. When I’d saved enough, raised the deductible on car to $1000. Canceled some parts if car was too old. You can change your insurance at anytime don’t need to wait for renewal.
Don’t need new clothes unless down to rinsing last pair of panties in the sink everynight. After all there won’t be much room in the van.
Eat everything in your house including that can of Lima beans in the very back. Had strange but creative meals. I budgeted using the federal cost of food charts. Most states use the thrifty maybe low amounts for food stamp amounts. Current amounts are weekly $37.60 thrifty-46.70 low for women 50-70. Or $5.37-6.67 a day. Bet many people on this site eat well for less. Since you’ll be cleaning out your stored food your spending food budget will be less.
I did the envelope thing. Got monthly cash at one time from the bank. Filled 4-5 weekly envelopes with $37.60 each. Had a budget weekly for gas and did cash for that too. Took all credit/debit cards out of my wallet and stuck a $20 bill in a hidden spot for emergency. When going to the store my weekly food money was all that went in the wallet. When I came home the remainder went back in the envelope. Didn’t eat out didn’t swing through McDonald’s. Quickly figured I could eat for a whole day, maybe 2-3 for the price of one meal. If I was really starving, crazy, could buy a loaf of bread on sale, any jar of peanut butter or can of tuna and mayo for the cost of the McDonald’s meal and still be able to eat more meals with the leftover food. Became much more adult about my impulses.
Learned how much I was paying for a serving of X. Found the best tasting of the cheap/on sale coffee brands. Used a little less cream and sugar. Found the heaviest frozen pizza for the price. Sadly beer and ice cream were out of my budget but the pull of freedom became stronger than the pull of ice cream. That part was tough for me.
I read and reread The Complete Tightwad Gazette book (Look in library or used book). Much of the prices are out of date but the concepts and math still work. I even read the stuff on kid toys and Halloween costumes. The thought process works for many things.
Used a thing called SmartyPig. It’s at an online bank. You make up one or more things to save for -van, emergency fund, dental bill, new walking hiking shoes. Put a future price on each item and when you you wish to meet that goal. You can have it setup to pull that money from your bank account monthly and you can make extra deposits to specific goals. You earn interest on the money. I got a kick out of seeing those pigs fill up each month.
Every penny does count and is worth the effort to save or pickup off the ground.
