Cost to Cruise: October

Boilerplate disclaimer: this is not what it will cost you to go cruising.

People’s constant advice, discussing cruising finances, always seems to be: It’ll cost what you have. We did not find this helpful in our planning, however true it may be. What we’re trying to show is the cost to us, more or less, for one month to go cruising. We’re going for monthly expenses, because they’re easier for us to track; so you won’t see the boat insurance amortized, you’ll just see that expense when we pay it. It won’t be what you’ll spend, but it was the kind of information that helped us out when we were trying to wrap our heads around that magical number for our cruising kitty.

Well, I mean…once again, we did pretty ok on our daily expenses; once again, our budget was blown to pieces by an unusual expense. Hopefully, we are getting all these big-ticket one-off items taken care of up front, right?

Marinas: $420 
Grocery: $656.85 
Restaurant: $213.85 
Supplies: $295.77 
Booze: $36.15 
Ice Cream: $61.50 
Laundry: $38.50 
Transportation: $0 
Communications: $118.52 
Entertainment: $145.98 
Pump Out: $25 
Boat Parts: $1049.06 
Fuel: $71.77 diesel; $25 stove fuel; $12.80 dinghy 
Boat Work: $1100

Grand total: $4271.65

Of course, the big story this month in terms of money was the replacement of the rear main seal on the diesel engine, and rebuilding the transmission. That took a full week, and was not cheap in terms of labor, parts or dock space. Our entertainment expenses took a jump this month, too–it turns out, once you leave DC, most museums are not free. Can you believe it?

We also did some prep this month for leaving the country–ordering additional homeschool supplies that we don’t expect to touch for a solid year, and stocking up on some charts. That’ll be a trend we’ll continue into November; we’ll be filling the boat with non-perishable food, both for the Bahamas (where food is expensive and not always available) and for Cuba (where there is no food). Will November be the month where booze expenditures finally exceed ice cream? Stay tuned!