I’ve spent four weeks of sort of watching what I spend with a few splurges here and there and the final results are in.

Here are my totals after my last week:

• UK funds: £2142 (about US$3160)
• US funds: $1223 (bank account and Paypal)
• Cash: US$340

I had a few smallish payments come in and, to be honest I have completely lost track of my spending. I have realised that while I might be ok at keeping my costs low, I’m garbage at actually keeping track of it. Ah well. My best guess is that I spent about $200 during my last week including Spanish lessons at $105 and a massive bottle of rum ($15) as a thank you for my free accommodation. That means for the other stuff I spent just over $10 a day which is about what I expected given that I ate out and went out a bit more this week.
I had been hoping to come out ahead after a month in Nicaragua but I’m waiting on a couple of payments to come through. When they do finally make their way to my accounts in the next few days, I should be up about $300 from the US$5085 I arrived with at the beginning of April.

I’m off to Ometepe tomorrow, an island made up of two volcanoes that is in Lake Nicaragua. It’s got a lot of farmy type places that accept volunteers so my hope is to get up to some sort of work on one of them, learn some new things, meet some nice people and hang around for as long as I’m enjoying it.

I might be out of touch for the next wee while but I will try to tee up a couple of posts in case I am. If you don’t hear from me for a bit, rest assured that I am hunting down a net connection… in betweek kayaking, cycling, painting, horse riding etc etc. Ah island life… bring it on.

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After two weeks in Leon. Nicaragua, I continue to be boring and nerdy, but perhaps not as much as my first week. I’ve sampled the local nightlife a couple times and have even had a few conversations with the transient backpackers so my antisocial mood is lifting a bit. I’m still working hard but working and studying all the time gets to be too much and a night out here and there is probably good for my mental health.

Here are my totals after three weeks:

• UK funds: £2490 (about US$3620)
• US funds: $1212 (bank account and Paypal)
• Cash: US$130

I withdrew about $170 from my UK account, spent the $15 that I had left over from last week and have $130 left which means I spent only $55 this week which is pretty good going! I’m actually pretty impressed with myself. Not having to pay accommodation is a huge help and I have been making big dinners to last for a few meals. I even managed a couple of pretty big nights out so I’m really happy with what I ended up spending.

Most of my cash will be gone tomorrow due to Spanish class for the last week. I was supposed to go to today but I’m sick so have postponed until tomorrow so that money will come from week four’s total.

I had a couple of small payments into Paypal and haven’t bought anything web related this week so my Paypal account is going up while my UK account is going down. I started with US$5085 at the start of the month and I have US$4962 right now with a biggish payment pending. My main goal is to earn more than I spend so if I can do that this month I’ll be happy, especially considering the extra cost of the Spanish course that I can cut out next month.

I’m going to try for another cheapie week this week and see where I end up.

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After two weeks in Leon. Nicaragua, I continue to be boring and nerdy, but perhaps not as much as my first week. I’ve sampled the local nightlife a couple times and have even had a few conversations with the transient backpackers so my antisocial mood is lifting a bit. I’m still working hard but working and studying all the time gets to be too much and a night out here and there is probably good for my mental health.

Here are my totals after two weeks:

• UK funds: £2630 (about US$3790)
• US funds: $1175 (bank account and Paypal)
• Cash: US$15

I bought three new domain names from my Paypal account but overall my US funds went up due to a Linkworth payout and payment for an article I wrote. I actually found $25 in my backpack (which explains last week’s mystery totals) so overall, including forking over $115 for Spanish classes, I spent $180 last week. I did some research work for the hostel I’m staying at which has scored me a free week so I didn’t have to pay $42 towards accommodation which helped. So, not including the course, I’ve spent just under $10 a day so I would say I’m back on track.

It looks like I will be moving across the road to the staff housing tomorrow which, I think, means more free accommodation. I have no idea how I scored that, but I’m just going to go with it. I think that means they’ll have more work for me which will be good since it’s nice to have a lot of different things on the go so I don’t get bored with just website stuff all the time.

On to week three!

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I’ve been in Leon for seven days and I have succeeded in being the most boring person in the hostel for all seven days. I’ve been glued to either my computer or my Spanish lessons for all seven days and probably haven’t had more than five conversations the entire time.

It’s ok though… Spanish is taking up way more time than I thought it would. I think my memory is shot from my years in London and memorising vocab is a huge time suck. I’m filling my time away from the books with work on my websites and I’m getting loads done. Plus, as if I’m not being antisocial and nerdy enough, I’ve taken on some research and web writing work for the hostel I’m staying at. So I’m boring, but I’m busy which is the way I want it.

