$500 v $5000 a month budget - which is best?

[David_Old_Jersey]

Rather than derail the existing threads on each of these topics :

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...nth-42283.html

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...-ii-79067.html

I thought might be an idea to "discuss " the merits of each approach on a seperate thread .......because as everyone knows - your cruising budget defines the person you are and it is important that others be persuaded that your approach is best, if not also the only one (to be a real cruiser and / or to be safe .)

I would suggest posting responses fairly quickly as I suspect this thread won't be open for long. .

[TeddyDiver]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

I would suggest posting responses fairly quickly as I suspect this thread won't be open for long. .

While waiting that to happen..
There are places where $500 is plenty and places where $5000 makes you feel like tramp. Got money piling up on my savings account I spend it, if it's balanced low I enjoy the sunsets..
BR Teddy

[colemj]

We cruise on a cost somewhere in between those two numbers. $500 is stupid and $5,000 is stupid - the only non-stupid number is between those. But not just any number between those - it has to be our exact number to not be stupid. Down to the penny.

And you can't plan the number in advance because it changes each year and with each circumstance. Yet, if you do not spend exactly what we do, then you are stupid. And can't trim your sails properly either.

Did I make it in before thread closure?

Mark

[CatInHand]

I backpacked through Europe for dirt cheap, saving money on food and lodgings and hitting the museums on the free days. I'm pretty sure I had just as much fun as the folks in the 4-star hotels who ate at fancy restaurants every night. Even when I had a job and could afford better accommodations I didn't choose them because for me it's about the adventure.

"Better" is what makes you happy.

[NornaBiron]

Originally Posted by colemj

We cruise on a cost somewhere in between those two numbers. $500 is stupid and $5,000 is stupid - the only non-stupid number is between those. But not just any number between those - it has to be our exact number to not be stupid. Down to the penny.

And you can't plan the number in advance because it changes each year and with each circumstance. Yet, if you do not spend exactly what we do, then you are stupid. And can't trim your sails properly either.

Did I make it in before thread closure?

Mark

You took the words right out of my mouth!

[Mark1977]

Originally Posted by colemj

We cruise on a cost somewhere in between those two numbers. $500 is stupid and $5,000 is stupid - the only non-stupid number is between those. But not just any number between those - it has to be our exact number to not be stupid. Down to the penny.

And you can't plan the number in advance because it changes each year and with each circumstance. Yet, if you do not spend exactly what we do, then you are stupid. And can't trim your sails properly either.

Did I make it in before thread closure?

Mark

I wont have time to retype all that soooo....+1..

[NornaBiron]

Originally Posted by Mark1977

I wont have time to retype all that soooo....+1..

Too late, you're the +2!

[msponer]

Best for hanging out with? $500/month people are way more fun to hang out with. They tend to be less uptight, and I love the ingenuity of home made wind vanes, wind generators, and sneaking water hoses...

[virginia boy]

I'm not cruising as of yet, but I spend about 400 USD per month on food living on land. Any less would mean eating a high carb, high sugar diet and I'm desperately hoping to avoid ravaging my endothelium or burning out my pancreatic beta cells.
My net retirement pay is, I suspect, lower than many CFers at 3600 USD monthly. While cruising the. Carib I hope to get by on 1200 per month (my current cost of living) incl living/boat expenses and bank the other 2400 for the post Caribbean adventure liver transplant (I hear China is having a fire sale on Falun Gong livers) God I hope I haven't crossed the line with that last one.

[JPA Cate]

Neither is better because the one is viewed as abject poverty and the other as wasteful, greedy, "non-green" overkill. DOJ, this one's political, and me coming back here after an absence, too.

[JK n Smitty]

Originally Posted by msponer

Best for hanging out with? $500/month people are way more fun to hang out with. They tend to be less uptight, and I love the ingenuity of home made wind vanes, wind generators, and sneaking water hoses...

Yeah but they aren't going to offer you a glass of good scotch.

The answer to me is, it costs what it costs. We don't be $500 each month and we won't be $5,000. Will we have some $500 months? Yes! Will we have some $5,000 months? As few as possible!

When you judge a $500 month do you count the supplies you bought before you left or in the previous month? Do you prorate the fishing gear you used to catch fish all month? There are many ways to skin the cat.

Bottom line for me is I don't think $500 a month is realistic when you include the cost of boat maintenance supplies. I also think that $5,000 month would mean eating out a lot and staying in marinas. I want to leave those type of things behind and its part of why we are heading out in the first place. We are hoping to have $60K in our usable cruising kitty (we will have other emergency funds). We will also be debt free. So our plan is to make the money last as long as we can. Hoping for at least 2 years.

[Coops]

I have to say that for sure my approach is best. Now, if you do not see this then you must fall into one of the following categories.

1% er
Freeloader
Denier
Wimpy pacifist
Tree hugger
Chip on shoulderer
Global alarmist
Armchair sailor
Dock queen
Hater
Self Important pompous ass
Idiot
Stupid
Anything else that I am too bored to write down now.

Anyway you get the jist, you are all wrong but me. Now, everybody say the same thing in your own way, which is how it usually goes, and we can go ahead and close it.

Coops.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

Rather than derail the existing threads on each of these topics :

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...nth-42283.html

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...-ii-79067.html

I thought might be an idea to "discuss " the merits of each approach on a seperate thread

For me if I start hitting the $500/mo world I need to be heading home at least 12 months before the money runs out to sell my boat (quickly as I can as I can not pay to moor or maintain it) and find a job (welcome to Walmart). Otherwise I'm going to be one of those sad stories where cruisers in some nice foreign port wake up one morning to find "that guy" on the rundown boat is hanging from a halyard. In the meantime I'm surviving on beans and rice, not fixing the boat, hoping I don't get sick or hurt etc., missing my wife who left me already....... it just doesn't look pretty for someone my age and well ..............

For $5000/mo I'm not planning to have to cook a lot of dinners on my boat no matter how nice the gallery is (for a boat). I'm going to go on vacation away from the boat once in a while. I would basically be living BETTER than I am now (even though I guess I'm in the 5 percent group now) .

But in the middle of these 2 I hope to be having a good time going to new places, while living a comfortable enjoyable life. That means I'm doing local sightseeing that only requires inexpensive transportation to get to, doing 99% of work on my boat myself, eating out 1 time a week at mid price places, eating a varied diet, spending most of my time at anchor or a mooring with a slip every once in a while, hauling out my boat for work every couple of years, have a plan for insurance for my boat and myself, able to have entertainment beyond walking a beach and reading another book. Sounds kind of fun.

[MarkJ]

The most stupid thing about these stupid threads is the people who have never been cruising angrily disbelieve anything people who are actually cruising say.

And the people who have finished cruising angrily disbelieve those who are currently cruising: "i cruised for $500 per month in 1971 so you can do it too!"

[sailorboy1]

Hey I wonder which group the owners of cheap production boats fit into?



May as well start covering all bases.