May Expenses - thanks easyJet!

Well, we had a budget of $2,750 CAD  for the month, and we ended up spending $3,097 CAD ($2,275 USD). Not bad, considering we always make our budget purposely at the low end of the scale to give us something to strive towards, So it's actually pretty rare that we meet our budget. But considering Ruth bought new hiking boots, that's really the item that put us over the top. Having said that, I should have budgeted for them in the first place.

Technically, we spent far more than that, but we were lucky that our easyJet flight had been late and they compensated us £880. We also used some credit card points to pay for our flights from Antalya to Paris on the 1st of May.

One of the reasons we had such an expensive month was because we had invited daughter Lindsey and granddaughter Sadie to join us for ten days, and we paid their flights over from Canada. And of course accommodation for the four of us in both Paris and Bristol was really expensive. But, the easyJet credit pretty much covered all of that!

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

Fuel: We put $35 worth of fuel in the rental car.

Groceries: We spent $552 for the month, which is probably higher than normal considering we also spent a lot on meals out. But we had Lindsey and Sadie with us, as well as spending time with Helen and Tony, so we were kind of in holiday mode. We ate well!

Meals out: Far higher than normal, at $633. But, we paid for the four of us in Paris and Bristol, and we also treated Glen and Steve to a meal out.

Alcohol: Considering we were with Helen and Tony, it's actually not too bad at $225. We must be getting older!

Miscellaneous: Way above normal, at $652. But $251 of that was Ruth's new boots. And, a wedding fund donation, and Ruth had her nails done, and we bought some clothing. Lots of parking and bus charges as well. 

Overnight: We spent $545, but this is misleading, because of the credit we got back from easyJet. It was actually about $500 higher than that.

Travel: Again misleading, but we recorded $453 worth of expenses after the easyJet credit. 

Considering we flew from Antalya to Paris and Paris to Bristol and rented a car for a week and a half and toured Paris and Bristol for two days each, and ate out quite a lot... we actually did really well. Thanks easyJet!

June is also going to be higher than normal, with a budget of $3,500 CAD. We will be flying to Albania on the 11th, and doing an eleven day hike in the Albanian Alps. The cost of those eleven days is about $2,100 CAD (€1,470, $1,595 USD).

We've been averaging $3,300 CAD ($2,400 USD, €2,200, £1,900) a month so far this year. More than normal, but we've been purposely trying to spend more than we have in the past. For perspective, here is the last few years monthly averages... (again, in $CAD)...

2023 - $3,984 (we did the expensive trips to both Mauritania and Turkmenistan).

2022 - $2,386

2021 - $3,222

2020 - $2,697

2019 - $2,650

2018 - $2,950 

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