For the first time in a long time, I was able to pay almost all of next month's bills in advance. The only ones not paid are not due yet and aren't showing.  That isn't but a few of them.  That is a wonderful feeling.  I'm buying some things that I have put off for a long time before I start paying my debt down. I want it down to below 30% of my credit.  It's currently somewhere around 35%.  I think a couple thousand dollars thrown at it will take care of that problem. That will cause a rise in my credit in a few months after I do that.

The elusive 90 day probation period  is the only thing really holding me back from paying down debt.  I'm spending some money on things I want, but I'm also keeping a reserve in case that dreaded "worst" thing happens, they come along, do a review and tell me my services are no longer desired at their company.  I'm doing my best to get everything right and not complain about anything.  Like this truck I am in now. It isn't the worst thing on earth but it's older and the sleeper is smaller than newer models. Meaning there isn't room in the very narrow cabinets in it to put a refrigerator in it.

I was talking to the manager about it. It's yours if you want it.  Well, this thing is dinging me for running the engine all night long, I told her.  It doesn't have an APU in it so the only way to run cooling/heating is to idle the engine.  If a company doesn't provide an APU in the truck, that is the only way to keep it cool or warm in there. I was up in 30 degree weather in Ohio.  Not the coldest on earth but would you want to try and sleep like that?  I didn't say that to her, that's just my thinking. I also told her about the narrow cabinets and no room for a refrigerator.

In my mind, if you're going to be out 2 or 3 nights, you want to be able to bring some food with you and eat that instead of this junk food they serve at many truckstops.  Well, most truck stops really. It isn't really good for you to eat that much of that on a consistent basis and the only way out of it is to have a fridge stocked with leftoevers and lunch meats and whatever suits my fancy. It's also much cheaper to bring your own food. 3 days on the road I can spend $70 plus on food. I can get by with half that price tag or even less with my own stuff. A small microwave would also be good.

That rental truck I was in before was perfect for that.  It had huge cabinets with outlets in them for your appliances and it had a bunk bed - that I wouldn't need but used for my clothing.  I'm just thinking this claim of new trucks is either not realistic or they are so far off in the future that I have to figure out how to get used to this truck in the here and now. I'm still unhappy that I was put in this thing but the 2 other new drivers are still in their rentals.  I haven't said anything about it, it's just my feelings.  The money I'm making pretty much offsets everything, but that isn't going to last forever. I need a permanent truck - like all the rest of the drivers have besides us newbies - that I can deck out and know that I am not going to get slip-seated and put into yet another truck. That gets old, quick.

Anyway, I just made $1,200 or more in that 4 day run.  Tomorrow morning, I'm back up to the place in Oklahoma that I've been to twice now.  As long as they get it unloaded in a reasonable amount of time, it's a 2 day trip. Leave tomorrow, come back sometime Friday afternoon or early evening. That's around $400 to $500 depending the length of the wait.  A nice, small town restaurant right across the street from the plant.  We don't have to stick with the truck, they do all the unloading. And last two times, it took 3 to 6 hours to get unloaded.  It's all detention pay and I'm not going to make any more money by getting back quicker so might as well get it for all it's worth.  They don't even make you get out of the truck at this place while unloading, or turn off the truck. It's pretty cool to be able to take a long nap, get something to eat and not have to sit in a hard chair for hours.

As for this 34 hour reset.  I spent yesterday after I got back doing nothing.  Then today, I got up early, started cleaning my room and taking care of business.  I actually never made it to Walmart, now that i think of it. Oh well. I can deal with a 2 day trip without getting what I needed.  Anyway, I got online, started checking out mattress sales, found some good ones two towns over and headed that way.  I tried out a lot of beds. They wanted to sell me $1,500 and $2,000 beds, of course, but I wasn't biting on that. That would have meant going into debt for a bed, nothing I was interested in doing.

They also kept trying to insist on memory foam, but after I laid on several of those beds for enough time, I knew I wouldn't like it. I'm used to "traditional" beds and that's what I wanted.  So, they got me onto several of those. I picked one out, negotiated the price down a hundred bucks and that was that. They are bringing it Friday, hauling off the old bed - but not the one I'm using. The one we need to get rid of Rene is using and it's a piece of junk. She will get my bed - which is in far better condition.  I already have the comforter and sheet set for the new bed thanks to mom's Christmas present.  Just haven't had the time to get over there to Longview and get this done.

Alright. I've been wanting to do that for a long time now.  I got out of there, went home, doing laundry.  I dont have to be up near as early as the last run, which I'm thankful for. I am really not a fan of having to get up at 4 am to be on the scales by 6 am.  Which, it turned out, they actually wanted me on the scale at 5 am, meaning I would have had to get up at 3 am.  I think for future reference if they want me there that early, I'm going to get the truck and trailer over to their parking lot and sleep there for the night instead of trying to do all of this so early in the morning. But being there by 8? No problem. Start the day at 6 am and I'll be there on time.

So, I just ordered 5 new Henley shirts online. I like Henley's, they work for a lot of different types of things you want to do and they aren't radically expensive.  I have let my "wardrobe" go for a long time, mostly because my previous job wasn't paying anything and I couldn't really afford to buy new clothing.  As much as I hate the idea, a trip to the mall is in order to get even more new shirts.

So, that's it for now.  I think I"ll go to bed relatively early.  I have decided to get up at 5:45 am so I have ample time to get to the scale on time to get loaded.