Dollars, cents, and the spirit of Phyllis...

Hello! I don't quite know where to start today. I've been keeping a list on my phone of things I wanted to tell you about, and the list keeps getting longer! And then we have a day like today, and I want to write about that. I guess it's not a bad thing to have too many things to write about; it means we're having fun!

Today I'll just follow where my fingers take me and we'll see what happens. We have been bouncing around Florida since February 23rd, and plan to be into another state by March 23rd. That wasn't planned intentionally, but it worked out to be one month in Florida.

I want to premise this post by saying I know I sound like Phyllis (Sorry Dad!!). Phyllis Foss Starling was my grandmother who grew up during the depression and counted every penny and could tell you exactly how much she paid for everything. She was salty (before that was a thing), she was brutally honest, some may call her cheap, but she was one of a kind, and we all miss her every day. BUT, it turns out her genes were dominant, and I have inherited many of her traits, most importantly, lets call it her "cost consciousness."

Sidebar over... One of my personal goals for this trip was to see how long we could go without expending any additional money to camp. The answer to that is 22 nights. We traveled and camped 22 nights without having to spend a penny out of our savings. An accomplishment, I think!

After the 22 nights, we treated ourselves to a "resort" within 4 miles of the beach.. lots of beaches actually... They have a working hot tub (Omagosh! How I do love to relax in a hot tub)... The sites are set up so you are awning to awning with your neighbor, sharing a very small slice of common area in between (we lucked out and got a great neighbor, she's an old hippie from Canada)... Everyone is super friendly, and definitely here to relax and vacation, even the seasonal folks... There is line dancing, painting, bingo, and a Tiki Bar once a week at the pool... It's a fun place to be, personally, I think it's worth the money.

Anyway, the more free spots we find, the longer we get to stretch this adventure out. So, I'm not trying to be cheap. I'm being frugal. I just examined our calendar and here is the rundown; 29 nights, 1 month of traveling (well, almost, today is March 10th but I have calculated through the 15th):

Month 1: February 15-March 15

Thousand Trails, (pre-paid membership): 10 nights

Thousand Trails, (pre-paid membership + $20/night for "resort" park): 7 nights

Boondocking (free, unimproved sites): 9 nights

Travel nights at roadside stops: 3 nights

I can't tell you how much we've spent on gas... It's a lot. We get 7.5 miles per gallon when we're towing. And the truck takes premium... yup, I know... but it coughs and hiccups if you put regular in, believe me, we've tried it. But we've found some tricks to lower the cost. GasBuddy saves us 3 cents a gallon at most stations. Their mobile app shows you the price of your selected fuel type at all the stations around you, so we know where to pull off and fill up. It also shows us deals at certain stations, so we can end up saving up to 20 cents a gallon at times. We also joined all the "user clubs" at the stations we go to so we get whatever deals they may have (Shell, Mobile, 7/11, etc). We've even found E85 (Ethanol, gas made from corn) a few times already, which the truck takes as well (it's higher octane than premium is, as Mike explained to me). The only downfall is that it burns faster, so we have to fill up more frequently. Mike has found that after filling up with premium or E85, the next stop he can use the mid-grade with no ill effects, as long as the next stop is for premium. So we're mixing it up, and hoping this war over oil production pays off and keeps the price of fuel down for as long as possible.

Laundry... we have cut our laundry by a quarter I'd say, compared to being at home. We wear things longer, jeans and sweatshirts especially, until they are really dirty. Being out in the middle of nowhere lends itself well to being grungy. Laundromats are pretty evenly priced, no matter where you go. On average, we spend $13 every 7-10 days on washing.

Food... guys, they have Winn Dixies down here. They are FABULOUS!! Every week there are BOGOs for things you really need. AND, they have an entire aisle where everything is $1!!! So toilet paper, shampoo, marinades, chips, hand sanitizer, etc... I've been able to find it all for a dollar. Super nice, new, and clean stores, super friendly employees. Everyone cheers at the registers when the cashier announces how much you saved that day. I mean, come on, doing groceries is such a chore, we deserve some excitement and laughs while we shop, right?

Here at the beach though, no Winn Dixie (BOO!). We ran into a Publix today, I'm not a fan. Luckily, I shopped well enough before we came south, anticipating the higher prices due to location. So, I don't think I need to do groceries until we leave the beach. I may tag that onto an overnight Walmart stay as we travel.

We've eaten out twice, once at a Greek place I think I already mentioned, and last night, after Val had a mini breakdown (details forthcoming, stay tuned...), Mike was a sweetheart and surprised us with having Pizza Hut delivered to our site. Oh the greasy goodness!! We all ate until we couldn't eat another bite. It was fantastic...

Every other meal has been prepared at "home." PB&J is a staple for lunch, especially if we will be in the truck. Dinners are frugal, but satisfying. Hamburgers have become a treat we all look forward to every other week. So we are definitely being as conscious of our food spending as we can. I can't seem to keep enough fruit, granola bars, or peanuts on hand for our growing teenager's appetite, but I'm trying!

Well, you're probably bored with all the money talk, so I'll wrap it up. I know some of you reading this are interested in that aspect of our adventure, so there you have it! In my n

ext post I will address my long list of randomness, and I also want to tell you about today's adventure... So, as always, stay tuned, and please, stay healthy!