We spent a total of $2,523 CAD ($1,892 USD) for the month.
(The following figures are in Canadian dollars. For USD equivalent, you can subtract about 25%)
Gasoline: We spent $753 on gasoline for the motorhome during the month of April. But also, we had rented a car at the beginning of the month and shared the gas expense with Helen and Tony so we paid out $97.50 in gas for the rental car as well. Man we put a lot of miles on that little rental car! What a fun time we had. Total gasoline for the month was $850.50.
Toll Roads: $19.50 to go through the Zion Tunnel.
Propane: We filled up the tank just before crossing in to Canada. Total was $41.
Grocery: A pretty good month, but then again we ate out a lot during the first two weeks...but not at all during the second two weeks. And, we stocked up on a few things before coming back into Canada. Total for groceries was $430 which is better than expected.
Alcohol: Higher than normal, at $191, but we're blaming that on Helen and Tony. That's our story and we're sticking to it. But, no more booze expense for the next five months!
Miscellaneous: A little on the high side of normal, but we were on holidays for the first two weeks of the month. Major expenses were our share of the car rental at $134, motorhome insurance at $69, and a huge internet bill at $164. Part of that was my mistake because we refilled our Verizon prepaid account twice at 5 GB rather than once at 10 GB. Still, Verizon prepaid is expensive! We spent a total of $505 in this category.
Entertainment: Again, a little high at $276, but it's actually a lot high when you consider it was all spent in the first two weeks of the month! Yep...we ate out a lot during our two week holiday!
Overnight: Campground fees came to $185. We were sharing the costs with Helen and Tony for the first two weeks, so that made it manageable...and we did a lot of free camping during the last two weeks.
Motorhome: I bought the oil and filter for $26...now I just have to make the time to do the job! Sherman is due for some clean oil!
So, a total of $2,523 for the month.
The next five months will be quite a bit lower than that! Although, I do have some expenses coming up for the motorhome, one of which is new tires. So that will add quite a bit on to our May expenses. Still, the big bills are pretty much done until we take off again in October.
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Totally agree on the Verizon- what CAN we do??
ReplyDeleteDon't go on the internet unless it really matters. And use more free wifi from libraries, McDonalds, etc.
DeleteThis is one time when I think having a contract pays. We are a full-time RVing couple and have a Verzon Mifi Jetpack contract and pay $112 (including all taxes and fees) for our 18 Gb data per month. Prepaid was much higher for an equivalent amount of data. This is enough for both my husband and I to use the internet pretty frequently without going over and having to buy extra data. Note that we do not have Smart phones, though. Our phones are super cheapie Tracfones that we pay around $10/mo each for (but we pay for many months in advance, which is why they are so cheap). We are not big phone users, but we do love our internet!
DeleteAgreed Emily. But because we're Canadian and we don't spend that much time in the U.S., a contract wouldn't work for us either.
DeleteThat is around our monthly average for expenses for the last 10 years so for us works well. Right on our budget goals.
ReplyDeleteThis is high for us but we did have a great month! :-)
DeleteI try to save on oil changes by using synthetic oil and extending the intervals. Also, using Dexron VI (synthetic trans fluid) instead of the Dexron III that was current when my GM unit was made, and extending that interval too. Changing the trans fluid is a horrible, messy job, and I really want to minimize it.
ReplyDeleteYou guys are brave. Five months. That's courage. A good wine maybe once in awhile? I wonder if we can ship you something :)
ReplyDeleteChris this is our 4th summer not buying alcohol for the 5 months and we have had no problem! :-) We need to give our systems a good rest after the winter away plus with us on call 24/7 it is just better that we don't drink. One last reason, booze is just too expensive here!
DeleteHi Kevin, Ruth, Telcel is offering a new plan now, it's called Sin Frontera and unbelievable but you can use the same SIM card for the US as well at a very good rate but the package is 3 Gig only. Another option would be a Canadian company called roammobility.com. Here you get a Sim card, you activate it at the border and you pay in CDN dollars. Right now 5 Gig is 59.95 Check it out.
ReplyDeleteAll the best,
Janos
Thank you Janos! We had heard of the Sin Frontera but not until after we left Mexico and found that our SIM card and the money we still had on it kept on going for at least another week or two before it ran out. This is something we will definitely check out proper next time we are in Mexico. We will also look into the link you gave us for that Canadian company.
DeleteHa ha ha.........so the booze expenses are our fault, hmmm. :-)
ReplyDeleteWell we had to blame someone didn't we! ;-) Sure was worth it, wasn't it? :-)
Delete