Money Matters: How will you sustain financially?

Let’s face it; we need money to get through life…for the most part. So let’s cover that question right off the top!

This will, no doubt, be the biggest preparatory task of all. We of course need the funds to purchase our “new home” (the RV), but also enough of a nest egg to pay our expenses for the following 12 months. Too, we will need to consider what funds we will need at the end of the 12 months, either to keep going, or to settle.

Fortunately, Steve is an entrepreneur with a business that allows him to work on the road, if necessary. He is currently working very hard and making many sacrifices to build his business enough that hopefully, with God’s help and grace, there will be some residual monthly income coming in while we are on the road. However, we cannot necessarily count on that 100% to sustain us.

As I mentioned, we will be selling all of material possessions. With the exception of near-and-dear memorabilia, everything will be liquidated. Now, Steve & I have never been the type to have expensive furniture or collector art pieces. Nonetheless, as we have walked around the house to inventory our possessions and estimate their value we have found that just in things like furniture, appliances, toys and knick-knacks, we can get a good nest egg started.

I will also be looking for a part-time job; just something that I can do during the day while the kids are in school (remember, they are my 1st priority!) and offers a little side cash to stash into the nest egg!

The biggest source of funds is going to come from a place that so many of us suburbanites have a difficult time with: cutting expenses. I have taken a long hard look at our budget recently and found that so many of the things we spend money on are “wants” and not “needs”. We “need” a house, electricity, water and heat. However, contrary to what our suburban society has trained us to believe, we DO NOT need a lot of what we spend our money on. Here is just a brief list of what OUR family has spent money on that, in order to save for our adventure, we will be, or have already, eliminated:

• Car payments - we have always tried to avoid these and buy our cars cash – we currently have no car payments
• Car insurance - we only purchase liability. We have found that full coverage is flushing hard-earned money down the toilet, although, you can only do this if you have no car payments!
• Clothing – my kids DO NOT get name brand clothes, EVER. I shop thrift stores often and fortunately they will be going to a uniformed school this year, eliminating the desire for the latest trends!
• Dining Out – like when we were kids, our family has minimized this to being an occasional “treat” rather than a weekly expense. I even found a Restaurant Cookbook that offers many of the famous restaurant secrets to make at home, like KFC chicken, Pizza Hut Pan Pizza & Red Lobster’s Cheese Biscuits (and the kids think this is pretty cool too!)
• Entertainment – this is one of a few of the ways we suburban families get sucked in to the “social standard”. Let’s face it – our kids do not “need” a season pass to the amusement park, $10 movie tickets and $20 snack money at the movies. We have found that bargain matinees (after a hearty brunch at home), 99 cent bowling and even a game of Uno at home are just as entertaining!
• Extra-Curricular Activities – this has become an insane obsession with today’s parents, and yes, even I got sucked in. We were spending almost $100/mo for one of our daughters to take gymnastics twice a week. Over a year, that would be enough money to sustain us for a month on the road! Unless it is a school-sponsored activity (these are generally much more affordable), this is merely an unnecessary “want”
• Food & Groceries – this is an area we had to revamp quite some time ago. I’ve learned 3 key things to keeping these expenses under control: (1) menu planning, (2) buying in bulk (this only works well with strict menu planning, as you buy in bulk to prepare the same meals in rotation) and (3) making time to prepare – you can save a TON of money preparing your own convenience foods, snacks and even some of your household cleaning supplies!
• Personal Care (i.e. haircuts, dry cleaning, salon services) – I’ve learned to cut my husband & children’s hair, Dryel works great, and frankly I can wax and color at home!
• Pet Care – again, I can bathe my dog at home and can minimize my vet visits by shopping around for the best deals on vaccination clinics. Beware! I have found that even the Pet Store clinics who claim to be a bargain can be much overpriced for someone who just needs a quick boarding vaccination!
• School Expenses – this has gotten out of control! Last year, I spent over $600 on extras for school – like field trips, fundraisers, etc. I didn’t even spend that much in a year when I was HOMESCHOOLING!! This year, the girls know….no fundraisers, no pictures (I can take my own, thank you!) and we’ll be compiling our OWN yearbook! The girls will each get a field trip budget and will have to pick and choose which ones they want to attend.
• Utilities – we cancelled our cable movie channels (redbox works just as well), changed all our bulbs to energy efficient, have our thermostat at a constant 68 (WHEN it gets turned back on for the fall) and are switching our phone service to a more affordable provider. Also, the girls get a timer for shower time and I have unplugged the dishwasher – I found we save a lot on our gas and water bill keeping these 2 things under control!

By my rough calculations, we should be able to eliminate almost $1000/mo in expenses. That means that by June 2010, we could have $10,000 saved up. Take into consideration the actual cost of living on the road, and that $10,000 could sustain us for 3-5 months, easily. It’s amazing how much you can live on when you let go of the idea of “stuff” and focus on the family unit.

This has been, and will continue to be, a challenge for all of us. We live in a world of immediate gratification where we are defined by what we have and we feel like we have to give our kids every opportunity to compete with the kid next door. Luckily, the girls are so excited about this trip, that many of the “cutbacks” are inconsequential right now. However, I know as they return to school, it will become more challenging. I can only hope that as we adults learn the value of the family, they too will learn that no gymnastics lesson, field trip or designer label shirt will measure up to good quality time as a family, working together to accomplish a goal that is sure to outshine all that “stuff”.