October Expenses

Financially, we completed Igor during the month of October. With the mechanical repairs finished, and the new fridge and furnace installed, the major items are done. All of that has been included as a "capital expense", which now stands at a total of $26,325 CAD ($19,000 USD). Anything else that needs to be done will be included as repair and maintenance as part of our monthly expenses, unless it is something that we feel will increase Igor's value.

Will we ever recoup that much when we sell him? It's difficult to say. That figure is certainly higher than we expected it to be when we bought him, but we did a lot of improvements for our own comfort and not necessarily expecting it to be returned to us. Time will tell.

Meanwhile, our living expenses during the month of October were fairly high. But that's expected, given that we are in what in our experience is one of the most expensive countries in the world.

We spent a total of $3,021 CAD ($2,172 USD) for the month. Here's how it all broke down... (the following figures are all in $CAD)

Gasoline: We spent $436 in fuel. We actually did a fair bit of driving during the month, but mostly by car. Although we did top up Igor's fuel tank so that we could hand him over to Bjorn and Freya with a full tank of gas.

Propane: We also topped up Igor's propane tank for $13.

Groceries: Probably our highest expenses ever in the grocery category! We spent $816! However, we did also stock up Igor with maple syrup and Ruth's gluten free supplies that are difficult to get in Mexico. But still... it was an expensive month for food.

Meals out: $161. Most of that was the lunch we treated with our son and his girlfriend. The balance was the cheap lunches we had in downtown Ottawa.

Alcohol: About standard for when we are in Canada, at $231. We try to only imbibe on weekends while we're here, although sometimes the weekend starts on a Thursday and ends on a Tuesday!

Miscellaneous: This category was higher than normal, at $633. We spent $188 on Ruth's new cellphone, $200 on the insurance for our son's car that we borrowed, and $130 on cellular data. 

Entertainment: A total of $106. I went out with my friends a few of times, and we went to the pub once.

Overnight: $379 for the week we spent at the Ottawa campground. 

Motorhome: $243. That's the monthly cost of insurance and registration, as well as miscellaneous items after when we closed off the capital expenses file.

So, total of $3,021 CAD ($2,172 USD).

We've got $3,750 CAD ($2,695 USD) budgeted for November. A chunk of that will be the flights to Cancun and Reynosa that will total about $1,000. 

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