10 parks in 10 days!

So by now you’ve seen our photos, and hopefully, read some of the stories about our amazing 10 day National Parks trip. You may have even read my post about Jeff’s itinerary and budget goals. THIS post is to show you how much we REALLY spent, and give you an idea of how much saving you’ll need to do to take a similar trip.

Food – Goal: $500.00  Actual: $720.73

Lodging – Goal: $200.00 Actual: $250.68

Gas – Goal: $350.00 Actual: $365.97

Souveniers: $257.52

Other: $214.26

Park Pass: $80.00

Rental Car: $497.10

Total – Goal: $1700.00 Actual: $2386.26 

Difference: 686.26

So here’s the thing. We did a really good job eating the groceries we purchased. We ate more peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on this trip than I ate in my entire middle school career. But, our food budget was off for two reasons:
1. We didn’t anticipate just how much coffee we would be purchasing while driving anywhere from 200-400 miles a day. Coffee alone cost us an additional $75.00, and that doesn’t include the coffee we were making ourselves each morning over our MSR stove. To save money: Drink water, or make more coffee each morning and fill a thermos.
2. We didn’t account for the meal prices in Vegas, San Francisco, and Salt Lake City. A burger and a beer for each of us turned into a $100 meal in the blink of an eye. We didn’t let it bother us though because these 3 nights were hotel nights. In our minds, we got hot showers, warm beds, put real clothes on, and deserved a $100 meal for being as good as we were during the rest of the trip. To save money: Grab a sub and diet coke at Jimmy Johns.

Our Lodging costs were only slightly off, and this reflects the fact that we were unable to backcountry camp (free). So in a few places, we had to pay for campsites when we hadn’t originally budgeted for it.

The gas budget was pretty spot on. $15.97 over. That’s only 3 gallons in some states! Great work Jeff! 😀

We didn’t originally budget for souvenirs so that was an added cost. However, we are so happy we sent postcards to ourselves and to our families. It is also possible that we came home with some puzzles for us, trinkets for our parents, National Parks coloring books for Jeff’s nieces, etc. All of these gifts, in our mind, were worth the spend. A trip like this is one to share and one to remember! To save money: Only purchase postcards. Postcards are typically anywhere from .24-.95 cents!

The “Other” category where we spent $214.00 includes things like wood, parking fees in San Fran, a cab ride in Vegas, stamps for our postcards and more. (Not originally budgeted for). To save money: Don’t gamble. Yes. We spent $120 in Vegas on slot machines and poker. Whoops!

I would highly suggest planning for your “other” category. Just know that sticking to your budget 100% is less than likely. Things come up. Keep some extra cash on you for the unexpected.

The difference in our goal budget and actual spend was $611.26, but if you take away the 2 things we hadn’t originally budgeted for (Souveniers and Other) we were only off by $214.48. For a 10 day trip, where we had no REAL idea what we were getting ourselves into, I would have to say that’s pretty great!

Other budget secrets:

FLIGHTS: Flights were free! Jeff travels for work. He sometimes flies on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. He flew so much last year that not only did he accrue all kinds of frequent flyer points, he also achieved companion status on Southwest Airlines. For those of you who don’t know, this means that he can name a companion and they can fly for free with him for an entire calendar year. That’s me!

HOTELS: As previously mentioned, Jeff travels a lot, which means he has also gathered a plethora of hotel points and free nights to use, so we used them. All 3 hotel nights on our trip were free!

RENTAL CAR: Guess what? Jeff travels a lot. This often includes renting a car. Lots of car rentals = lots of points = free rental days. We used 3 free days to help cut the cost of this trip.

If you don’t travel for work and don’t have these types of perks, keep an eye on prices, holiday specials, etc. and open up a frequent flyer, hotel, and car rental account. You will receive promotional emails and notifications that could help you get your trip cost down too! Many airlines also have credit cards that help you earn points for flights, or whatever else you may want to use them for (I recently paid for TSA precheck with points I’ve earned flying with Southwest). If you keep up with your credit card payments, this can be a great way to earn free flights.
P.S. Southwest points don’t expire! So start saving now!

~Adventure is out there!
Julia