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 and extensive care, we return to the US East Coast. Other health issues are resolved locally and out of pocket where needed.
Note: This is most likely the last monthly expense report from us. We don’t seem to be able to stick to our $1,300 – $1,500 budget anymore, Mark doesn’t think anyone is interested in our numbers, these posts overlap with my normal updates, and we are not overlanding or traveling at the moment. I will still publish our yearly report later this month or in early February, depending on my spare time.
In December, Mark, Maya, and I spent (the last) five days in our ex-home on wheels, Thirsty Bella and rented a small apartment for three weeks in Santiago de Chile. We slept the last five nights of 2025 in two different beds in the US state of Massachusetts, where we still are now.
(As always, click on or hover over photos in galleries to read their captions.)
It was an interesting, expensive, and not so ordinary month for us. If this resembles our life without a camper, we could never afford doing it full-time! The biggest culprit was an unexpected expense regarding Maya, however.
Accommodation was the highest category, because we stayed in Chile’s capital after selling our truck camper and decided to finish our South American adventure in an “upscale” Airbnb for three weeks. By “upscale” I mean that we picked a desirable neighborhood and an apartment with air conditioning and decent facilities.
I’ll report on that time later, but $785 went to this apartment living experience, which seems to be the going rate for this kind of place, unless you rent directly from locals without going through Airbnb or property managers.
We also stayed at a pay campground in the beginning of the month to get our camper ready and sparkling clean to be toured by and handed over to the new buyers. We spent $50 for three nights at Las Varas Campground in Santiago de Chile. Our nights camped in the capital’s Providencia neighborhood were free.
Our free urban camping spot in Santiago de Chile
A big shock arrived six days before we were due to depart the city, country, and continent by plane. That morning, I hugged Maya and she yelped. I didn’t think too much about it. A couple of hours later, when she lifted her head after resting, she yelped louder and this concerned us. Initially, we thought the pain came from a front leg—which had happened before but to a lesser extent—but as time progressed, the issue seemed to be her neck.
In the afternoon, the pain—and her cries—intensified, so we took her to a nearby vet in 95-degree weather. He said he couldn’t help us and he referred us to a more specialized and equipped clinic. We walked back home, researched other vets, and made an appointment for the following morning, a Saturday.
By evening, Maya’s screams broke our hearts, and made us panic, so we texted the vet if we could see her that night instead of the following morning. She gave us a 9pm appointment. Luckily, it was much cooler to walk at that time of the day.
After two hours of waiting, a checkup, chats in Spanish, blood work, X-rays, two shots of pain medication, a box of steroids, a prescription for two more drugs, a follow-up appointment for Christmas Eve, and a bill of $300, we left at 11pm.
The balance of the $472 we spent on vets in December went to the follow-up visit with this doctor, a previous vet visit to get another health certificate for Maya (right before her injury) to be able to fly, and a check-up visit in the US to figure out the real deal with our dog.
We also spent $90 on dog food—$30 for a 5.5kg one in Santiago and $60 for her usual 13kg bag of salmon kibble in the US. I bought pee pads for her ($2), just in case, because of a reaction to all the drugs. And, this was the most painful and stupid part, financially, we had to pay $66 for health certificates to be able to export our dog from Chile, which was pointless! The US didn’t require any permits or fees from us.
I’m sure you are wondering what was wrong with Maya, so I’ll quickly summarize. The vet in Chile said Maya had degenerative vertebrae disks that were inflamed and hurting, an old age thing. She was not allowed to exercise and move much that last week (which made us change many plans). The drugs caused her a lot of thirst and therefore needing pee breaks every two hours, and also gave her worrisome diarrhea, to be eased with an exclusively salmon diet. Then, more drugs to stop the diarrhea. It was a mess. And all this mere days before our flight. Talk about stressful!
At the vet in Massachusetts, we learned (for another $100) that she probably just had a sore neck from sleeping wrong on it. Good news but at a high price tag. While it might be hard to believe, this was actually the very first time in seven years (!) that Maya required a vet visit. All other visits have been related to paperwork and annual vaccinations.
Moving on. Our grocery bill was not too high, despite two expensive factors: Maya had to eat pounds of salmon (which probably cost us about $50) and we brought an extensive cheese, meat, and crackers platter to a New Year’s Eve party in Massachusetts ($80). We also splurged on a few goodies for ourselves while at the Airbnb.
What made this category on par with other months is that we had to “get rid of” all our food before leaving Santiago, so we cooked a lot of our own meals and only bought the bare minimums, apart from an exuberant delayed Thanksgiving meal. 🙂
Another unexpected expense was the cost—and hassle—of a new tire. When washing the car, Mark noticed a gash in one of our back tires. If we were to keep the camper, he would play it safe and replace the tire. So, we did the same for the new owners. That $166 was our last challenge and cost for Thirsty Bella.
The alcohol category was high at $127. We drank less than usual at the Airbnb, but made up for that—well, the spending not the drinking, since we got sick—for that same New Year’s Eve party and visit to friends.
Mark and I had plans to splurge on dinners out while staying at the apartment in Santiago, especially that last week when we would have eaten most of our food, but Maya’s injury prevented that. So, we only spent $97, all in Chile.
We went out for ramen when still living in the camper and ordered a pizza (a story in itself), grilled chicken, and take-out hamburgers when in the apartment. I joined friends for a planned vegan lunch, while Mark stayed home with Maya.
