So, I’ve adjusted our spending categories and brought our monthly goal up to $1,500. And since I raised our monthly budget, it means we came in under budget for the first time! Sheer genius. Hopefully we’ll kind of hover around this figure – exceeding it some months, falling below it in others – so that it all evens out.
It turns out that we’re not extreme budget travelers (surprise!). We like eating tacos and ice-cream and drinking horchata by the bag full. We like going to the movies and drinking beer. We like inland adventures and we like knowing our boat (and cat) are safe during those inland adventures. I think we’re finding a groove, though, with the budget thing – being conscious of the budget, but enjoying ourselves all the while.
A couple notes about the changes:
- The main difference about this month is that I broke up the utilities – since there’s a lot going on there. I want to be able to keep track of water, propane, garbage, phone/internet, etc. I also added our monthly membership fee for the Delorme InReach (which is the device that lets our friends and family track our whereabouts).
- I figured that we should start budgeting for some sailboat maintenance costs, rather than just lumping it in with shopping.
- I also created the adventures category, which is distinct from the entertainment category. Entertainment is daily entertainment (tacos, movies, coffee, etc), whereas adventure encompasses the costs associated with a longer trip (in March we went into the Copper Canyon).
- I reduced the monthly budget for gas, since we haven’t been traveling as much (and we’ve been sailing as much as possible).
- The personal care category includes things like laundry, showers, haircuts, doctor’s appointments, etc. What you should glean from the low expenditures in this category is that we’re dirty and unkempt :).
March budget in Mint