Cost to Cruise, July 2017

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.

Our cheapest month in a long, long time. We tried to stock up, but I’m starting to feel that I’d rather have a smaller number of provisions, and be able to easily access everything, then buy twenty bags of flour and not dig out the last one for months—only to find it full of weevils. We still go for pretty big grocery runs when access permits—sometimes we need to be remote for weeks at a time—but after Costa Rica, groceries should be both accessible and affordable for us. Waste not.

Numbers for July:

Marinas: Zero, baby!

Grocery: $741.46

Restaurant: $49.42

Supplies: $271.32

Booze: $8.58

Laundry: $55.25

Communications: $135

Entertainment: $18

Fuel: $30.74 diesel; $28.47 stove fuel

Water: $16

Ice Cream: $38.86

Transportation: $26

Boat Parts: $78.76

Education: $372

Grand Total: $1869.77

Notes on the above:

• We paid nothing in bank fees this month…I think. We’re getting much better at using our Charles Schwab account, and seeing those ATM fees refunded to us each month is charming.
• Ice cream does not take into account the free gelato I won on the morning net for knowing the smallest country in the world. Thanks, Christian!!
• Dig that drop in transportation costs! Despite the occasional taxi, especially for provisioning, we became pretty good with using the bus in Panama City.
• “Education” isn’t a category that usually shows up here; I think we’ve been putting museum fees into “entertainment,” and homeschooling stuff under “supplies,” but the kids’ camp at the Smithsonian was a major expense that needed to be itemized. When you don’t spend any money on marinas, you can afford camp!
• I can see how that number for laundry would lead you to believe that we did laundry twice, for around $27 each time; or maybe three times for $18; but no—we did one insanely expensive laundry run at a recommended place for $48, and then washed almost the same amount of laundry at a different spot for $7.25. Both were drop-offs, although the cheaper place didn’t do any folding. Avoid Freeway Laundry, people!
• Oh, is Spiderman Homecoming the only movie playing in English in the entire country of Panama? I guess we’ll see that, then.