Budget Is Busted!

So it's clear that we are learning a lot about the flow of money on a fixed income. It goes quick! Figuring out how to financially retire one day is what this adventure is about in many ways.  Money creates security and also allows us to do more for longer should it avail itself and so we need to figure out how to cut back and make that happen stat! 

The total variable expenses from June 15th through July 14th were $9777.15.  Ouch...considering all the cutting back we thought we were doing and the sacrificing of comfort by boondocking so much along the way.  We were over our budget of $3000 by 336%.  Now, that $3000 figure was a guestimate...clearly I would never be guilty of mismanagement of an experienced budget to this degree!  I had no idea how to pick the budget and Erica and I have said that we are going to make sure along the way to do experiences that we want to do regardless of cost.  If you look at the cost of activities of $345.62 (we are visiting many natural wonders and state parks which are cheap and free with our America The Beautiful annual National Park pass) and the cost of souveniers of $682.51 (we bought a $300 wool blanket in Oregon that we have wanted for a while and some art pieces), I would say that we are on pace with what we expected but these are a consideration to cut back on. Our plan to do what we want and not spend money is a major conflict. 

We also did not plan to spend $1333.47 on maintenance to the RV so quickly.  I knew that tires would cost a thousand bucks but right out of the gate...really! That's what happened and we now have the security of four new tires which does add real value to our experience of travel not to mention the safety we now feel from those tires.

Another major one time expense came from our learned experience and cost savings that came from staying for free by using our camping pass at Thousand Trails properties in California and Oregon.  Once we left those states and started paying full price for campgrounds we realized the value of staying for free was very big for our budget, so we decided to up our membership to a better plan with Thousand Trails by purchasing their Elite plan.  This is a timeshare-like program where we purchase lifetime access to their properties all over the U.S. and Canada.  When we inquired with Thousand Trails, the cost of this program was a one time $6000 up front purchase price and $575 annual maintenance fee.  I felt that price was too much so I explored the secondary market and found the same plan for $1800 with annual fees of $575.  This was a great value and so I offered the seller $1500 and she took the offer.  It took three weeks to complete the transaction but we got it done last week after I paid a standard $750 transfer fee to Thousand Trails.  I then paid a $250 cancellation fee to them as well to cancel my camping membership. All in cost for this Elite plan was $2500 and it is transferrable should we decide to sell it after this adventure.  Regardless, Thousand Trails has a ton of properties all along the East coast so we will get more than our money's worth later in the trip.  This plan allows us to stay up to three consecutive weeks on property and then take one week off and we can park hop back to back too which means we can easily move down the East coast for free in the coming months.  Our cost of lodging of $839.97 is what we actually spent on nightly RV slips with a big exception being our night in Banff National Park that cost us US$245.34.  Totally worth every penny as it included a water park that the kids and I enjoyed and an incredible view of the mountains.  We were visited by Elk too!

Gas we knew was going to be heaviest on the West coast due to higher gas prices and the fact that we would be covering almost a quarter of the miles of our entire trip in the first month.  We wanted to get out if the long state of California as fast as possible since we have experienced much of the state's beauty already. Nothing we can change about the $1195.44 we spent on gas and we expect to spend less in the coming months since we are choosing to achor longer in campgrounds and enjoy areas longer. This is as important for our mental health as it is out budget!

Food costs are a surprise at $1402.31...it sgouldn't be since the kids never stop eating.  Most of this expense is unavoidable except about 8 meals eaten out (this is impressive for our family who is used to eating out daily back home in SD). We share meals and drink water and can't get out of a restaurant for less then $50.  Today Erica went and puchased a Costco membership again.  We cancelled it before we left as a cost cutting measure but we have realized the value of this membership since.  As long as we stick to purchasing only food and stay out of the entire middle section of the store then we will be much better off with food costs in the coming months.  She came home with a ton of staple food for our family and only spent $135 (on next month's budget:) which felt good! 

Our consumables purchases of $481.88 include trips to Target, Walmart, Goodwill and Salvation Army for random needs.  The kids are elongating at a rapid pace it seems and so we needed some clothes for them and some water shoes for Blythe and tennis shoes for Boyd and Blythe.  Erica and I found a few deals too at Goodwill including Erica's $9 Patagonia jacket in Portland and I found a like new Northface Jacket for $10 in Great Falls, Montana. We love thift store shopping and will continue to save in future months by shopping this way.  We spent two days ago thinning out our stuff in the RV to lighten our weight. For one, we realized we won't be needing it but the major reason was to lower the pull weight the RV was struggling to do in Canada that caused the check engine light to go on. You have to read Erica's blog post about it. We could cut these purchases out completely and probably will for at least the coming month. 

The gifts of $72.28 were all thank you gifts for those people who have helped us along the way in our time of need...the case of beer for the tire manager in Oregon who made the extra calls, the monster energy drinks for the tire technician who changed the spare tire for free, the gifts for our friends in Oregon who were most hospitable to us and let us stay on their property for free and the Bailey's Irish cream for our favorite campsite hosts in Canada who went out of their way to give us a spot last minute when no other campgrounds could.  We won't stop this expense for sure!

Our monthly fixed costs remain at $349.22. We have some annual costs that I am ommitting from this budget...life insurance, membership dues, etc...

We will get better, our long term plan depends on it!