Ok, I finally got around to tallying up what we spent on our month long Summer Road Trip.
I figured we'd spend about $5K on this extravaganza when all was said and done.
Here are the numbers......
Eating-Out....$957.42
Motels......$936.94
Gas.......$587.25
Car Rental...$844.88
Entry Fees....$118.68
Souvenirs/Gifts....$913.99
TOTAL SPENT......$4359.16
Eating-Out--This included all meals we paid for in cash or with the credit card. Of course this would have been a higher amount if we didn't eat "free" at the motel stays(2 stays didn't include breakfast and 1 of those breakfast WAS discounted 50%), were not treated to some meals or served meals in friends' homes.
And we skipped a few lunches and/or dinners along the way too.
Motels--This number includes 17 nights in assorted motels and 1 night in a B&B. We were hosted in friends' homes(and relatives of friends' homes)for 11 nights.
Gas--Self-explanatory. All the gas we bought to get there and back. Luckily some states we traveled to and through have much lower taxes on gas than PA so this expense was quite reasonable considering we put 7409 miles on the rental car from door to door. We also paid for some gas for Kim's car since they were hauling us around for awhile sightseeing in ID/WY/MT in their vehicle. I haven't even tried to figure out how many tanks of gas our spending on this category came out to be.
Car Rental--What it cost to rent the car for 1 month including taxes and fees. It was suppose to be about $940 but, due to an issue with Enterprise, we received a 10% discount off the price of the rental.
Entry Fees.....This could have turned out to be $58 more than it was but we didn't do a couple of activities we had planned on that cost money and we didn't actually go into a couple of attractions that charged but still saw the sights there.
Souvenirs/Gifts--Ok, this sure looks like a big expense but it includes everything we bought that wasn't gas, motel nights, car rental cost, entry fees to sights and food snacks to eat asap/restaurant meals.
This DOES include.....liquor(an embarrassing amount of liquor even though most of it wasn't for ME!lol), souvenirs(t-shirts, tchotchkes, food gifts), books(many many books!), thrift store shopping and gifts. Also a few things we needed to pick up(like a cork screw, baby wipes, etc.)along the way.
Since we came in under the $5K I earmarked for this extravaganza I am good with what we spent.
Things we did to try to keep the costs down....
* Skipped a few meals.
* Stayed mostly at motels that provided some kind of breakfast.
* Ordered less expensive meals.
* Used a few gift cards we already had to pay.
* Brought some food/snacks from home which were either free or purchased very inexpensively.
* Bought alcohol and drank in the motel room and didn't order drinks at restaurants(mostly).
* Booked motel rooms ahead after comparing different prices to receive a better rate(and know what we were looking at paying for each beforehand).
* Cashed in motel points for a gift card to partially pay for 1 night at a very expensive motel.
* Bought Shell gas gift cards to use along the way(though this backfired on us big time!).
* Pushed back on car rental company when they screwed up our reservation. Our time and aggravation is worth something!
* We chose primarily free or low cost activities. (We are easily amused people.)
* We chose to not enter a park with a fee on two occasions as it would have not enhanced our experience there substantially.
* Mostly confined souvenirs to what we personally wanted to buy.
* Didn't buy outrageously overpriced souvenirs at some venues and bought them at the local Walmart instead.
* Some souvenirs we picked up for others will be Christmas/Birthday gifts so we used part of the souvenir budget to do Christmas shopping which took the sting out of some of that spending(and technically I should remove that spending from this trip and put it in the Xmas budget).
* For unavoidable/needed items along the way we found an inexpensive place to purchase(Walmart mostly)instead of using the most convenient shop.
What would we do differently if we had it to do over again?
* Not go to areas with a record breaking heat wave or traveling to areas with out of control wildfires!
* Don't book a non-air conditioned sleeping accommodation during a heat wave. (Who was to know though in May that it would be 100F+ in late July there?)
* Don't buy/take Shell gift cards(More on that later).
* Don't book a motel in "Hipster Town" Colorado. Ever. Again.
* Don't travel near Sturgis, SD at the beginning of August.
* Buy tickets online to venues if possible(this time it was not possible).
* Take more time to do/see everything that we did on this trip. I'll tell you every day was jam packed! Sometimes we felt rushed and it would have been nice to spend more time with some folks we saw or stayed with.
* If Kim ever invites you to meet her brother in-law, be afraid, be VERY afraid! lololz
* Don't spend a solid month in a car with your spouse no matter how compatible you are and how much you love them.(Unavoidable really but find ways to do things separately some days so you don't start entertaining murderous thoughts.)
Now I just need to find the time to edit about 2 thousand photos I took! lolz
Sluggy
I figured we'd spend about $5K on this extravaganza when all was said and done.
Here are the numbers......
Eating-Out....$957.42
Motels......$936.94
Gas.......$587.25
Car Rental...$844.88
Entry Fees....$118.68
Souvenirs/Gifts....$913.99
TOTAL SPENT......$4359.16
Eating-Out--This included all meals we paid for in cash or with the credit card. Of course this would have been a higher amount if we didn't eat "free" at the motel stays(2 stays didn't include breakfast and 1 of those breakfast WAS discounted 50%), were not treated to some meals or served meals in friends' homes.
