Budget

The financial story so far

As tomorrow (20 Jan 15) is our 100^th day on the road and as it’s a nice round number we figured we’d let those interested know what it’s cost us so far.  

Obviously everyone has different priorities and lifestyle requirements, but it should at least give you an idea of what it could cost if you’re thinking of doing something similar to what we’ve covered in the main posts. We’ve not taken into consideration MOT, Insurance, Servicing, wear and tear or depreciation of the motorhome in the budget. Nor have we included our travel/gap-year insurance or ferry/tunnel tickets in/out of UK. 

I might put something on here regarding the annual enduring costs at a later date.

Food - €1070.45

We eat at home and more often than not Sue does the cooking.  We eat well and although we do try to buy cheaply, we don’t scrimp too much and do treat ourselves fairly regularly.

Diesel - €692.03

We’ve travelled 3448 miles since we set off and we’ve averaged 26 miles per gallon.  Initially, we were moving every day / every other day, but we stayed put in Almerimar for 8 days and have so far been in our current location for 3 weeks, so this averages out at around 34.5 miles per day and an average cost of €1.15 per litre of diesel.  This figure, would of course, have been higher, had I not broken my wrist as we would have been moving much more frequently than we have.

Overnights - €755.26

We’ve had some 37 free nights; the rest of the time we’ve paid to stay in campsites or official aires.  Where possible, we’ve tried to stay in free and cheap aires to save money.  However, because of my accident, we’ve been in a campsite for the last 3 weeks and will be for another 5 weeks, meaning our overnight costs are somewhat higher than expected at the moment.  Our overnight costs were considerably less in France, due to the phenomenal number of very cheap and free official aires available.  We’ve found Spain to be much more expensive and our average overnight figure shot up considerably when we crossed the border.  This is in part due to our preference not to make use of the many 'tolerated' places in Spain as they are not actually official aires (and are sometimes not tolerated quite as much as people would have you believe).   However, many people don’t pay to stay anywhere in Spain, they just choose their stops carefully.

  

Alcohol - €303.70

We tend to drink moderately most evenings; Sue will have a glass or two of wine and I tend to have a couple of cans of beer.

Eating Out / Entertainments - €262.60

We haven’t been out very much; it averages out at around once a month, twice for food and drink, once for just drinks.  We have so far avoided any museums or other attractions that require payment as we’re trying to do things on the cheap. It’s amazing what you can find to do for free, and how quickly your expenditure would go up should you just visit a couple of sites/attractions each month.

Internet / Phone - €158.90

This included a SIM card and 4GB of data for 30 days while we were in France, in addition to odd internet charges at campsites / aires and top ups for our Toggle mobile phone.  We’ve had internet more often than not and we don’t use the phone much. We have no contract with any service provider.

Laundry - €104.40

We’ve done our laundry every 7-10 days on average, depending on the weather and launderette availability.  We’ve found campsites to be cheaper but the quality of the wash is a bit hit and miss.

Powell - €69.50

This includes all expenditure for our furry friend, including his food and 3 tick / flea collars (we like to stock up to ensure we don’t run out!). We’ve not itemized out the times when its cost a euro or so additional for him on campsites/aires. Perhaps €15 could be added for that.

LPG - €46.62 – 56.28 litres 

We have 2 x 6kg refillable Gaslow bottles with a set of adaptors for all European countries.  Although the initial outlay was fairly expensive, they’ve so far been invaluable, especially as we’ve been informed that it’s quite tricky getting hold of gas bottles in Spain. Additionally, each country has its own bottles and connectors. They also all charge deposits for their bottles (sometimes you get nothing back). We decided the refillables were worthwhile for simplicity and to save wasting unused gas, buying new regulators hoses and connectors and having to find somewhere to try and hand them in before leaving each country. It’s also considerably cheaper buying LPG at the pump rather than in bottles. (Specific Gravity of LPG = 0.51, therefore we've used 28.7KG, or just under 5 of our 6kg bottles)

I have no doubt we wasted a bit of diesel trying to find fuel stations that sell LPG / GPL / Autogas, but since we’ve found www.mylpg.eu , the hunt has become a lot easier.  Obviously we’ve yet to see how widely available LPG is in other countries, but with the website’s help, we’re confident that it shouldn’t be too difficult (except maybe in Finland…!).  Most of our gas is used for cooking.  We use the oven fairly often (3-4 times a week) and when we’re not on campsites, the fridge, cab and water heating are also gas powered.

Crossing / Tolls - €3.20

We avoid toll roads / bridges unless the detour works out to be more expensive than the toll!

Sani Stations / Water - €2

We try to empty our grey / black and fill up our fresh water only when it’s free or included in the price of the overnight stop.  We have taken a couple of small detours to get free water en route; it pays to do so as sometimes it’s extortionate!

Miscellaneous - €259.78

This includes anything that doesn’t fit under the other headings; maps, guide books, innertube, bike chain, pyjamas, the list isn’t endless but is certainly varied.

Running Total at the 100 day point - €3860.55

Average daily expenditure - €38.61