September Budget

September was the first month where we spent the entire month traveling and camping.  We've traveled well over 3500 miles this month.  So those envelopes are losing some of the cash!  We planned on eating out bunches while at Yellowstone and we did!  I might end up transferring some money from one envelope to another in October so that we can eat out some.  This is what campgrounds cost us for the month.  Nearly every night was a paid site somewhere. I'm hoping the organization is a bit better so that you can tell what we spent in each envelope a bit easier.

		September Starting Envelope		Sept Expenses		Amt. in Envelope before payday		Add Payday Sept. 30		October Starting Amounts Envelope
Admission Turnpike Fees/Other		290		45		245		60		305
Fuel		3872		1270		2602		333		2935
Car Maintenance		76		0		76		76		152
Campgrounds		3296		524		2772		245		3017
Clothing		174		85		89		11		100
Entertainment/Movies Books		374		0		374		31		405
Entertainment/Dish		0		54		-54		60		6
Entertainment/Internet		0		70		-70		70		0
Food/Groceries		760		749		11		745		756
food/alcohol		365		210		155		170		325
Food/Restaurant		118		218		-100		90		-10
Cell Phone		83		37		46		37		83
Katz		-12		7		-19		19		0
Large expenditures		250		0		250		1		251
Marco		32		46		-14		90		76
Medical (drugs, doctors, glasses)		917		30		887		185		1072

2012 July's Budget Figures

I am changing how we post our budget.  While we still are not including items that are stick house expenses but only what we spend living on the road I thought it would be useful to include our starting envelope points.  This starting point is the money we managed to save for our first year of travel  since we knew we would not have enough in our "standard future" budget.  I've included the amount we had July 1 as our "start of retirement budgeting date."  We will also be putting money in the envelopes but not enough to pay for our adventures over the next year.  We cover envelope budgeting in the tabs above this post.

      In July we traveled from Vermont to Bethel Park in order to make several improvements that would cost nothing there.  For instance, we improved my bed by cutting up an extra mattress (sorry company) and using it to make my new bed. Cost was 0.  We had also decided to purchase a new TV for the trailer so we could use hdmi from the computers to watch hulu or any other internet item.  Lew has more tools and widgets at Stix&Brix so we went there.
     Our 'large expenditures' were the new TV for Marco and a tracfone.  That is, we purchased minutes for a two year old Tracfone we had lying around.  We have on several occasions wanted to contact each other and been unable to with one Cellphone between us.  It was starting to make me uncomfortable to be unable to call for help if Lew had gone biking and I did not have a phone.  So as a compromise expenditure we purchased 2000 minutes for the tracfone.
     Campground fees were items we purchased to camp on Amy's land (hoses, etc) as well as the Passport America membership discussed on this page.  We also prepaid for another trip to be made in August to Darien Lake.
     Once at Bethel Park, I got sick for a couple of weeks, thus the doctor, dentist and drug bills.  You will note that this item will continue to climb because this is me. We will be paying to see the doctors in the hinterlands of the USA! 
    The food bill was a bit high due to the pop and ice cream.


Jan

The June Figures are in....

Our goal is to let you know how much money we spent in some of our various envelopes. We put a certain amount into each envelope every month when we get our retirement money/Social Security check. The idea is to accumulate money in each envelope so that we will have the money in the envelope to purchase the items in that envelope.For instance, we don't include a car payment.  We will be building up that envelope so that we can hopefully pay cash for the next car.  Seeing that amount doesn't help other people decide if a permanent part-time camping arrangement is for you.  For more on envelope budgeting see out page under the tabs.

• Admission/Fees            163.00  (Turnpike fees of 25.00, Darien Lake season tickets, and  Berkshire Botanical Gardens.
• Auto Fuel                      348.66  (Trip to Vermont and gas to the bike path)
• Auto Maintenance                 0  ( May had new tires and expensive oil change, the envelope is empty)
• Campgrounds               225.00
• Clothing                         226.00  (This included new shoes and cloths for me. I've lost 28 pounds!
• Entertainment                  12.00  (New tire inter-tube, batteries)
• Food                               719.00  (Includes additional food for a camping party)
• Food/Restaurant             75.00
• Internet/Cell Phone         40.00
• Marco                             400.00  (New screen room, floor and related expenditures.)

Stuffing the envelopes

Good news and bad news all in one....I got my last paycheck from PTSD.  It was directly deposited into our credit union (note it is not a bank)  as we sat in Vermont.  Our envelopes look stuffed with cash!  But we don't know how long our money will have to last.  The  PSERS site says we should get our first retirement check either the last business day in August or the last business day in September.  A month makes a big difference folks!  And that means we have to watch our envelopes rather closely. But right now it sure looks good!  If you want to know more about our budgeting click on the tab above.

Jan