Here are my totals after a week:

• UK funds: £2630 (about US$3790)
• US funds: $1125 (bank account and Paypal)
• Cash: US$170

I haven’t taken any money out of my UK account so that’s the same. My US account increased because I had a cheque clear. I also donated $20 to this hostel’s treeplanting project which came out of my Paypal account.

As for cash… I’m thoroughly confused. I thought I was doing great, having spent only $190 during the week, including Spanish courses ($115) and accommodation ($42). Then I did the math and realised that I must have paid for my previous week’s Spanish course before I made the budget post. So that means that I spent $42 on accommodation, $10 on a dictionary and $138 on miscellaneous things. But I know I haven’t spent almost $20 per day on random stuff so I’m really confused.

I’ve been doing my studying in a quiet cafe across the road where a massive glass of proper lemonaide costs $1.25. It’s massive, I promise. So, after years living in the UK where they don’t have lemonaide (for them, Sprite is lemonaide) I have been indulging fairly heavily while studying in the mornings. The hostel I’m staying in also has $1.50 mojitos which is a bit of a temptation but I haven’t been going nuts, by any means. Food isn’t as cheap as I would have hoped but it’s not too bad. Today, for example, I bought 4 yoghurts, two bananas and some sour creme for $2.50. Meals at cafes can be had for as little as 40 cordobas ($2) so cooking for myself isn’t that much cheaper.

So… I think I’ve screwed up somewhere but lets just assume the numbers above are right, in which case it was a terrible budgeting week. This week should be better since I’m getting accommodation for free and will be paying more close attention. It’s nice to see that I’ve got more to my name now then when I started last week but I really can’t get too happy until I see how the month turns out.

Bring on week two!

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I’ve been on the road since January 2008 and I’m only starting to feel the money pinch just now. I’ve been spending like a crazy person since I left and if I keep it up, I’ll run myself into the ground and back to my parent’s house until I can build up more funds. So, with that in mind, I’m going to attempt to stick to a budget for the first time on this trip. This means that flying to Australia for weddings is out of the question and will certainly mean a limit on steak eating and strawberry daiquiri drinking.

Things aren’t totally desperate yet but if I want to go to the World Cup in South Africa in 2010 then I’m going to need to start watching my finances. The flip side of less spending will be more earning and I am expecting to be pretty busy with work once I get to Nicaragua. I know I’ve said this before but this time, because of a few hiccups that I will go into later, it’s really time to get down to work.

So here’s what I have left of my savings:

• UK funds: £2630 (about US$3790)
• US funds: $870 (including bank account and Paypal)
• Cash: US$360

Nicaragua is a pretty cheap country and that’s part of the reason I’m here. It’s a bonus that according to everyone I know who’s been there, it’s a really great place. I’m in Leon now and dorm beds are $6 a night. I have been in touch with a guy who owns Bigfoot Hostel about possible WWOOFing opportunities so this will likely mean cheaper or free food and accommodation. The problem is balancing this with working on my websites and learning Spanish so it might not be something I can do for the entire time I am in Leon. If it comes down to a choice between using my time to work on my sites or to save money by WWOOFing, I will have to choose the website work option, at least for the first month.

Here’s my budget for April:

Accommodation – $180 – I’m not super keen on spending time in a dorm room but after Haiti, I’m sort of used to it so now might be a better time than ever to save a bit of cash, especially at only $6 per night. It’s difficult to justify paying twice the price for accommodation in a single room. If I can WWOOF for a week or more during the month then my accommodation costs should fall but it depends on whether I can find the time.

Food – $150 – I’ve been here for a couple of days now and one thing I know is that eating is cheap. I love cooking and there is a communal kitchen but it’s small and there are only two gas burners so I might exist on salads and sandwiches. Shopping at the grocery store is cheaper than eating out and I will do my best to keep my restaurant meals to a minimum.

Spanish courses – $460 – The Spanish school that appeals to me costs $115 per week for private lessons which is a bit of a budget killer but still pretty affordable when compared to other countries. Learning Spanish is the reason I’ve come to Central America so I’m not about to skimp on this now that I’m here.

Fun – $60 – This has always been my weakness in my travels as I love a good party. I think I might put myself on a month long booze ban and I’m going to attempt to lay low and be antisocial at least for my first month. This will be partly to save money but mostly to concentrate on working and studying as much as possible. I won’t know anyone when I first arrive which will make this pretty easy if I try to keep to myself a bit. The problem is that it’s not really in my nature to keep to myself and I will probably get bored pretty fast but I will at least give it a try. I might try to fill my time with some baseball games since they are crazy about it here and so am I.

