It’s interesting that when we have a really good financial month it is almost always a month that we have very few experiences. Despite the fact that we “live” in a gorgeous place and have all sorts of low-cost nature things we can do in the area, we have found that almost everything costs some money (gas, lunch, trinkets) and it turns out that the best way to save money is not do anything at all. That shouldn’t be a huge surprise I suppose, since that is how it was in our old lives also, but I thought that surrounded by so much nature we would always find lots of cool things to do. And in all fairness some people do. They take their days off and hike or fish or kayak and explore, but all of that takes energy and one thing we have found is when you are working this hard, energy, for us at least, is in short supply. The good thing is we aren’t spending all the money we are making on fast food or Amazon purchases and we were able to put $2500 back in our savings account, which was a much-needed event, but aside from the end of the month when our friends came to visit our lives were all about work and more work. So yes, it was a good month with only $2,151 in expenses, but not such a good month in the overall life category. You can see below for more details.
Groceries – Well, we got our groceries expenses under control this month, but that’s mainly because we are eating lots of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We did have some fantastic meals when Deb and Steve came to visit, and I have been trying to use what we have lying around, but the freezer is getting pretty bare and we definitely need to restock in August.
Dining Out – The fact that we aren’t huge fans of any of the restaurants in the area (Huckleberry Inn aside) certainly helps in this category. Plus we paid for Lee’s birthday escape room and then Deb and Steve paid us back in a couple of meals out so we were actually closer to breaking even in this category.
Entertainment – We ended up spending $180 on the escape room because Lee wanted the room all to ourselves. Since it was his 50th I was happy to spend the extra money, but definitely next time we will use Groupon on and if we can’t find enough friends will have to try the room with other people. I’m just glad Lee enjoyed it so much, because he’s a tough guy to buy presents for.
Truck Fuel – We only gassed the truck up once the entire month, which was a good thing because gas prices are kind of high right now. We have to take our company trucks down to Estacada to fuel them up and are able to combine a grocery store trip with that which helps save us a ton of money in gas. Next month we will be doing some exploring in Washington so these costs will go back towards normal levels.
Home – Thankfully no repairs this month and the extra items we bought, like the propane campfire, we used Amazon points. We just let our points build throughout the year until something camping related comes along that we want and then we cash them in. So thanks for your support in both buying the recipe book and through our Amazon link. I really like the propane campfire and we both wonder why we were so resistant to having one before. If we didn’t have the points we probably wouldn’t have gotten it, so thanks again!
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Or you can check out our recipe book filled with 80 real recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. The cookbook specializes in recipes that have a limited number of ingredients, without sacrificing flavor and is organized into categories that matter to full time RVers such as Happy Hours, Travel Days, and Pot Lucks You can preview the kindle version on Amazon
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Tracy, I enjoy reading your blogs very much. I did have a question. Is the cost listed for July for the RV insurance and the truck insurance what you pay each month? Your RV insurance seems reasonable but your truck insurance seems very, very high. I would think being full time it would be the opposite. May I ask who you have your RV insurance with? We just got our new camper and I have been doing a lot of looking around for the best insurance and best rates. I am an insurance agent, have been for over 30 years but our company doesn’t offer the best RV insurance. I know once we go full time I will need to look for a better policy. I think our truck insurance is very reasonable. Again, just wonder because I am always looking for when we go full time next year. Thank you so much.
Hey Chris great question. It is ridiculously high and keeps going up every year. Here’s my problem…the truck and RV are linked. If I get new truck insurance the RV goes up wiping out most of the gain. If I switch both I can no longer get a replacement value policy I can only get current value. And Florida went up for everyone because of the hurricanes. I could switch home states but then my health insurance would change and I really like my plan. Not saying there is no solution but it’s not simple
Thank you for the input. Like I said your RV insurance is a great price I think. But wow, the truck insurance seems so very high. I totally understand what you are saying. Sometimes it is just better to leave things alone. I am starting to check on auto and RV insurance in Florida. If I come across anything that looks good I will let you know. Enjoy the rest of your week and weekend.
That would be great Chris…thanks!!