Well July was another expensive month. We did a lot of driving, and with two vehicles, so we bought a lot of gasoline. And, I had my border visa thing for $585, so that upped our miscellaneous expenses.
Gasoline: $834. We put $212 in the little car, and $622 in the motorhome. And we drove 1,050 miles (1,700 kms) so that's not bad, all things considered. August will be much cheaper because Sherman is parked for the month, but September will be expensive again. Oh, and Sherman is sitting with pretty much a full tank right now, so that will give us a head start to Septembers gas expenses.
Propane: $82. We hadn't put any propane in since May, and filled up on July 30, so the tank is full and we won't be using much this month.
Grocery: $536. We stocked up on a lot of cheaper items in the U.S. so that we wouldn't have to buy them in Canada. Plus, there's $50 worth of maple syrup in that total as well. August should be much cheaper.
Alcohol: $165. Again, we stocked up as much as we reasonably could with cheap U.S. booze. I refuse to buy ANY alcohol in Ontario, so our expenses in the alcohol column will be pretty low for August. That's not to say I won't skip over to Quebec for a box of beer though. In Quebec, beer is sold in corner stores and grocery stores so they don't have to pay ridiculous union salaries or Ontario Liquor Commission and Beer Store markups. We are right on the border, so it's easy to save at least $10 on a box of 24 beer by going to Quebec.
Miscellaneous: $910. Even without my $585 U.S. border fee, it was a fairly expensive month in this column. August will be much cheaper though.
Entertainment: $222. Considering this includes 3 meals out, and our $110 day at the Cranmore Adventure Park, we're pretty happy that we can have fun and do the things we want to for very little money.
Overnight expenses: $142. This includes $30 worth of electrical expenses that we gave to our couchsurfing host back in May when it was cold and we were plugged into her electric for a couple of weeks. Other than that, we paid out $112 for seven nights of camping (average of $16 per night). The rest of the month we boondocked for free.
Motorhome expenses: $132. This was mostly for the three new window blinds, but includes an oil change and a bottle of fibreglass polish I wanted to try.
So, about $3,000 for the month. But, August will be much cheaper, before September gets expensive again with our trip south. Then, we have six months or so in Mexico, so provided there aren't any major unexpected expenses, we know we can live the way we want to for $1,200 a month there.
I am not even going to look at our expenses for July. What with buying the new fiver and hitches and tires and on and on. So I'm starting new for August and trying to forget July even happened.
ReplyDeleteWay to go you two....we haven't been far enough to budget as of yet..but our day is coming...take care and be safe :)
ReplyDeleteNot too bad on the expenses considering all the extras. We have been averaging about $2300 a month since 2006. Including membership maintenance fees and 5-6 months in Ontario. Ontario is much more expensive and USA much less so our average works good for us.
ReplyDeleteWe don't do a budget! If we need something we buy it or fix it or repair it. We work 7 months of the year to pay for the 5 months we travel so we have very limited funds but somehow it just seems to work out. We don't eat in restaurants other then Mexico once or twice per week and are happy to entertain ourselves. Sometimes Colin gets after me re the wine buy but heh you only live once. I guess if we ran out of money we would just come back home and work!!
ReplyDeleteIn my spreadsheet, I just list the alcohol under misc:) I am making a note to try and never buy any alcohol in Canada.
ReplyDeleteWow, it is expensive there. You need to come back down to Mexico. We are doing our expenses for this trip. We are staying in one place but it is way, way cheaper here.
ReplyDeletechris
Wish our expenses were that low. I think you did very well.
ReplyDeleteJim and Sandie...Yep, don't think I would want to know how much was spent either if we were to buy all those new things in one month. Now you can go out there and enjoy all those new things.
ReplyDeleteRick and Elaine...It is interesting to keep track of the expenses, just so you can see where the money goes each month. It give you and idea of what you will spend over a year and then you can make adjustments where you need to in your budget.
George and Suzie...I am sure our totals will average out over the year as well. We like to try and keep them down as much as we can though.
Contessa...Not everybody budgets, but for us we like to know where we are spending money and if we need to cut back on anything or even if we can splurge every once in a while because we have done so well. We too, will work if we run short on money. It's nice having these options.
Chuck and Anneke...I think we started out doing that, but then we wanted to see how much we actually spent on alcohol on a monthly basis. Nope don't want to buy alcohol here, bring it through the border with you and pay the duty on it if you have to.
Chris...Another two months and we will be there and looking forward to it! Hope you had fun at Hacienda Contreras.
Margie and Roger...Funny how we all look at things differently, to us this is very high. Thanks!
Kevin, Ruth and Whiskey