Mystery Shopping Road Trip: Week Four Recap

I have now completed 79 of the 157 shops on this route, including 19 last week.  With only 78 shops to go, I am now at the halfway mark!

Last week I started in New Orleans, worked along the Mississippi and Florida Gulf Coast, and then skipped over to the Georgia Coast.  I ended my week in Myrtle Beach.

Week Four Gross:  $1574
Week Four Expenses:  $611
Week Four Net Income:  $963
Net of Trip Home:  $496

I set a goal of having $879 in weekly net income.  I did better than this last week excluding my trip home the week prior.  I spent $467 including roundtrip air, rental car and airport parking.

It was a slower week because I was unable to work on Labor Day and on Saturday I was only able to complete one shop (many dealerships are closed on Saturday).  I kept my food expenses low by mystery shopping three restaurants.  I have only been eating out at dinner every day.  Breakfast is provided by the hotel and lunch I snack on fruit or granola bars.

All my expenses are being tracked through four categories:  hotel, food, gas and other.  I don't worry too much about gas - the only way I control that is by driving the speed limit and filling up when I see lower prices.  Once again I find my food spending surprisingly low.  Last week I spent $22 on food.  Hotel expenses remained the highest cost, $425.  I spent $151 on gas and $13 on clothes.