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Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Poker, Kayaking and Budgeting 101

(Craig) Not too much has happened within the last week. We have listed our townhome through the property management company. It's been shown twice since listing it five days ago. Here's the location online:

http://propertiespluscolorado.vflyer.com/home/flyer/home/3122045

Overall, pretty happy this company. We'll see how the rental process goes.

As for budgeting, we've had a general idea of all income and expenses leading up to this trip. Now, 6 weeks prior to liftoff, Karin and I got together and fine tuned the budget. We are going to do our best to comply with two rules that we started with: do not use any savings and start the trip nearly debt free. It's so easy to type that, but a little harder to follow! I'm the Poker Player, and she was voted Prom Queen in Frugal, Minnesota! Kinda reminds me of Dr Doolittle's Push Me-Pull You.
So, here's the budget in a nutshell: Income is the remaining paychecks that we receive. We plan to work up to about 10 days prior to leaving. Other income includes the vehicles and household items that we'll be selling. I also wanted to include my winnings from the 3 or 4 poker tournaments that I'll get to play prior to us leaving. I quickly reminded her of my infamous run in poker tournaments during the month of November 2009. I cashed (made money) in 6 out of 8 tournaments. She then came back with the fact that I cashed 0 out of 7 times in the following two months.
So we'll leave my upcoming poker winnings out of the budget (for now).

As for expenses, well here's a quick list: money to pay off two small credit cards, insurances (truck/trailer/landlord/umbrella/health), mortgage, utilities/cable, food, truck/trailer registrations, pre-trip preventative maintenance on truck/trailer, bike, kayaks & accessories, laptop, RV membership club fees, roadside assistance fees, fuel, campground fees, reserve funds for emergencies and some other minor miscellaneous items.
The initial figures had us within $300 of a balanced budget (President Obama, Karin is available for budget consultation). A couple of minor tweaks (or one cashing of a poker tourney) puts us on the road with a smile!
We love the outdoors! Hiking, biking and kayaking/rafting. My bike was just a little too big for me (or I shrunk) so I sold it a couple of months ago. We have another one in sight. As for the kayaks: we prefer a performance IK (Inflatable Kayak). I learned in a "Hardshell", but when it comes to anything over class III water, I get a bit nervous. I can "roll" a kayak....but the higher the class of water, the faster you need to roll back upright. Many kayakers instantaneously roll back upright. With me it takes a second or two. That's enough time to kiss a rock or two.
So, we tried out the inflatable kayaks last year. What a blast! Good up to class IV water. Oh, what are the classes of water? You can look here, just scroll down when you get there: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitewater
Karin and I took several trips last year for kayaking. South Platte River (just south of Denver, CO), Clear Creek (Golden, CO) and the Arkansas River (near Salida, CO). We truly love it! But rentals add up....so we're going to get our own gear for this trip. We will be near the Gauley and New Rivers in West Virginia. Many pictures to come!

1 comment:

  1. Sounds like a well thought out plan. Good luck.

    Steve and Denise

    ReplyDelete

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