January Expenses

January 2023 was our most expensive month ever!

We spent a total of $8,990 CAD ($6,715 USD) for the month. Far more than we have ever spent before. In fact, the previously most expensive month ever was February 2021 when we did Kilimanjaro. 

But what the heck. You can't take it with when you die, right? What's the point of having money if not to spend it?

So, where did all that money go...?

Most of our January expenses had to do with our Mauritania trip. While many African countries are "poor", it is actually expensive to visit them as a westerner. The locals live on very little income, and if you want to live like the locals, you can do so for very little money. But there is no in between. If you want an increase in standards, it will cost money. We learned that in Tanzania two years ago. 

And, we also transited Spain and Morocco during the month.

Fuel: We spent $216 CAD on diesel fuel for Max.

Toll Roads: And ferries. We did spend a little on toll highways, but the majority of this category was the ferry from Algeciras, Spain to Tanger Med, Morocco. Total of $230 CAD.

Propane: We filled Max's two LPG tanks in Spain for a total of $63 CAD.

Grocery: Considering we emptied Max's fridge before leaving for Mauritania, we were surprised that we still managed to spend $290 CAD in this category for the month. 

Meals out: We spent $132 on meals out for the month.

Alcohol: Mauritania is officially a dry country. Alcohol is illegal there. So we didn't imbibe there at all. But, we did stock up a little bit on some beer and wine for the trip from Spain to Morocco. A total of $77.

Miscellaneous: A total of $535 CAD. Part of that was our Casablanca airport parking at $56. Then we spent about $70 on cellular internet access for the month. And we bought a couple of hundred dollars worth of items to get our way through Morocco and onto the iron ore train. 

Entertainment: This was the bulk of our Mauritania trip. It wasn't cheap. And of course we knew that going into it. But we can afford to do this sort of thing once or twice a year provided we are careful with our other expenses throughout the year. So, why not. We spent a total of $5,711, but that included a couple of miscellaneous items related to this category. I'll be doing a more detailed look a this trip later this weekend. 

Overnight: You would think this would be a low expense given that camping in Morocco is cheap, and our accommodation was covered for a week of the Mauritania trip. But, we still had to pay for four nights at about $60 a night. We spent a total of $422 for the month.

Motorhome: Just our $235 expense related to the average of registration and insurance for Max.

Travel: It was expensive just to do the flight from Casablanca to Nouakchott. That alone was $918 return for the two of us. Then, we had to pay $80 CAD each for our visas.

Most of the month was related to the Mauritania trip, and I'm going to do a blog post about those details over the next week. 

It was an expensive month, but, it will all average out over the course of the coming year. Hopefully there will be enough cheap months coming up that the average will will draw itself down to a reasonable amount!

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