Wednesday Words - Unknown

We are all living a lie. Which one did you choose?

Unknown

This caused me to pause...some might vehemently disagree with this statement. It's certainly ponder worthy!

Me personally, I think there is truth to it, "living a lie" may be too strong but most people on the outside looking in do not know how others really live. If and when they do get a true glimpse they can feel betrayed or lied too. However, sometimes those looking in choose to look through rose colored glasses and then when the glasses get scratched or bumped off they will see things differently. It might not be pretty for you or them.  

bOOGITY bOOGITY

We had worked hard all week, it was time to play! Off to the races we go!

We took off in the afternoon to hit Smith's for dinner before heading to the Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, MO.  If you go to Smith's I recommend the pork tenderloin, it did not disappoint anyone at our table and all but one (the littlest Little) ordered it!

 There were 9 of us in all!

 Go cart riding crew!

 Riders ready...

 Zoom, zoom, zoom!

 MiRV was racing the Littles at every turn!

 
Who knew such a little town would have such a big track! I know I had fun and I think the rest of the crew did too! We are planning a return trip before we leave! Probably taking the other parents this time, they seem to like NASCAR a little! This is a great family friendly place!

#LucasOilSpeedway

Wednesday Words - Goldsmith

Life is a journey that must be traveled no matter how bad the roads and accommodations.

Oliver Goldsmith

You can substitute lots of things for the roads and accommodations part. Pretty much it spoke to me in that you are expected to press on regardless of the circumstances kind of way or more straight forward "suck it up" and keep moving!

Wednesday Words - Burroughs

I don't know about you but my life is often messy. Doesn't matter who you are or really how you live; there is more to real life then what you see. I really liked this and the visual that it brought along with it. The words are from Augusten Burroughs.


 

Framily!

It was really great to be able to spend time with these two...

Loved just hanging out, making her favorites, (oh yes I did do fried chicken in the RV, with the help of the outdoor propane stove and MiRV), seeing movies, playing dominos, going to her church and then poof, it was time to head on down to MO. The visit was way too short and I am already missing her like crazy...

#shareacoke
#family

Money Matters

Soooooo it was a BIG 2nd quarter! Honestly, the budget looks busted in several areas at first glance. However, looking at the big picture it's not so bad! I did have to remind myself that we were "banking" money in the first quarter for this exact purpose. And that while we were parked for the winter some of the categories were 0. That helped a lot with my mindset. Even so the numbers were hard to swallow in some categories. Nonetheless, like I said, in the big picture it still looks good and on track with our projections.

RV Travel was amazing in June! We left FL in early May. We were on the move until we landed in NE the very last day of June. It was a whirlwind of mile after mile. Mostly new territory for us once we got out the of DC area and then it was lots and lots of new scenery for us both as we entered the New England states!

Staying on budget proved challenging in many areas. Especially with Food Out since we did so many touristy things. We often took our cold bag to have snacks and drinks readily available but many meals were consumed away from the RV to which put us in over in this area :(

Believe it or not even with the shorter stays our RV Parking line item was lower then last quarter! Of course we did several nights of dry camping (thank you Wal-Mart and Cabela's)! That certainly helped to keep costs down.

Fuel for the CRV and RV was up as was expected, but keep in mind we had no entry in this category for many months where the RV was concerned, so this is the banking I mentioned above for this exact reason! 

Our grocery category continues to be a sore spot with me. Groceries just continue to increase in price, it's unbelievable. Being back in the midwest just a couple weeks has helped. East coast prices were definitely higher! I know this category is going to have to be adjusted AGAIN. And seriously people we rarely buy meat of any kind so I don't know how others are doing it. I am busting it nearly every month and we eat cheap. Lots of beans and rice! I will continue to try to stretch our dollars but it's a challenge and an unavoidable expense that just continues to grow. UGH!

Prayers were answered with RV travel protection. We  have been so thankful for a sound rig with no major repairs needed while on the road. We did have a few fixes/tweaks to do and thankfully, we were able to do most of them ourselves. That was a great money saver. Love that MiRV is willing and able to do this and that I can usually be a good assistant!

A new change for us this quarter is on the medical care front which was scary but necessary. We will just have to see how that works out for us. With our mobile life right now having a PCM in a location we were not just would not work so we are no longer on the Prime plan. This means no more premiums. It also means we will now do everything with a "cost share". This could be a money saver or not. We will continue to work to stay healthy for sure. However, we know that MiRV has some medical issues that will need attention at some point and being on Prime will be the better scenario to deal with them. Perhaps we will/can opt back in to the Prime to deal with them at some point which will be easier all the way around.

The numbers in black and white...

These are a few of our line items that were OVER for this quarter. You can bet I will be monitoring these and hope to still be on track for the yearly budgeted amount!!!

Household $148.39
Entertainment $262.14
Eating Out $646.77
CRV Fuel $770.55
Groceries $956.60
RV Travel $2032.05 (includes $170.10 in TOLLS)

Believe it or not RV Travel and Entertainment are easily still within reach to be on budget for the year.

A few of our on or under budget categories for this quarter.

RV Parking $1300
Laundry $29.75
Vehicle Upkeep $24.66
Clothing $80.28

So there you have it, a little glimpse into our finances this quarter.

Until next quarter keep track of your pennies, you never know when you might need them!

#MoneyMatters
#budgetingisfun
#RVliving

Wednesday Words - Brault

If minutes were kept of a family gathering, they would show that "Members not Present" and "Subjects Discussed" were one and the same. 

~Robert Brault

This honestly made me laugh. Those who say or think they never talk about others have never sat around the table and visited for any length of time. It's life.

#family

Shredded Sheet

I don't know how this happened, but it did. Not only the huge rip on MiRVs side but a small one was on my side. AND it happened on the same night...is that weird or what? Guess that's a SURE sign we need new sheets!

This sheet set is 5 years old. Is that old for a sheet? Maybe it is. I guess it is! We don't have another set, in fact this is a set from our sticks and bricks living. RV sheets are expensive IMO. Maybe they are not but they seem to be to me. However, I have seen them on sale at Camping World for 34.99. I guess that's not horrible and they are the right size for the RV, which is a queen short. So our fitted sheet from the sticks and bricks fitting is not a big issue but the top sheet is really BIG as in there is way too much of it and I don't like it. MiRV says whatever. But it bugs me!

A quick google search reveals that a Target trip is needed for a new fitted sheet. The size they carry will work quite well and solves the issue for now...it's not the same color but it WILL work for us. Well until we are near a Camping World!

 The new fitted sheet!

Since we are now near a Camping World and we recently scored a CW $10 off coupon we got new sheets! BONUS the sheets were also on sale! So that puts us right as rain for getting new sheets! And we now have the real RV queen short size. It is a matching set of new sheets with pillow cases! Happy dance!!! Now changing sheets will not have to coincide with immediate laundry :) Just need to get them washed and they are ready to be put in service!

#thelittlethings
#RVsheets

Wednesday Words - Roosevelt

Since we are so close to the 4th of July I felt a patriotic quote was in order!

This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in.  ~Theodore Roosevelt

We are so fortunate to live in a free country...we also must be responsible citizen's the burden does not fall entirely on our government.

State Sign Wrap Up

These are the states we traversed through for the month of June..in no particular order!

We did a lot of travel this month! To the tune of $170.10 in tolls and $1195.97 in gas for the RV. It was a whirlwind trip. some things we would love to do again and other things ONCE is enough! LOL Miles and miles were traveled I did not tally it up, I just know it was miles and miles! We also fed the CRV $338.50 in gas. Whew, it's nice to be staying put for a few days!