Andy Hough

Van Customization Progress

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van interior I haven’t had an update on my van customization for a while.  That is mainly because I haven’t done much to it due to a lack of funds.  From the picture you should be able to see that in addition to removing the back two captains chairs I have also removed the back bench seat.  Since I wasn’t using that seat it was just taking up room and adding weight.  Removing it  has opened up a lot more room in the van.  The Safari is a minivan so I need all the room I can get.

The other customization that I have finished is making panels for the windows.  I made some of the panels out of Reflectix insulation, which is basically bubble wrap covered in aluminum foil. Since I didn’t want the shiny surface showing I taped black plastic over the insulation. Then I just tucked the panels into the windows. It fits in snugly and is tucked into the crevices around the window.  From the outside it just looks like a darkly tinted window.  In certain lighting conditions you can see the wrinkles in the plastic since I didn’t do a great job of taping the plastic over the insulation. I have a picture below which makes my taping job look even worse than it is.  The insulation does fit the window tightly even though it looks loose.

I also used white foam board covered in black plastic for one of the windows.  It works well for blocking the sun, but it probably doesn’t insulate as well as the Reflectix.  After I had made all of the panels I found out that they make black foam board.  If I were to do it all over again I would probably make the panels from the black foam board so I could skip having to cover them in black plastic and I wouldn’t have to worry about any wrinkles in the plastic. It would be a much easier process although it would be more expensive.

van reflectix

I’m using a black tablecloth from the dollar store as a divider between the cab of the van and the back.  It works ok but it won’t hold up for too long.  I will eventually get some black fabric or possibly a tarp to hang up behind the seats, but that will have to wait until I have more money.  I also need to get something to hang over the window of the sliding door.  Since the window in the door opens I can’t put a panel in it.

I’d like to build a bed for the van.  It would be more comfortable than the cot and since it would be affixed to the van it wouldn’t slide around like the cot sometimes does.  The materials required to build the bed wouldn’t cost that much.  The bigger expense would be buying a mattress for the bed.  I’m planing to tackle this project sometime next month if I have the funds.

The only other thing I might do is buy a cooler for the van.  Since it would allow me to buy fresh foods it might save me some money compared to eating out all the time.  I’d also have to buy ice though so I’m not sure how much money it would actually save me.  Whether it saves me money or not I will eventually get a cooler just so I’ll have more food options.

Farther into the future I’d like to buy a Fan-Tastic Fan for the van. It is getting way too hot and I think a fan would make a lot of difference. I’d also like to add another battery to run 12v devices. Both of those things require more expertise and money than I currently have so they will have to wait a while.

 

May Income – $1650.63

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Here is a breakdown of my income for May.

Online Income

 $878.68

Interest

$0.90

Stock Dividends

$25.79

Cash Back

$153.11

Sell Stuff

$321.90

Mystery Shopping

$270.25

Total

$1650.63

My online income is still down but I’m hoping it has plateaued.  Luckily I have some passive and alternative streams of income to help make up for the reduced online income.  I was able to sell quite a bit of stuff in May.  I still have lots of stuff to sell but haven’t gotten around to trying to sell anything this month but I plan to get some stuff listed for sale later this week.  I was also able to make a little from mystery shopping.  I only include my fees as income.  I don’t count the reimbursements for food, gas, movie tickets, etc. , but getting those things for free does save me some money.  I also made quite a bit in cash back but that was just a fluke of hitting the redemption levels on a couple of my credit cards and receiving some promo bonuses from Ebates.   I also received some cash back from Mr. Rebates for referring other users.  So the cash back isn’t all from my spending.   I’m guessing my income for June will be about the same as long as I’m able to sell a few things the last couple weeks of the month.

May Expenses – $1566.35

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Here is a breakdown of my expenses for May.

Household

$47.09
Entertainment

$89.98

Transportation

 $808.52

Food

$134.60
Gambling $350
Travel $53.22
Phone

$26.81
Health

$56.13

Total

 $1566.35

 

My monthly expense total will now reflect just my expenses, keep that in mind when comparing them to expenses for the last year or so.  My expenses were higher than I like in May.  There were several areas for improvement.  The easiest one to work on is gambling.  That should be zero for June.

My biggest expense was for transportation and that will be my biggest expense this month as well.  I spent about $475 on gas in May.  I’d like to significantly reduce that this month.  Part of that total was because of the road trip I took at the end of May that extended into June.  There will be no more road trips this month which should allow me to save on gas.  The transportation total also included my taxes and registration for buying the van.  This month the total will include my first van payment so those will pretty much offset.

Overall, I expect my expenses to be much lower in June although I haven’t gotten off to a great start.  Driving less and not gambling at all should allow me to keep my expenses under $700 for the month of June.

First Road Trip – Part Two

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Appalachian Trail viewThe main purpose of this road trip was to do a little hiking and that is what I did. The first couple of days I was able to hike out on the Appalachian Trail and then return on a connecting trail. The days after that I had to hike out and back on the same trail. That wasn’t bad though since you get a bit of a different perspective when you hike in both directions. I do like the out and back hiking and may use this method to eventually complete the Appalachian Trail.

