Sailing Budget 6-Month Checkup: Cost of Sailing and Cruising
In the last article, I wrote about our sailing expense categories we are using to track our cost of sailing and living aboard our sailboat. After saving for 6 years, we are now six months into our sailing adventure. We have sailed the Gulf of Mexico, Florida Keys, the Bahamas, and the east coast of the United States. We thought that this was a good time to review our sailing budget and cost of sailing. So, what is it costing us to live on a sailboat?
Monthly Sailing Budget vs Actual Spending
We have budgeted $4,750 each month ($57,000 per year) for our spending, broken out into our 11 established categories explained in our sailing expense categories post. After our first 6 months, we are spending an average of $4,992 each month. Yep, we are over budget by an average of $242 each month. While we are close to our budget, we did not want to go over it, so we took a deeper look to see where our money was going in our new sailing world.
It turns out that our biggest over expenditure is on 1. Marinas and Mooring Balls, 2. Clothing/Gifts/Entertainment and 3. Pet Care. However, we have been (thankfully) under budget every month on Healthcare & Medical, which has helped us close the gap on our total spending each month so far.
6-Month Budget Check by Category
Next, I will list each of our 11 expense categories and break down how we did financially for each category:
1. Boat Expenses
Monthly Budget: $748.25
Monthly Average Actual Spending: $709.36
This category is 16% of our budget, and after 6 months, we came in under budget by $233.33 (14% of actual budget).
All boats, new boats or used sailboats, will have recurring expenses to keep them maintained. We feel that we did well in the first 6 months with our boat maintenance costs, repairs, spare parts, boat insurance costs, etc. that fell within this category. One way we saved money with our boat insurance is by keeping the boat out of the hurricane box during hurricane season.
However, there are a few upgrades we discovered during our first 6 months of cruising that we have not accounted for in our budget. We are currently working on the following upgrades: replacing our aft head for a composting toilet, replacing our sanitation hoses in our forward head, adding another AGM battery to our house battery bank, and replacing our running rigging lines.
As you know, boat project lists never stop growing, so we are working on prioritizing this list and keeping it to essential projects. Unfortunately, we expect to go over budget in the category during our next 6 month/annual check up and/or will need to add a category for Boat Projects to cover these boat costs.
2. Fuel (Diesel, Gasoline & Propane)
Monthly Budget: $280
Monthly Average Actual Spending: $254.19
This category is 6% of our budget, and after 6 months, we came in under budget by $154.89 (5% of actual budget).
The majority of this category is for diesel fuel that both the main engine and generator run off of. For that alone, we budgeted $250 (of the $280 total budget) for diesel. We are happy that our average cost on diesel is $236.86 per month.
We paid an average price of $4.82 per gallon when buying diesel along the west coast of Florida, in the Bahamas, and along the east coast of the USA. While we are not under full sail as much as we would like to be, and thus use our main engine more than we would like to, we are still only burning approximately ½ gallon per hour of diesel.
The other pleasant surprise in this category is our propane usage. We have two small propane tanks that pipe directly to our propane stove/oven. We use our stove/oven on a daily basis and one tank lasts us approximately 2.5 months. We have spent an average of $6.17 per month on propane.
The gasoline for the dinghy motor (6hp Yahama) is the last fuel type in this category. This is used to get us to shore and for our needed dog walks. As I discussed in Living with a Dog on a Sailboat, Mangaux will only use the bathroom while onshore. With all of our dinghy usage, we have spent an average of $11.16 per month on gasoline.
3. Marinas and Mooring Balls
Monthly Budget: $750
Monthly Average Actual Spending: $1,165.04
This category is 16% of our budget, and after 6 months we came in over budget by $2,490.24 (23% of actual budget). Yikes!
Clearly, we have spent more time in marinas or on mooring balls than anticipated. I believe there are two main reasons for this.
First, finding a secure location to anchor the boat where you are located during severe weather and/or high winds is not always easy.
Second, traveling with a dog adds a level of complexity as Mangaux will not go to the bathroom on the boat. This means that we need to find anchorages with shore access for him. Also, during severe weather or high winds, it becomes extremely difficult to get him to shore via the dinghy, especially if the shore access is far from the anchorage.
Bottom line, we have spent more time in marinas than we originally anticipated and we have learned the valuable lesson that short stays can often cost as much, if not more than longer stays.
We are currently staying for a longer period of time at Safe Harbor Zahnisers Marina in Solomons, MD and we have found that by having a monthly rate we will actually be spending less money per month on marinas than our current average. The long-term deals works for some down time for boat projects and other things, but for the long term it is not a viable alternative for the lifestyle we want to keep.
So, we will be looking for more good anchorages and even the mooring balls, which are considerably less expensive than dockage for short periods of time.
4. Groceries and Restaurants
Monthly Budget: $1,400
Monthly Average Actual Spending: $1,382.03
This category is 29% of our budget, and after 6 months we came in under budget by $107.82 (28% of our actual budget).
