I’m really glad that we are keeping track of our expenses, and we’ll see how this informs our spending. Clearly, this year needs budgeting! So what’s the source for the budget? Other campers have been very kind in detailing their expenses, and I’ve used those sites to create an annual budget which, by comparison to others on the same type of journey, seems very generous.
The graph below shows our expected annual costs for monthly expenditure. This has excluded some annual outlays, such as medical cover, van insurance, software costs etc. This totals €5900, which is a chunk of cash! So far we have underspent on this. Our total travel costs for the year is expected to be €23,500, or €1946 per month.
So How did we do? We overspent horribly in 1 key area: Fuel. Our budget for a month is €250 and we spent over €900! This was somewhat expected as we travelled almost 6000km to get here in July. This also accounts for a big overspend in tolls and ferries – France is just terrible for toll roads, Norway is pretty expensive too. In both cases, however, August should see dramatic reductions, although I am worried that the 25% increase in diesel prices this past year is going to hurt us. Spending on food was pretty accurate, and August should see us save in this area. We could open a small Tesco with our current inventory.
We’ve saved a lot by not staying in campsites. It seems there will be this give & take, where an expensive country for general purchases, such as Norway, gives the opportunity to overnight in carparks etc. This is something we still have to get used to – we are not naturally those people who expect that we can park anywhere, and at our convenience. Time to accept that this is a must do.
So, all in all, not a bad month considering distances, tolls, and some of the most expensive supermarket prices in the world … Did I mention the price of beer??????
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