As promised, we are sharing our cruising expenses for all the world to see. The totals were both not so shocking and a little shocking at the same time. (Check out that eating out category! Must work on that one immediately.) We spent a great deal more than we normally expect to on boat bits this month as we were still working on the boat a good portion of this past month (the new mast tangs alone were $930CAD). Thankfully we won’t be anywhere near a West Marine for another six weeks. We also purchased the Canadian charts and the Dreamspeaker guidebook for the west coast of Vancouver Island which we should have purchased used before we left. Sadly, the numbers are a little lower than reality as we have been in Canada since July 11th and our dollar has been worth only $0.95 of Canadian dollars and I’ve not made the conversion in my notes. We also are currently paying 1% International Service Fees when using our credit union ATM/debit/Visa cards which also is not in the totals. Here you go:
S/V Wondertime’s July 2011 Cruising Expenses
activities – $41
allowance (leah) – $8
boat bits – $1,236
books & charts – $326
cat supplies – $10
clothing – $20
computer – $11
diesel – $364
eating out – $376
garbage – $2
dinghy gas – $51
groceries – $354
laundry – $11
moorage – $127
personal care – $36
shower – $1
supplies – $39
toys – $46
transportation – $13
wine/beer – $77
total: $3,149
Sara – you guys might want to check out opening up a Capitol One checking account (see what options they offer for a free account) – there are never foreign transaction fees on ATM withdrawals (I think I pay $2 per ATM transaction though so I do a few big transactions when needed). I’ve been using my Ing online account to move money easily (for free) from our other bank accounts to our Capitol One checking account for all cash withdrawals that we make in Spain. We use another credit card that has no foreign transaction fees (British Airways, and we’re racking up FF miles) for purchases since banks always get the best exchange rates. Those small fees add up!
Thanks for sharing that. Knowing how much to budget for our trip is just something we gather from various places. right now it sits at $3k a month, which seems to fit the month of July for you.
Hi Danielle~ our budget is actually $1000-1500/month so we have some trimming to do. Thankfully our numbers for August should be closer to target as we are spending more time away from town.
Oof.