I believe we hit this category on the mark because I have been closely tracking our spending on food for several years now. I didn’t anticipate our spending habits on eating in vs dining out would change drastically (we typically eat out 1-2 times per week) so I had historical data to create this monthly budget amount from and it has worked out well so far!
5. Internet and Cell Phones
Monthly Budget: $280
Monthly Average Actual Spending: $254.19
This category is 6% of our budget, and after 6 months we came in under budget by $64.23 (5% of our actual budget).
This category is a bit tricky because we went over budget on cell phones, but are under budget on internet.
We plan to purchase Starlink this year, so I put in a monthly cost of $150 for internet in the budget. However, we are currently using T Mobile Home Internet for our internet (which works great while in cell phone range!) which only costs us $30 each month. This means we are currently spending under budget on our internet until we get Starlink set up.
Our cell phones, which is a fixed amount of $100 each month for two lines with T Mobile, went over budget. While in the Bahamas, we purchased a sim card ($15) and phone/data plan with ALIV ($140 per month for 2 months) that I had not budgeted for.
6. Healthcare and Medical
Monthly Budget: $625
Monthly Average Actual Spending: $349.74
This category is 13% of our budget, and after 6 months we came in under budget by $1,651.56 (7% of our actual budget).
As discussed in my Sailing Budget: Expense Categories post, this category includes Medi-Share costs along with life insurance and personal care (i.e., haircuts) costs. I also left room in the category to cover unexpected medical expenses such as doctor visits, medications, etc. that may arise each month. To learn more about my decision to use Medi-Share in place of health insurance, and their associated costs, check out the article about What to do About Health Insurance. This category has helped us bridge the gap created by the Marinas & Mooring Balls category and we are hopeful our health remains good as we continue our adventure.
7. Travel
Monthly Budget: $250
Monthly Average Actual Spending: $249.43
This category is 5% of our budget, and after 6 months we came in just under budget by $3.41 (5% of our actual budget).
During the first 6 months, we have rented a car two times, rented bikes two times, and used six ride shares. I feel we did a great job in this category for the first six months not knowing really what we would be spending, however, in the second half of 2023 we have a couple of trips to make which will likely exceed our monthly budget.
8. Pet Care
Monthly Budget: $100
Monthly Average Actual Spending: $153.98
This category is 2% of our budget, and after 6 months we came in over budget by $323.90 (3% of our actual budget).
There are additional vet visits and pet permit costs associated with bringing a dog to the Bahamas that you can read about here. I may need to consider adjusting this category (by reducing another category) depending on where our future travels take us in 2024.
9. Laundry
Monthly Budget: $20
Monthly Average Actual Spending: $19.83
This category is 0.4% of our budget, and after 6 months we came in under budget by $1 (0.4% of our actual budget).
We came in right at our budget for laundry. We typically do our laundry while at a marina and have seen prices range from free, yes free laundry (Emerald Harbor Marina in Panama City Beach, FL and Safe Harbor Zahnisers Marina in Solomons, MD), all the way up to $7 each for washer and dryer, $14 for the load, while in the Bahamas. We were able to save money on laundry while in the Bahamas by washing our clothes on the boat using a bucket, laundry detergent and fresh water.
10. Mail and Packages
Monthly Budget: $25
Monthly Average Actual Spending: $19.93
This category is 0.5% of our budget, and after 6 months we came in under budget by $30.40 (0.4% of our actual budget).
The main expense in this category is for the mail forwarding service that we use, St. Brendan’s Isle. You can learn more about what they do and the expenses associated with their services in the article about setting up Florida Residency.
11. Clothing, Gifts, Entertainment & Hobbies
Monthly Budget: $221.75
Monthly Average Actual Spending: $375.09
This category is 5% of our budget, and after 6 months we came over budget by $920.01 (8% of our actual budget).
We obviously went way over in this category over a period of 6 months. Taking a closer look, some of our expenses included:
- Florida fishing licenses, and fishing and diving gear ($260.52)
- Expenses associated with moneyformangos.com ($182.78)
- YouTube TV – we were subscribed in January and February before discontinuing this subscription ($129.98 for the two months)
Some of these expenses included purchases for getting off the dock, so to speak, and we expect our spending in this category to go down over time.
Cost of Sailing Summary
While we did go over budget by an average of $242 each month for the first 6 months, I feel we can recoup this amount. We are conscious of our spending on a daily and weekly basis. We continuously look at our spending, and make adjustments within each category to better align with where we are actually spending money, all while striving to keep within our overall monthly budget of $4,750. I am hopeful that it is just fine tuning at this point to get at or below our monthly target.
One Final Note
I decided to take a look at our spending while we were still working, and had a house and 2 cars. I was pleasantly surprised that we are spending approximately $1,500 less each month with our new lifestyle. You can do this lifestyle on any budget that works for you. I believe it is important to keep an eye on your finances and adjust your spending along the way to live within your means.
Live your dream,
