February Expenses... Spain is pretty cheap!

It was a bit of a mixed up month for expenses, because we were part of the month in our motorhome exchange RV, and part of the month in other accommodation where the cost was being shared with Ruth's cousin Helen and her husband Tony who were visiting us for the last two weeks of the month.

And, we bought a new smart phone, the cost of which was a big percentage of our overall expenses for the month.

(The following figures are in Canadian dollars. You can subtract about 25% for U.S. dollar equivalent.)

Even with the $470 cost of our new phone we had a very reasonable month. We spent a total of $1,805 including the new phone! Keeping in mind that there are only 28 days in February!

Here's how it all broke down...

Gasoline: Well, diesel fuel, to be more accurate. We spent $183 on fuel for the month, which is pretty good considering the cost per litre is a lot more than in Canada or the U.S.. But of course European RVs are a lot more fuel efficient than American Rvs, so it all works out to the same "per mile" cost.

Propane: Nothing. Yet. We have used up one of the two propane tanks that we were supplied with when we started out January 6th. We're still on the second one, and I'm guessing it's about half full. We'll have to return the unit full, so we'll have some propane expenses in March.

Grocery: Pretty good, at $363. Of course the necessities had been taken care of during January which was a bit of a higher month, and we did eat out a couple of times in February. But otherwise we simply enjoyed home cooked meals, and our expenses are there to prove it!

Alcohol: As in January, we drank to our hearts content! Booze is cheap in Spain and Portugal, and the total expense for the month was $134. I mean really, we probably couldn't have drank any more if we wanted to, so that goes to show how cheap it is. A good bottle of wine costs no more than $4, with cheap (but drinkable) stuff being available for under $2 a bottle. You have to love Spain.

Misellaneous: We had done really well in this category until the old iPhone went bad. Now, we have a new Samsung A3, but at a cost of $410. Hopefully we'll get five years out of it. It sure is a neat toy. On top of that, we spent another $100, for a total of $510 in this category. Most of the extra was for laundry and cellular internet.

Entertainment: Better than expected, at a total of $220. That included a couple of dinners out, as well as the Flamenco dance and tours in Seville. As well as some ice creams and tapas along the way!

Overnight: A total of $393.50, We did only 7 nights of free camping during the month, and we shared a couple of apartment rentals with Helen and Tony. So, a little higher than normal. For the 21 paid nights, it averaged out to $18.75 per night, so we're happy with that!

Travel: No extra bus, train, or airfare during the month. We'll make up for that in March though as we're headed for Italy and then Morocco!

So, we're really pleased with our total expenses for the month of February coming in at $1,805 CAD ($1,390 USD). Especially considering that includes buying a brand new Samsung smartphone outright!

March should be a little more than that (but not much!) as we're going to be backpacking Italy for the last three weeks of the month.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Check out Amazon lightning deals here....

Lightning deals at Amazon.com