Being Realistic or How Am I Going To Do This?

One of the two "mission-critical" items on today's to do list was to come up with a realistic budget for this four month excursion. I came up with a rough estimate on Monday from the 4-Hour Work Week dreamline exercise, but I knew that in order to make this work I needed to be honest with myself and really break down my costs.

 First was the cell phone, roughly $80/month for unlimited everything PLUS 5gb of High-speed hotspot data via T-Mobile. The hotspot is clutch for traveling and although T-Mobile f**ked me out of my data last cycle, it has been an affordable option compared to traditional home internet plans.

 Second on the list is gas. Roughly 5500 miles if I drove directly from stadium to stadium, but that won't likely happen so I rounded up to 6000, divided by 15mpg (gets you 400 gallons), times $2.50 per gallon (projected average gas price), gets us $1000 (I was never really a fan of showing my work, but this one is for you, the fan.) Out of all the estimates, this one feels true and if anything, it's probably on the high end.

 Next up is food. I've been spending about $300 a month on food so I figure we'll go with that. I know that I can spend less, plus mom and dad will probably feed me once or twice, and there are the holidays, but I'll probably want to buy an authentic cheesesteak in Philly so, yeah. We'll go with what I got.

 Now tickets and parking are kinda tricky. From what I saw, tailgating parking is about $50 a game no matter the venue, but I don't plan on going to the home games alone so I could bring a few friends along and have them chip in.  Tailgating is not required, but it's a HUGE part of the football experience and I want to see how some of the other teams' fans are holding their own.  Tickets I figured would be an average of $50 each by using my personal connections, via the respective Browns Backers clubs, or online through a number of channels. Plus, if the Browns season goes the way the past few have, people will be giving away their tickets towards the end of the season, but let's hope that my trip is extended by a few weeks...

 I have a bit of credit card debt so I had to figure in my monthly payments just to keep the creditors at bay.  I could just say "F**k it, try to find me, I don't have a permanent residence, good luck!", but I'm not that guy plus, karma.  If things work out well though, I'll be making good/decent money on the road and maybe I'll actually chip away at that debt.

 Last, but definitely not least is the transportation/mobile home/recreational vehicle.  When I did the initial expenditure assessment, I saw a Class C RV for $750 and said, "Oh yeah! That's all they cost."...uh no dummy.  Not to say that I can't get one for that price, but they're either a "Mechanic's Special" (doesn't run), "Handyman's Special" (needs a roof..like, the whole roof), or we go back and forth on email for awhile until I realize that my Spam Folder is filled with Viagra ads (did not willingly sign up for them, I swear.)  $3000 looked like a decent number for an older working RV after I fixed up the inside a bit.

 In classic 4HWW (4-Hour Work Week) style, I broke that cost down by monthly and daily cost.  I labeled them TMI (Total Monthly Income) and TDI (Total Daily Income), but those totals should be a little higher (multiplied by 1.3; 30% buffer for savings or safety) so we're looking at an acutal TMI of $2,769 and TDI of $92.30.

$90 a day to live out my dream of following my favorite football team for an entire season?  Game on.  Now we just need to figure out how to make that while living a nomadic life...

 Stay tuned.

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