Total spending for June: $1800. I had a feeling June would be more expensive. Though the budget actually looks a little better than I expected, considering…
- We went on a cross-country bus trip to the Yucatan Peninsula to visit my family and see all of the splendors of Merida and the surrounding area. Most of our expenses for this trip (bus fares, taxi fares, hotels, other tourist fees) are cataloged under the Adventure! line item.
- Several days before flying to the US we made a last minute trip to the doctor’s office to get a mole looking thing inspected (and removed) on Jeff’s back. I snuck in a trip to the lady doctor. We both walked away with prescriptions to fill. The visit ad prescriptions cost more than anticipated (though totally worth it) and are filed under Personal Care. When we return we’ll make an appointment for the dentist.
- In order to prep our boat for our extended leave we did a little shopping for tarps and fans (gotta keep the wet out). I also splurged and picked up some goodies for souvenirs. The TSA agents thought my tamarind pulp was a homemade bomb.
- We spent a small fortune on all of the combi and taxi rides to get to and from Tapachula and on the adventure to renew my visa.
- The hurricane special for Marina Chiapas doesn’t kick in until July meaning that we had to cough up money at the regular rate ($0.40 per foot per day, which is roughly $12 per day).
- The entertainment budget was a bit fatter and groceries were a bit slimmer because we spent a third of the month away from home and ate out a lot more than we usually do. We ate cheap whenever possible (read: lots of street food).
Not included in the handy snapshot is the annual $78 we pay to USAA to keep our membership “active” (ensuring lower payments when we resume car insurance) and to maintain basic coverage in the event that we rent a car.
July and August back home are gonna be astronomically more expensive (I exaggerate, a little bit). We’re gonna try a new “budget” for July and August to give us more flexibility. We’ll account for our fixed costs and then Jeff and I will each have our own budgets for food, fun, whatever. We’re going dutch this summer. Romantic, eh?
