Every month, I post a report of our expenses to show that it is possible to live a comfortable, exciting, and relatively adventurous life without breaking the bank. “The less money you spend, the less you need to make” is my motto. ????
Our first yearly expense report (2016) can be found here, the report of 2017 here, and the one for 2018 is here. In 2019, Mark and I house and pet sat for six weeks, visited our family back east for one month, and lived and traveled in our camper van Zesty in the US and Canada the rest of the year. What follows is the break-down of how we spent our money in 2019.
The Wave in Utah
This report includes ALL of our expenses, in US$, for the two of us. 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. New for 2019 is the category “Dog”. We adopted Maya on June 4th. 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. The utility cost refers to phone data plans with AT&T.
Our expenses in 2019 were about $500 higher than the previous year. Considering that our new companion consumed a $1,200 chunk (mostly meds and vet costs) means that we did better in almost all the other categories. The biggest part of our camper category keeps going to repairs and maintenance. We did cover quite a bit of distance last year as well (14,000 miles), which is represented in our high diesel amount. Our monthly average for groceries remains $300.
Another biggie last year was the price of my citizenship. With all that behind us – my US passport is waiting in Massachusetts – this year can only get cheaper, right? My main shock happened when noting our alcohol dollars. That is a lot, especially since we didn’t throw or attended many parties… If there’s one amount I want to lower in 2020 it’s this one.
US Citizenship!
We can’t get out of the gift category. We love our spouse, family and friends too much and treating them for birthdays and other occasions – with a restaurant meal or a personalized gift – is just plain fun. Our utilities went up, because we basically live in our camper van full-time – more propane and laundromats needed and when we can’t find free dump stations, we have to pay. We are currently testing Visible as our internet and cell provider, but the results are bleak compared to our monthly, quite reliable AT&T plan.
As a citizen, I hope to obtain a new healthcare plan that includes basic dental work. Therefore, the medical category should theoretically go down this year as well. I mentioned Mark’s new SmartPhone in last month’s report and all the other amounts seem straightforward. If you have any questions, let me know in the comments.
The team responsible for Maya’s adoption: Amy, Jessica, and Jeff
The charity category is lower than last year and will not be present for 2020. I figured that the money we used to donate to animal rescue organizations should go towards Maya (and then some). If our financial situation improves, it will appear again! 🙂
Last but not least, I’m surprised that we didn’t spend a dime on campgrounds in 2019. Having camped for nine months out of the year, this is good and bad. Perfect for the pocket and often for the surroundings, peace, and privacy, but not so great when it comes to comfort, convenience, and spoiling ourselves. We did get a campground break in Kentucky, as employer Amazon paid for that one.
(Table might not load correctly on tablets – try turning the screen for better results.)
Surfing into 2020
For another (more detailed and colorful) annual expense report of full-time van-dwellers, check out the 2019 “Cost of Being a Nomad” post of our friends Duwan and Greg here.
Do you keep track of your expenses? How did your budgeting go in 2019? Any categories you’d like to do better with in 2020?
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January 15, 2020 at 23:45
Hi, Liesbet – Your expense report for 2019 is impressive in so many ways. Your kindness and generosity to others shows throughout.
