Cruising on $5,000 / Month

[wolfenzee]

I don't think it is an inferiority complex on your part but a false sense of superiority on the part of the "stink potters"

Originally Posted by Eleebana

Now that's what I love about sailing - ordinary folks can do it, you don't have to be rich. Nothing wrong with having money, but amongst the "blow boaters I feel welcome to pull up in my poxy little 29 footer beside someone else's shiny big yacht and I'm treated as an equal. Maybe it's just me but I'm not made to feel that welcome amongst the big stink boats. Maybe it's my clothes or maybe I just have an inferiority complex, but I agree it would be hard to scale down to $5000 a month with 2 big 700 hp engines under the floorboards.

[Islander]

David Lee Roth: "Money can't buy you happiness, but it can buy you a yacht big enough to pull up right alongside it." - seems appropriate, and the amount needed is fairly flexible

Cheers

[seafish]

22k......Cal 40....7 years.....3 continents....that was several years ago. It boils down to what is your comfort level. The joy of an ice cold beer was far superior to six courses at a five star eatery today. The amount of money is flexible but the flexibility of the individual is the key.
On the Cal 40 I had a Grey Marine gas engine that did nothing but charge batteries...can you put up with a gas engine and sailing off the hook? My monitor vane worked for 50% of wind conditions...can you live without an auto pilot? You get the drift..
...an extra 5k a month to some means more years...to others...misery. Lucky we're not all in the same boat.

"The great thing about a boat is if you don't like your neighbors..you can pop the hook and leave" [?]

[wolfenzee]

The cost of cruising breaks down into fuel (people and boat) and things related to the "service industry" (marinas, resturants, etc). Expenses such as repairs, up grades, maintenance are not a set monthly expense.
The question arises is your cruise a vacation from life or a way of life...if it is just a vacation restaurants are great but if it is a way of life, restaurants on a regular basis grow old after awhile.

[EllanVannin]

$5000per month

- I would be able to see my kids and any grandbabies that arrive while we are gone instead of facing the fact that I will be communicating via snail mail or hurried phone card conversations for a few years.

- I would buy myself new books to read when in port instead of facing the reality of having to read all my husbands dodgy action/war/military thriller books from desperation...aaaaargh

- I would use laundrettes with abandon instead of facing whiling away the day with the bucket and wring method when I could be out and about exploring

- I would be able to leave the antifoul job to someone else instead of facing the job which I seriously doubt I can ever get any joy out of

- I would be able to buy hubby sooper dooper tape to fix all the problems on the boat instead of facing another sleepless night hoping his insulation tape solution will hold

- I would buy the odd bit of clothing that might possibly make me feel half pie decently dressed instead of facing more years of being the odd one out in the marina who looks like she dresses her family from a rag bag, cos I could afford the odd night in a marina during a cyclone

- I would get to see further inland by having transport options rather than facing the fact that I will see the locales that just my feet and local buses can get me too

- I would have a happier husband because he would not have to face me monitoring his spending and talking budgets constantly which no grown man should have to put up with ( in his opinion)

- Sad, I know.....but I would spend more time in bars and cafes sipping cool drinks watching the world go by

- I would most definitely still worry about money because in my limited experience it doesn't matter how much you have your cost of living just rises to meet your income, and wants become needs, so it all ends up similar be it 500 or 5000

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by EllanVannin

$5000per month

- I would be able to....

Sensational post. Absolutely correct in every point.
And in nothing are you asking for a life of luxury.

Perrrrfect Now all we need to do is fine the dollars to live that life for just a month or 2 per year and we would be all right!

[detav007]

For $5k per month I could be living the dream instead of dreaming it. That kind of money on the water seems like it would be great (assuming after taxes and repairs). From everything I've read you could live a life of luxury cruising with $5k after boat costs if that was just expenses. I'm in, sign me up.

[wolfenzee]

$5000/mo is more than 5 times my actual income. Yes with more money I could afford to pay people to do stuff it takes me alot more effort and time to accomplish and come up with all sorts of ways to spend money while cruising on things I just don't consider a cruising expense.

[barnakiel]

Arghhhh, yes - @5k I could now re-visit my homeland after 7 years, and go SKIING again. Sort of like cannot quite imagine snow by now. I remember it was like finely chopped ice cubes or somethin' ...

;-)

b.

[fishwife]

I've stayed away from this thread, mainly because Don asked what you would do if you had $5,000 a month to live on. I assumed he was asking in a 'dreaming' sort of way.

The thread has drifted enough that I think I can add my few words for what they are worth ($0.3c)

I've been as poor as a church mouse, living for many years in places where I earned less than $300.00 a month, sailed a really beaten up old yacht with sails so baggy I could have packed my belonging in them Living and cruising on $200.00 per month was a luxury that I seldom achieved, $150.00 was more like it, though in today's money that would probably be equivalent to $400.00.

