Automotive...The Poor Farm Budget 2018

Trains, planes and automobiles. A fabulous movie, if you like John Candy and Steve Martin and I do. But for Poor Farm blog purposes we'll just be talking about automobiles.

Our budget for 2017 in this area was $400/month or $4800/yr. Actual spent was $535.33 per month average for a total of $6432.91/year. Over budget by $135.33 per month.

What happened? Old vehicles happened. Keith's truck, an F-150 2002 Ford has 228,000 miles on it. My little 2000 Dodge Neon has 229,000 miles.  As stated on Auto Blog , American cars are aging almost as fast as we baby boomers are. The average age of a car on the road is now 11.5 years. In 2009, this number was lower, at 9.4 years.

Our vehicles are 16 and 18 years old, as elderly as our oldest grandchild. This past year they both required some repairs. Of the total $6432.91,  $2028.96 was spent on repairs alone such as new brakes and radiator for my car, new wheel bearings, manifold, spark plugs and other engine issues on the truck. This equates to $84.54 per vehicle per month for repairs.

Thus the remaining $4403.95 was gas, license and registration expenses** for both vehicles or about $183 per month per vehicle. Since it costs so much more for Keith to fill his truck, about $50, vs my car at around $25 and because the mileage is not so great on the truck, Keith does drive the car to work ( 24 miles round trip) whenever weather allows. My little car does not do so well in snow drifts.

Even with our expenses being over budget, when compared to the cost of newer vehicles, we feel we're doing ok nursing along the two geriatric modes of transportation. In the US today the average car payment is $503 a month, the average car loan is 68 months and the average auto loan is $30,000. When compared to our repair costs of $84/month/vehicle, it appears having a new or newer vehicle is not yet validated.

But, we are realists, and we understand more repairs are likely, so here is our plan for 2018. We've increased our auto monthly budget to $550/month which includes all fuel, registrations and repairs. In addition we are planning for life with just one vehicle. If the truck breaks down to the point that it makes more sense  to purchase a newer used one, we'll purchase one and we'll hang on to the car until it does the same. But, if the car crashes first, we'll get by with just one vehicle, the truck.

A truck is truly essential here, for transporting hay and grain, for hauling home barn building materials, and for taking animals to the locker for butchering.

How about you? Car or truck? New or old? Tips on how we can save even more in this area?



** Car insurance is not covered in these numbers as we budget and account for it along with home, and life insurance. This is a separate category for our budgeting purposes. I'll blog about it soon in this series.




   

Income....The Poor Farm Budget 2018

The Poor Farm's Phone Booth
My father's old shop stool holds up my aunt Bernies 1960's phone

As promised, I'm going to share our Poor Farm finances as I did last year about this time. Those posts start HERE if you weren't a blog follower then, or just want a refresher. I mentioned then and I'll mention it again  now, homesteaders, small farmers, and those just trying to live on a budget can benefit each other by sharing some of this financial info. Specifics like health insurance for those who work at home, getting by with decade(s) old vehicles and building your own outdoor buildings with recycled materials or new materials bought with cash only, are struggles we can soften through information sharing.

We Americans are quite weird that way though. We have no problem bragging about how much we make, how many things we own, how expensive our vehicles are, how many vacations we can afford, but we are shy about sharing how to survive on LESS. How often do you hear a person say with pride, "I get by on a low five figure income"? Frugality is frowned upon rather than applauded or at least accepted.

I find this sad as we were once a nation that prided itself, especially during depression times, on getting by with very little through self sacrifice ( a dirty phrase during these "entitlement" times) and sharing of resources. During the war effort of the 1940's, rationing and recycling was the norm.  Often this past year, when I've spoken to others about our goal to survive on less and less income, paying less and less taxes, I get quizzical looks at best and out right sneering at worst.

Enough rambling. Let's talk Poor Farm Income

Last year, based on projected expenses, we estimated we needed an annual income of $23, 640. Our actual income for the year (Keith's county custodian salary plus my small nursing pension) came in at $20, 701, obviously short of our projected needs. But never fear, we made up the difference with some beef and pork sales and Facebook sales of pig feeders, seed spreaders and a few other things we no longer needed.

