March Travel & Spending

March raced it’s way into spring in a hurry! We saw lots of cold weather in Florida, so we had 2 propane fills this month. We were finally able to get back out traveling, plus we had a lot of appointments to get wrapped up. The first week of the month we spent in the Golden Isles area of Georgia visiting our son who was there for work. We found a convenient RV Resort to stay in and checked out several new to us places! Check out the full blog on the resort and things to do from last month’s blog Exploring Coastal Georgia linked here.

We were able to snag a few nights last minute at Salt Springs in Ocala, one of our fave spots! We also spent the last week of the month in DC visiting the kids, exploring and waiting for the cherry blossoms to peak–and we made it! That blog will come out later this month with all you need to know, so be sure you subscribe or follow our socials to see it! We did end up splurging on a motel room on our way back–16 hours was just a bit too long for a travel day for all of us after slower days in the RV, and it was still cheaper than a flight, train, or storage, and allowed us the flexibility to wait for the blooms. With two campgrounds out of membership, a hotel, and chipping in to home base, we were over budget this month camping, especially since we had reserved another campground and cancelled–but that will pay towards a future stay.

Camping: $772 (budgeted: $300)
Propane: $58 (budgeted: $35)

Not a lot to work on in the rig this month. We attempted an herb garden that went horribly wrong while we were gone to DC, ordered some pet cameras (more on those once we get them installed and use them a bit), and we had to fix a squeaky motor on our Max Air fan we just installed in November, but the company was awesome and replaced the part for free!

Repairs/Upgrades: $79 (budgeted: $200)

This month we visited our chiropractor since we were home and had a few more bills from doctor visits last month. Luther got sick, so there was a dash to the pediatrician to make sure it wasn’t serious before travels. We also refreshed the wardrobe with a few new items. Then the usual life insurance and healthcare payments.

Medical/Health & Life Insurance: $308 (budgeted: $360 with new premium adjustment)
Personal Care: $95 (budgeted: $100)

Food was our big expense this month since we spent 1/3 of the month away from the RV up in DC, plus Sonya’s celiac diagnosis meant cheap and easy were not on the menu for us. Groceries/household items were low, but dining out was high. We will be getting that reigned in this month, we hope, since we’ve been over a lot. But travel and going out with family and friends while home have been worth it! When combined, though, we weren’t too over.

Groceries/household items: $596 (budgeted: $800)
Dining out: $568 (budgeted: $200)

This month we enjoyed a rare family date night to go see the new Captain America movie that had been on our theater wish list. We also had parking fees while in the big cities, some hobby and souvenir purchases, as well as metro cards for DC. We also paid for a 5k race in DC that, unfortunately, we didn’t make it to since Luther was ill. But it went to a good cause, so we didn’t mind it as much.

Entertainment/Tolls & Parking: $279 (budgeted: $200)

We traveled to coastal Georgia with the RV, and Salt Springs was on the path home, so didn’t throw off the miles. For our trip to DC, we opted to drive instead of train or fly and, even with the motel stop, fuel and food, it still worked out less than tickets would have cost. Shout out to Open Roads for saving us a bunch on fuel, too! If you are a diesel vehicle, use our link to sign up so they know we sent you: http://apply.myopenroads.com/r/BarnesOnMove (details on this and other savings we use are on www.barnesonmove.com/savings

Travel miles: 251 with the RV, 1,762 with the truck only, for a total of 2,013
Fuel/Def: $505 (budgeted: $750)
Open Roads savings for the month: $51.61

Other expenses were pretty much the same this month. We celebrated some birthdays and an engagement this month, and replenished our blessing bags we keep on hand, and shared some baked goods to neighbors for our monthly SeRV challenge.

RV Loan $939 (budgeted $939)
Technology $418 (budgeted $435)
RV/Truck Insurance: $327 (budgeted $327)
Pet care: $131 (budgeted $150)
Dump/water fees: $0 (budgeted $10)
Laundry: $0 (budgeted $10)
Donations/fees/Extra Savings: $78 (budgeted $100)
Gifts: $66 (budgeted $100)

It’s been a great month, but we are noticing we need to buckle down a bit more on spending. We spend the most on food, after our RV payment, so will be eating at home a lot more, especially as we adjust to being a celiac household. Later this month, we start working our way north for some jobs, so we are excited to find some new places to explore and check off some of our remaining 16 states for the lower 48!

We’ve got 6 on the east coast, 2 in the mountains, 5 in the Midwest, 3 west coast left to add to our collection, and we hope to get at least half of them this year! What’s your guess on how many we will get? Any tips for what to see?

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2025 March expenses: $5219 (budgeted $5039)