BUDGET UPDATE - January, 2015

And so a new year begins!!  We showed that we could live within our means including private health insurance and all of our traveling, which was our goal.  We showed that you could live a very good life style for $25,000/year, if you weren't lavish and chose where you eat and drink out.  We took advantage of Cupocity discounts on meals, tours, massages, etc. We also determined where we get the best bang for our buck, which allows us to eat and drink out with our friends. We are social people and gathering with friends is very important to us. (See Year End Budget posted in mid December, 2014 located in Archives)

As we also knew would happen, our family and friends would start visiting us and the winter months would see us eating out and going on excursions more with them. My daughter and her family were here for 16 days this month, and several friends came to town to spend time with us. It definitely shows in our expenditures this month!

This month also brought us the expenditures of washing machine repair ($232), camera repairs ($10), more of Mike's dental woes (a new crown & a tooth pulled $742), and Mike needing to visit a chiropractor twice for adjustments that couldn't be dealt with in a massage ($73). We also took a 3 day side excursion to Yelapa with family and incurred hotel expenses and a more expensive water taxi ride plus all meals out.

But, we are extremely happy that everyone wants to come see us!!  This was part of our decision to live here. We knew it was easier and more alluring for them to come here to PV than any other location we considered. So it is what it is and we make no apologies for enjoying our family and friends.

Living Expenses:	January
Rent w/util	$    1,000
Electric	$          24
Cell Phone	$          42
Groceries	$       227
Meals Out	$       448
Drinks Only	$       161
Entertainment	$          60
Massages	$       101
Bus/Taxi	$          64
Dental Cleaning	$          33
Incidentals	$          25
TOTAL	$    2,185
TOTAL W/O RENT	$    1,185
Discr Spending:
Visas/Legal	$             -
Clothes/Shoes/Gifts	$          13
Medical/Life Ins.	$       211
Tours	$          87
Home Impr/repair	$       420
Medical	$       237
Dental	$       742
Air Travel
Hotels	$       180
Car Rental/Gas
Spanish Lessons
TOTAL Discr.	$    1,890
TOTAL ALL	$    4,075