December Expenses, and 2021 Expenses Review

Well, 2021 was our most expensive year since we set out with this abnormal lifestyle in 2007. In fact, it may well have been our most expensive year ever. We spent a total of $38,665 CAD  ($30,595 USD, more or less).

But before we get into more details on the full year expenses, let's talk about December. We spent a total of $2,494 ($1,973 USD). Overall, it was a decent enough month considering we paid for Ruth's Invisalign dental treatment in full during that month.

Note, the following figures are all $CAD.

Without the dental treatment, we spent $1,622 which in itself is a little bit higher than budgeted, but not by a lot. Still, when you consider all the we saw and did, we're happy with that figure. Also, Greece is a little more expensive that we thought it would be.

Here's how it all broke down...

Fuel: We spent $277 in diesel fuel, and Max ended the month with the tank slightly more than half full. Not bad. Fuel is expensive in Greece. Diesel is about €1.45 ($2.08 CAD) per liter, and gasoline is actually about €1.75 ($2.51 CAD) per liter, so we're glad that Max takes diesel and not gasoline.

Toll Roads: We spent $31.50 on ferries and toll roads.

Propane: Propane is also very expensive in Greece. The cheapest we've seen it is €0.98 ($1.40 CAD) per liter. It was about half that in Albania. And it was a bit chilly during the first part of the month, so we were using a fair bit of gas just keeping warm. We spent $54 on propane gas during the month.

Groceries: Ruth is just amazing in this department. We eat really well, and we thought the groceries here in Greece were quite a bit pricier than Albania, but when we add it all up it came to $446, which is cheaper than I thought it would have been. Of course we didn't enter Greece until Dec9, so that helped.

Meals out: We spent $85, and part of that was in Albania.

Alcohol: Not bad, at $128. But still, quite a lot more than the $78 we spent in Albania the month before. I don't think we drank any more or less, but there is an added 24% tax on alcohol here in Greece.

Miscellaneous: $1,253, but $872 of that was for Ruth's Invisaligners. So really, it was $381 which was about on target. Most of that is our Heymondo travel medical insurance, and most of the balance was cellular internet access, and laundry.

Entertainment: We spent $75. Caves, ruins, and monasteries.

Overnight: $143, on 13 paid night. That gives you a good idea of how many rain days we had so that we could plug into electric!

Overall, not a bad month. But we are expecting January through April of this year to be all near record lows as far as monthly expenses go. 

A far cry from what 2021 was!

We spent $38,665 CAD  ($30,595 USD, more or less) in 2021. That's way above what we normally do, but a big chunk of that was our Meru and Kilimanjaro hikes in Tanzania. 

Our flight map for 2021.

We were also on 13 different airplanes! And quite a few of them were not the "special" deals I usually find us, so we paid far more for flights throughout the year than we normally do. And then add in the car rentals and the accommodation before we picked up Max. Airplanes and car rentals cost a total of $7,680 for the year.

We averaged $425 a month for groceries. That's not bad, but it was a wide range... our cheapest month was February in Tanzania at $101 for the month (it's a short month, plus the first week we were on the mountain) and our most expensive was June at $644 when we had to stock up Max for the first time.

Our most expensive month was February, at $6,816 because of our Kilimanjaro hike, and our cheapest month was November at $1,390.

But 2022 should be MUCH cheaper. We have one trip back to Canada planned for July or August, and otherwise we should be exploring in Max. Of course you never know what might come up with us, so who really knows!

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