To give you some additional feedback on impact — the gift that you gave to Richard last year has a prominent place in our dining room. He’d smack me if I ever tried to move it! 🙂
January 16, 2020 at 15:42
Hello Donna! Thanks for checking out our 2019 expense overview. It is always a good time for reflection for us. I’m so glad our little gift found a permanent place in your dining room! 🙂
January 16, 2020 at 05:03
Nicely done, Liesbet! Your expense report is quite impressive…more fodder for that book. 🙂 I don’t follow a strict budget, but I’m diligent when it comes to putting a big portion of my paycheck toward my 401K first. So, lets see if you can get 2020 below 15K! 🙂
January 16, 2020 at 15:45
I think it’s extremely wise that you put a big portion of your income toward your 401K (which I assume – and I should know by now – is the retirement account). Mark is in charge of that. I remember him saying how it was some of the best advice he ever received from his late sister – to save as much as possible from a young age. I’m so glad he did and that he has an eye for finances as well. Other than being careful with money, I’m pretty clueless about all that. 🙂
January 16, 2020 at 19:03
Being careful with money is good too, Liesbet! 🙂
January 19, 2020 at 11:46
Great! ‘Cause I am very good at that. 🙂
January 16, 2020 at 05:42
Liesbet, what amazes me is not only how disciplined you both are, not only in keeping these records, but in spending sparingly. I love your motto, that makes a whole lot of sense. That’s a pretty low total for groceries, and everything else, especially for the U.S. where prices are so high (compared with somewhere like Viet Nam!) Maya was quite an expensive addition to the family, but no doubt totally worth it.The photo of her going into the ocean is my favorite.
Peta
January 16, 2020 at 15:51
Yes, Maya has been worth every penny so far, especially since she is just getting better and better when it comes to her behavior, health, and demeanor. And, it helps that we are all getting more attached to each other as well. She’s still totally infatuated and “hooked” to Mark, but I am also seeing improvement in her behavior towards me. That is so nice to see!
I hear you about the US being expensive, especially compared to Viet Nam. Of course, there are more pricey countries as well. 🙂 That being said, we find that if we stick to what we need (healthy, plant-based diet), pick our stores based on value, and not splurge too much with “crappy” food or things like Trader Joe’s goat cheese for Mark, it’s feasible to live affordably. What we would love better, though, is living and traveling in a place were eating out is cheap, like SE Asia. 🙂
January 16, 2020 at 07:47
With Maya, no surprise your expenses went up. Sounds like this will be a much more reasonable year.
Considering you lived out of your van the whole year and traveled, that mileage really isn’t that bad.
Congratulations on citizenship!
January 16, 2020 at 15:53
Hi Alex! I remember hearing from commuters how many miles they put on their cars, so actually being able to visit places and explore new areas certainly makes it worthwhile to put thousands of miles under our wheels. As far as 2020 becoming a cheaper year… we will have to see about that. Like Mark said: “Every year there are one or two unexpected, pricey occurrences.”
January 16, 2020 at 07:58
Nicely done! I made too much in 2019, which sounds like a good thing, but I had no clue I would until the summer, when I found out my agent had sold the audio rights to one of my books. In December, I realized I might be in “trouble” and contacted my accountant.
Yep, I have a nasty tax bill coming this spring. At least I found out while I could still do some damage control, but I wish I’d saved a lot more last year.
So this year is a “low buy” year, which I’m planning will become a lifestyle. I have two major trips already booked that will be expensive, but I’ve never regretted money spent on travel. What I don’t need is STUFF. I’m not going to buy any clothes/jewelry/home decor/seasonal decorations/shoes, etc. this year, although I can buy a meaningful piece of jewelry on either trip if I see something I just have to have. Books will be severely limited too.
So far I’ve done well on everything except books, but I can only buy five this year, which means I have two purchases left! :O
January 16, 2020 at 16:02
I hear you about making too much money not always being a good thing, JH! Mark and I had that “problem” one year as well, when our business was doing extremely well one year, while sailing. We discovered that almost all the extra money we made went to taxes! It’s an art to float in the lowest income bracket. 🙂
You’re setting your spending bar at the perfect height. You know me well enough to believe that you have all my support and encouragement to keep the “stuff buying” as low as possible. Quality above quantity and the simpler one’s life, to more gratifying. That is my humble opinion. And, as you can imagine, I’d rather spend my money on travel than anything else! 🙂 Buying something meaningful as a souvenir, of course, belongs in an entire different category. 🙂
I can’t believe that you’re almost at your book buying quota for the year and it’s only the middle of January. Ha! That will be the hardest promise to keep. I’ll be curious to see how you do with that!
