The "Notes" at the bottom of the page explain significant variances between Actual & Budget figures. Large one-time expenses are also explained.

Our total expenses came in at $3,034 or $98 over budget for everything and they were $2,470 or $80 over budget when excluding the Emergencie/Budget Cushion.

We basically set up the Emergencies/Budget Cushion category to cover some RV upgrades in the spring and then have a little bit of cushion left over. However, in January, I had a poor reaction as I was discontinuing some blood pressure medication. So I had an unexpected emergency room visit in January and an unexpected expense in this category.

We were pretty close in almost every category. But we had a couple of large overages. We were $171 over budget on Groceries & Dining Out. We ate out much more than usual in January. We had visits from several website readers and often went out.

Also, we were over budget by $111 in our Miscellaneous category. The biggest reason for that was the $150 we spent to get our passports renewed.

But, even with those large overages, we had enough under budget categories to make up for most of it.

February
For February, our budget was $2,645 total or $2,045 without the Emergencies/Budget Cushion category.

Our total expenses came in at $2,805 or $160 over budget for everything and they were $2,118 or $73 over budget when excluding the Emergencie/Budget Cushion.

We had additional billings from my unexpected emergency room visit in January. Therefore, we had $686 more in the Emergencies/Budget Cushion category. These expenses, as well as the other expenses from January came out of our Health Savings Account which was funded to cover such costs.

Why don't we include these costs in our Medical & Dental Expenses category? Well, we reserve the Medical & Dental Expenses for more routine-type costs like over-the-counter medications, office visits, teeth cleaning, etc.

The only other really big expense we had was for Jeep Maintenance. We had a water pump go out and an expense of $445 to fix that in February.

In all the other categories, we did really well. We were $84 over in Miscellaneous as we replaced a grill, bought some new dry-bags for our boats, and had a couple of other things. But we were under budget everywhere else.

March
For March, our budget was $4,645 total or $4,045 without the Emergencies/Budget Cushion category. You'll notice that the March budget was $2,000 more than February. That is due to four annual payments (RV Property Taxes, Truck Property Taxes, Truck Insurance, Umbrella Insurance) that have to be paid in March.

Our total expenses came in at $3,709 or $936 under budget for everything and they were $3,709 or $336 under budget when excluding the Emergencie/Budget Cushion.

Fortunately, we had no expenses in March in the Emergencies/Budget Cushion category.

Though we were over budget in some categories - Campground Fees ($64), Groceries & Dining Out ($129), Diesel ($56), Truck Maintenance ($84), Entertainment ($44) - we were well under in all the other categories. Especially helpful was that I overbudgeted our Truck taxes by $252, a pleasant surprise. :)

For the first quarter, we were pretty much on target on our overall budget. We were $188 under budget on basic living expenses through March.

April
Another wacky month with some large unforeseen expenses.

For April, our budget was $4,159 total or $3,559 without the Emergencies/Budget Cushion category. It was still a fairly large budget for April since our annual RV insurance was due.

Our total expenses came in at $5,410 or $1,251 over budget for everything and they were $3,529 or $30 under budget when excluding the Emergencie/Budget Cushion.

Unfortunately, we had two large expenses in April in the Emergencies/Budget Cushion category. We had $781 for new prescription eyeglasses and the part of the exams not covered by our insurance. Neither of us had been in for an eye exam in years, so we did that. We had not budgeted for glasses, but Linda needed a new prescription and I needed reading glasses - my first ever pair of glasses.

The other big expense was to fix our Jeep. In March 2009, we had a "budget" lift kit installed on our Jeep Liberty. We had already added skid plates and a heavy duty bumper and winch for off-roading.

However, the type of kit we installed caused the Jeep to bottom out in the front anytime we went over even the smallest of potholes or dips. We suffered with it for a year, but decided to see if we could get it fixed. It required removing the 2.5-inch Daystar Rubber Spacer Lift Kit and installing a new BDS Suspension Coil Spring Lift Kit. That fixed our problem, but the cost for comfort and continued off-roading was $1,100.

So, for 2010, we have already spent $3,100 in a category that we budgeted $7,200 which was mostly for a fifth wheel brake and suspension upgrade which is scheduled in May. It looks like we'll be over budget in the Emergencies/Budget Cushion category by $2,000 - $3,000 for the year, so we have to make it up in our basic living expenses.

The good news for April is that we managed to come in $30 under budget in our normal living expenses. With higher than expected campground fees and doing a lot more running around than we expected during our two-week stay in our former hometown, being under budget was a surprise. Still, we'll have to do a lot better than that the rest of the year.

May
May was the month where we upgraded our fifth wheel brakes to disc brakes and upgraded our suspension to the Mor/Ryde IS suspension. That was the one really big expense we had planned for during 2010.

For May, our budget was $2,795 total or $2,195 without the Emergencies/Budget Cushion category.

Our total expenses came in at a whopping $7,127 which included $5,391 for the brakes/suspension upgrade. Of course we budgeted for that large expense in the Emergencies/Budget Cushion category, but when the budget was set, we didn't know which month the actual expense would occur, so we spread it out over the year at $600 per month.

Removing the brakes/suspension upgrade and the Emergencies/Budget Cushion category, our basic living expenses came in at $1,736 or $459 under the $2,195 budget.

We were under budget in just about every category. Our biggest savings was in Campground Fees as we were able to stay at Mor/Ryde four nights for free while having our work done. Also, we had no Campground Fees after May 11, since we arrived at our summer workamping job (free campsite) on May 12.

Through May we were $677 under budget for the year in basic living expenses.

That was a good thing, because we had already spent $8,522 in the Emergencies/Budget Cushion category which only has a total 2010 budget of $7,200. So we need to be a total of $1,322 under budget for the year in all other categories.

June
June was our first full month of workamping in 2010, so we had no Campground Fees. Of course, this year we knew that, so we hadn't budgeted anything in that category and, therefore, we have no big budget savings there. :)

However, we were still another $471 under the overall basic living expenses budget of $2,465, which included our annual life insurance premiums of $953.

Through June we were $1,148 under budget for the year in basic living expenses. It shouldn't take much the rest of the year to make up the last couple hundred dollars we are over in the Emergencies/Budget Cushion category ... unless we have more unexpected items pop up.

Also, through the first half of 2010, we spent $15,500 in basic living expenses. But that included only a month and a half of workamping and most of our large annual expenses are front-loaded into the first half of the year. Our remaining budget for the year is about $12,300. If we hit that, we will be right on our annual average of around $28,000 for basic living expenses.