Before buying our boat, we set a monthly spending goal of less than $3,000 a month / $100 a day. We’re sharing our Monthly Cruising Budget report every month to give some insight into what it costs to live, work and cruise aboard a sailboat.

February | Month 8 – $2,674.84 (325.16 Under Budget)

After spending the equivalent of two months of our budget and then some in January, February’s expenses were quite bit more tame. Since we had already purchased just about everything we needed to complete our projects, we came in just under budget — and would have been WAY under budget if it weren’t for some unexpected repairs needed at one of our rental properties.

As of this monthly update, we’ve only come in under budget in 2 of the 8 months we’ve been tracking our expenses since buying the boat. We’re hoping to see more of these in the future.

Top 5 Expense Categories – February | Month 8 – Boat Projects Continue

  1. Grocery – We made our usual trip to Whole Foods in Mobile, but also did a full provisioning run to re-stock the boat since this was the last marina we would be at with a courtesy car.
  2. Professional Services – We run about four separate businesses, and it wouldn’t all be possible without a little outside help. Anytime we hire anyone to perform a service for us, it is tracked here or in the Professional Service – Marine category (if it relates to the boat). In this instance we had some unexpected repairs occur due to leaky plumbing at one of our rental properties.
  3. Marina – This accounts for the monthly slip rental.
  4. Supplies – Again this is another weird tax related gray area. Supplies are categorized as anything that’s a consumable or is itself not the final product but rather a component of it; for instance the cleaning materials, saw blades & drill bits, paint brushes, plumbing fittings, and other odds & ends.
  5. Meals – We took a side trip to New Orleans, and absolutely had to try out a few different restaurants.

Included below is a chart that breaks down all expenses into their respective categories.

Patrons get full access to our Monthly Cruising Budget Reports »

Get full access to our all our financial tools — including the Monthly Cruising Budget Reports, with downloadable templates to create your own budget, and line-item detail of every dollar spent to keep the boat afloat & travel full-time — by becoming a patron here.

Keep in mind…

Every person’s experience will be unique. We’ve decided to make long-term travel a lifestyle instead of a long sabbatical. Therefore, we are continuing to work while we travel, and have certain expenses associated with that work. It forces us to do things we otherwise wouldn’t if we were traveling for pure pleasure, but also gives us flexibility in other ways, too. We’re careful to not spend frivolously, but we’re not trying to travel as cheaply as possible. You won’t catch us trying to prove how frugal we are. (;