Miscellaneous – $20 – Transportation costs will depend on how often I want to get out of Leon and I think, at least for the first month, I won’t. The city is very walkable but the but to the beach could be an expense that adds up. Laundry will be another miscellaneous cost but I will try to do it myself as much as possible.

Total – $870 – This might seem like a pretty genersous monthly budget but when you take away the Spanish courses, that leaves me with $410 in living costs which is pretty strict.

I will be posting an update each week in April to let you know how I’m doing and so I have someone holding me accountable! I also think it will be a great way to get an idea of the costs of living in Nicaragua or anyone who has ever considered moving here. It’ll be a challenge but I’m looking forward to giving this budgeting thing a try and curious about whether I will be able to pull it off or not.
Wish me luck!

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The US dollar seems to be going a bit haywire of late. First it was down for several months and now the thing is rebounding like crazy, at least when compared to the British pound and Canadian dollar. Lots of people make lots of money by dabbling with foreign exchange (forex) trading but I am not one of them.

I do business in four currencies and from time to time need to transfer my money from Paypal to my bank account or pay creditcard bills in other currencies. Unfortunately for me, I know nothing about fluctuations in foreign exchange and don’t really pay much attention to exchange rates so it’s always a crap shoot. I really have no interest in forex beyond attempting to not get ripped off too much when I exchange money.

My mum works in a bank and keeps coming home with updates of how well or how poorly the Canadian dollar is doing against the US dollar. Things have been up and down over the past few weeks and I’m not sure if I should swap my US money over to Canadian while the going is good or what. Because the US dollar has been so crap for so long I had been reluctant to change it. Now that it’s on the rebound I’m wondering if I should swap it over now or wait longer in case it gets even stronger against the Canadian dollar.

I really hate this part of being in this business. I guess operating in several currencies is a good thing but it’s also annoying to see small chunks of money being lost and gained based only on exchange rates. For me, it’s just an extra thing I need to pay attention to that I have zero actual interest in and it’s frustrating.

Do any of you pay much attention to exchange rates? If you’re planning a trip to you try to buy foreign money when the rate is good for you or do you just do like me, pay no attention to it and hope for the best when the exchange has to be made? I really should become more knowledgeable about this whol area but the whole idea of keeping on top of exchange rates just annoys me.

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I consulted the boss today (my bank account) for the first time since early August when my friends arrived, the Olympics were attended and any idea of watching my spending was thrown out the window into the sewer and washed away out to sea. The bank account does not seem to be healthy at the moment and, while I’m not at all surprised, I think it’s about time I start paying more attention to what I do with my money.

So far during this trip I haven’t thought twice before spending money. If I wanted to do something, save time by flying, order an expensive meal or stay somewhere a bit more expensive, I didn’t really give it a second though. It’s been great but now it’s time to return to my roots as a budget conscious traveller.

It’s not so much that I’m running out of money, my fear is more about what I have coming up during the coming six months. The next four months will be super cheap given that I’ll be travelling around Myanmar, Laos and then taking a 10 week course in Thailand that has partially been paid for. It’s the bits after that that I’m worried about, combined with the fact that I won’t be able to get much work done (this seems like a common problem lately…) until the course ends in mid January.

After January is when things will start to get expensive. I’ll be heading to Australia sometime before the end of February and plan to stick around for about four or five months. I’d like to either study either Spanish or take guitar lessons (or maybe both) and I’ll be back in the clutches of my Aussie mates who will no doubt be going out a lot. Courses can be expensive and the airfare to get to Oz will put a dent in the bank account as well.

Then after Australia the plan is to go to Buenos Aires, rent a place and continue studying Spanish for about six months. I was originally going to go by cargo ship but that’s not an option from Australia so an airfare of about $2000 will need to be paid sometime next year, not to mention the costs involved when renting an apartment.

So… I’m thinking that now might be the time to reel myself in a bit and start acting like a budget traveller. It’s been a ridiculously fun eight months but the purse strings are about to be tightened and the freewheeling ways are a thing of the past. At least until I get my bank balance up again. If my earnings can stay steady while I’m Myanmar, Laos and on this course then I should be in great shape come January. But there’s always that fear that my lack of work ethic will finally bite me in the ass and the bottom will fall out of my earnings. Time will tell I guess! I’m actually pretty curious myself to see what happens.

So I’m off to Burma on Monday which means that I’ll once again be out of touch. I’m going to work hard for the next two days on getting some posts ready for this blog, getting a few new pages of content up on my travel sites and catching up on Wanderstruck (I’ve added a few new posts, photos and even a couple videos so check it out).