The highlight of my hikes was seeing a bear. I saw a black blob about ten yards off the trail and at first I thought it was a dog but after watching it a few seconds I realized it was a small bear. The bear was licking itself and completely oblivious to my presence. I suppose if I could lick myself I’d be oblivious too. After deciding that it wouldn’t be too smart to startle the bear when I was in such close proximity I backed up a bit on the trail. Then I loudly clapped my hands which sent the bear running off into the woods. I have to start carrying my camera so I can get a picture if anything like that happens again.

I mostly parked at trail heads which were off of lightly traveled roads. This was nice for sleeping since it was dark and quiet. It was also convenient when I needed to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. All I had to do was get out of the van, find a tree, and go. I wish I could park somewhere like that every night.

Parking in somewhat remote locations almost backfired on me though. I managed to forget my keys in the van when I left for one of my hikes. When I was returning to the van from the hike it started to rain and since it was a shorter hike and it didn’t look like rain I hadn’t brought my rain gear. I was thinking the rain was no big deal since I’d be back to my van in a few minutes. Then I had an Oh,Shit! moment and realized I didn’t remember to bring my keys. I searched for them anyway but they were not to be found. I was hoping that maybe I forgot to lock the van but all the doors were locked and the windows were all the way up. The prospect of getting a ride back to town on this road on a Sunday morning seemed dim. Luckily, after less than a minute a truck came down the road. I waved it down and the gentleman was kind enough to stop. He was on his way back home after an early morning church service. He didn’t know who could unlock my van but offered to take me to the sheriff’s office in town as they might be able to unlock the van. When I got to the sheriff’s office they told me they couldn’t unlock the van but they would call someone. I had to wait a little over a half hour since it was Sunday morning and the company that offered the unlocking service was closed but I was happy they would come at all. They guy didn’t have any trouble unlocking my van and only charged me $35 for the unlocking service. When I initially realized I had locked my keys in my van I thought my day was going to be ruined but thanks to the kind people of Bland, Va it turned out to just be a minor inconvenience and I was able to get a good day of hiking in.

Another interesting thing that happened during the hike was running into a chicken. I was driving down a dirt road to get to a trail head and noticed a chicken on the side of the road. I don’t know why the chicken crossed the road but he decided at the last second to cross right in front of my van. Although I was going pretty slow there was no way I could avoid the chicken. I heard a thump and then a Bok! Boooook! as the chicken hit the van. When I looked in the rear-view mirror I could see feathers in the air. I pulled over a little way down the road to see what happened to the chicken. A woman drove up and told me not to worry about the chicken. It was alive and ok, although it would probably be laying scrambled eggs for a while. I guess that is part of the danger of being a free-range chicken.

It will probably be a little while before I go on my next road trip because I need to save up some money. I was happy with how this trip went and it did prove to me that I can live in my van on the road. I’m hoping to start my next road trip by August. I may relocate before then though because it is starting to get hot. At any rate I will have my road trip started by the time of the Financial Blogger’s Conference in September.

First Road Trip – Part One

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van interior I’m on my way back to Missouri to complete my inaugural road trip in my new van. I spent five days on the Appalachian Trail doing some short hikes. I’ve done most of the AT from Springer to PA but there a few small gaps that I skipped before that I want to hike now so I can complete the AT.

Van Customization

You can see what little I have done to make my van better suited for sleeping and living.  I took out the two captain chairs that were where the front of the cot is now.  The rear bench seat folds down to a bed but it is much too small of a bed for me to be able to comfortably sleep on it. That is why I bought the cot to sleep on.  The cot actually has three legs and the middle leg luckily fits in the gap between the two parts of the rear seat.  The cot is roughly the same height as the rear seat.  The height is close enough to allow me to sleep but it is hard on my back.  I’m going to remove the rear seat as well so I can sleep better and to create more room in the van.

The main other thing I need to do is improve the privacy of the back of the van.  As you can see the van has shades over the windows already but I still need to cover the back window and screen the back of the van from the front windows.  I’ve been using jury-rigged solution for both of those right now but need to come up with a more permanent solution.  Also, the shades on the side windows are fine for providing privacy but they still allow a lot of light in the van.  I’m planning to make panels that will fit in the rear window and side windows which should block all the light and provide even more privacy.  I want to make a privacy curtain or partition to install behind the front seats.  This will be a little complicated because the sliding door is on one side and I have to avoid where the hardware for the door slides and it will be difficult to attach anything to the plastic around the sliding door hardware.  I’m sure I can figure something out though.

Gas Mileage

I have tracked three tanks of gas in the van so far and I have gotten 17.2, 17.5, and 17.9 MPG.  The strange thing is the lowest MPG was the tank that was almost all interstate driving.  This makes me think the van gets worse gas mileage at 70 MPH than driving around town.  The van is rated at 15 MPG combined and 18 MPG highway which means I’m getting about the expected mileage.  I’m going to try to improve that though.  Removing the heavy rear seat should help a little.  Once I have a little extra money I’m going to buy a ScanGauge or similar fuel economy computer. There will be a future post on my efforts to improve gas mileage.

I have spent way too much on gas since buying the van. I’m going to have to get much smarter on planning my daily errands and reduce or eliminate unnecessary trips. Also, any future road trips will be at a much slower pace so the money spent on gas per day will be reduced.

Part two should be up tomorrow.