Crunching the Numbers

Guess what.  Its budget time.  Time to find out what all this shit will cost.  Time to break down every bit of enjoyment and adventure and assign a dollar value (with taxes included).

You see, if we start the budget process now, we can walk away as soon as it starts to look scary.  We can take time to mentally process the numbers and go back.  After one or two nervous breakdowns, it will get done, right?  I hope so.

I started by figuring out all the lodging, then food, then fuel.  I then had a panic attack and had to stop.  I think the total for all of this was around 3 grand.

Second round will be adding in required equipment like trailer rentals, parking the return vehicle at Miami airport for a week and any maintenance costs associated with the truck or bike.

Keep in mind that this will include a 5-day family trip to Orlando with all the trimmings.

I also need to factor in my flight back to Miami from Houston and the family’s flights from Houston to Miami.  Remember, the plan is for me to drive the Armada (with a bike trailer) out to Miami before the trip and then fly home.  J and the kids would then fly out to Miami, pick up the Armada and meet me down in Key Largo for the last leg of the ride to Key West.  We will then trailer the bike and drive north to Wally…ahem…Disney World.

I would also like to add a few hundred dollars to donate to a charity while on the ride. (explained in a future blog post)

My desire to stash away cash is always in a war with my desire to go do things.  College is expensive.  You can never save enough for retirement (I have real world examples of how important this is). But you have to live for the here and now as well.

As all of this adds up, I am forced to ask the difficult question.  If we can’t afford this trip right now, what do I do?  Do I change the plan and maybe shorten the route/activities?  I guess we could just hit the Texas Gulf coast.  I could then meet J and the kids in South Padre.  This would be lot cheaper. 

Or do I just reschedule the whole damn thing for another year when things look better? 

No. 

There are always 100 reasons not to do something. 

Stash the cash now, suck it up, go have the adventure. 

In 15 years, my kids won’t remember how much money I saved in 2012, they will remember that Mom and Dad took them to Key West, Disney World and across the country back home, all of us together.