Exactly What I Spent in Month One of Full Time Solo Travel
Considering the month, my grand total wasn’t awful. I traveled thousands of miles including four US states and one Canadian province and had some unexpected expenses like the UTI that made me go to the Minute Clinic and someone breaking my car window added hundreds of dollars. I’m also getting used to travel again and learning more about road trip style travel as opposed to international travel.
BUT there’s still improving to be done. Less spending = more travel and less doing work I don’t love. What was my grand total? Oh, that’s all the way at the bottom so you have to scroll down and earn me .01 cents for viewing ads. 😉
In month 1, lodging made up 46% of my spending. I’d like to get that down a bit and am on track to do so. If you look at Week 4 you can see a drop in average nightly spending and as I post this I’m mid-week 6 and have already cut average nightly spending by car camping more and more. It’s been two weeks since I slept in a bed that wasn’t in my car or on the ground.
I’d also like to continue honing my camp cooking skills so that I’m only eating out when I really enjoy it – like when I’m exhausted and just want someone else to cook, craving a BigMac (about once a month that happens), or socializing.
Expenses don’t include business expenses or flat rate personal expenses like car insurance, health insurance, my mailbox, and storage. Those actually might be the only other personal expenses.
…and formatting on the tables is still driving me bonkers but this is as good as I can get it for now. The joys of being your own untrained web designer.
WEEK 1: JUNE 9 – JUNE 15
TOTAL SPENT: $880.68
LODGING COSTS: $236.79
| DATE | LOCATION | COST |
| 6/16/19 | Friends Pam & Marcel Encinitas, CA | $0.00 |
| 6/10/19 | Friends Pam & Marcel Encinitas, CA | $0.00 |
| 6/11/19 | Friends Pam & Marcel Encinitas, CA | $0.00 |
| 6/12/19 | Bluffs Campground San Onofre, CA | $43.96 |
| 6/13/19 | Bluffs Campground San Onofre, CA | $43.96 |
| 6/14/19 | Castaic Lake Campground Santa Clarita, CA | $20.00 |
| 6/15/19 | Aloft Hotel Dublin, CA | $128.87 |
OTHER COSTS: $643.89
| CATEGORY | COST |
| Beverages/Eating Out | $119.60 |
| Groceries/Supplies | $179.10 |
| Gas | $149.20 |
| Car | $0.00 |
| Health | $195.99 |
| Other | $0.00 |
*Notes: Beverages and dining out encompasses meals as well as my favorite expensive beverages: coffee and craft beer.
WEEK 2: JUNE 16 – JUNE 22
TOTAL SPENT: $653.85
LODGING COSTS: $382.97
| DATE | LOCATION | COST |
| 6/16/19 | Patrick’s Point State Park Trinidad, CA | $42.99 |
| 6/17/19 | Harris Beach State Park Brookings, OR | $30.00 |
| 6/18/19 | Bullard’s Beach State Park Bandon, OR | $37.00 |
| 6/19/19 | Silver Springs Campground Encumclaw, WA | $26.00 |
| 6/20/19 | Silver Springs Campground Encumclaw, WA | $26.00 |
| 6/21/19 | Aloft Hotel Bellevue, WA | $107.53 |
| 6/22/19 | Red Lion Hotel Bellevue, WA | $113.45 |
OTHER COSTS: $270.88
| CATEGORY | COST |
| Beverages/Eating Out | $76.64 |
| Groceries/Supplies | $77.54 |
| Gas | $113.84 |
| Car | $2.86 |
| Health | $000 |
| Other | $0.00 |
Notes: Car expense = California Toll Roads that I actually remembered to log-on to the website and pay. There has to be a better system.
WEEK 3: JUNE 23 – JUNE 29
TOTAL SPENT: $1,283.85
LODGING COSTS: $597.24
| DATE | LOCATION | COST |
| 6/23/19 | AirBnB – Entire Yurt Athol, ID | $78.59 |
| 6/24/19 | AirBnB – Entire Yurt Athol, ID | $78.59 |
| 6/25/19 | AirBnB – Entire Yurt Athol, ID | $78.59 |
| 6/26/19 | AirBnB – Entire Yurt Athol, ID | $78.59 |
| 6/27/19 | Hotel Ruby Ponderay, ID | $107.53 |
| 6/28/19 | Hotel Ruby Ponderay, ID | $105.79 |
| 6/29/19 | Raging Elk Hostel, Private Fernie, BC, Canada | $69.56 |
OTHER COSTS: $686.61
| CATEGORY | COST |
| Beverages/Eating Out | $143.77 |
| Groceries/Supplies | $94.91 |
| Gas | $97.52 |
| Car | $350.41 |
| Health | $0.00 |
| Other | $0.00 |
Notes: This was the week I got my car window replaced after it got smashed. Still finding pieces of glass in my car. Crazy how far they travel.
WEEK 4: JUNE 30 – JULY 6
TOTAL SPENT: $504.61
LODGING COSTS: $326.51
| DATE | LOCATION | COST |
| 6/30/19 | AirBnB – Room in House Revelstoke, BC, Canada | $77.61 |
| 7/1/19 | AirBnB – Room in House Revelstoke, BC, Canada | $77.61 |
| 7/2/19 | AirBnB – Room in House Revelstoke, BC, Canada | $77.61 |
| 7/3/19 | Revelstoke Campground Revelstoke, BC, Canada | $26.91 |
| 7/4/19 | Revelstoke Campground Revelstoke, BC, Canada | $26.91 |
| 7/5/19 | West Kootenay Camgrnd West Kooteney, BC, Canada | $15.33 |
| 7/6/19 | Kokanee Creek Campground Nelson, BC, Canada | $24.53 |
OTHER EXPENSES: $178.10
| CATEGORY | COST |
| Beverages/Eating Out | $69.35 |
| Groceries/Supplies | $37.61 |
| Gas | $47.02 |
| Car | $0.00 |
| Health | $0.00 |
| Other | $24.12 |
Notes: Other = Two days co-working space in Revelstoke. Worth every penny…and made far more than I spent.
