Thursday, June 12, 2014

Budget Update - Month 6 in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

This chart is now dedicated to our living in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Anyone still wanting to take a look (and, they should) at our country and location comparisons from our living in Panama, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Mexico, you can find it in my Archives in March, 2014. 

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 - March March - April April - May May - June
Rent w/util $1,050.00 $1,000.00 $1,000.00 $1,000.00 $1,000.00 $1,000.00
Electric $4.00 $50.00
Cell Phone $16.00 $16.00 $16.00 $15.00 $16.00 $31.00
Groceries $247.00 $308.00 $230.00 $331.00 $326.00 $298.00
Meals Out $274.00 $283.00 $167.00 $382.00 $255.00 $224.00
Drinks Only $211.00 $193.00 $164.00 $130.00 $160.00 $136.00
Entertainment $70.00 $74.00 $102.00 $238.00 $72.00
Massages $40.00 $40.00 $40.00 $30.00 $33.00 $57.00
Bus/Taxi $72.00 $28.00 $5.00 $21.00 $39.00 $14.00
Dental Cleaning $24.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $14.00
Incidentals $22.00 $4.00 $23.00 $20.00 $31.00 $25.00
Medical Ins. $129.00 $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 $1,964.00
TOTAL W/O RENT $1,105.00 $1,079.00 $876.00 $1,296.00 $1,075.00 $964.00
Discr Spending:
Tours $203.00
Home Improve $793.00 $1,110.00 $678.00
Medical $60.00 $15.00
Dental $118.00 $705.00
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 $1,383.00
TOTAL ALL $2,475.00 $2,203.00 $1,972.00 $3,127.00 $3,318.00 $3,347.00

*We continue to buy a few things for the apartment but this amount also includes a new computer because my old one died a quick death very unexpectedly!
*Mike had a crown come loose and it needed more repair than thought and he decided to have his teeth laser whitened while he was at it.
*For everything this last month, we were still within our monthly income. 

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