Roadrunner Financials - June 2013

Roadrunner Recap
We started the month of June in the Ameristar Casino Campground in Vicksburg, MS and ended up in the driveway of Tom and Cathy's driveway at his family's cottage at Redstone Lake near La Valle, WI.

That is about 1988 miles which is a lot!  But we knew it was going to be a busy month to see the folks we wanted to and still get to Wisconsin in early June to see Tom and Cathy.

Our overnight stops in June included:

• Ameristar Casino (Vicksburg, MS)
• Escapees Rainbow Park (Livingston, TX)
• Westlake RV Resort (Katy, TX)
• Oak Forest RV Park (Austin, TX)
• Fredericksburg RV Park (Fredericksburg, TX)
• Cowboy RV (Aledo, TX)
• Twin Fountains RV Park (Oklahoma City, OK)
• Blue Springs County USACE Campground (Independence, MO)
• Mason City Campground (Mason City, Iowa)
• Tom and Cathy's Driveway (La Valle, WI)

Good News Areas We Are Under Budget
 Since this is the first month of the new 'Fiscal Year' for us, I decided to lower the monthly budget by $120.  Over the last four years we have been right at $4138 despite some big spikes for maintenance and upgrades.  For the most part, I think it will be much less this year on both accounts.

Having said that, I know we will be spending a lot more traveling out to the west cost.  We will see how it goes.

Our 'Under Budget' items:

• RV Insurance
• Car Insurance
• Gas for the car
• RV Maintenance

- One big savings we took right off was new RV insurance with Blue Sky.  I paid for the year lump sum and took care of that.
- I will pay car insurance at one time so for now it shows up as a zero for the month but it will catch up with us.
- We didn't have a lot of extra excursions so we did pretty well on gas this month.
- No maintenance needed on the RV this month, but we did get it weighed for $45

Biggest Expenses
Our 'new normal' for a while is going to be the high cost of diesel fuel.  And we need to get a handle on eating out if we hope to stay at our new budget.

• Diesel 
• Campgrounds
• Groceries
• Eating Out
• Mail
• Entertainment
• One Time Costs

- The climbing cost of diesel fuel is going to require us to cut back on other areas.  At $823 over budget, we will see if things calm down after we get to the West Coast and Arizona for the winter.  

- We had quite a few $30+ nights along the way because we are into the summer and high cost season.

- We were almost $300 over on groceries and eating out so that was not too good.

- Our yearly mail service fee of $203.52.  I paid it all at once so it gives a skewed picture. That charge will average out at under $20/month.

- We played golf a couple of times in Aledo and Oklahoma City and it was worth every penny.

- I paid for a yearly National Park Pass (InterAgency Pass) and for our Coach-Net (AAA for the Motor Home.

Large One Time Cost Items

• - Fuel Costs
• - InterAgency Pass, Coach Net, and Mail Service fee with Alternative Resources.

Monthly Average
I will forego this area this month since this is Month 1 of our 'FY'.

I anticipate a better average and lower costs for the next month.  But then I always do --- we will see.

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles today!