To show their appreciation for the work we did on Thirsty Bella, for our help and transparency during the handover process, and maybe because they liked us as well, the new buyers of our camper – Marjolein and Max – treated us to a nice dinner at our favorite (French) restaurant in Santiago, Le Bistro de Gaetan. We had a very nice evening with a bit too much to drink. 😊
Our $82 transportation costs cover a car rental deposit in Portugal, two Uber rides to get to the Airbnb and to the airport with all our belongings, and two roundtrip metro rides for me to arrange Maya’s international health permit, while Mark stayed home with her.
Now that we are back in the US, it is time to order some essentials online. But not too many since we have no place to store anything. One of Mark’s “holy” Levi’s jeans got replaced with new ones (again) at a $27 eBay bargain price and he’s on the lookout for a second pair.
And we stocked up on strong dental floss for $8, since we are picky about that. These two containers hold a total of 400 yards/meters, so should last a while!
Before everything went downhill in Santiago, Mark and I stopped for Peruvian Pisco sour drinks on one of our walks with Maya. It was a tasty treat and it made us feel happy and relaxed to just stop and sit down for a cocktail, which is not our usual style, but which we should do more often.
Since I report on all our expenses, I’ll finish with an eBook I bought for $1. I’d like to also mention that our laundry was totally free in December, because our Airbnb had a washer/dryer combo, which was awesome!!!
Our own washer/dryer!
So, last month’s total was way above average (by $1,000!) at $2,300. We had a lot of “extras” going on but, without a camper in which we slept 99% of the time for free, our budget has to go up, unless we crash at family members’ places or overstay our welcome with friends. For the time being, we expect to spend about $1,000 on monthly rentals in Europe, interspersed with staying at friends’ places and my parents’ tiny house.
Happy budgeting in 2026!
(It might be easier to read the table when turning your device in the horizontal position.)
Find all our expense reports here. To learn what other full-time nomads spend, check out the blogs of our nomad friends Duwan and Greg at Make Like An Ape Man.
Next up: My five-day excursion to Easter Island (finally)!
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January 11, 2026 at 12:21
Aw, poor Maya. I’m so pleased it was nothing serious and she’s healthy and happy again.
It’s amazing how the costs spiral when you’re living ‘in the brick’! Although free laundry on demand is such a joy… Small things can be very satisfying 🙂
January 11, 2026 at 14:24
Hi Jackie,
You know all about those small pleasures of “life ashore.” I probably did fifteen loads of laundry in that washing machine. It was nice to wash Maya’s blankets, before donating them and to leave with clean clothes in the end. Plus, I’d saved all our dirty laundry from the camper until we arrived at this Airbnb. 🙂
I’m still enjoying a flushing toilet and pressurized showers at the moment, something I’d never tire of either. But, as long as we don’t find another camper, I won’t have to worry about military showers, separating toilets, and tissues in the waste basket.
January 11, 2026 at 12:51
So glad Maya is ok! When will you be in Portugal? We live an hour north of Lisbon if we can be of any help while you are here!
January 11, 2026 at 14:27
Hi Christine!
Thanks for your message and for offering to help. We will be sure to reach out if we need any.
We plan to be in Lisbon only for the last four days of January, but we plan to return to Southern Portugal at some point in March. No defined plans yet. The idea is to spend the rest of winter in the southern part of the Iberian peninsula.
January 11, 2026 at 13:37
Poor Maya! And it seems she possibly suffered all those horrible drugs and their side effects for no real reason. I bet she liked the salmon though.
January 11, 2026 at 14:31
Hi Anabel,
Yeah, we really felt bad after giving Maya all those drugs. Not that we really had a choice about trusting the vet. But we learned a lot and will avoid Prednisone at all costs in the future.
We kept the rest of the other drugs as well, in case she shows the same symptoms again. If it wasn’t for having to get on a plane within a short amount of time, we would have approached things slightly differently. We did check with a vet here in the US about Maya’s treatment in Chile and he agreed with the shots that had been administered. He did not think an X-ray was needed or worthwhile and he didn’t recognize some of the drugs we showed him.
And, yes, Maya loves salmon. It’s also the main ingredient of her kibble. She loves any kind of food, really. 🙂
January 11, 2026 at 14:15
I enjoy seeing your expenses it helps to know what youn have to buy but I didn’t see a cost for petrol.
January 11, 2026 at 14:39
Hi Susan,
You didn’t see a petrol cost, because we didn’t buy any fuel in December. 🙂 If you check our earlier expense reports, you will see that gasoline was steadfast one of our highest expenses each month, while traveling throughout South America.
When you click on the title of the post you just read (or when you click this link: https://roamingabout.com/monthly-expenses-of-a-nomad-in-south-america-december-2025-chile-usa/), you will see the tag “monthly expenses” under the post and above the comments. When you click on that tag, you will see all our monthly expense posts as you scroll down.
January 11, 2026 at 14:39
Good to hear that Maya’s issues don’t seem serious, though I can imagine how worrying it was at the time. I know you’re planning to get to Europe next. When was the last time you were in Belgium?
January 11, 2026 at 14:41
Hi Pete,
I was last in Belgium in the summer of 2024, so a year and a half ago. We plan on going back there in April of this year. It fits my average “schedule” of returning every other year. 🙂 But first, we hope to spend the rest of winter in southern Spain and Portugal.
January 11, 2026 at 16:28
It’s amazing to get such different med advice from different vets. Glad it worked out.