I made some changes to the budget this month.  We have been struggling with how to show prepaid campground fees.  We are prepaying more often than we originally thought we would, and having the costs show up in the month we prepay instead of the month they will occur doesn’t show a completely accurate picture.  Craig (who used to run his own small business) made an excellent suggestion.  We have a $1,000 campground fund set aside now in a separate bank account and when we prepay we take the money from that account and then pay it back in the month we stay at the campground.  This solves the cash flow issue I was concerned about and allows us to register the costs in the month we take the benefit.  I have gone back and changed some categories over the last few months so that the annual totals are correct.  I am not going to go back and change the posts for the first few months.  There are limits to the amount of work I am willing to put in on this!

A couple of other things I wanted to mention before I get into the details of how we did.  I really am astounded by how much our communication regarding money has improved over the last few months.  We not only review how we are doing twice a month, but have constructive conversations around our expenses.  The change in our relationship in this area is such an incredible side benefit to this lifestyle.  So I would recommend budgeting even if you are in a position where you don’t need to closely track your costs.  It’s good to know what you are spending your money on in any lifestyle, but especially when full timing because the costs are quite different from a traditional “sticks and bricks” lifestyle.

We ran a little over this month, but considering the amount of fun we have had it was well worth it.  The overage was predominantly all of the one time Florida registration/drivers license fees.  We also had to scramble to change some campground reservations when we had to extend our St. Augustine visit for an extra week.  Unfortunately this led to losing the deposit at Skidaway (time frame too short for a refund), but surprisingly we actually were under in the campground category for the month.  The grocery category was over by $126 (not surprising with all the group meals we have been doing), but we gained some of that back by being under in the dining out category.  As a side note I really appreciate the group understanding we are tightly budgeted and not pressuring us to go out to eat frequently.  People offer but are totally fine with us declining and they have been very accommodating about eating out as a lunch instead of the more expensive dinner. 

Once again we are over in the Home Improvement category, but since Lee did some customization on our windows so they push out farther and we get a nicer breeze it’s hard for me to complain.  We also spent $213 for the vinyl lettering on our rig.  I put this money in Miscellaneous rather than home improvement because, well, I wanted to.  Have to say I adore the lettering, Lee did an excellent job, and I would spend that money again in a second.  Another side note: I already have a new blog follower because she saw the lettering on our RV at Ocean Waves, read the blog, and liked it!!!  

April 2015 Budget

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