December Expenses and 2015 year end financial review

Considering that we explored Colombia for the first two weeks of the month, and we had some travel related costs to get back to Mexico and the motorhome, it was a fairly reasonable month in the expense department.

December came out to a total of $1,567 CAD. For those of you who think in USD terms, simply subtract about 25%.

We didn't spend any money in December on gasoline, toll roads, or propane. Sherman sat for the month, although the propane tank is close to empty and will need to be refilled today or tomorrow.

Groceries: We spent $217 on groceries for the month. Most of that was since we got back to Sherman on December 15th, since the fridge was pretty empty. The first two weeks in Colombia, we ate out a lot, and that is reflected in "entertainment" expenses below.

For the year, we averaged $408 a month. The summer months averaged $503 per month while in Canada, with the winter months averaging $340 per month.

Alcohol: Not bad, at $164. Over the years, this tends to be about average. We don't buy booze during the summer months, so the yearly average is skewed and doesn't have any relevance. But while off the wagon, our average month in 2015 was $166.

Miscellaneous: For December, our miscellaneous expenses were pretty good, coming in at $184. Any month this category is under $200 is a good month! Unfortunately, we didn't have many months like this in 2015, with the monthly average coming in at a whopping $471.

We had to replace both laptops this year, as well as some dental work for Ruth, and some fairly major preventative maintenance expenses on the little blue car. Hopefully 2016 will be a little cheaper in this department!

Entertainment: Considering we ate out a lot for the first two weeks, the $235 we spent for the month sounds cheap, and it was. But, we hardly spent anything in the last two weeks of the month.

This is another category where we don't spend anything during our time in Canada. While we weren't in Canada, we averaged $237 per month, which includes all meals out.

Overnight: This includes all RV overnight expenses as well as hostels, hotels, etc. In December, we spent $355, which is the hostels in Colombia for the first two weeks, and the RV parking for Sherman here in Valle de Bravo. Again, we don't spend any money in this category while in Canada (except for Kevin's weekend getaway with his friends).

While we're not in Canada, our overnight expenses for the year averaged $226 per month. This is slightly skewed to the high side because of November when we spent $723 while touring Colombia.

Motorhome: We have hardly spent any money on Sherman over the past 4 years, but this year we had to do some maintenance. In total, we spent $1,900 on repairs and maintenance in 2015. Glad I was able to do most of the repair work myself, so the majority of that $1,900 was for parts. If we would have had to pay somebody, the figure would have been much higher!

Travel: This category includes all trains, planes, and long distance buses. We spent $412 in December, and $2,600 total for the year. When you consider that included being on 12 different airplanes and in 10 different airports we think we did pretty good coming up with some cheap airfare deals. Who says it's expensive to travel??

Our 2015 flight map!

The first three months of 2016 should all be fairly inexpensive. We're hoping to average under $1,000 per month for January, February, and March, but only time will tell!

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