What has 6 months of traveling cost us?
Written by Bessie on Friday, July 25, 2008 in El Salvador
Feelin' normal
So we're finally posting the details on how much we've spent on traveling so far. We keep a meticulous money book detailing everything we spend money on, and put ourselves on a $66/day budget - uh huh, for 2 of us. (We're not exactly staying in resorts or anything.) Have we stayed within our budget???Feelin' normal
Here's are totals over 6 months of being on the road (with percentages):
- food $1,700, 17%
- housing $1,752, 18%
- transportation $3,810, 39%
- fun/touristy stuff $1,426, 14%
- internet $126, 1%
- Medical $178, 2%
- Misc $877, 9%
- TOTAL $9,869
Honestly, I can't believe we've stayed under our budget, but here are 5 main reasons why, and they might help your next trip or just everyday $ savings:
- we mooch - ok, it's not mooching exactly, we just like arrangements. For example, our volunteer gigs have especially helped because we've arranged food & housing in exchange for volunteer work, but this could also be eating for free in exchange for bartending a night, watching someone's kids, or translating. We CouchSurf staying with people that love international visitors, and you're immersed in a local's life. And staying with family & friends is great on so many levels. It all frees up money for something else.
- we pinch corners - so my $7 haircuts haven't been stellar, but they're friendly on the pocket book. We also find adventures in the free walks around town and talking with locals over expensive tours and seek out used books exchanges. It's much harder to rationalize the expensive restaurant (or cute shoes!) when we'd much rather snorkel the next day. We've also been known to eat lots of pb&j to save money & desserts a rarity, too.
- we write it all down - the numbers don't lie. we can't fool ourselves that we've been thrifty when it's all there in black and white. It's also a green light to hit that pricey touristy site when we see we were under-budget the day before.
- we rarely buy souveneuirs - and in general, we don't spend money frivolously. We only buy something that we need or can't live without, and otherwise we just take pictures and write about it. Knowing whatever we buy we have to carry helps too.
- we know the less we spend the longer we travel - this is the number one motivator. We want to keep traveling as long as we can, and our cash flow is the number 1 restrictor. It's easy to pass up something unneccessary when we think what other place we could visit with that money.
Comments on "What has 6 months of traveling cost us?"
it's been a good journey, and traveling on the cheap has given us lots of opportunities, like staying in sushi restaurants/ hostels and had us on the floor of all sorts of places. :) Safety first and penny saving second.
Thanks for the compliments, and you've inspired us to travel well when we're older (and maybe sooner). I could really go for avoiding midwest winters with trips south, for, well, maybe forever...
Who thought that homeless and jobless would equal responsible? I like your thinking!
VERY NICE BUDGET... WONDERFUL THRIFT... There seems to be one little facet missing from your accounting tiara, however... in some places I think you actually had INCOME which seems to be ignored in your work ... Was all of THAT spent on BEER? (ha, ha, ha) ... Or did you just donate it to the poor like the angels of mercy which you both are of course!!! .... :>) .... Just curious .... :>) ....
ha haaa - we didn't spend all the income on beer, it's so cheap here, it would be quite a challenge. :)
Yes, yes, you've caught my accounting snaffoo - call me Enron-ita. So overall the way we look at any money we make or save as opportunity to save & do something else. I did teach some private english classes and earned about $140, otherwise, "income" was our apartment and food stipend in exchange for our time at "work". These past few months the money we saved while volunteering we spent renting a car, something we'd normally not do, so it's sort of all comes out in the wash - we worked, which gave us living income, which we spent on things while living here.
My smile for the day was the photo of the condition of your budget journal! I hope you never have to ford a stream because your meticulous record keeping will be totally washed away. :) I hope you have a computerized back up record...kept, of course, by the computer wizard, Kyle. Looks like you are economizing well.....that will help you when you return as basic living expenses here have skyrocketed....food, transportation, fuel. The only "bargains" right now are real estate purchases.....lots of available houses for sale.....everywhere.
That is cheap. there is a couple who backpacked/bus all the way down to BsAs, taking a whole year back in 06-07. there budget was 12000$. And they made it. if you read her blg you might get some pointers. meganlyles.com. Was a great blog to read. Are you guys planning on going further south than the Darien gap? for fund raising might want to consider assisting with visa requirments for the locals. keep us updated.
Say hello to Costa Rica and bye bye budget :)
Too much fun to be had !
Could I request a shot of u 2 screaming in a volcanic hot pool that your skin can hardly stand except for the iceberg frosted IMPERIAL Pura Vida beer in it ?
Hi guys, I just have a question for you. How many countries are you planing to visit? And how much money are you willing to spend? The reason why I'm asking you this, is because some friends and I want to travel Latin America but we don't know for sure how much money we might need for the whole trip.
Anyway I wish you luck guys.
Well, we're trying to go all the way through to Argentina. So, it would be the central american countries plus Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Boliva, and maybe Chile. We budgeted $33 / day per person. I might up it to $40 / day per person just to make your life a bit easier.
Also, if we end up low on money, we might stay somewhere for a little while and work to get some cash to keep on moving. I hope that day is later rather than sooner...
ooooooh, you guys are SO RESPONSIBLE! your fan base out here in cyberspace (and/or suburbia) is writhing in guilt. once again, i so much admire what you're doing. what you're teaching us (living life to the hilt, exercising fiscal discipline, keeping your humor even in challenging times, steadily loving your sweetie, among other lessons) has value far beyond your travelogue. keep it up :)
by Dan & Susan at July 28, 2008 11:50 AM