Month 3 Expenses & Costs of Cruising

[sailorboy1]

We slowed down and this past month only traveled from Beaufort SC to St Augustine Fl and then back up to Green Cove Springs Fl. We traveled all the routes outside instead of the ICW, which resulted in some backtracking. During this time spend 3 nights at slip in Brunswick GA, a week on a mooring at St Augustine FL, and we are doing a month on a mooring here in Green Cove Springs FL to be with family during Christmas.

One time we noted is that the mooring in GCS is real cheap ($165/mo that will be in next months numbers) it does not mean it is cheap to stop here. Because this place is 2 miles walk to even the basic gas station store we got a rental car for the month (cost will be in next month expensive when we pay it). If you add the car to the cost of the month's mooring it would have been less to stay at slip in a nice marina that was in walking distance to shopping etc. But no one had a month rate slip so this is where we ended up.

Nothing broke on the boat so all we had were the normal little maintenance and repair items and the largest boat item was a spare propane bottle because I got tired of being half way through cooking dinner and having it go empty, so that was $200 of boat costs for the month.

We ate out a fair number of times still and I think we did so every night in St Augustine. But we also didn't do any expensive meals out (I count McDonald's etc as eating out) and we have done more lunches lately. As such we got more groceries and stuff at the store and since we aren't rice and beans people that combination of groceries + eating out are about the same.

So the costs:
Grifts (its Christmas but most are in next month's costs) - $184.34
Food, soda, beer, sundries, clothes, etc - $1071.96
Boat maintenance, repairs, upgrades -$478.56
Diesel - $64.72
Marina - $342.04
Entertainment - $91.98 (got to find more things to do)
Transportation - $69.24
Communication & storage - $271.12
Health insurance - $22.27
Eating out - $532.34

That's $3,041.58, pretty close to our target of $3k/mo. But is spending too much as the number has no savings for big ticket items in the future.

[SV Bacchus]

I'm a little confused about the delayed expenses such as "Gifts (its Christmas but most are in next month's costs) - $184.34".

Are you charging items and only counting the expense when the bill comes in?

If so, doesn't that confuse (slightly) which month the expenses occurred in? By that I mean if you charge $100.00 worth of Big Macs, LOL, in December but don't count them until January does it artificially skew December's numbers?

Not critical, if your system works for you then good, I'm just trying to understand exactly what it is you are doing.

[newhaul]

Thanks for the update Don looks like you are doing what many just dream of welcome to the homeless club isn't it great?

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by SV Bacchus

I'm a little confused about the delayed expenses such as "Gifts (its Christmas but most are in next month's costs) - $184.34".

Are you charging items and only counting the expense when the bill comes in?

If so, doesn't that confuse (slightly) which month the expenses occurred in? By that I mean if you charge $100.00 worth of Big Macs, LOL, in December but don't count them until January does it artificially skew December's numbers?

Not critical, if your system works for you then good, I'm just trying to understand exactly what it is you are doing.

Won't really skew the numbers when you do the annual account review and averaging .for the entire 12 month period.

[Delancey]

How is your bottom doing? Having spent these past couple months in the south I imagine you must be getting quite a beard on. Have you included bottom cleaning expenses?

[brownoarsman]

You're doing your grifts all wrong. They are supposed to make you money, not cost you!

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by SV Bacchus

Are you charging items and only counting the expense when the bill comes in?

I do the expensive review monthly when my credit card cycle closes. Since I use my credit card for 99% of stuff that makes it it easy to keep track of. While I do have an MBA and know how to do it, I'm not interested in doing detailed accounting and it all will average out at my death.

So costs from me will continue to be reported in the month they were paid for (things I used cash on) or show up on my credit card statement.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Delancey

How is your bottom doing? Having spent these past couple months in the south I imagine you must be getting quite a beard on. Have you included bottom cleaning expenses?

The bottom when I can see it looks pretty clean. I think the going into.out of the rivers and back into the ocean have helped than. But I did put extra coats of paint on this past Spring and I hope/plan is to haul every 2 years.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by brownoarsman

You're doing your grifts all wrong. They are supposed to make you money, not cost you!

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

Money/gifts all the same thing. I acturally feel that gifts are really just my money spent on some other category because I spend money of a gift for someone and they in turn sent me something I would have brought for myself anyway. It's all a wash but it's too much to keep track of.

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

The bottom when I can see it looks pretty clean. I think the going into.out of the rivers and back into the ocean have helped than. But I did put extra coats of paint on this past Spring and I hope/plan is to haul every 2 years.

Don,

I was doing the same last season in Montenegro, looking down and seeing that everything looked fine. So it was quite the surprise one day when the engine wouldn't revv past 1800. I dove under the boat to find a good three inches of growth on the entire bottom, what a shock, it took two one-hour dives to clean off the mess. Those nutient rich harbors really increase the growth by acting like fertilizer.

[brownoarsman]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Money/gifts all the same thing. I acturally feel that gifts are really just my money spent on some other category because I spend money of a gift for someone and they in turn sent me something I would have brought for myself anyway. It's all a wash but it's too much to keep track of.

Heh, I was just poking fun at a typo in your OP. It says gRifts, not gifts

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by newhaul

Thanks for the update Don looks like you are doing what many just dream of welcome to the homeless club isn't it great?

Dream or Nightmare?

You work, learn to sail, get a nice boat, sail/motor South, then cannot find enough to do which he mentioned in his entertainment category. Marinas and anchoring can get old

This is what I noticed when on the Gulf Coast among many cruisers which could explain why many cruise a few months and work a few months.

Could be it's part of adjusting to retirement or that cruising fits some folks but not others

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by thomm225

Dream or Nightmare?

You work, learn to sail, get a nice boat, sail/motor South, then cannot find enough to do which he mentioned in his entertainment category. Marinas and anchoring can get old

This is what I noticed when on the Gulf Coast among many cruisers.

Could be it's part of adjusting to retirement or that cruising fits some folks but not others

Don needs to make a left turn and head over to Europe for some entertainment.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Don,

I was doing the same last season in Montenegro, looking down and seeing that everything looked fine. So it was quite the surprise one day when the engine wouldn't revv past 1800. I dove under the boat to find a good three inches of growth on the entire bottom, what a shock, it took two one-hour dives to clean off the mess. Those nutient rich harbors really increase the growth by acting like fertilizer.

I'm not going into the water here in GCS. Some wates you should stay out of! I'll be in the Bahamas next month and I'll then take a look, but so far I have no indications of a fouling problem.

OTOH, it took a fair amount of acid to clean the brown stain off the water line from the month of coming down the ICW

[SSgtPitt]

Do you have a blog / website / photo gallery where we can see your boat and travels?
Are you going to head to "the islands" any time soon?