Cheyenne: Thank you for joining us for this episode of what the finance, there are a few things we like to mention at the top of each episode.
Rachel: First, if you want to get in touch with us, you can email what_the_finance@protonmail.com or join the what the finance discord server.
Cheyenne: Second. It would mean a lot to us. If you could support our show through Patreon starting at $3 a month, you can get episode shout outs, access to topic polls, and get to listen to some pretty hilarious out.
Rachel: And third, as we see it to be a more inclusive show, we want to acknowledge that colonialism is an ongoing process and capitalism, which we regularly decry is part of this process. We are recording this episode on the ancestral land of the Dakota and Ojibwe people, and we recognize our sovereignty and express our gratitude that being here. We hope that your days off to a great start.
Cheyenne: Okay, thanks. I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I took my vitamins. Apparently. Bridget needed vitamins today. But I took mine not this morning yet, but all of last week I took them, which is not typical. We started a new thing where we keep them on my desk instead of anywhere else in the house. And it's worked really well. I take them, as you knew last week, I took them.
Rachel: Made into our bloopers.
Cheyenne: Oh, good. That's it was a face that's I'm sure I made some sound with it.
Rachel: I don't remember. But, um, what I do remember is gas prices seem like they are. Going nuts.
Cheyenne: Yeah. Let me, I have an app that shows gas prices around, so you can kind of search for the best gas prices in your area. Yeah. The one that I use is called gas. It's not like it's nothing super special. And I should probably look up to make sure that like their owners aren't like someplace awful.
Like I dunno some gas company or something like that. But so
Rachel: I use, while you're looking, I use an app called. GetUpside
Cheyenne: Oh yeah. I've heard of that one too. And
Rachel: I will put a link to this in our discord, but, uh, you get cashback like really easily, honestly, right? Like it's not a ton of effort to get the cashback.
So in my area, the lowest gas price. Is $3.67.
Cheyenne: Is that with the . . .
Rachel: oh yes, it is. I'm so sorry. Um, so it's really $3.79.
Cheyenne: Okay. So in our area, which as people know is a little further away from you, the lowest I'm seen as. $3.79. Now the problem with the app. So I look, I look at gas buddy. I also did just check, get upside in.
There are a couple of deals for gas stations in our area, which is nice, but it's not always the case. And in fact, when I first got the app, it wasn't, which is why it didn't even Dawn on me. I had it, but I don't use it often because it's not super available where I am. Um, gas buddy does have. Fuel prices.
However, there are not as many people contributing. Um, and because it is technically crowdsourced information, it's not always the most up-to-date in rural areas. So $3.79 does seem to be the cheapest.
Cheyenne: Well, there's one place for $3. 40 and $3.69, but that was a day ago. So I'm thinking that's probably. Accurate anymore.
I'm willing to bet.
Rachel: You're right. Cause now I checked yesterday and it was about that. But then when I went to pick the girls up from school, it had popped right up.
Cheyenne: Um, let me check diesel prices. I don't think they're accurate in our area because they're still saying $3.99, $3.89. And I know that that's not true.
Certainly not true here. There's one. $4.35. That I believe.
Rachel: So, our wonderful listeners might be wondering why we're talking about gas prices, you know, apart from the fact that it's a lot of money and this is a finance podcast, right. Um, is because we've been wanting to do an episode for a while about tiny living. And the cost of travel really kind of showed this bright off, back into our faces super real way.
Cheyenne: And funny enough, this is the second time we've recorded this, uh, the first time there were audio issues, correct? I believe so. Yes. Yeah. And both times I think. Have kind of also been surrounded around times that Bridget and I were either living in our camper because we were on an extended trip or we were considering doing so because we are currently considering doing so for an extended time this summer as well. So for anybody that knows me, IRL is cool kid lingo for in real life.
Rachel: Hello. That was great.
Cheyenne: Really happy that, that catchy this morning. I, you know what I feel bad for. I feel bad for them that don't get to see the ridiculous faces that I make at my own jokes. \
Rachel: Well, like that is sad. We should do a live show someday.
Cheyenne: Gonna say, we've talked about doing a live show. Maybe that should be our big, like shebang before we, uh, we kick out for a month.
Rachel: Yeah. Yeah.
Cheyenne: We'll, we'll type about it on the discords yeah.
Rachel: Noodle on it a little bit.
Cheyenne: Um, anyway, so for people who know you for real life, you know, that I'm mildly obsessed with, uh, tiny living and also like specifically full-time travel. I, that is like the ultimate dream. Like, I would love that. Like, that's probably what we'll do with our retirement. Um, Is travel. Uh, Bridget and I both love to travel. Um, so does our puppy, Charlie, she's a pretty big fan.
She's really into wherever there's water or a place that she can fetch or wear either. Or both of her moms are so works out well for us. Yeah, but one of the things that I, I'm not seeing as much anymore, but still was this push for tiny living and specifically just even stationary, tiny living, because there was this idea that it was cheaper.