February 5, 2020 at 00:49
The “problem” is having so many friends who write great books. I got hooked on Barbara Ross’ cozy series, so had to get the next two. And then took the Margaret Atwood Masterclass and she recommended a great one where authors share true tales of humiliation. Misery loves company…
So I’m down to two. But honestly, even if I go a bit beyond that, it will still be far better than my usual. I’m going to try my best to stick with it, though.
Thanks for the support, and words of encouragement. So far I’m doing really well. I still have some things that need to be tweaked (like spending too much on groceries), but none of the other triggers I mentioned have led me astray. I even returned some things and got at least $600 back.
The tax thing really sucks. It’s nice to be successful, but this almost makes it seem not worth it, unless one is successful enough every year not to have to worry about it too much. When it’s a one-time thing, the following year becomes a tightrope walk.
February 6, 2020 at 09:32
One of the things I adore and respect about you, JH, is that you commit to something (whether it’s a writing career, downsizing, or spending less) and stick with it. You don’t just say, you do. And you don’t give up (easily). It’s that passion, determination, and commitment that brings success, however small it might feel sometimes, and whether it’s personal success or in a broader way. It’s awesome!
About groceries, could you shop in cheaper places? Here in the US, we have Aldi and Grocery Outlet (and Walmart, but some of their ethics are not ideal and their produce is often of poor quality) or even Trader Joe’s has affordable goods. Or, you could buy bulk? Or get generic brands instead of main ones…
I enjoy reading books as well, but find that most of my five a year are read to help out others (proofreading, beta reading, leaving reviews after receiving a free copy or ARC). Yes, we all need more time in a day. 🙂
January 16, 2020 at 10:17
Liesbet, I admire your values and saw first-hand yesterday what a rich life you have spending judiciously. (Yes, I noticed too the luxurious coat you are maintaining for Maya.)
You are certainly leaving a very tiny carbon footprint and storing many memories!
To answer one of your questions: I’m the one who manages finances online, but both of us make decisions on major purchases. Over the years, I’ve pulled Cliff into my frugal mentality. 🙂
Kudos to both of you! 🙂
January 16, 2020 at 16:11
Hello Marian!
I think it’s important we all live within our means and be careful with our resources. You and Cliff are good examples. I don’t think your carbon footprint is high either and I totally appreciate how you turn the lights off and on depending on which room you are in. 🙂
Being good communicators and sharing the major decision making are two important factors in good relationships. In our situation, Mark takes care of the finances – he keeps track of everything on his computer – I’m just careful about spending anything, something I’ve done since childhood. We have always valued experiences above stuff and would rather not work too hard instead of becoming rich and feeling exhausted all the time. 🙂
I’m glad you and Cliff are on the same page with your frugalness. I think it would be difficult in a relationship when both partners think differently about their expenses. As a matter of fact, I have met enough people where this kind of thing meant the end of the marriage.
January 16, 2020 at 13:08
Impressive!
January 16, 2020 at 16:12
Thanks, Hilary. I should probably put a little “disclosure” on these posts about how we don’t have a house with utilities or a mortgage to pay, since all that would throw any budget off and life in a house is very different from our kind of lifestyle.
January 16, 2020 at 16:00
I think you did great! So much better than us – even in the van repairs category.
That’s an awful lot of money to become a citizen! You should amortize this expense by day. I will do the first calculation for you – it’s cost you $8.95 a day so far to be an American!
I’m curious if you use propane for anything besides cooking. Our propane bill is much lower. We usually fill up our tank every three months and it costs us $5 or less.
I know every penny you spend on Maya is worth it but I do hope her vet and meds costs come down.
And cheers for $0 on camping. You did great!
