theboondork's RV blog

my expenses for June 2018

7/5/2018

The time has come this month for me to let everyone know where all my money went in June. Oddly enough it doesn't really bother me to let everyone else know where my money went, I just don't like to look at it myself. I think I feel that looking at where my money goes takes away some of my freedom to live the way I want because I second-guess myself when I look at what I spent money on and feel that maybe I shouldn't have bought that. But spending a few bucks on what I want, when I want, is one of the hallmarks of being free.

Camping....$20.... This was a few days of camping in national forest campsites in and near Tincup. It's also half-price because of my geezer pass.

Truck....$19.… I'm still putting snake oil in the fuel tank to hopefully get me through Denver's emission test.

Fuel....$145.… This is predominantly going on two camping trips to the mountains.

Trailer.…$30.… I can't remember what this was for and for some reason I didn't put a note in my spreadsheet to remind me.

Groceries....$141.… This is about half of what I would normally spend because I'm mostly eating at my daughter's house, which means I'm putting on weight which I will quickly lose when I start eating my own cooking this winter.

Eat out....$54.... A lot of this was eating at restaurants while I was camping. This sounds like a lot but it's still cheaper than going to the emergency room after eating my own camping food.

Utilities....$294.... This is always about the same. Storage room, phone bill, tank of propane, yada yada.

Personal....$35.... This is for a folding camping chair that I bought from Walmart. I bought it mostly for camping, but now I can no longer say I'm the only RVer in America without a folding camp chair.

Hobbies.... $719.... Since collecting guns was my hobby I figured that selling them would also have to be considered a part of that hobby so this is the various fees and cost associated with selling a few of my guns.

Miscellaneous.... $1.... I don't know how I ended up with one dollar of miscellaneous expenses. It seems like I should get rid of the miscellaneous column and put that expense somewhere else.

Total expense for the month is...... $1458.… It helps a tremendous amount to be living in my daughter's yard in the summer. I have almost no camping fees, and my grocery bills are half. Now if I could just find somebody else's yard to live in during the winter.

theboondork

4 Comments

Old Fat Man

7/5/2018 07:03:34 pm

Here is a frequent backyard at the Texas coast for me. http://www.anglersrvretreat.com/ . It is not free but cheaper than any other coastal place I know of except Magnolia Beach.

Tom

7/5/2018 07:42:28 pm

I remember that place and you staying there. I think I remember seeing a picture of you on their website. The prices do look reasonable especially for the monthly, and at least its not right on the water. But I would imagine due to its location a person would have to make a reservation way ahead of time to stay there in the winter. But it's good to know it's there.

I'm still leaning towards somewhere east of the Mississippi River this winter. Maybe I'll just go there for the Fall and see how it works out. That way I'm not committed to the whole winter and can come back West to someplace warm if camping is too expensive or locations too difficult to find.

Tom

Maggie

7/5/2018 08:53:51 pm

Hi Tom
Sounds like you are enjoying your summer at your daughters' house & tent camping. Loved your beautiful camping site at the lake, just breath taking. Awhile back you mentioned camping this winter in Florida, Georgia, etc., you may have already checked this out but have you look at N.W. & S.W Florida water management district. I've never camp there but I know some people that have & they loved it. It is mostly free with a permit, which you can get from their website. You can also go to Georgia water management, or wildlife management areas permits are $26.50 for a year, most states have this. Another site I found is ourroaminghearts.com search "free camping", they quit a few on there that looks pretty nice.

Hope this helps you out with finding some boondocking sites, I've heard & read a lot of rvers say Florida doesn't have any or many free boondocking places but we actually do.

Take care, be safe, & happy traveling Tom.

Sincerely

Maggie

7/5/2018 09:43:03 pm

Great to hear from you again Maggie, and that's very useful information that you shared with us all.

Most of what I hear, and experienced myself many years ago, about Florida camping has been mostly negative, and that's probably because Florida particularly southern Florida, is the only part of the South that is truly warm in the winter most of the time. Which means it's probably going to be crowded and RV parks and other camping venues can charge top dollar for their services.

But you have mentioned ways of possibly avoiding that and finding free or inexpensive places to camp that I haven't heard anyone talk about before.

I had mostly been looking at the Greenville South Carolina area, the Mobile Alabama area, and the southern Georgia area. Which are places that I've spent time in before and would like to revisit to see how things have changed. But I realize that these places get pretty cold in the winter and may not be where I would like to be living in January and February.

But your suggestions of looking into the Florida water management District and other government run areas like that might be the solution to my problem. I will do some research on the things you have suggested and see where it leads.

Thank you very much for your suggestions, you may have helped more people than just me.

Tom

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my expenses for June 2018

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