Every month, I post a report of our expenses to show that it is possible to live a comfortable, exciting, and adventurous life without breaking the bank. The less money you spend, the less you need to make. 🙂
This report includes ALL of our expenses, in US$, for two adults and one 60-pound dog (we adopted Maya on June 4th, 2019). Under groceries we incorporate food, produce, and non-alcoholic drinks predominantly bought in supermarkets. Toiletries belong in that category as well. Dining out means eating at a restaurant/event or purchasing take-out food. The health category covers non-prescription medicines and vitamins/supplements; medical contains prescription drugs and doctor’s visits. Because of our income level, Mark and I are eligible for free health care within the state of Massachusetts. For check-ups, we both return to the East Coast.
This monthly expense report is a bit delayed for two reasons: I recently posted our yearly report (and who wants to be bombarded by numbers every week?) and I have taken a step back with internet “chores,” because our data is limited, expensive, and often inaccessible. And, I’d rather explore the Baja peninsula at the moment than sit behind a computer. 🙂
(As always, hover over or click on the photos to read their captions.)
Mark, Maya, and I started our new year in the desert just west of Yuma, Arizona, getting ready for our postponed multiple-month trip in Baja California, Mexico. We had to fix a few more things on the camper and the car, like rebuilding the platform that goes in the bed of the truck for the umpteenth time and making sure the “basement” was secure. We eventually ended up dropping the bumper of our pick-up truck and taking the clearance lights off, after another improvement attempt on another Home Depot parking lot failed.
While the camper was off the truck, we decided to go on our first off-road adventure to explore a bit of the area, like the “Valley of Names.” What a bouncy endeavor that was! None of us can say we actually enjoyed the jerky experience…
I also needed a dental check-up (and a $10 haircut apparently) right across the border in Los Algodones before we could really head south. Luckily, none of these visits and repair tasks were expensive, so we were off to a good year, moneywise, despite a few more delays. Having friends around made everything more fun!
Life in Mexico is cheaper than in the US, so we had high hopes for a less-than-average month as far as living costs were concerned. We knew gasoline would be pricey (the equivalent of $4/gallon) and ended up driving bigger-than-planned distances from the start.
We arrived in Baja on January 12th and soon realized that Mark should leave the country for an impromptu visit back to his parents in Massachusetts. The price for that “detour” resulted in an extra $530 for flights, public transportation, parking, a Covid test, and a ten-day campground stay for Maya and me in Loreto. All our other camping spots last month were free.
From 2022 on, we are splitting the camper category into two parts – car and camper – to keep better track of those expenditures separately. Our Mexican car insurance was higher than stated below ($442 instead of $113), because it incorporates the refund for our American insurance, which we paused.
The grocery category is lower than usually, as food is cheaper in Mexico and we eat out more often for the same reason. Since our favorite rum (from Nicaragua) is available on the peninsula, we splurged buying several bottles of Flor de Cana instead of Bacardi, hence the pretty high number for alcohol. For now, we kept our affordable unlimited (and now unavailable) $35 AT&T data plan in the States, on top of buying data for our Mexican SIM-card ($27), which explains the larger number in the utilities section.
Tourist cards for Mexico cost about $33 a person, which created an extra expense category this past month. Other than the money needed for Mark’s trip back to attend to a family situation, January had us on track for an average $1,300 month… February – so far – is looking much better. 😊
Find all our expense reports here. To learn what other full-time nomads spend each month, check out the blogs of our vanlife friends Duwan and Greg at Make Like An Ape Man.
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