And we skipped a few lunches and/or dinners along the way too.
Motels--This number includes 17 nights in assorted motels and 1 night in a B&B. We were hosted in friends' homes(and relatives of friends' homes)for 11 nights.
Gas--Self-explanatory. All the gas we bought to get there and back. Luckily some states we traveled to and through have much lower taxes on gas than PA so this expense was quite reasonable considering we put 7409 miles on the rental car from door to door. We also paid for some gas for Kim's car since they were hauling us around for awhile sightseeing in ID/WY/MT in their vehicle. I haven't even tried to figure out how many tanks of gas our spending on this category came out to be.
Car Rental--What it cost to rent the car for 1 month including taxes and fees. It was suppose to be about $940 but, due to an issue with Enterprise, we received a 10% discount off the price of the rental.
Entry Fees.....This could have turned out to be $58 more than it was but we didn't do a couple of activities we had planned on that cost money and we didn't actually go into a couple of attractions that charged but still saw the sights there.
Souvenirs/Gifts--Ok, this sure looks like a big expense but it includes everything we bought that wasn't gas, motel nights, car rental cost, entry fees to sights and food snacks to eat asap/restaurant meals.
This DOES include.....liquor(an embarrassing amount of liquor even though most of it wasn't for ME!lol), souvenirs(t-shirts, tchotchkes, food gifts), books(many many books!), thrift store shopping and gifts. Also a few things we needed to pick up(like a cork screw, baby wipes, etc.)along the way.
Since we came in under the $5K I earmarked for this extravaganza I am good with what we spent.
Things we did to try to keep the costs down....
* Skipped a few meals.
* Stayed mostly at motels that provided some kind of breakfast.
* Ordered less expensive meals.
* Used a few gift cards we already had to pay.
* Brought some food/snacks from home which were either free or purchased very inexpensively.
* Bought alcohol and drank in the motel room and didn't order drinks at restaurants(mostly).
* Booked motel rooms ahead after comparing different prices to receive a better rate(and know what we were looking at paying for each beforehand).
* Cashed in motel points for a gift card to partially pay for 1 night at a very expensive motel.
* Bought Shell gas gift cards to use along the way(though this backfired on us big time!).
* Pushed back on car rental company when they screwed up our reservation. Our time and aggravation is worth something!
* We chose primarily free or low cost activities. (We are easily amused people.)
* We chose to not enter a park with a fee on two occasions as it would have not enhanced our experience there substantially.
* Mostly confined souvenirs to what we personally wanted to buy.
* Didn't buy outrageously overpriced souvenirs at some venues and bought them at the local Walmart instead.
* Some souvenirs we picked up for others will be Christmas/Birthday gifts so we used part of the souvenir budget to do Christmas shopping which took the sting out of some of that spending(and technically I should remove that spending from this trip and put it in the Xmas budget).
* For unavoidable/needed items along the way we found an inexpensive place to purchase(Walmart mostly)instead of using the most convenient shop.
What would we do differently if we had it to do over again?
* Not go to areas with a record breaking heat wave or traveling to areas with out of control wildfires!
* Don't book a non-air conditioned sleeping accommodation during a heat wave. (Who was to know though in May that it would be 100F+ in late July there?)
* Don't buy/take Shell gift cards(More on that later).
* Don't book a motel in "Hipster Town" Colorado. Ever. Again.
* Don't travel near Sturgis, SD at the beginning of August.
* Buy tickets online to venues if possible(this time it was not possible).
* Take more time to do/see everything that we did on this trip. I'll tell you every day was jam packed! Sometimes we felt rushed and it would have been nice to spend more time with some folks we saw or stayed with.
* If Kim ever invites you to meet her brother in-law, be afraid, be VERY afraid! lololz
* Don't spend a solid month in a car with your spouse no matter how compatible you are and how much you love them.(Unavoidable really but find ways to do things separately some days so you don't start entertaining murderous thoughts.)
Now I just need to find the time to edit about 2 thousand photos I took! lolz
Sluggy
Snort* You had a ball admit it....Still laughing, at least you didn't pee yourself like I did.
ReplyDeleteWell you are right....almost dying is funny in hind sight. lolz
DeleteI would have given anything to be in Ty's truck when he tried to pull you into it.
I hope you did your chicken impersonation(chicken trying to remove your shirt) for your kids. hahaha
Hey at least I wasn't wearing a soaking wet 50 lb cotton dress that I drug into the cowboy shower.
DeleteAt least you survived, saw lots of people and took tons of pictures - and will have them edited one day as proof!
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to hear more about this month long trip!
ReplyDeleteI booked a hotel for two nights in Atlanta in April. When it did not have ac on because it was not hot enough, I canceled the second day and found a motel with AC. Atlanta is in the South and this hotel was near an interstate! I understand your pain and confusion and heat rash gotten overnight.
ReplyDeleteWho is the woman in the first picture.
It sounds like you had fun.
That waitress is a statue. lolz
DeleteIt looks really life-like. That would have scared me. I hate walking into stores with those cardboard cutouts that are life like or a bit larger. I thought she was one of your friends.
Delete