We knew we were going to blow the budget for December, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, plus we finally got one full year’s worth of numbers which is exciting but I am going to cover that in a separate post.  So here’s December, but keep in mind it included Christmas, 10 days with my youngest daughter, much more entertainment activities than we would usually do, and The Rose Bowl Hop.  It could have been tons worse!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Campground Fees – We’re really happy with this category.   We had the end of work kamping, then the Monterey Racetrack, which I would never stay at again but was light on the budget, and the Rose Bowl, which was included in the package price.  I considered the HOP our “vacation” for the year and since it came out of savings the cost of the HOP itself is not included in this budget.  The incidentals are here, which were significant, but those are in the dining out and entertainment sections.

Groceries – This is high because we stocked up for Quartsitze on dry goods.  We are not the only ones.  Lots of folks did that before coming here and I don’t regret it, although there are more grocery store options here than I originally thought.  We are stocked up on condiments and dry goods for a while so hopefully that will help us in early 2016.

Dining Out – This is the highest for the entire year.  Kay paid for her own meals, but we ate out with her and Nick and Slushie a few times.  Plus many of the activities we chose to do didn’t lend themselves to packing a lunch.  I’m not saying we couldn’t have done it, but it would have been awkward.  We ate twice on the Hearst Castle day and lunch on the Equefest day all of which were expensive.  Thankfully the Rose Bowl Parade and the Parade of Floats eating out hit the next year.

Entertainment – For all that we did I was pretty happy where this ended up and we did show some self restraint by skipping Alcatraz and the Monterey Aquarium.  This dollar amount included the Winchester Mystery House and Hearst both of which were hefty days along with the Star Wars Movie and It’s a Wonderful Life.  Sometimes you just have to say “What the heck?”, and enjoy yourself.

Truck Fuel – Very high because of all the local running around we did.  This was without driving at all the last week of the month too (we used the tour bus) or it would have been much worse.  We ran Kay back and forth between the campground and her school several times, traveled along the coast several times, and had two relocations.  But we did watch out for the cheaper gas prices which helped and stayed away from buying gas near San Francisco when we could.

Home Improvement – There was a camping world close to the campground in Pasadena and we bought a pump for getting freshwater into the rig (needed it for Quartszite) and a Magma Saute pan which we have been looking for but didn’t know it actually existed.  It is the only thing missing from my awesome stackable pans.

Clothing – I spent $55 on a Rose Parade Bowl fleece (and don’t feel bad about it in the slightest) and we both bought Lions Club float shirts which is more of a donation since 100% of the revenue goes towards a very good charity.  Plus we got a cool shirt out of the deal.

Propane – The check for propane from Susanville finally came and since this is a direct benefit of a work kamping job I am removing it from the yearly budget.

Misc – We spent $90 for a truck full of wood stocking up for Quartzsite

Memberships –  I am going to dissect this category more in my annual summary, but this was our annual Prime Membership fee.  Thanks so much by the way for folks who are buying Amazon items through our link we provide below.  That is helping us offset the cost of the blog and some of our memberships.  It does add up, and it costs you nothing extra, so if you would like to help, just click on the link below and navigate to any Amazon page and make a purchase.  We get a small percentage for the referral.

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