June Expenses

Norway is well known to be one of the most expensive countries in the world. 

And we are normally known to be "budget" travelers. But there is nothing saying that you can't do an expensive country on a budget! And by bringing our house with us, at least we don't have to pay for accommodation, which is a category that can really add up in an expensive country.

We were in Norway the entire month of June, so let's see how we did on the expenses...

We spent a total of $2,741 CAD ($2,128 USD, €2,032) for the month. Which sounds expensive by Kevin and Ruth standards, but you have to dig a little deeper to understand the numbers.

Here's how it all broke down... (the following figures are in $CAD)

Fuel: A total of $298. There are three things that are really expensive in Norway. Fuel, alcohol, and accommodation. We filled up in Denmark the morning we left there on June 1st, and we put in a little more here in Norway. Max's tank is now below the 1/4 mark again and we will have to fill up at least once in July with the goal of reaching Denmark on an empty tank!

Toll roads: In Norway, toll road costs have to include ferries. On June 1st we took the ferry from Denmark to Norway, and there were a couple of other tolls we paid while here during the month, but less than we expected. July will have higher toll costs as we will be closer to the coast where there will be more ferry tolls to be paid. We paid a total of $294, but most of that was the ride from Denmark on the 1st.

Propane: We filled both LPG tanks while in Norway but only because it was convenient. LPG is not as easy to come by here, and so when we found a station that allowed us to refill our tanks at a "reasonable" cost, we took advantage of it. So what we have now will likely do us until we get back to Denmark. We paid $58 in this category.

Groceries: This was interesting because we knew it would be expensive, but it turns out it's really not that much different from Canada. We spent $680, but $150 of that was only two days ago and our fridge and freezer are full. It will be a more accurate figure when we combine June and July and divide by two. We know that when we have been in Canada the last couple of times, our monthly grocery costs have been well over $500. There are even a few things here that are cheaper... one of which is salmon fillets, so we've been eating a lot of salmon. We also tend to buy the store branded items of potato chips and sandwich meat and a few other things and have found them to be more than acceptable.

Meals out: Restaurants are really expensive in Norway, so for the same reasons that we rarely eat out in Canada or the United States, we did not eat out in Norway either.

Alcohol: Booze is really expensive in Norway. More so than Canada, and Canada is expensive in itself in that category. We were on the wagon for most of the month, although we did have a drink once a week or so. We spent $53, and didn't get much for it!

Medical: $165 for our Heymondo Medical Insurance.

Miscellaneous: Higher than planned at $528. But that's because we bought Ruth new hiking boots at $291 and me a new sweater at $85. And, $112 on cellular access that should last us until the end of July.

Entertainment: We spent $665 and most of this was our splurge on the Trolltunga Via Ferrata Hike. We have no such expenditure planned for July!

Overnight: Zero. We did not spend any money on campgrounds. In fact, we haven't spent any money on campgrounds since the end of April!

No other motorhome expenses, and no other travel expenses. 

So if you remove the "excess" expenses like the boots, sweater, and via ferrrata hike, you come to around $1,765 CAD ($1,371 USD, 1,308) for the month. Not bad considering all that we have seen and done!

And July shouldn't have any of those extra expenses. Although we've budgeted higher fuel costs. Still, I would bet we come in at a total of well under $2,000 CAD for the month.

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