Now I can spend considerably more, I buy food, not survival rations. I don't dread something breaking. I can afford to do proper preventative maintenance. I can have decent communications, electronic navigation, a good folio of paper charts. I prefer to be on the hook but when I want to leave the boat I'm not worried about the cost of a marina. I love the sea and would cruise whatever I had, but in answer to some comments about money buying happiness, it doesn't in itself, but it sure takes away some on the anxiety.

P.

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by fishwife

but in answer to some comments about money buying happiness, it doesn't in itself, but it sure takes away some on the anxiety.

P.

Yep.

Just like real life anywhere, any time.

[hummingway]

Originally Posted by fishwife

I've stayed away from this thread, mainly because Don asked what you would do if you had $5,000 a month to live on. I assumed he was asking in a 'dreaming' sort of way.

The thread has drifted enough that I think I can add my few words for what they are worth ($0.3c)

I've been as poor as a church mouse, living for many years in places where I earned less than $300.00 a month, sailed a really beaten up old yacht with sails so baggy I could have packed my belonging in them Living and cruising on $200.00 per month was a luxury that I seldom achieved, $150.00 was more like it, though in today's money that would probably be equivalent to $400.00.

Now I can spend considerably more, I buy food, not survival rations. I don't dread something breaking. I can afford to do proper preventative maintenance. I can have decent communications, electronic navigation, a good folio of paper charts. I prefer to be on the hook but when I want to leave the boat I'm not worried about the cost of a marina. I love the sea and would cruise whatever I had, but in answer to some comments about money buying happiness, it doesn't in itself, but it sure takes away some on the anxiety.

P.

I'm glad you chipped in - I enjoyed your post. I agree about the anxiety, at least as I get older. I've never ben rich or poor by some measuring sticks although by others I suppose I've been both. When I was young I travelled with guitar and blanket and never worried about a thing. I did it for several years. Then I had a family and worked at that one and having little money definately produced anxiety. Eventually I had a job that paid well over six figures and the anxiety that comes from wondering ho to pay the bills was gone but it wasn't replaced with happiness. I was happier when I had nothing. I think that having the time and freedom to go where the wind blows more then makes up for not being able to have the "finer" things, or even the security of knowing that the bills are paid long into the future.

Just my 2c and not a value judgement for others, just for me. I'd rather have the time to play music, fish and bird watch, sail and explore then have all the money in the world and not have the time for those things. $5000 a month would be wonderful, but not neccessary.

[NYCSavage]

This is what I cant understand!

I currently earn about 50% of the proposed budget by working on land, if (when) I regain my sealegs, this income will dwindle to about 10% of the proposed budget (and thats if I am lucky!)

A few people on here have said $5,000 is an easy target......the only time I ever made that type of money was when I sold used cars and I don't think I would make as much money if I was at sea! lol Please tell me how you guys make this an "easy" target! I beg you, my next boat begs you!

As for my plans on $5,000 I would ensure we had enough provisions for the month and then put some aside for the inevitable break down that comes along when you least expect it, and the rest I would allow my Admiral to waste on her and the baby!

[fishwife]

Originally Posted by NYCSavage

Please tell me how you guys make this an "easy" target! I beg you, my next boat begs you!

Hiya Scouse or are you a Woolyback

I'm a Speke lass. At todays rate $5000 per month works out at around £40,000 a year, a whole lot of money but most of us able to do that are at the end of a working life and have either got lucky or had jobs in medicine or the law etc. What's for sure is that the best way of making a decent sum is by working for yourself and salting as much as possible away.

The reality of cruising is that it's do-able for far less than $5,000 a month. A sum of $1,500 a month can still leave you in a comfortable place if you are careful, especially if you start off with a boat in good condition.

P.

(For those who don't know, a 'woolyback' is a friendly ribbing for someone who lives over the river from Liverpool in an area called the Wirral.)

[NYCSavage]

Originally Posted by fishwife

Hiya Scouse or are you a Woolyback

Hi

Originally Posted by fishwife

I'm a Speke lass. At todays rate $5000 per month works out at around £40,000 a year, a whole lot of money but most of us able to do that are at the end of a working life and have either got lucky or had jobs in medicine or the law etc. What's for sure is that the best way of making a decent sum is by working for yourself and salting as much as possible away.

I do work from home for a recycle company at the moment but I also do Freelance Websites in my spare time. The problem is that 11 month ball and chain who doesnt stop eating lol Just joking, my daughter is the love of my life.

Originally Posted by fishwife

The reality of cruising is that it's do-able for far less than $5,000 a month. A sum of $1,500 a month can still leave you in a comfortable place if you are careful, especially if you start off with a boat in good condition.

I would have to do a lot of websites to be able to afford $1,500 a month, we all know how tight sailors are lol

You want to sail to get away from work, but you have to work to afford sailing, and work gets in the way of sailing stopping you from having the time to do it!

Originally Posted by fishwife

(For those who don't know, a 'woolyback' is a friendly ribbing for someone who lives over the river from Liverpool in an area called the Wirral.)

fishwife, your wrong! Wirral is plastic scouse, Wigan/Skem is a woolyback! lol

I grew up all around the country but was born in Fazakerley which makes me a Scouser! Live just off the East Lancs now in Scouseland. lol