I'm truly excited to share how affordable world travel is with my family, friends, and new connections. I just couldn't wait to launch this post so I decided to write down my expenses as of today, and continue to update as the month goes on.
A few very important notes!
I have free lodging while living in Cotacachi, Ecuador, so I'm not paying rent. However, if I was to rent in the area, it appears I could find comfortable accommodations for around $300 to $400/month in town. So you can mentally add an amount onto the monthly expenses to see what it be to include rent.
I am recording how much each meal costs for myself, regardless if I pay for the meal, or if someone else picks it up for me. I truly want to understand my "Eating Out" expenses as that tended to be one of my largest expenses when I had previously been living in Mexico.
The "Grocery" category below will be skewed because I try to pay for groceries when we are at big box stores; and I'm shopping with my family so we are often feeding 4 people.
How do I have free lodging?
I have amazing family with a spare room who lives in Cotacachi. My cousin, her daughter and husband have been here for 4 years, and I've visited them back in August 2018. It's wonderful to be back and this time, stay closer to 3 months. Although I am not paying rent, I do try to purchase our groceries, or pick up the tab when we eat out at times.
Additionally, they have great friends who are going on vacations while I'm in town so I have been asked to house and pet sit. Each person has been generous to let me enjoy foods they have available in their home during my stay. So not only do I get free lodging, but I'm also not necessarily paying for as much food as I would have been if I was in my own rental. Laundry detergent, dryer sheets and soap would be other items that I have not needed to purchase myself, since I've been able to use what is available at each home.
WanderWallet App I use the WanderWallet app on my iPhone to record all expenses. I am able to enter a "trip" and set goals to help me stay on target. For example, my daily goal is to spend $40 or less, which would be a total $1,240 for the month of January ($40 x 31 days = $1,240).
January 1 - 19, 2020 Expenses: $484.92
Cigna Global Health Insurance $152.00
Eating Out $132.00 Groceries $120.17
Data & Streaming $ 34.20
Cell Phone $ 27.55 (AT&T US Plan 3G)
Taxi's $ 10.00
Alcoholic Drinks $ 6.00
Coffee $ 3.00
Daily Average: $484.92 / 19 days = $25.52 / day
Weekly Average: $25.52 x 7 days = $178.64 / week
Estimated Monthly Average: $25.52 x 31 days = $791.12 / month
Unexpected Income
I am traveling with 2 spare cell phones for backups in case my primary cell phone is stolen or breaks. I decided to sell the oldest spare phone, an iPhone 6s Plus 64GB in Rose Gold, as I don't feel like I need 2 backup phones. Technology is expensive here and hard to come by, so this was a perfect place to offload tech. I was able to get $200 from selling my old cell phone and $300 from my first house sitting gig. That's a total of $500 of unexpected income to have in my pocket. Considering my January expenses have been under $500 thus far, I have not spent any of my own money yet in January. Bonus!
I will update the above table in early February, to see the whole picture for the month of January. For now, I think it's a pretty cool analysis. Quite different than what your expenses might look like in the US.
UPDATED DATA
January 1 - 31, 2020 Expenses: $997.82
Groceries $406.86*
Cigna Global Health Insurance $248.00
Eating Out $194.20
Data & Streaming $ 42.75 (Amazon Prime & GigSky data)
Cell Phone $ 42.51 (AT&T US Plan 3G)
Alcoholic Drinks $ 20.00
Shopping $ 14.00 (pedicure & 2 bouquets of flowers)
Taxi's $ 11.50
Entertainment $ 5.00 (Trivia night - donation to local charity)
Coffee $ 3.00
Lodging $ 0.00
Gifts $10.00 (Donation)
Daily Average: $997.82 / 31 days = $32.19 / day
Weekly Average: $32.19 x 7 days = $225.31 / week
Why such high grocery expenses?
My cousins and I did a big grocery run the other weekend (~$273 worth of groceries for 4 people) and I insisted on buying since they are graciously letting me stay with them during my time in Ecuador. It's the least I could do!
I like to look at my January expenses in a couple of ways:
Take off ~$200 for the family groceries I bought and we are closer to my individual expenses, say around $750/month.
Had I been paying rent in this town my expenses would be right around $1000 / month since many places rent for $200 to $400 / month.
Rounding my January expenses to $970, and considering the $800 I made by selling my old iPhone and house sitting, I have spent roughly $170 of my own money in January.
Comparing my goal to my actual expenses.
My daily goal was to spend $40 or less, which would be a total $1,240 for the month of January ($40 x 31 days = $1,240). I spent $997.82, which is $242.18 under my budget. OR, if you consider the amount of money I made ($800) this month, I am under budget by $1042.18 in January.
January Savings Rate
An important part of my FIRE goals is understanding my savings rate, so I can put as much as I can away into my investment accounts and save for retirement. Unlike salaried employees, I have variable income since projects and contracts vary with my clients. For January, my expenses ($997.82) was about 11% of my income; meaning I had a monthly savings rate of 89%. BAM!!
What have I learned?
Saving is fun! And I've had the most home-cooked meals this month than any period of time in my adult life thanks to my wonderful cousin.
After 7 months of the nomadic lifestyle, I am still tickled pink that I don't buy much of anything anymore beyond food. Even today, I walked into town for the Thursday Markets not needing anything but wanting to support the local economy, and stretch my legs as I'm not doing well in my Fitbit challenges. So I bought a beautiful bouquet of red roses ($3), 2 small loaves of chocolate bread ($3), a jerk chicken lunch with 2 sides ($5), and 2 double chocolate chip cookies ($1).
February Goals
Although my January daily average expenses were $32.19, I am still sticking with my $40 / day budget. With 29 days in February, I hope to spend less than $1160. I am scheduled to house sit for 8 days ($120 of income) and I'm ready to dig through my bags to see if there are more items I can sell (or donate) to lighten my load.
Questions? Suggestions?
Use the comment sections below, or send me a message.
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