October 2018 Budget Recap

For those of you who have been following our budget thus far, you are aware we had been running roughly $2500 under budget through the first five months. That averages to about $500 under budget each month, which is a whopping 10% under our monthly target.

Well, that’s about to change.

So what does a month of lavish vacation living really look like? Let me introduce you to the month of October for us.

October – The Month of Extravagance

Not only did we live in luxury on a cruise ship for two weeks as we crossed the Panama Canal (taxes and fees for crossing the Panama Canal are much higher than other cruises), but we also spent nearly two weeks touring Disney and Universal theme parks in Florida. For the entire month, we only cooked a few meals at home, in contrast to most of our prior months.

In total, the month of October came in $2928 over budget, bringing our six-month budget to just $392 over budget (1.25% off-target over six months – not too shabby!). However, as we’ll be getting into, that even included extravagant expenses such as:

• Starting our art collection with a Daniel Wall painting from the cruise ($570)
• A new wardrobe of dresses and face wash for Alyssa ($290)
• Birthday gifts for in-laws ($250+)
• Rescheduled flights that otherwise could have been ~$700 cheaper, if we didn’t change them due to booking too early

That means – had we taken out these atypical expenses – we would have still been living an extravagant lifestyle on a cruise ship and at Disney for only $1100 over our monthly target. That works out to a total average of about $100 per day per person of vacation splurging for drinking fancy beverages, eating at buffets and nice restaurants, staying at nice accommodations and hotels, being transported across numerous oceans and continents multiple times, visiting theme parks, and doing cruise excursions. It’s still expensive, for sure, but considering that many people stay at Disney resort hotels for over $500 a night – I’ll take it!

Furthermore, we had mentioned in many of our previous monthly updates, such as the September budget update, that we expected October to be over budget. Thus, this was not a surprise (the beauty of planning!), and we ended up very close to our six-month cumulative budget.

Now, let’s get into the numbers.

October 2018 Monthly Stats

In the month of October, we hit a total of eight countries. We walked about 126 miles, on par with many of the past months. That included roughly two weeks at sea on the cruise ship with very few miles walked, so we definitely got our exercise in while in Florida at Disney and Universal.

For those that prefer a visual display of budget data (positive dollars corresponds to under budget – monthly is on the right axis, cumulative is on the left axis):

Travel Rewards Points Usage

We used approximated $475 in travel points to book our upcoming Hawaii hotels and rental cars. We also used ~40,000 of our 140,000 Southwest points (with a Companion Pass) to book all our flights for the month of November around the US. That is about $1200 of value when you include the free Companion Pass tickets – all for 40,000 Southwest points – still leaving us with over 100,000 to use! That’s nearly $3,200 in value if you assume 1.6 cents/point, and then double the value due to the free companion pass, where Alyssa flies completely free each time I book a ticket. (100,000*.016*2 = $3,200)

That means we only had to pay $5.60 for taxes and fees for each leg from Orlando to New Orleans, New Orleans to Tulsa, Tulsa to Nashville, Nashville to Seattle, and Seattle to LA. November is going to be a busy month on the road of the US!

And even those fees were all 100% reimbursed since I recently got the new Bank of America Premium Rewards credit card. That came with a $500 sign-up bonus and also reimburses up to $100 in airline fees for things like in-flight purchases, checked bags, and apparently – Southwest taxes and fees!

We also received a lot more value from points acquired due to spending, so our net travel rewards balance went down from $10,053 to $9,056.

October 2018 Expenses vs. Budget

Below are our actual expenses vs. budget for the month of October 2018.

While most things were over budget, it amazes me that we were able to live as wildly as we did and still only be $425 over on housing and $824 over on food. I know that we are still extremely fortunate since many people would not even be able to enjoy this lifestyle for a week, and we are thankful everyday for everything (and everyone) that helped us get here.

That being said, regardless of the amount spent, all the techniques that we have used to save money can be employed whether you are spending $100 or $1,000 a day. We hope that at least one person has an “aha” moment or insight while looking at this that helps save a few bucks the next time they travel.

Alcohol, our new Daniel Wall painting, gifts and souvenirs, and clothes for Alyssa accounted for the nearly $1,000 overrun in our discretionary line item for October.

Total Monthly B.A.Livin’ savings from travel points and travel hacks (not included in above budget): $510.65

1. $100 Uber promotion for 10 free rides up to $10 (perfect timing for us to use getting to/from Disney, since we didn’t have a car)
2. $88 off cruise, since we purchased $600 of Celebrity gift cards at a ~15% discount from eBay (note: the terms are you can use up to $500 per person per sailing, so we just maxed this out and purchased $1000 in discounted Celebrity gift cards for our next trans-pacific cruise in 2019)
3. Other misc savings due to Chase Ultimate Rewards points and Marriott points bookings

Note: we did have 14 nights of free lodging in October, due to staying with friends and family in Cyprus, California, and Florida. Also, it was a generous gift from my parents to cover our Disney and Universal park passes, so we are eternally grateful to them for being so generous, and that definitely helps with our October numbers.

Our expenses over time for October 2018. Yes, we were a little over-budget. Go big or go home, right!? Hopefully not too big, or we truly will be going home…

Lessons Learned and Takeaways

• Disney and Universal Money-Saving Tricks – if you have a Disney vacation coming up, here are a few tricks that we used to save some extra money
  • Stay off-resort to save big on lodging: we stayed at two different Kissimmee hotels and Airbnbs that were 5-15 minutes from all the Disney parks. They ran us $54/night (but we booked with points, so technically we paid $0) and $81/night, respectively, and they were both perfectly fine! Compare that with $500+/night rates at Disney resort hotels, and it’s a no-brainer!
  • Buy discounted Disney gift cards from BJ’s: we purchased $600 of Disney gift cards from BJ’s at 4% off, and got an additional 5% cashback bonus by using our Chase Freedom credit card during Q4, since the category is Wholesale clubs. If we had waited another two weeks, we could have picked up some Disney gift cards on sale at BJ’s for a whopping 20% off! They can be used for anything in the park – food, drinks, souvenirs, etc.
  • Consider Uber/Lyft instead of a rental car to save time AND money
    • Since we stayed in Kissimmee, all the Disney and Universal parks were within about 20 minutes of our lodging. Our Uber and Lyft rides ranged from ~$8.50-$15 (during peak, usually at park closing) each way. However, considering that parking at Disney and Universal is $25/day, not to mention the cost of gas and the rental car, we found that Uber and Lyft were EXTREMELY convenient.
    • Furthermore, when we would ride-share to the parks and my parents drove with my 14-month nephew each day, we would arrive at the main entrance at least 5-10 minutes before they did every single time. Even when our Uber driver cancelled three times (happened one day) and even though we got picked up 5-10 minutes after my family left each morning. It helps to get dropped off right at the entrance, vs. having to walk far or take the tram across the large parking lots!

Assumptions and Notes:

• All monthly expenses are totals for two people

As expected, the month of October was one for the record books – in the bad direction. That being said, we don’t regret a single penny spent since time was all well-spent with friends and family that we haven’t seen in six months, and won’t see again for another six months.

In November, despite a lot of traveling in the US and visiting more friends, we’ll be moving back to our typical lifestyle on the road. We hope to be much closer to budget in November.

Oh yeah – and Happy Halloween!