We spent a total of $1,343 in the month of March. Not bad, but a little higher than we planned partly because we pre-paid for Sherman's storage fees for the summer months. Also spent a little more for gasoline and toll roads. In fact, we were a little higher than we wanted to be in just about every category!
Gasoline: We put $132.90 worth of fuel in the little blue car this month, and then another $42.50 worth in Sherman just to freshen up his fuel supply! So a total of $175.40 for the month.
Toll Roads: Way over budget at $94.38, but what can we say, we just wanted to get home when we did that long drive from Puebla.
Groceries: A little high at $253.66, but we had to stock up on a few things when we arrived back to Sherman where the cupboards were bare!
Alcohol: A pretty average month, at $128.68.
Miscellaneous: At $287.65, this is mostly where we were overbudget. We lumped our summer storage fees for Sherman into here. Other larger expenses were internet ($42), dentist ($34) and grandson Cameron's birthday ($50).
Entertainment: The only category on budget! $93.03 on entertainment, and this is almost all meals out although we did spent $20 or so on Oaxaca sightseeing.
Overnight: $309.85. This was three weeks at Hacienda Contreras as well as a fairly expensive week in Oaxaca City ($161.85). This was our highest monthly expenses in this category since we were in Slovakia last August!
Overall, we're happy with the month. April will be probably over $1,000 due to fuel costs and stocking up on things for our time in Saskatchewan. And then May through September will be very cheap. Probably our cheapest summer ever!
I think you do well with your expenses overall. Must be quite difficult keeping them down as you need down time as well!
ReplyDeleteVery impressive. You all do an awful lot and make it go a long ways.
ReplyDeleteBe sure to load up your car in the States with groceries before you cross into Canada - food costs are getting out of control here!
ReplyDeleteDon't worry we will be, along with a full tank of gas. I think we will have sticker shock when we see the prices there.
DeleteStill looks good, especially for those you think you can't live on anything less than 3K to 5K. We manage a whole house, rving, insurance, three vehicles, medical insurance, etc. on about $1500 a month. I guess if you have 5K a month to burn, that's what you can burn. I just hope my mattress never catches on fire!!!! Sure do miss Whiskey! QEPD
ReplyDeleteYep, we have now problem keeping the expenses down for the most part.
DeleteWe miss Whiskey too!
Hola Kevin and Ruth:
ReplyDeleteIt's been great getting to know you here at Hacienda Contreras; I'll be heading out on Tuesday and found out this evening that I have more time than I thought for my return trip to California so may do a little sight-seeing and boon-docking in the Southwest on my way to the Sacramento area. I'll have my blog going ASAP when I either get a TELCEL stick or get somewhere where my Mac will have Internet access. Be safe, have fun, learn lots and enjoy life.
mary-pat
It was great meeting you Mary-Pat, safe travels yourself and enjoy your time in Mexico. Hopefully we can meet again some day soon.
Deleteok ,,,
ReplyDeletei know im going to get a raft of S#$% about this but looking back over the last year,, plus seems every other mo, you saying your over budget,,,,, Alcohol: A pretty average month, at $128.68 x 12 =1500$ +/- = 4.20 $ pr, day yes i know it,s been lower and higher how can you say over budget way back when it was 100$ budget,,, alcohol is higher then your gas pr, year( yes i know you sitting still) love your post however you need to dump your alcohol in to the entertainment side,, that side is under budget
love your post have a safe trip (bring long johns)
seems every other mo, you saying you're over budget...
ReplyDeleteBut that means that every other month we're also UNDER budget! :-)
Swings and roundabouts on the expenses. We started out on almost daily expenses,quickly moved on to weekly then monthly as our rental income came in monthly . Now it is almost an annual thing as different seasons seem to bring different expenses and it still all evens out. The main thing is finding a way to do things within your budget or ways to increase your income and you pretty much have it stitched up. Great work.
ReplyDeleteWorking on our budget monthly works best for us. If you look around there is a lot to do that is free or next to nothing. As you know we like hiking so by doing lots of that we see many things others miss and usually it is free. As for having things "stitched up" we learnt from the best. Thanks Glen and Steve for being such a great example!
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