Interesting to note: this is our lowest combined income in the last 25 years. Keep in mind, our children are raised and we are not financially responsible for any elderly family members.

Consequently, because of our low income, our completed tax return (thank you Turbo Tax) will result in a 100% refund of all federal income taxes paid but only 12% of or state taxes are being refunded. Oh Illinois how you vex us!   Therefore one of our goals, not to pay income taxes, was nearly accomplished.

Well technically we did pay them via payroll deductions but we're getting them back. Now that we have one year behind us of low income, Keith was able to submit a new W-4 form claiming he is exempt from paying income taxes. So that money is ours to use right away rather than the US government sitting on it for a year without paying us any interest. Confusing isn't it?  No one said having less was easy. :) 

In my next post I'll share some of our expense areas, specifically those where we did not meet budget, and how we plan to improve in 2018. 

For Every Window That Closes A Barn Door Will Open

 Progress on the new barn, made of old and recycled materials, has been slow with all the debris that has accompanied our Illinois winter this year. Debris in the form of rain, ice, sleet and again tonight, more snow.

Young folk around here have been heard to say it's a rough winter while I keep saying, "Remember the snow of 1967 in Chicago? Not THAT was a tough winter" These kids.



Chicago, January 1967   24 inches of snow in one day.

Anyway, Keith does what he can on the barn as weather allows. Yesterday he installed the door going into his shop area. It's a beaut isn't it? We found it-frame and all- at a garage sale last summer for just $20. Sure it's on the ornate 80's side with its gold trimmed glass oval, but it's sturdy and big. The outside gray goes pretty well with the weathered gray of the barn steel. The funny thing is, it's a better door than either Keith or I have ever had on a house of ours-let alone a barn-in our entire lives!





The inside of the door is white and goes with nothing and everything simultaneously. The most important aspect of the door is the fact that just a little bit more of winter stays OUTSIDE of the barn. Except of course for the snow we track in with us. 

Tax Time. Oh Joy. Seriously.

Early last year I shared with you our budget for 2017, covering everyday items like income, livestock care, utilities, food, car repairs and more.

In the next few posts I'll tell you how we came out at year end. First though, I want to get our taxes done, a process I am looking forward to. Why? Because for the first time in over 25 years, our income is so low, our financial life so simply mundane, that we can complete the tax forms ourselves.

No more accountants. No more asinine tax forms like Interest and Ordinary Dividends (Form 1040A Schedule B), Capital Gains and Losses (Schedule D), Profit or Loss from Farming (Schedule F), Passive Activity Loss limitations (Form 8582) and so on.

"Passive Activity"  I wonder what government entity came up with that oxymoronic form title?

Ah well, you get the point. In years past it would take us days and days to collect all our sales info and other farm related data for our annual meeting with our tax guy. We never really knew how we would come out as we could not keep up with the ever changing agricultural tax laws. Thus the reason we had a tax guy. Some years we had losses and paid less tax, while other years when we were more "successful",  those profits went right back into some bureaucrats pocket.

This year we'll just hop on the TurboTax site where we can complete the 1040 EZ form FOR FREE.
We received the last W-2 Form for my small nursing pension just yesterday so tomorrow...is tax filing day.

I really am so excited and I just can't hide it!

A Happy Pig is a Muddy Pig

 The weather continues to vex us. Very cold then unusually warm. Good amounts of snow, then ice, then fog like we had yesterday. But at least the ground thawed enough to let our four feeder pigs out of their small training pen and into a bigger lot.

Feeder pigs. I love that term. We feed them and soon enough they end up feeding us. Sheer poetry I tell ya.

For the last month they have had a large boxy building and a closed-in section for exercise. The back of the fenced area above had a hot wire across it to teach them electricity hurts, stay away. Normally we have our feeder pigs out of the training pen in a week or two, but with the horrible cold we figured keeping them in closer quarters kept them warmer.

But when the thermometer got up in the fifties again yesterday, we knew it was time to get them in a bigger area. Keith put in additional fiberglass posts and then strung two hot wires around a 100 foot by 80 foot area. We opened up their playpen and let them go.

