Roadrunner Financials - March 2016

Roadrunner Recap
In March, we visited the following locations in Georgia and Florida:

• A - Macon Area Habitat for Humanity Care-A-Vanner Campground, Macon GA
• B - Starke/Gainesville KOA Campground, Stark FL
• C- Word of Life RV Park, Hudson FL 
• D - Savannas Recreation Area Campground, Fort Pierce FL
• E - Phipps County Campground, Stuart FL
• F - North Fort Myers Care-A-Vanner Campground, North Fort Myers FL

One main goal we had for the winter was to see more of Florida.  We were not too familiar with the interior (central) part of the state.  We also had not spent much time on the east coast north of Miami.  We were able to do that this winter and enjoyed county RV campgrounds which are among Florida's best kept secrets.

We started the month at a Habitat build in Macon GA and finished up with another build in North Fort Myers.  Each provided us opportunity to meet and work with some fabulous people.   

Good News Areas We Are Under Budget
One thing during the month we didn't spent a lot of money on was diesel fuel.  We began the month with a full tank and only had to fill it up once so we were a couple of hundred dollars better than our goal.
Once again, we did even better in the area of spending for campgrounds.  We also were well under budget in spending for groceries as well.

We had a very good month budget-wise.  Our biggest item was in the area of cell phones.  We converted all our phones, iPads and hotspot (Jet Pack) to Verizon.  At this point it might have been a mistake.  We'll just have to see if we end up getting more service and better coverage at the same or less on a monthly basis.

Biggest Expenses
Paying off our AT&T contract and then not getting our iPad data plan cancelled has proven to be a challenge.  We tried to get the old account paid off and submit it to Verizon for reimbursement. But our account was cancelled in the store so we had no way to access it.  Instead we had to wait until it was posted, go to a AT&T service center then take it back over to a Verizon Center for their payment.  It was a mess.  But we are working through it.  To be continued.

Large One Time Cost Item
see above.

Monthly Average
At $4500 for the month, we continue to spend well over our goal of $4100.  In fact, most of our months since the "Fiscal Year" began for us in May 2015, we have spent more than our monthly objective.

We continue to be on an 'overspending' trend so we will have to readjust our monthly income.  I have long resisted putting down what our income is and also will not reveal our charitable giving.  But our main sources of income continue to be:  Air Force retirement, EDS retirement, online work-for-pay with my former company: MITRE.  The online work has had a steady decline in the number of hours per month and is about 10% of what it has been.

Because of the increasing costs we are incurring, Pam and I looked into our Social Security benefit and what we would be getting if we decided to get that on a monthly basis.  We are 63.  My main goal at the moment is to avoid dipping into our 401k and savings.  We'll see what we need to do in the coming months.

As always, if you think this spreadsheet might be useful I'd be glad to pass it along at no cost.  Just let me know.

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!