About Us

Welcome to Money For Mangos!

Hi! I’m Jill. My husband, Scott, and our dog, Mangaux, have been living aboard our sailboat for over 4 years and have traveled over 7,000 nautical miles since we left the docks in January 2023.

I created Money for Mangos to help you see real expenses for our family of two and a dog to sail and travel full-time as well as share helpful tips for places we visit along the way.

Scott and Jill are in front of the Moonhole House that is under the arch. You can contact Jill at jill@moneyformangos.com
Mangaux licking his tongue laying on the beach on a sunny day.

Sailing Expenses

In our planning stages, I had no idea what it would really cost us to live on a sailboat and live this lifestyle. I’m hopeful that by sharing our expenses with you on Money for Mangos, it will help you get a realistic idea of the true costs of sailing full-time.  

When we set our budget, we tried to be realistic by not changing many of our spending habits from when we lived on land. There are definitely sailors out there spending less than us, but also many sailors out there spending more than us. 

We often publish what we have spent in each of our sailing budget categories. We talk about where we went over budget (unfortunately, there has always been  a category or two we go over) as well as where we were able to stay within budget. We also go into detail as to how and why we either stayed within or went over our budget. Doing this in-depth review and sharing it with you also allows us all to see how spending in various categories fluctuate over time and helps us fine tune our budget and adjust our spending habits.

Helpful Sailing Tips

I also had so many questions before we sailed away about what it is like to live this lifestyle and many more questions about each location we have traveled to. With Money for Mangos, I share helpful sailing tips and information with you to try to make your planning a little easier.

I love writing about the places we’ve been, routes we take to get there, and sharing helpful tips such as great anchoring spots, marinas we’ve stayed at, and the costs of each marina we’ve been to. 

After sailing to Grenada, Scott and I are smiling raising our Grenadian courtesy flag on our sailboat.

I’ve also been collecting great information on grocery expenses throughout all of our travels. I can’t wait to compile this information and share it with you to give you a more detailed understanding of the cost of groceries in the Bahamas and Caribbean islands. So stay tuned for this information, and reach out to me if you have questions on this.

This Website Is For You!

If you are thinking about sailing away from it all, and wonder what it’s like and what it costs to do just that, then you are in the right place.

Or maybe you have already started your sailing adventure, and want to learn more about sailing in the Bahamas, US East Coast and the Caribbean. Then this is exactly where you need to be.

How It All Began

Before we sailed away in January 2023, we planned and prepared ourselves for this amazing lifestyle. We saved money for six years, putting a financial savings plan in place, and I studied and learned everything I could about sailing. 

I’ve read numerous books about sailing, including the American Sailing Association textbooks, and Scott taught me how to sail using his 12 years of experience with the United States Coast Guard and 100 ton Captain’s License. We have owned three different sailboats, gradually increasing in size, for more than 11 years.

Jill sailing Pelagia at the helm of our 45' sailboat.

Scott had the opportunity to learn to sail at the United States Coast Guard Academy, where he went to school. They’d go out and practice on smaller sailboats, as well as take week long trips sailing the waters of New England. 

He also had the opportunity to sail on the US Coast Guard Cutter Eagle sailing in England, the Soviet Union (Russia today), Finland, and Denmark. He has many Coast Guard stories to share from those days as well as his six years on various Coast Guard cutters!

Scott sitting in the cockpit sailing Pelagia, our 45' sailboat.

As for me, I will never forget spending my first night on anchor on our 26-foot sailboat. The weather took a turn and our boat rocked and rolled all night long. I loved it! (Scott thought I was crazy!) That was the moment we knew we could make a go of this sailing lifestyle, and we haven’t looked back.

Over the past three years since we have been sailing full-time, we have sailed:

And we have no plans of dousing  our sails anytime soon!

Now don’t get me wrong, there are times out here where the winds and the waves get stronger and larger than forecasted and they try to get the best of me. One example is sailing between the islands in the Caribbean when the winds whip around the large mountains on the islands. But, this is part of the challenge of this lifestyle – living outside of your comfort zone. It is all worth it getting to explore these beautiful islands with amazing sunsets and people.

Our favorite part about living this lifestyle is the freedom to go wherever we want to go (weather permitting, of course!) and the amazing new friends we get to meet along the way. We love sharing our experiences with you and help you figure out how you can make the leap to becoming full-time liveaboard sailors, sailing in the United States, Bahamas, and the Caribbean and beyond.

Follow us on our sailing adventures and fun we get into along the way:

You can reach out to us there, or directly by email at jill [at] moneyformangos.com. We look forward to hearing from you and sharing salty sea stories with you!