Frugal

Revisiting house guests and added expenses

Well our house guests (the in-laws) who visited us for two weeks are now gone back home. It was a nice visit and our family budget withstood the added expenses that I posted in a previous article found here - Preparing for House Guests and added Expenses. Today, I would like to revisit those items that I previously posted and add some additional comments on preparing for house guests and the added expenses.

The following list details the anticipated added expenses of house guests that I previously posted -

1. Food - The food budget saw a bit of a spike but I think it will be manageable for the month. Fortunately, my wife and I stocked up on a lot of food prior to my in-laws arrival which helped us eat in more than going out. In fact, my in-laws felt so bad that we were spending all the money on food that they took us out to dinner twice and paid!
2. Gas - While we did drive a lot when they were in town, I don’t believe it was too many more miles than we would normally drive. The one exception was an unexpected 90 mile round trip to the airport to pick up my brother-in-law who decided to come in for the 4th of July weekend.
3. Water - Unfortunately, the water bill will see a big spike in the next month. As anticipated, my father-in-law took his 20+ minute showers two times per day. Add on top of that my mother-in-law and brother-in-law taking added showers will increase the usage. During that time, I decided to shower at work during the week and limited myself on showering on the weekends at home. My wife also did an excellent job of managing the laundry duties and combining as many loads as possible. The dishwasher also ran once per day while they were in town instead of once every 3 or 4 days.
4. Electricity - The other problem expense during the visit is the added electricity bill. We ran the A/C more often and dropped the temperature from 84 degrees to 80 degrees. We had more lights on, ceiling fans runnings, and the tv was on more. We should be ok as we budget $150 per month for electricity and have not gone over $100 yet. We just wont be able to save as much this month.
5. Entertainment - The entertainment category was a nice surprise. While we had expected an increase in this category, we really did not spend very much money here. My in-laws took our 4-year old son out a lot on their own and paid for any costs (i.e. movies, etc.) which was nice. Anytime we did something together, my in-laws also picked up the tab to offset the money we had spent on food which also helped out a lot.

Forgotten Expense - One forgotten expense that I didn’t think of will be an increase in the gas bill. While it is summer and the furnace is not running, we still will see an increase in the monthly gas bill. The extra showers (hot water), dishwasher runs, and laundry cycles will add to our gas bill.

Overall, it was a very nice visit and we will miss our house guests. I feel fortunate to have family members who want to help out with the bills from time to time. In the case of my in-laws visit, they wanted to pay for things like eating out and entertainment expenses. We even got into an argument with them about a check they wrote us when they were leaving. They wanted to give us $200 for the food they ate at our house and the gas we spent while they visited. After a few hours of negotiations, we decided on $100 instead to offset any costs. While my wife and I are frugal in nature, we draw the line when it comes to money and family. We value our family much higher than our frugal ways and didn’t feel right taking the $100 check from my in-laws, but also knew that it made them feel better. My in-laws also told us they were going to come back for another week to visit at the beginning of August, so we told them we would use the money to buy food again and stock up for their return.

How do you handle situations with family or friends who want to pay? Do you take their money?

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