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.)
Small bedroom with a Murphy bed at the Airbnb
Our bed and room in Newburyport, MA
Our bed at our friends’ place in Uxbridge, MA
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.
The kitchen was relatively well equipped, especially since we brought a bunch of utensils from the camper.
A big sofa with one of our blankets, so Maya could rest here as well, before her neck pain
The kitchen table was the best place to work
Huge bathroom
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.
Camped at the Las Varas campground to organize, pack, and clean
A spanking clean Thirsty and Bella
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.
Poor girl at the vet
The professional vet visit – Maya is on a table behind that door to have X-rays taken, with Mark holding her down.
Our nightly visit to this vet had us leave around 11pm!
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.
Vet visit to get a health permit for Maya
Lots of waiting for nothing at this vet office, where we paid $25 for the privilege.
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.
A 5.5kg bag of dogfood for Maya – because of her salmon diet, we ended up taking half of this to the US with us
The SAG office in Santiago, where international health certificates are applied for and – if all is in order – obtained many days later
Our receipt for the privilege of having this government agency copy already existing information from an already existing health certificate onto another – more official – certificate that nobody cares about. Price: $36.
Return visit to SAG in the center of the city
You wait for paperwork by the container building.
And this is the fancy and pricey international health permit from SAG in Chile to allow us to officially “export” our dog from the country – namely, flying with her to the US.
This is the pile of dog documentation after three years of traveling with Maya in South America.
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.
Sticking up on frozen salmon from the grocery store for Maya
Appetizers on NYE
Lunch on New Year’s Day
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.
Dinner at home with lentils and vegetables
Having a functional and sizeable oven allowed us to make our own pizza from scratch again.
Blueberry pancakes for Sunday breakfast
Home-cooked meal
My very own tub of ice cream, thanks to having a freezer and a Grido ice cream shop across the street!
Massive cinnamon bun for Mark
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. 🙂
Yes, they had American turkeys in Santiago! The only other choice was a Brazilian brand with msg
Cooking broth and stuffing
My favorite kind of appetizer: a cheese and salmon/cured meat platter
Thanksgiving feast, two weeks delayed
We still had a nice, tasty, and stuffed day.
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 hole-in-the-wall tire shop that helped us out
Finally finding a place that can install our new tire, which we had to carry around
Our camper minus one wheel
New tire on the rim and ready to install
One brand-new tire and last car expense
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.
Most of the women at the NYE party
A saran wrap game on NYE, which I had never played before
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.
Delivery pizza on one of our first nights at the Airbnb
Take-out roasted chicken and fries with a homemade salad
Ramen noodles by professionals
A popular burger place around the corner
Part of the burger menu
More meal options to chose from
Not healthy at all!
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.
Lunch out with vegan friends Bryce, Cristina, and Sacha
Vegan lunch
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 favorite restaurant in Santiago, not that we tried many…
Lively conversations and yummy food
My tuna entree
More chatting over dessert and more drinks
A successful and fun dinner out with the new Bella owners, overlanders, and friends
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.
We ordered an Uber XL to bring us and all our belongings to the Airbnb
Taking a newer metro line in Santiago – this line was easy, efficient, straightforward, and air conditioned!
Everyone is one their phones!
Metro station in the center of the capital
The crowded, unairconditioned metro in Santiago
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!
