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.
Last month was unusual to say the least; our expense categories, our location (mostly apart from each other), and our focus. Plus, the weather was extreme: rain almost every day Mark was gone and upper nineties Fahrenheit (mid-thirties Celsius) for three days shortly after his return…
(Click on or hover over photos in galleries to read their captions.)
My home while Mark was away
My living quarters
Roomy kitchen
Protection against all the Oregon rain
Extremely hot weather, the end of June – it was more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit in our camper, but the thermometer doesn’t go any higher than 99!
Mark flew to Newburyport, Massachusetts, for three weeks to help out his mom who injured herself, arrange the funeral service for his dad, Stanley, who passed away in February, and receive health check-ups, which caused extra stress and grief. He was super overwhelmed and busy those weeks.
Maya on her dinette bed
Maya on her dog bed
“Can I come up, mommy?”
Maya and I stayed in our recently-purchased Lance 830 truck camper on the property of friends in the Portland area of Oregon. Yes, the opposite end of the country. I organized our life inside (as we had quickly “moved in” two days before Mark’s departure), caught up with a bunch of internet tasks and work, did an interview as a presenter for my first Van Life Summit, and completed small projects.
Van Life Virtual Summit 2022
My presentation takes place at noon PST on July 21st (on Belgium’s National Day, while I am there)
Taking care of Maya and providing her with enough exercise also took a chunk of time and was much more fun when the sun peeked out.
Spring by the Columbia River
Sign in downtown
Main street in St. Helens
On the rare clear days, one can see Mount Hood from town
St. Helens is nestled along the Columbia River in Oregon
No crazy high categories in June. Our grocery costs were reasonable and we paid for fuel once in MA for Mark using the car of his mom and once for the truck here in order to drive it back and forth to PDX, Portland’s airport. Parking fees are steep in Boston, where some of Mark’s health check-ups take place.
Extra categories involved paying for one third of Stan’s funeral service, providing drinks for the gathering afterwards (recorded as a gift; on hindsight, it should probably have gone in miscellaneous as well), and spending too much money on annual credit card fees, because we forgot to cancel one of our cards in time. As I mentioned, too much else going on. While $95 might not seem like a lot to some people, it does make a difference for us.*
Mark reading my text for Stan at his dad’s memorial service on June 11th.
The Reverend presents the funeral service in the Unitarian Church of Newburyport.
I managed to follow the service virtually via Zoom.
Mark bought accessories for a new computer, but ended up returning the device. He will be able to use the parts whenever he decides to finally purchase a replacement laptop. I bought a few more items to organize the interior of our camper.
Filling a gap behind the mattress to be able to lean against the wall and sit upright in bed
Now we can sit upright in bed
Contents of one of the many packages we are ordering in St. Helens. It’s nice to have an address when doing heaps of projects!
Extra memory for Mark’s next device
We bought a custom-made blind for the back window
And, I finally gave in and purchased a raincoat, a garment I haven’t owned in years. There are three reasons for this decision: Oregon has been wet, I’m sure I need one in South America, and I want something with pockets to stuff them with goodies on the plane ride back from Belgium as I’m only allowed to take one personal item for a three-week trip! (Two weeks in my home country and one week in Massachusetts before flying back to Oregon.)
Our living quarters seen from the bed.
Maya stressed out (but still cute) and hiding behind our pillows during the fireworks that started well before July 4th.
We ordered an expensive pizza for take-out one evening, have been enjoying free music in town on Thursday nights with our friends (hence the drinking out), Maya needed a few items, and – for some reason – one now has to pay out of pocket to prep for a colonoscopy. Sorry if this is too much information. No taboos on this site.
Egg noodles with a mushroom – parsley cream sauce
Cauliflower soup – my first attempt in cooking soup.
Scott presented delicious homemade gnocchi for dinner one night.
The end result: homemade gnocchi with clam sauce (clams he harvested)
Maya cute and comfy on the porch
On a positive note, we didn’t spend a dime on accommodation, courtesy (again and still) of our friends here in St. Helens. And we have primarily been cooking our own meals and sharing some of them with our hosts. Once Mark was back, we dove into projects again. Stay tuned while we try and figure out our next move, which remains incredibly tricky and stressful…
From the moment Mark returned, he dove into more projects.
For some of the projects, our camper needs to be on the truck
Swapping the space-consuming plastic bathroom door out with a whimsical shower curtain
Installing a new track for a shower curtain in the bathroom
Trying to diagnose and fix a big issue underneath the camper
New exhaust vent cover and LED lights outside
(PS: We did have about $500 of Lance camper expenses in June as well, but since we budgeted for that (so far), it becomes part of our purchase price. I plan to write a separate post about those projects and costs.)
*UPDATE: We called our Chase bank to cancel that credit card and they will refund the $95 annual fee (so our total expenses for June 2022 are closer to $1,230). Apparently, this is their policy and courtesy when you cancel within 41 days of paying the fee.
