I will now concentrate on a full year's monthly budget to show absolutely everything we spend money on. And, now that I've proved that you actually can live in PV on the $1,800/mo budget if we chose not to have medical insurance (which many do choose to do), we are now allowing ourselves to use $2,000/mo as our GOAL budget including medical insurance. Mentally, I will continue to use the $1,800/mo because it keeps us accountable. But I'm certainly not going to beat ourselves up over it!
We chose to keep our rental amount at what we were paying during high season because we found a great apartment exactly where we wanted to be and didn't really compromise on much. A very good value! And, because we are living here year round, we chose to purchase some items that make our life more comfortable and pleasing for us. This was total Discretionary spending and not necessary at all to live here.
I have also now included the cost of our Traveler's Medical Insurance. We have decided for the near future we will continue to keep our Traveler's Insurance for both of us at a cost of $772 for 6 months or $129/month. The coverage we get in this policy is as good, if not better, than what we would get through private insurance and it includes coverage to fly us back to the states in the event of a disaster or illness.
Living
Expenses:
|
Dec/Jan, 2014
|
Jan/Feb
|
Feb/Mar
|
Mar/April
|
April - May
|
| Rent w/util | $1,050.00 | $1,000.00 | $1,000.00 | $1,000.00 | $1,000.00 |
| Electric | $4.00 | ||||
| Cell Phone | $16.00 | $16.00 | $16.00 | $15.00 | $16.00 |
| Groceries | $247.00 | $308.00 | $230.00 | $331.00 | $326.00 |
| Meals Out | $274.00 | $283.00 | $167.00 | $382.00 | $255.00 |
| Drinks Only | $211.00 | $193.00 | $164.00 | $130.00 | $160.00 |
| Entertainment | $70.00 | $74.00 | $102.00 | $238.00 | $72.00 |
| Massages | $40.00 | $40.00 | $40.00 | $30.00 | $33.00 |
| Bus/Taxi | $72.00 | $28.00 | $5.00 | $21.00 | $39.00 |
| Dental Cleaning | $24.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $14.00 |
| Incidentals | $22.00 | $4.00 | $23.00 | $20.00 | $31.00 |
| Medical Ins. | $129.00 | $129.00 | $129.00 | $129.00 | $129.00 |
| TOTAL | $2,155.00 | $2,079.00 | $1,876.00 | $2,296.00 | $2,075.00 |
| TOTAL W/O RENT | $1,105.00 | $1,079.00 | $876.00 | $1,296.00 | $1,075.00 |
| Discr Spending: | |||||
| Tours | $203.00 | ||||
| Home Improve | $793.00 | $1,110.00 | |||
| Medical | $60.00 | $15.00 | |||
| Dental | $118.00 | ||||
| Air Travel | |||||
| Hotels | $38.00 | ||||
| Car Rental | |||||
| Spanish Lessons | $117.00 | $124.00 | $36.00 | ||
| TOTAL Discr. | $320.00 | $124.00 | $96.00 | $831.00 | $1,243.00 |
| TOTAL ALL | $2,475.00 | $2,203.00 | $1,972.00 | $3,127.00 | $3,318.00 |
*We still continued to make discretionary purchases for the apartment such as a brand new washer/dryer combo for $800. As it would cost us approximately $650 for the next year if we took it to the lavanderia, we decided it was cost effective plus we have total control over how our laundry is done and nothing gets ruined or lost.
*I had a tooth extracted and ended up going to 2 different dentists because the first one was out of town when it needed pulling so I paid $50 extra for another visit & xrays.
*For everything this last month, we were still within our monthly income.
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