After five years on the road, I’ve think I’ve finally come up with a good template for tracking our full-time RVing home and business expenses.
Sure, there are household budgeting apps out there, but as business owners, they don’t work for us. We’re forced to keep one Quickbooks file for our business, and another for personal expenses, and the only way to get a complete picture of where our money is going is to plug all of the monthly numbers into a spreadsheet.
I’m happy to share my full-timing spreadsheet with you here, as long as it’s for your own personal use.
Each Dollar Gets a Name
Monthly budgets fluctuate throughout the year depending on when things like dues, insurance and taxes hit your wallet. As Dave Ramsey says, the best way to keep a household debt-free is to assign each dollar a name at the beginning of every month. You must create a new budget forecast at the start of every month.
I’m no spreadsheet guru, but so far this my best one. Some line items are specific to our business needs and lifestyle, so feel free to edit away. If you see any glaring errors or have suggestions for improvement, let us know.
Happy Holidays! Here’s my gift to you; a way to keep track of where your money’s going in 2013. Enjoy.
Hi there. How is Wyatt doing?
Cindy you are so kind, thanks for asking. He’s updated in his blog here. So far so good, just waiting on the final (we hope) ultrasound to make sure the antibiotic regimen is working. It’s impossible to tell because the infection is internal. We’re waiting with paws and fingers crossed though. Merry Howlidays to you and your pack!
Fabulous. . .we are Dave Ramsey advocates as well. . .and have even taught his classes.
I always tell newbies. . .debt and full timing don’t mix very well. . .’cause there’s always gong to be an incident. . .not necessarily an emergency. . .but incidents usually always COST. . .JMO! 🙂
Thanks for sharing,
Janice
ReadyToGoFullTimeRVing Blog
FaceBook.com/ReadyToGoFullTimeRVing
Janice, I would love to meet you some time! Jim and I have thought about teaching FPU whenever we’ve stopped somewhere long enough. I’d love to hear your experience.
I’m so glad to hear you’re spreading the message that debt and full-timing don’t mix. Debt is the antithesis of this “free” lifestyle. It really weighs you down, and is such a bad idea to have especially when you’re a newbie and still getting your bearings and learning how to make a living on the road.
I’m headed over to Like your FB page, I haven’t seen it before! Thanks for reading.
I agree – wow! Thanks. I am going to retweet this! Very generous of you all.
Hey Randy, nice to see you here! Thanks for the link love.
Wow! Thanks for sharing. Now I have more items to add to our spreadsheet.
Aww thanks. I wasn’t sure if I should omit my own line item names, like expenses for our property, but I figured other folks could just type over them with their own unique needs. Glad you like it!