£5k Budget Update – January 2023
I’m sorry but where has January gone? It feels like I’ve blinked and all of sudden it’s February 🤯 But the end of the month means only one thing in the personal finance community… It’s time to review our budgets!
January was the last month of my three-month long US tour, where I have been following housesits across the country, so hopefully it’ll only get cheaper from here on out 😅
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New here? Let me give you a little context...
I graduated from uni this past summer and have chosen to take a gap year before deciding what to do next, career wise. My plan is to spend year travelling. I have set myself a strict £5k budget which needs to cover all costs and last the entire year! Seem a little tight? Check out this blog post on how I intend to stay in budget!
Before we get into exactly how much I spent and on what, let me first tell you where I was in January.
WHERE DID I SPEND JANUARY?
Itinerary:
Seattle, WA (1st-16th) – housesit
Washington DC (17th-20th) – hostel
Philadelphia, PA (21st-22nd) – hostel
Salem, MA (22nd-31st) – housesit
DAILY SPENDS = £307.29
This month has been my perfect mix of chill time and on the go tourist days. Bonus that I came in £2.71 under my £10/day budget 🎉
Ok, let’s break down where the money went…
Eating Out = £130.37
Naturally my eating out spend was quite high this month because I ate out every meal for almost a week straight. I did book hostels with kitchens to try and convince myself to cook and save costs but I was in each place for so little time that I wanted to make the most of it!
Drinks = £56.10
I’m a massive fan of exploring cities through their coffee shops 😂 I love nothing more than spending an afternoon tinkering away on my various projects with an oat hot chocolate and a window seat!! Literally writing this post from a cute cafe in Boston 😍
Transportation = £40.89
Vast majority of this was spent on an metro charges whilst I was exploring DC. I did also pay nearly £7 to get from Boston to Salem on the commuter rail.
Groceries = £36.61
Kept this one pretty low because I only had to buy groceries to last my final two weeks in Seattle. I ate out for every meal whilst I was on my little tour of DC and Philly. Then at my final housesit in Salem, my lovely host got a bunch of food in for me so I didn’t have to buy anything else.
Random = £27.87
This total includes some random toiletry bits I needed, a book, some Christmas chocolates for one of my hosts son and a few small online booking fees for attractions I wanted to visit.
Snacks = £15.45
I feel like this total should be much higher as it feels like all I did in January was snack 😅
TRANSPORTATION = £11
Only one transportation cost this month! This was for a bus from the airport to my housesit when I arrive back in the UK.
ACCOMMODATION = £0
So although I stayed in two different hostels during January, I didn’t spend anything on accommodation because I paid in advance for these stays back in December and have already tracked that cost in last months budget roundup.
I use Trusted Housesitters to find all my housesits and it’s genuinely such a fab site that I would reccomend to any pet lover out there! Fancy giving it a go? Sign up using my link to get 20% off 🙂
MISC. = £100
The camp costs keep on coming! This was the second agency fee installment so I only have one more to go which is due soon. But I have just found out that I’ll need to pay £175 for my embassy appointment 😅 I’m really starting to think camp costs shouldn’t be included in my £5k budget because at the end of the day I will be getting them back! Thoughts?
TOTAL SPENT IN JANUARY = £418.29
TOTAL SPENT OVERALL = £3215.08
BUDGET LEFT = £1784.92
The budget is starting to look a little sad! But I’m still kinda confident that I can make it stretch for the rest of my trip but it’s gonna be tight.
So that’s it, January over and done with. Roll on February!
Enjoyed reading this breakdown? Why not check out the previous four instalments…
September 2022 – £5k Budget Update
October 2022 – £5k Budget Update
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