I’m slowly learning that working on the road is a lot harder than I thought it would be. It’s still better than a cubicle though!

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Hey all! Sorry I haven’t checked in at all. I knew this would be a busy month because I’ve got a crapload of Olympics tickets and mainly because I have some friends in town which means I won’t really have much time to myself. It’s been great here in Beijing… I’ve met some great people, seen some great events and I don’t think I’ve been sober in a week.

But it go tme thinking… I’ve been blowing money like crazy! I’ don’t even think twice before taking money out of my bank accounts or buying dinner or paying for a cab. It’s been so much fun but my bank account is dying a death.

But because I know I’ll be heading to Thailand to do this course thing I’m not really worried abut it at all. It’s sort of fun having periods of spending and periods of saving. Obviously this Olympics will mean some serious spening but since I’ve already paid for a 10 week course in Thailand, I know I’ll mae that up and com eout with a skill to boot.

It’s an amazing thing to know that studying or volunteering can mean savings!I’ll check in soon with some Olympics updates. So far it’s been unreal! So much fun.

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I’ve been on the go for a little over six months now and I thought it would be interesting to take a look at the ol’ finances and see if I’m in good shape or in need of a financial planner.

I can’t remember a single time since I left where I haven’t done something because of the cost. I haven’t been watching my money at all, really. I’m the sort of traveller who tends to throw money around when I have it and can only realy tighten the belt when the funds start to dwindle. It’s not the best of habits but it did lead to me having a hell of a lot of fun in Australia for my first six months there and having to pick a hell of a lot of fruit my last six months. But earning online allows me a lot more freedom with my irresponsible spending ways and it doesn’t look like the belt-tightening phase of my trip will be due to start anytime soon.

So after six months travelling… dum dum dum… I’m in the red US$1265.

So the whole earning more than I spend goal isn’t working for me at the moment but I need to keep in mind that I’ve paid my rent up until the end of October and will be attempting to find someone to fill my room after August so might be able to recoup some of that cost. I’ve also just had to pay about $600 for a new Chinese visa and flights between Shenzhen (near Hong Kong) to Beijing.

Considering I’ve been steadily earning $1500-2000 per month since I left, I think I’ve been spending a lot. I’ve also bee having a lot of fun. August will be an insane month for me with the Olympics and my crazy Australian friends coming. If I can survive August with my liver and bank balance still intact then things will be looking good.

After Beijing I plan to do some slow, low key travels around SE Asia and will spend some time on some farms so I still expect to be able to say that after a year of travelling I will earned more than I’ve spent. Maybe.

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I’ve been kicking around the villages of Guangxi and Guizhou provinces in China for about a week now and I think I’ve spent about $10. Ok, I may have spent a bit more than that, but not much in the grand scheme of thing.

For example, I was just in a village called Langde about an hour outside a city called Kaili in Guizhou and am spending a grand total of 20 yuan per night including a very yummy, big dinner of mysterious things. I could have got that for less I think as I know accommodation here usually goes for 10 per night but I am just a lazy bargainer. Exchanged to US$, 20 yuan comes to less than $3. There’s no internet here, nothing really to do besides wander the hiking trails around the town or swim in the river, and life is simple and peaceful. But if you’re the type who is after some quiet time to write, think, work offline, paint or whatever, then the price is right and the setting is stunning.

A few nights ago I was in a village called Zhaoxing which is just as beautiful but more commercial. It has a bit more going on for the visitor in the way of restaurants and hiking trails to other villages and accommodation here only cost 20 yuan per night for a room with a fan, toilet, and even a TV. Noodles for breakfast cost only 3 yuan and dinner with a couple of beers cost only about 12 tuan.

Before that I was in Chengyang, a super small one bridge (the attraction is a large wooden wind and rain bridge) town and the hostel cost 20 yuan per night with free internet (but no wifi), a toilet, a fan and a balcony overlooking the river. There are lots of trails around this village, lots of day trippers, and a couple of hostels with food and bars and it’s only 20 minutes away from the larger city of Sanjiang.

Last week I was in Dazhai, a community set among the Dragon’s Backbone rice terraces and my hotel cost a bit more at 30 per night but again, there was free internet, clean rooms, cheap meals, and it’s one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been.

I just wanted to let everyone know how cheap you can live if you can do without certain things like Western food, wifi connections (although it is possible to set up a connection through a mobile phone… I think), and the hustle bustle of a big city. Living abroad really can cost as little as $5 per day in beautiful places if you know where to look.

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