Lots of people in the planning stages of cruising have asked us about our budget and how we're doing with expenses. We originally planned to spend about $20k/year cruising and that's what we try to stick to with our budget. That said, we didn't budget anything for additional outfitting expenses and we're finding that the longer we cruise, the more toys we think we need. Here's a breakdown of what we've budgeted for for our cruising of Canada, the US and Mexico as well as monthly actuals:
| Monthly |
|
Budget |
Canada |
USA |
Mexico |
| |
Car insurance |
37 |
87 |
5 |
0 |
| |
Clothes |
|
25 |
7 |
2 |
| |
Eating out |
75 |
93 |
250 |
87 |
| |
Fuel |
150 |
162 |
343 |
79 |
| |
Interwebs |
10 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
| |
Laundry |
10 |
6 |
14 |
8 |
| |
Mail forwarding |
30 |
48 |
52 |
12 |
| |
Maintenance |
200 |
284 |
322 |
129 |
| |
Misc |
50 |
29 |
105 |
37 |
| |
Moorage |
100 |
76 |
127 |
30 |
| |
Outfitting |
|
195 |
473 |
119 |
| |
Provisioning |
500 |
571 |
850 |
291 |
| |
Skype/phone |
5 |
89 |
75 |
4 |
| |
Townhouse |
50 |
145 |
195 |
128 |
| |
Transportation |
10 |
5 |
63 |
9 |
| |
Travel |
50 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| Yearly |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Medical Insurance |
1800 |
|
|
|
| |
Mex Boat Insur |
240 |
|
|
|
| |
Mexican Visas |
360 |
|
|
|
| |
Mexico Fishing |
60 |
|
|
|
| |
Mexico Nat Park |
60 |
|
|
|
| |
Sailmail |
250 |
|
|
|
| |
Smugmug |
60 |
|
|
|
| |
US Boat Insurance |
1848 |
|
|
|
| |
Website |
60 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A few notes about the categories:
Monthly Expenses
Eating out
This is a big variable depending on your yearly budget. We tend not to eat out while cruising (1 or 2 dinners a month and a few lunches in town), however, we do spend a lot of time socializing with other boats. We do that by cooking dinner on our boat or vice versa, so we still get a change of scenery and menu.
Fuel
Our actuals are the best indication of what we found in this category. We spent much more time motoring on the Inside Passage than sailing (since the wind was pretty well always on the nose). Coming down the coast of the US, we found there were 2 types of weather: flat calm or scary as hell. We chose flat calm and therefore motored 80% of the way down the coast. Finally in Mexico, we got to do some good sailing.
Interwebs
We get away with not paying for internet very often by buying an external wifi antenna. Hello friendly neighbors, you have unsecure wifi? We love you.
Mail Forwarding
Through Ballard Mailbox, we pay $144 a year for a box and $3 plus postage each time we want our mail forwarded. This is cheap in the US, but postage gets pricy when sending flat envelopes to Mexico (we're talking $40 a pop) - forget sending boxes. We weeded out all the junk mail before we left and rely on the kindness of friends and family coming to visit to bring us our mail when possible.
Maintenance
Obviously, highly dependant on what goes wrong. The boat came with a stocked spares locker and we keep that replenished whenever we go through any spares. Finding parts in Mexico isn't too difficult, but is quite expensive because of duty.
Moorage
We stay out of marinas for the most part. We'll go in to equalize batteries or do maintenance that's much easier while at a dock. And sometimes we'll just treat ourselves if we've been especially good about staying away for a while.
Outfitting
This is the wildcard. We decided one day that we wanted a 500 GB harddrive so we could share media with other boats. Poof, $200 that wasn't budgeted. Dinghy wheels? $260. Mast self climber? $350. It adds up quickly, but is avoidable if you're on a tight budget.
Provisioning
Provisioning includes all food and alcohol that we bring onto the boat. We didn't do much drinking in Canada because booze was SO expensive. The US actuals are high on provisioning because we loaded up on anything and everything we could fit in the boat not knowing what we'd be able to get in Mexico. Turns out, we could get most everything in Mexico. Things that are hard to get or ridiculously expensive include: good coffee, good cheap wine, peanut butter, chocolate chips and graham crackers.
Skype/Phone
We kept Jason's iphone throughout Canada and the US. Once we dumped that, we spend nearly nothing on Skype.
Townhouse
There's still a townhouse in Seattle under Jason's name. Fortunately, it's rented out and the rent barely covers the mortgage. We have rent checks sent to a friend to deposit in our account so we don't have to pay a management service. Still, expenses add up when the renters call and report a leak in the heating system...
Transportation
This includes bus fare, rental cars, etc. It's nice to budget a bit for this category and explore inland rather than just the coast.
Travel
This is meant to be for travel back to the States once a year, but we haven't done that yet.
Yearly Expenses
Medical Insurance
We have catastrophic coverage with a high deductible in case anything goes really wrong. There are lots of companies out there, but we went with HCC on a plan meant for traveling outside the States. If you're headed to Mexico, the medical and dental services here are outstanding and incredibly cheap. The general rule is that it costs less to pay the entire bill in Mexico than you would pay for a deductible in the US with insurance. Food for thought.
Mexican Boat Insurance
This is liability insurance that must be bought through a Mexican carrier. For $200/year you're covered. We went through Ace Watercraft.
Mexican Visas
You can get 180 day tourist visas when you check in to Mexico which is what we chose to do.
Mexico Fishing
If you've got fishing gear on your boat while in Mexico, you're supposed to have a fishing license. It's relatively cheap and we like to support the agency that is trying to control fishing.
Mexican National Park Pass
All of the islands in the Sea of Cortez are national parks. You can buy an annual pass for about $20/year or daily passes for about $2/day
Sailmail
Sailmail is our communication vehicle when we can't get wifi. Through our SSB, we can get text emails in the most remote of places. Our moms love sailmail.
Smugmug
Smugmug is our photo hosting service. We take lots of photos and want them to last a lifetime. We also want our family and friends to see them. We could have used a free service (Flickr or PicasaWeb) but they tend to be limited on the amount of space you can take up. For $5/month, we can upload to our hearts' content. (More on Smugmug
here).
US Boat Insurance
Hello World is our home. We've pretty well sunk most of our savings into her, so this insurance lets us sleep better at night. We know two boats in our travels that have gone down, one hit a whale and sunk in 5 minutes. The other ran aground, began taking on water and then burned to the waterline. Insurance? Yes, please.
Website
This is our yearly hosting fee at GoDaddy.com.