January 16, 2020 at 16:33
Hi Duwan! I’ll be curious to see your yearly expense report. I know for a fact that your grocery, propane, and pet costs are less. 🙂
You had me laugh at the worth of my citizenship. That’s so funny. You guys are so amazing putting things in perspective and calculating costs per mile, per stay, per country, per whatever. I never think about it that way. You are both math people, though. I actually had to think about you more than once when putting this post together. For example, as I was rereading it, I realized that it might be nice to figure out how far we actually drove in 2019. “Duwan would know this by heart,” I thought. So, I looked it up in our little logbook and was flabbergasted at the amount of 14,000 miles! “How did that happen?”, I wondered…
Yes, our propane use is much higher than yours! We made a little mistake in Kentucky… Because it was so cold, we decided to leave the pilot light of our water heater on to always have warm water to wash our hands and do the dishes (yes, I know, the luxury!). Mark thought it would not use much propane. He was wrong! We’d filled up before we arrived and didn’t make it throughout the seven weeks!!!
But, to answer your question: we need propane for our water heater to take showers, we boil water every morning for tea and cook every day, and our generator runs on it as well, but we never use it. Only to start it up and test it once a month, for half an hour. Also, we bought propane twice in San Diego, which was very expensive (about twice compared to other states). Usually, our tank (which must be bigger than yours) lasts three months and costs around $10 to fill.
The $0 for camping was a surprise, since we usually stay at a national park once or twice a year. I guess we didn’t visit enough of those in 2019. 🙂 I’m sure this year will cost us more on camping!
January 17, 2020 at 12:43
After looking at your pics for more than a year, I sometimes wonder why they aren’t in travel magazines or tourism sites. You’ve got the eye.
January 19, 2020 at 11:48
Thanks, Anna! I wish I had time to pursue two hobbies: writing and photography. Some of my photos have been the cover page for sailing magazines in the past and they always accompany my sailing and destination articles. 🙂
January 17, 2020 at 17:47
Bravo, Liesbet! Welcome to the United States of America as a citizen. I love that scoured rock in Utah. We saw it when travelling from Bryce to Zion National parks. It’s sooooo cool, isn’t it? Here’s hoping 2020 will be a little less expensive for you. Your life truly is exciting!
January 19, 2020 at 11:50
Yes, Victoria, the West is the best when it comes to scenery in my newly adopted country. What’s life worth when it isn’t exciting? 🙂 We will see what 2020 brings – no plans and not too many restraints. But I do hope we can get our yearly costs down a bit. As long as that means we have enough fun and rewarding experiences.
January 18, 2020 at 00:14
I love that photo of you surfing into 2020, Liesbet. What an amazing rock formation!
Jude
January 19, 2020 at 11:50
Thanks, Jude. It’s called The Wave and it surely was a (lucky) highlight of our 2019!
January 18, 2020 at 14:23
You did very well, considering all your extra expenses this year! Pets are wonderful, but just as expensive as other family members. Here’s hoping Maya has a healthier year ahead of her. 🙂
January 19, 2020 at 11:55
Maya sure has become a (the?) focal point in our lives, just like previous dogs did. It’s nice to have a living creature be the force in decision making and at least you know where your money is going to. Saving an animal’s life and making it (and yours) better is so worth the expense. 🙂
January 19, 2020 at 22:51
Liesbet as I have said many times, your lifestyle and budget living is inspiring. I was wondering if the day should come that you were to find yourselves suddenly with a large amount of money ( inheritance from a long lost relative) would your lifestyle change? Or would you want it to change? If you would prefer not to answer no worries.
January 22, 2020 at 11:38
Good question, Sue. And, if you know me well, you know that I have no inhibitions or taboos when it comes to answering questions. 🙂
Mark and I have actually talked about this in a VERY hypothetical way and this is our conclusion: we could never be wasteful with anything, money or otherwise, so the frugal mindset would be retained as well as getting the best value or experience for our buck. So, we’d pretty much still live alternatively. Travel is our passion, so we’d stick with that. I won’t have to worry about work and income anymore, though.