They did well with the electric fence, hitting it with noses a couple times and then going backwards instead of through the fence as hogs will do if they are not familiar with electric fencing. Once they had their perimeter scoped out they starting running from end to end, jumping and twisting their bodies in midair. What? You've never seen a pig dance?

It reminded me of this ridiculous you tube video I once found where a female scientist was defending the awful confinement hog operations, stating that hogs did not need any room to move or turn.  She said "they don't even like to turn around." What an eejit.

Hard to believe these guys are black and white, not just black as they appear in the photos,  but they've had a good time rolling in the mud. They are growing well on a diet of cracked corn, raw milk from our cow Liz and veggies from the kitchen. In the next couple of days I'll make an appointment with the locker for late April. Good thing. I ate our last pork chop from our fall hogs a couple of days ago.

Mother Nature, A Schizophrenic Wench

Our round grain bin house in the near middle, old 1856 house to right

So I complained about the cold. My punishment? A bizarre heat wave followed by more bitter cold. You would think at age 58 I'd shut my gob.

Thursday evening it was 60 degrees F when I went outside to do evening chores. But we'd read the reports  and we knew evil was lurking behind those grey clouds on the horizon. Still I threw caution to the wind an on a January day I went out in just a t-shirt. Ten minutes later the temp starting dropping. I went back to the house for a light jacket. 



Ten minutes after that, the wind picked up and the temp dropped even more. I went back again and put a rain coat on over my jacket as dark clouds were creeping up quickly.





Ten minutes after the raincoat, it got so cold I needed a hat and gloves to finish watering the livestock.

Looking down our drive towards the north

Across our pastures and looking to the East.

Even the dogs, well especially the dogs, knew something was up and kept watching the sky.

Fannie

Ashland

In a matter of just 30 minutes the temperature dropped nearly 30 degrees and the wind went from 5 mph to gusts of 25 mph. By late that evening we were back in the low teens. The high that day (60 F) was eighty degrees higher than the lowest temp we had the week before which was -20F. 

Mother Nature you are indeed a schizophrenic wench. 

The Weather Outside Was Frightful But the Rocket Mass Stove Was Delightful

 Right now, this second, we're having a heat wave. A tropical heat wave, or so it feels to us. It is 33 degrees F outside and a very comfy 70 degrees inside, even though I've not burned the rocket mass heater for almost 24 hours.

I love that! No heat source running in the house and it's cozy as can be.

The last two weeks however, were not so pleasant due to record
lows in Central Illinois and other parts of the country. A week ago today we woke to -20 degrees

 outside (this was not a wind chill reading but an actual temperature) and 56 degrees inside. The picture above is of our bathroom window that frigid morning. We might have to do a bit more window sealing this spring. 

The inside temp did not bother us that much. On those brisk mornings we make coffee, wrap up in robes and blankets on the couch and have deeply intellectual banter.

He: I suppose someone should get the fire started
She: That might be good.
He: It got pretty cold in here overnight.
She: Yes it did.

Just because we own a rocket mass stove doesn't mean we have rocket science conversations.

Eventually one of us moves towards the large rust colored metal barrel in our grain bin house, scoops out the old ash from the feed chamber in the concrete floor and starts rolling up kindling wood and newspaper. A match is lit and VOILA' we have the onset of heat.

Within 5 minutes the barrel is too hot to touch and the thermometer above our kitchen table starts to creep skyward. Within an hour and after approximately one five gallon bucket of 1-2 inch sticks (not logs) the indoor temp will be up about 5 degrees and we are comfortable. Within two hours the temp will be up ten degrees or so and Keith will have his shirt off.



At its worst last week we did burn the stove twice a day for 3-4 hours each time which is very unusual. In a normal winter where lows are in the 20's we only burn it in the evenings for 2-3 hours. Still, running it longer during those frigid days was not a big deal (easy for ME to say as Keith chopped all the wood!) Especially since it cost us nothing in fuel, just time. We had no furnace repairs, or empty tanks of propane to worry about as others in our region did.

Tomorrow it is expected to get in the 50's and it will be a muddy mess here due to the extra snow we've had, but who cares?  I get to hang out laundry.

Unless it rains.