After today Steve has just 9 more working days to go and boy is he thrilled about that.  He gave three weeks notice last week Monday and was worried that management would be angry with him.  Instead, they were sad because he is such a good worker and told him he could have a job back at any time.  When these free cruises came up we thought about asking for a four month leave of absence but Steve was sure they would never go for it.  However, returning to cold Colorado in January is not appealing so I’m happy we will be traveling longer.

A storage unit finally came open a week ago and we have already taken about 30 boxes over.  And more luck came our way when the manager at the storage place said that because I had been so nice and so patient she was giving us an additional free month on top of the free month for paying one year in advance.  And as I was filling out the contract she lowered our monthly rent by $10.

I just love free money but don’t we all?  Here’s more:

1) If you shop on Amazon you have probably seen the offer for an Amazon credit card and money back.  I finally bit which I should have done a long time ago because now we are receiving 3% cash back on all of our Amazon purchases.  I applied at the same time as purchasing a new camera lens and received a $75 reduction on the lens. Now when I make a purchase the 3% from the previous purchase is deducted from the final total on the current purchase.  And I use Amazon a LOT!  No tax, free shipping, no gas in our car to drive drive drive = no brainer.  I even buy my tea online.

2)  Capitol One advertises no transaction fees on foreign purchases so they now have our business too.  For opening an account and using the card within the first 60 or 90 days (can’t remember which) we received a $100 bonus.  And we are getting 2% cash back there too plus no interest until summer 2015.   No brainer to charge our entire trip on Capitol One, and of course we will pay it off  as soon as we return and avoid any interest charges, and have the nice 2% rewards bonus.

And speaking of Amazon, you may know about their associate sales program where people can earn commissions on sales through their websites.  If you see a link to Amazon on a website that you visit and click on it to do your shopping, that person receives some income from your purchase.  It costs you nothing.  There are a couple of RVers that I try and spread the wealth to with my purchases:

Barbara at http://dewelldesigns.blogspot.com really depends on this bit of extra income as she is saving up for the tires she will need in another year or so. 

Kevin and Ruth at http://travelwithkevinandruth.com are the epitome of frugal RVers who have entertained me and my family for several years with travels far and wide on an extreme budget.

Before we left for Europe we bought a one year policy of  travel insurance from Patriot (Patriot is part of IMGlobal) for both Steve and I.  Three days ago on the 8th I sent a short email asking that it be cancelled and what paperwork do I need to fill out.  Yesterday I received a reply that $xxxx would be credited back to our credit card.  This morning I checked online and the refund is already there.  That is service with a capitol S!!

This past month was fantastic considering we traveled so much in France.  Our month actually ends at midnight but we aren’t going anywhere today to spend money.  Again, these figures have been converted to dollars.

Groceries	288.56
Diesel Fuel	660.23
Overnight/Water/Dumping	81.51
Propane	52.51
Toll Roads	79.37
Eating Out	93.21
Internet	5.58
Laundry/Showers	14.30
Medical	Zero
Supplies/Miscellaneous	Zero
Entry Fees	78.08
TOTAL	$1353.35

Who would have ever thought you could travel in Europe for a month in an RV for just $1350?  That’s about what it cost us each month in Mexico.  (Although in Mexico we stayed in full hookup campgrounds every night, ate out often and also had someone doing our laundry every week). 
And we were lucky to have no medical and we bought absolutely nothing – not even a postcard.  It’s really easier to not buy things in Europe vs. the US because the prices are so ridiculously expensive here that temptation is nil. 
And we probably should be in the Hall of Shame for not eating one single meal in a French restaurant.  Our eating out consisted of ice cream cones/coffee and cake in a café/ and McDonalds a couple of times.
Down the street is the best supermarket we’ve been in this trip so we did stock up yesterday and shouldn’t be buying many more groceries before leaving.