What we might prefer to do is travel in a more comfortable way. Not sure how that would result in a mode of transportation, because we don’t want anything bigger on the road… We would get a more durable camper, though, ideally with high clearance. Or, we would get a 26-40ft catamaran with more comforts than our 35ft sailboat had. 🙂
Or, we’d do a plane trip around the world, but that wouldn’t work with Maya and we might do that regardless in the future. To better answer your question, we would still prefer to travel, but we would eat out more and maybe stay in real campgrounds (in nature, no RV Parks) more. More spoils!
February 6, 2020 at 16:17
Oh, and buy all organic produce and donate heaps to animal rescue organizations. 🙂
January 20, 2020 at 19:34
Wow, I’m blown away how you can stay at those numbers, despite your house sit stays. Good on you guys! 🙂 x
January 22, 2020 at 11:39
No more house sit stays now… but that means we only buy the necessities in the grocery stores, as we have no room for special ingredients or lots of different materials. 🙂
January 22, 2020 at 08:18
Wow! So impressive. Thank you for sharing, Liesbet. I keep track of expenses, mainly because I’m a freelance writer and occasional editor and have to keep track for tax purposes.????
Belated congrats on your citizenship!
January 22, 2020 at 11:47
Yep – as freelancers, we have to deal with those tax implications as well. Mark just told me we owe $1,000 for my self-employment tax for 2019, as we didn’t pay installments for me last year. That’s a big amount to swallow, as it’s almost 20% of what I made!
January 24, 2020 at 08:54
I could use a few lessons in frugality from you. Amazing you camped for free. All of your overruns were totally worth it. Wishing you an even less expensive 2020.
January 24, 2020 at 20:55
Hello Lisa! Cheers to a frugal and money making 2020 for both of us!!
January 27, 2020 at 23:43
I am still very impressed how you and Mark track your expenses. Sometimes people are in total denial or constantly putting out fires (emergencies) and not tracking where they spend money. Your amazing, smart research on campgrounds has saved you a great deal of money. Also great on how you and Mark seem to have similar dollar philosophies. Money spending differences can be a challenge in relationships. It sounds like you and Mark are also great communicating with each other. I love all of your photos, Liesbet! The surfing one makes me extra smile.????
January 29, 2020 at 10:55
Hello Erica!
Thanks again for your lovely and kind comments. Mark and I have been a pretty good team since day one and have been through a lot together. We get this comment often about how our interests and life philosophies align and how “lucky” we are about that. I’m happy about that, but I often take it for granted as I don’t think we would be a couple if we’d think differently on these major decisions… I do hope that couples are good at communicating with each other and taking each other’s desires and interests into account. It’s key for a successful relationship.
As far as campgrounds go, I feel that the only way we could afford a life on the road is because we boondock and almost always camp for free. It could get crazy expensive otherwise…
January 29, 2020 at 10:59
You and Mark are an inspiration and fun to follow! I learn a great deal from you. Enjoy the rest of your journey. xx
January 30, 2020 at 13:44
Thanks!! 🙂
February 1, 2020 at 10:57
You all are my heros. Thanks for posting the budget details. Sean and I are going to hopefully be retiring soon. I have never in my life ever put together a budget. I was just asking a friend about it the other day. I’m going to use a combo of yours and my friends! The photos from the wave are incredible – and happy you are officially a US citizen though sometimes I think its not a bonus these days.
February 2, 2020 at 20:04
Hi Pam! Thanks for swinging by again. How exciting that you are retiring soon!! That makes life on the road so much easier. We can’t wait for that to happen for us as well – if ever.
Mark and I have never budgeted or created budgets. We’re just both really good at only buying the necessities for us to eat healthy and be comfortable. You don’t need much money to achieve that, especially when your house is only 19ft long. Not much room for extras either. 🙂
I hear you about that US citizenship feeling these years, especially these last weeks!! I was going to take a photo of me holding my new passport with a smile, but I haven’t been able to actually do that yet… 🙁