Cost to Cruise: January and February

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

Pig roast. Free to us, and amazing!!
Pig roast. Free to us, and amazing!!

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.

We’re going for a combination situation, here. Divide by two.

Marinas: $787.8 
Grocery: $329.46 
Restaurant: $687.20
Hotel: $451.5
Boat Work: $55 
Supplies: $1129.81
Booze: $90.50
Ice Cream: $0 
Laundry: $8 
Transportation: $1263.10
Communications: $276 
Entertainment: $107
Pump Out: $0
Boat Parts: $169 
Fuel: $187.18 diesel; $0 stove fuel; $32.47 dinghy 
Immigration/Customs: $574.50
Water: $0
Garbage Disposal: $4
Bank Fees: $158
Grand Total: $6310.52

A couple of takeaways from the above:

  • While we always say that our experience is unique to us, it’s really true this month; you will not in any way be able to devise a budget based on the overland travel we did. We sometimes stayed with family; we had family pay for all kinds of stuff, especially meals and housing; this just isn’t an accurate representation of how much money was spent in the last couple of months. And yet, it’s still a lot of money!
  • We had some issues on the electronics front. We trashed an iPad, and replaced it with Christmas credit from family; that cost is not reflected in the above, since we reason it was a gift. We also had a heart-stopping few days of the laptop not working, and quickly ordered a backup, which was ferried to us by Michu’s sister. Of course, now our current laptop works fine, but we have a backup all ready to go. That accounts for pretty much all of the “supplies” category.
  • So. Much. Bucket. Laundry.
  • Bank fees is a whopper, huh? We included expenses for changing money, which were quite high. Unavoidable.

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