I will now concentrate on a full year's monthly budget to show absolutely everything we spend money on. We have proved that you actually can live well in PV on the $1,800/mo budget, and I will continue to use the $1,800/mo as our goal because it keeps us accountable. But I'm certainly not going to beat ourselves up over it if our expenditures creep a little closer to $2,000/mo.
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.
| Living Expenses: | Dec - Jan, 2014 | J an - Feb | Feb - March | March - April | April - May | May - June | June 13-July 29 | August | September | October |
| Rent w/util | $1,050.00 | $1,000.00 | $1,000.00 | $1,000.00 | $1,000.00 | $1,000.00 | $1,000.00 | $1,000.00 | $1,000.00 | $1,000.00 |
| Electric | $4.00 | $50.00 | $36.00 | $115.00 | ||||||
| Cell Phone | $16.00 | $16.00 | $16.00 | $15.00 | $16.00 | $31.00 | $125.00 | $23.00 | $0.00 | $30.00 |
| Groceries | $247.00 | $308.00 | $230.00 | $331.00 | $326.00 | $298.00 | $397.00 | $372.00 | $174.00 | $429.00 |
| Meals Out | $274.00 | $283.00 | $167.00 | $382.00 | $255.00 | $224.00 | $897.00 | $273.00 | $284.00 | $175.00 |
| Drinks Only | $211.00 | $193.00 | $164.00 | $130.00 | $160.00 | $136.00 | $0.00 | $170.00 | $110.00 | $196.00 |
| Entertainment | $70.00 | $74.00 | $102.00 | $238.00 | $72.00 | $0.00 | $164.00 | $5.00 | $0.00 | $13.00 |
| Massages | $40.00 | $40.00 | $40.00 | $30.00 | $33.00 | $57.00 | $0.00 | $52.00 | $57.00 | $70.00 |
| Bus/Taxi | $72.00 | $28.00 | $5.00 | $21.00 | $39.00 | $14.00 | $29.00 | $45.00 | $18.00 | $20.00 |
| Dental Cleaning | $24.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $14.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $39.00 | $0.00 |
| Incidentals | $22.00 | $4.00 | $23.00 | $20.00 | $31.00 | $25.00 | $844.00 | $25.00 | $82.00 | $26.00 |
| TOTAL | $2,026.00 | $1,950.00 | $1,747.00 | $2,167.00 | $1,946.00 | $1,835.00 | $3,456.00 | $2,001.00 | $1,764.00 | $2,074.00 |
| TOTAL W/O RENT | $976.00 | $950.00 | $747.00 | $1,167.00 | $946.00 | $835.00 | $2,456.00 | $1,001.00 | $764.00 | $1,074.00 |
| Discr Spending: | ||||||||||
| Visas/Legal | $72.00 | $600.00 | $402.00 | $223.00 | ||||||
| Clothes/Shoes/Gifts | $538.00 | $145.00 | $14.00 | |||||||
| Medical Ins. | $129.00 | $129.00 | $129.00 | $129.00 | $129.00 | $129.00 | $129.00 | $211.00 | $631.00 | $211.00 |
| Tours | $203.00 | $32.00 | $2,152.00 | |||||||
| Home Improve | $793.00 | $1,110.00 | $678.00 | $120.00 | $605.00 | |||||
| Medical | $60.00 | $15.00 | $184.00 | |||||||
| Dental | $118.00 | $705.00 | $600.00 | |||||||
| Air Travel | $1,846.00 | |||||||||
| Hotels | $38.00 | $90.00 | $90.00 | |||||||
| Car Rental/Gas | $1,028.00 | |||||||||
| Spanish Lessons | $117.00 | $124.00 | $36.00 | |||||||
| TOTAL Discr. | $449.00 | $253.00 | $225.00 | $960.00 | $1,372.00 | $1,512.00 | $3,703.00 | $1,147.00 | $1,178.00 | $3,895.00 |
| TOTAL ALL | $2,475.00 | $2,203.00 | $1,972.00 | $3,127.00 | $3,318.00 | $3,347.00 | $7,159.00 | $3,148.00 | $2,942.00 | $5,969.00 |
*Electric: We are billed every 2 months for our power usage, so the $115 paid is really only $53/mo. Fabulous, considering that we have an all electric washer/dryer combo (but very efficient!); we run 2 ceiling fans 24/7; a floor fan in the living area most of the day during the summer months because, yes, it's hot; and, we ran the air conditioner every night for about 4-5 hours total. We are VERY pleased with this!!
*Groceries: We are truly beginning to have a pattern of a larger bill at Costco every 2 months. This is because we stock up on wine, beer, and mineral water items that last us over a 2 month period. We do this because we can't carry even one case of wine or beer in order for us to take the bus, so we take a taxi home. If we are going to have that expenditure, we might as well stock up to avoid unnecessary more expensive taxi rides.
*Drinks Only: We had several new visiting couples that wanted to meet with us plus more and more of the snowbirds that we made friends with are returning so, of course, we had to be social and get together.
*Visa/Legal: We finally succeeded in getting our security deposit back from our old landlord. Out of it, we paid $223 to our lawyer for his services. A very good value for his efforts over 7 months.
*Tours & Hotel: We decided to take a weeks excursion to the Copper Canyon, Mexico's Grand Canyon including 2 nights in Mazatlán.
*Home Improvement: I was very surprised and pleased to receive 2 commission payments this month from my real estate business that I left in the capable hands of other REALTORS in WA. As a result, we splurged and purchased some beautiful Mexican Talavera pottery and I purchased a new/used cell phone. A birthday present to me!
*Dental: Unexpectedly, of course, Mike broke one of his front tooth crowns. This is the same tooth that was "fixed" both in Costa Rica and, again, in the states a year ago. We are certainly hoping that the now very expensive tooth is fixed!!
Although our expenditures were higher, as explained above, with the extra income received this month, we are still within our total monthly income. We are on track for spending no more than our annual income, which has been our goal including our travels and unexpected expenditures.
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