Our budget in May went to crap.
That’s about the most polite way of saying it. We knew going in that we’d likely go over budget to some extent as our accommodation costs were due to be higher than normal. That’s because we weren’t going to have many opportunities to redeem points in a cost-effective way in Vermont and Canada.
That wasn’t the biggest reason for our overspend though, although most of it was unexpected and somewhat unfortunate. Here’s a list of all our stats – including our budget – from May 2018.
Miles Driven
We started May with 87,871 miles on the clock. By the end of the month that was up to 90,845 miles, which means we drove 2,974 miles.
That’s more than our average distance, but it’s not surprising that it was so high last month. We drove from Ohio to Vermont to Montreal to Ottawa to Toronto to New York and finally across to South Bend, Indiana.
I’m expecting our mileage in June will be much lower as we’ll be spending nearly the entire month in Wisconsin. We’ll be staying in various different places, but our distance driven should still be far lower than almost 3,000 miles.
Money Spent
I mentioned earlier that our budget went to crap. How bad was it? Well, our daily budget is $100, so we had $3,100 to play with in May. If this is your first time reading about our stats, that $100 has to cover accommodation, gas, food, activities, etc.
By the end of the month, we’d spent $5,005.05. That means we were $1,905.05 over budget – ouch!
I’ll admit, it was depressing looking at our budget spreadsheet as each day progressed in May, especially as it ballooned towards the end of the month. Many of these expenses were unexpected, so I guess we’re going to have to try accounting for these bumps along the way a little better.
For example, it cost us $300 to fix our car window after someone broke into our car and stole a suitcase. Shae’s had issues with her wisdom teeth for years and it finally got to the point where she needed to have them out; dentist fees last month came to $900.
Those expenses, along with the higher than average accommodation costs, account for the majority of the overspend.
Here’s a breakdown of our spending for May 2018…
…and a line graph with our spending so far this year.
Looking ahead to the next couple of months, I’m a little more hopeful. I think June should be on budget, while July will hopefully be under budget as our accommodation costs should be a little lower thanks to a few stays using our hotel points.
Points Earned
The majority of our stays in May were either with friends or at Airbnbs. We therefore didn’t earn many points from hotel stays, although we did pick up some points along the way due to credit card spend and renewals.
- IHG Rewards Club – 500
- Hilton Honors – 15,349
- SPG – 11,079
- Marriott Rewards – 329
- World of Hyatt – 30,104 (30,000 was transferred in from Chase Ultimate Rewards)
- Radisson Rewards (used to be called Club Carlson) – 47,200 (40,000 from renewal of credit card)
- Choice Privileges – 0
- Wyndham Rewards – 0
- Hotels.com Welcome Rewards Credits – 0
- Chase Ultimate Rewards – 6,035
Points Redeemed
Although we only had two nights as award stays in May, we redeemed quite a few points during the month. That’s because we booked several award stays ready for June and July.
- IHG Rewards Club – 30,000
- Hilton Honors – 0
- SPG – 3,000
- Marriott Rewards – 0
- World of Hyatt – 30,000
- Radisson Rewards (used to be called Club Carlson) – 75,000
- Choice Privileges – 8,000
- Wyndham Rewards – 0
- Hotels.com Welcome Rewards Credits – 0
- Chase Ultimate Rewards – 30,000
Total Points Balances
Overall, there weren’t that many changes in our points balances – here’s where they stood at the end of the month.
- IHG Rewards Club – 439,807
- Hilton Honors – 741,932
- SPG – 113,465
- Marriott Rewards – 313,309
- World of Hyatt – 15,227
- Radisson Rewards (used to be called Club Carlson) – 273,533
- Choice Privileges – 34,903
- Wyndham Rewards – 45,000
- Hotels.com Welcome Rewards Credits – 9
- Chase Ultimate Rewards – 392,531
Here’s the total points balances in table format:
Blog Stats
We were asked in the past for some stats about our blog each month, so here they are:
- Number of blog posts published – 26
- Page views – 12,158
Final Thoughts
Our budget for May was more depressing than the original series finale of Prison Break. Going more than 60% over budget was painful, but thankfully we have more than enough in savings to cover it.
It does mean though that we’ll have to be very careful with our budget for the rest of the year to try and get it back to where it should be.
TENT. HA!