June expenses

June came in at $1,570.10. About $250 over budget, and a big chunk of that came from eating out. We include eating out under the "Entertainment" column because it is somewhat discretionary, and we did that far more than normal in the month of June.

And of course a big part of our expenses for the month came from the fact that we flew to England! But, if you remove the travel expenses it was still a reasonable month, coming in at $859.00. Here's the breakdown...

Gasoline: We spent $132.82 on gasoline. Consider that this is as much as we spend in a month touring Mexico. And yet in June, we spent this much just going to Ottawa and back from Ruth's Dad's place! Actually, another $30 of that was to pay gas for Ruth's sister who took us down to Toronto airport.

Grocery: At $171.01, one of our lowest months ever. But it came at the expense of the entertainment column which you'll see further down. Also, we helped Ruth's Dad use up some items in his freezer while we were staying with him!

Alcohol: As expected, at $98.26. A little lower than normal because I had stocked up on beer in May, so May's expense was a little higher, and June's a little lower. Booze is slightly cheaper here so we'll see how July comes in.

Miscellaneous: Not bad, at $169.84. Nothing exceptional in June, but almost $100 was for local transportation including our London Oyster cards for the bus and underground (subway).

Entertainment: At $286.62, by far our most expensive month ever in this category. Considering that a lot of our attractions expenses are covered by the various tourist boards that we work with, this is almost all meals out. So we'll have to consider that this form of traveling may include higher than average expenses in this department. We knew it would be higher, but we didn't expect it to be this high. Will be interesting to see how we do in July and August.

Overnight: We didn't log any overnight expenses in June. We stayed with Ruth's Dad for the first week and a half, and then relatives, friends, and couchsurfing hosts for the balance of the month. We hope to continue with that for the next couple of months although we're not adverse to spending a few dollars in hostels as we go along.

Travel: Total of $711.55 in June. Our flight from Toronto to London was $655, and the balance was our long distance buses from London to Leeds, and Leeds to Bristol.

Our budget for July is $1,000 and that includes travel to where ever we decide to go next!