And as someone who is relatively frugal, If you offer me a cheaper way of living, I'm going to look into it and it will say it is possible that it's cheaper depending on what you want from that type of travel and travel and what kind of luxuries you're willing to live without.
Rachel: Yes.
Cheyenne: I feel like our society has a heavy focus on stuff, material things.
And if that's, that's something that, that is important to you, living tiny and traveling full-time. Not necessarily going to go super well together. I mean, you could get a huge RV to travel in that's very possible. I mean, they've got, they've got some that are pretty darn big. Um, but then they're not very cost-effective at all. Right. And you're probably not traveling across the country or, I mean, you could be, but it's not going to be as cheap as like living in a van down by a river per se.
Rachel: Um, and I feel like, I know I talked about this the last time that we recorded this episode when it comes to this stuff. If you have children in your family, I mean, there's a lot of stuff that just comes with kids. But the other thing that you have to think about in my opinion, is the gift-giving style of other adults in your kids' lives. So right. Like grandparents, aunts, uncles, whatever, because frankly, you're setting yourself up to be in a situation where you can't accommodate a lot of gifts if,
um, that's a boundary that regularly gets blown right by on, you're also going to encounter some strife in your family, uh, because people whose love language is gift-giving. Aren't gonna know what to do. Um, and that can be a real challenge.
So, with the stuff that's a thing to think about too.
Cheyenne: Definitely. And I think that's something that's worth noting is that like it's, it's, it's a lifestyle that affects other people than just. Like it affects those you care about because you're not going to be potentially in the same area as them, or maybe you'll be more often in the same area.
It depends on what your current situation is. Um, when it comes to the gift-giving thing, that's, that's a big one. It also can be a little nerve-wracking for some people to have their loved ones in certain parts of the county. Yes, I would argue that that is that going to get too, too much into the politics of that and this particular conversation,
but . . .
Rachel: suffice to say that there are some parts of the country that are not super safe for certain sorts of people.
Cheyenne: And as with anywhere use caution. Like, be smart. So that can definitely be a piece of it as well. Uh, so in, I'd like to say in preparation for this episode, but that's not true. Cause we didn't know until this morning we were talking about it. Uh, I just think. . .
Rachel: Your life is preparing you for this episode.
Cheyenne: Exactly. That's what I was trying to get you, but I couldn't find the words. Um, I, so I follow a ton of. Full-time traveler. So if ever you want to talk about any of those things, find me on discord and I will be very specific about your you'll have to find me on the discord server there because I couldn't even hold myself to 180 characters on Twitter. Like I would be too excited, but one of the creators that I follow well, it's two of them that are. Uh, they just did a finance review for their previous year. So it was October of 2020 to October of 2021. I believe they live in an older converted van and they spent 26,000 on food gas, couple of rental vehicles. Spoiler, there were breakdowns. I think they included showers in that. Um, and there were some other line items, but $26,000 for the year for their living expenses. Now that did not include what they considered to be non-necessities of travel life. So things that they elect to pay for, but they don't necessarily need such as streaming services.
Uh, internet that they pay for cell phone, that kind of stuff. They did not include those because those are variable from person to person. And some people choose not to have them. Yeah. So they included only things that they thought like the bare minimum. Everybody would need to do this. And, oh, they also included restaurants in there.
That's right. And they included that one separately so that if. Again, some people would choose not to eat out at all. Potentially. Um, something worth noting though is that one of their major expenses was, was gas. And not a lot of money was spent on like, lodging costs because they didn't camp in campgrounds. They camped on free land throughout the country. Um, so that's not, I mean, that's still a lot, that's a lot of money, but it's lower than most other people. I see who traveled. Full-time where they're spending anywhere between 40 and 50,000 a year.
Yeah, a lot of money now with that also I follow people who travel very similarly to what I would travel like. So they, they have larger RVs, larger trucks, also something that I feel like was worth noting that. Played into the cost of the people that I was talking about before. Include any heating cost because they didn't need to.
They went to areas in which, um, for the most part, they didn't need to use heat. And if they did, it was extremely minimal, like just for an hour or so to kind of keep the space, not even keeps the space warm, warm it up, and then it, it would stay warm. So that was kind of something that was a little bit noteworthy as well.
Rachel: I think the short version of this is like with everything else, tiny living, find a few budget for it, but it's not necessarily actually going to save you really much of anything.
Cheyenne: now for it to save you the kind of money that like we were talking about because like $26,000 for living expenses for me would definitely be a savings.
It is not realistic for my family. That's just not going to happen,
Rachel: right? Yeah. Same
Cheyenne: to wrap up because we're wrapping up late. Tiny living costs are super variable. Uh, if you want to expand on this conversation at all, either. Support of, or argument against please come and chat with us on discord. We would love to hear your thoughts or if it's something that you're considering, or if, if you are living tiny or traveling full time or something or not, we would still love to hear from you.
Please come join us on our discord and, uh, get puppy gifts in the morning because that's what happens.
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