Sunday, January 20, 2013

9 month budget report

Time for the 9 month fiscal check-up. I sincerely believe in 3/4 of a year, you are going to experience enough of life's ups and downs to give you a pretty good picture of what RV full-timing is going to cost you per month.

For those new here, we have just started our second half century of life, have no children with us and no pets. On average, we moved a little more often than once per week, which weighs heavy on the budget. Officially, we gobbled up 11K miles, 34 states and 50 campgrounds during this budget time period. When we sold our paid off home, we used proceed to buy our RV equipment, so no financing for us--cash outlay for truck and RV--$32,000.

I struggle with Excel, so I manually charted all the data, I call it my "Exasperate" spread sheet. The footnote section with corresponding numbers below the budget section will offer a bit of elaboration for clarification purposes. And no, I am not BWI (blogging while intoxicated), Blogger and making columns are not a happy couple. Take some Vertigo meds and you will be fine.

       ITEM                                       BUDGETED                         ACTUAL

1.    Aetna-                                             190                                    190
2.   Samaritan-                                        150                                    150
3.   VSP Eye care-                                     9                                        9
4.   Cell Phone-                                        80                                       80
5.   RV Parks-                                        600                                     723
6.   Diesel-                                             600                                     419
7.  Truck/RV Maintenance-                     500                                     311
8.  Groceries-                                        369                                     362
9.  Entertainment-                                  176                                     174
10. Incidentals-                                       87                                        84
11. Health-                                             15                                        14
12. Tolls-                                               15                                         19
13. Laundry-                                          30                                         32
14. Veh Insurance- (Full coverage)          41                                         41
15. RV Insurance-                                   28                                         28
16. Life Insurance-                                  33                                         33

TOTALS:                      $2,923                           $2,669

Footnotes:
1- Wife's private health insurance plan. 100% coverage after $5k deductible is met. As of Jan, this amount goes up 12% to $214, thanks to the Affordable (LOL) Health Care Act--thank you Americans for being fooled TWICE.
2- I chose not to participate in conventional insurance, instead opting for a Christian health care sharing ministry where we help with each others' health related costs. Check out Samaritan Ministries. Message me if you  want more info.
3. Leftover benefit from my COBRA program. Cheap enough eye care insurance for 18 months, so why not.
4. Wife's Iphone has the lowest data plan offered on her older phone. I have the plain vanilla plan--rings, I answer-- sometimes.
5. Only boondocked 3x, otherwise we stayed at RV parks, most would have been rated 8+ or better. In the nine month period, only stayed 2 places long enough to get their  monthly rate, so it was easy to exceed this line item. Passport America, Good Sam and KOA discount cards helped.
6. The trade off for an average price of 3.75 gal. during the journey was 13 mpg with our diesel rig. Again, moving often often had us in the red.
9. Our entertainment is eating--out. Otherwise, Duck  Dynasty suffices.
10. Incidentals-- "Catch all" or "Misc" category. LPG refills, haircuts, postage, gifts, mail fwd., clothes,etc.
11. Health- over the counter meds,ie, aspirin, eye drops,condoms--I kid, I kid--just seeing if you are still awake.

The bottom line to the bottom line: if you are having budget problems-- slow down, travel less, stay monthly and keep up to date with preventative maintenance. 

There you go, our final round of budget posts as we venture back toward conventional living. Coincidentally, our next post will tackle one of the biggest curiosities of the RV full-timing lifestyle---which is cheaper, living on cement or on axles? Yes, the good ole Sticks/Bricks vs. RV'ing budget battle. Stay tuned!

In case you missed it, our Fiver and Truck are looking for a good home! 

Wife's giveaway ends tomorrow morning, so if interested in something useful this time of year, check it out here.

For the working folk, enjoy your 3 day weekend and MLK's birthday. 

Day 285 on the road.... 









8 comments:

  1. Shoot...you could have spent two more dollars on entertainment. You should have ordered something slightly more expensive! And you could have splurged $3 on your last haircut...ha!

    Thanks for posting all the juicy numbers!

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    1. Could have added bacon to my cheeseburger....darn.

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  2. LOL, I was going to post some budget numbers after one year on the road, but the irregular columns were driving me crazy. My house in IL was paid for and property taxes were reasonable - so staying in my house may have been cheaper (house maintenance and repairs vs. RV maintenance and repairs ??). Since I am workamping my RV space and fuel expenses are greatly reduced during the months that I am working.

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    1. Yes, workamping huge help on the budget....

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  3. Nice post, great info. Seems like "groceries" would be a push. You have to eat when you're at your S&B, or on the road. The $32.00 laundry cost should be in red too (?)

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    1. "Seems like"...but, u have to buy small quantities (ie, milk) driving up prices...plus groc can be more expensive in different parts of the country..

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  4. That LIME green had to be a nice surprise. A few items I left off my list...thanks for the heads up! I might try to miss the tolls so I can keep my hair looking good :O)

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    1. to avoid tolls,stay away from Northeast..my goodness...

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