Yes, I know...we never did publish our September expense report. I've been trying to be so good about that too, because I know that some of you are interested.
But rather than rehash old news, I'll just give you the total. We spent about $1,400 CAD in September. About $550 of that was motorhome related...new shocks, a new inverter, and the inspection and registration for Saskatchewan plates. Not a bad month overall...I wish October had been that cheap!
But obviously October was a big travel month for us and that entails a lot of expenses. The biggest of which was....
Gasoline: Yes, we spent $900 CAD ($725 USD) on fuel driving from Saskatchewan, Canada to Valle de Bravo, Mexico. All things considered, that's not bad. We had budgeted $1,000 CAD, so it was not unexpected.
Toll Roads: We spent $57 CAD in toll roads. Mostly when we crossed in to Mexico.
Propane: We filled Sherman's propane tank in Mexico towards the end of the month. Cost was 400 pesos ($32.80 CAD).
Grocery: Reasonable, at $466 CAD. But Sherman's fridge and freezer are far from full so we'll have to stock up again when we return in mid December.
Alcohol: Okay, after not drinking any alcohol all summer, we were due for a splurge in this category. But at $254 CAD, even we admit that we over did it. Oh well. Part of that is due to the ridiculous U.S. $ exchange rate. The U.S. is not the bargain it used to be.
Miscellaneous: Yikes. $863 CAD. The more major items included our Mexican motorhome insurance ($237), tourist cards ($54), motorhome permit for Mexico ($80) our last internet bill from the park ($129), Colombian immigration fee for Canadians ($146).
Entertainment: $225 CAD, most of it related to Kevin's weekend away with the boys at the beginning of October.
Motorhome: Another $113, mostly related to new front curtains that we bought.
Travel: At some point in December, I'll add up all of the Colombia costs to show you what our six week trip cost in total. In case any of you wish to partake in the same type of adventure! So I've expensed the airfare in November, even though we arrived here at the end of October. It will make the November expenses more accurate. But, we still had our airfare costs to Ottawa at the beginning of the month, so we still spent $663.74 CAD in October on travel. I guess when you consider that we were in four different countries though the month, that's not bad.
We spent a total of $3,623 CAD during the month of October.
2015 as been an expensive year for us! We're planning on cutting back for the next few months once our Colombia trip is over, so we should be back on track for the first part of 2016. Maybe we'll even have a couple of sub $1,000 months over the course of the winter. Hopefully!
your monthly expense reports are always great to see..money comes in and money goes out..
ReplyDeletenow as for the american dollar not being the bargain it use to be?...we have to agree on that..
...that dollar exchange can be a real 'kick in the pants'.
We know that some people like to see the expenses because it gives them an idea to what theirs might be if they want to start full-time RVing or travelling. Obviously it all depends on how they want to do it but at least it is a ballpark figure to start from. We also like to have it just for our own sake, as a reminder and to try and keep ourselves in line.
DeleteThe exchange rate was definitely a killer this year!
I personally like the current exchange rate---it was great visiting Vancouver Island last summer :)
ReplyDeleteI would love to make it through a single month of keeping all my receipts so that I could get an accurate idea of my expenses. So far I have made it 5 days---wish me luck over the next 25!
No doubt you would! :-) It is certainly a great deal for you Americans.
DeleteGood luck with keeping track of your expenses. I carrying around a little notebook with me everywhere and write the expenses down as they happen and at the end of the day Kevin will input them into the computer in our expenses file. If is much easier this way.