December was the last month we had to make any convenient last minute purchases in the US before departing for Mexico. There are definitely things (need to haves, ought to haves and nice to haves) that we identified en route from Portland, so we went ahead and bought them (this was the same story for November).
A couple of big expenditures to note:
- Insurance. Mexico requires liability insurance, which is a $250 upfront cost for one full year of coverage (about $200 for six months). The boat insurance line item includes our US insurance as well as Mexican insurance. We used Baja Bound Insurance. My boat insurance category is still wonky though, so don’t trust it.
- Transportation. We rented a car for last minute purchases and also to visit some friends in LA (we were able to find a car for as cheap as $13 a day, which was a steal).
- Utilities. This was our last month of phone bills and internet bills for our iPhone and iPad (glad to be getting rid of those monthly expenses).
- Entertainment. I honestly don’t know how our entertainment budget got so out of control. Oh wait, yeah I do. Cabo San Lucas ruined us. It was Christmas time so we just opened up the pocketbook and let the money flow. When in Rome.
- Shopping. We purchased new snorkel gear for Jeff (fins) and me (the whole package) and also replaced our dear dinghy with a semi-functional inflatable kayak (definitely an impulse buy in an effort to replace what is irreplaceable).
What you won’t see on this spread are a couple of other big ticket items not in our monthly budget, including:
- The Ham exam for Jeff and me ($60 for the two of us).
- A “ship” license required by the FCC so we can transmit from the boat ($150).
- The fees associated with checking into Mexico (visas, an import permit for our boat, fishing licenses, etc) ($218).
- International catastrophic health insurance for one full year ($724).
So yeah. Lots of money was spent. In total, with the monthly expenses in addition to the one-time expenses, we spent $3060. It’s a gut punch to look back on it, actually. Sure am glad for my part-time gig right now.
Again, yikes.