Having a limited income we have to keep an eye on everything we spend. Before we embarked on this adventure we created a budget based on our knowledge and a great deal of research. Our budget is broken down to a fairly low level so we can identify where any discrepancies occur which will allow us to take action as necessary. By way of example our high level breakdown is as follows:

• Living Expenses
• Repairs and maintenance
• Risk and contingency
• Property
• Let
• National insurance
• Heath
• Subscriptions
• Vehicles

Food provisioning falls under 'Living Expenses' and we are pleased to say that we are within budget. For those of you that are interested, we have budgeted £10 per day which covers food, drink and toiletries.

Gas falls under 'Living Expenses' and as covered in a previous blog we are currently over budget as we budgeted for 1.5kg Propane per week.

Mobile phone falls under 'Living Expenses' and we are hugely over budget. This is a much bigger item for discussion which we are not going to bore you with now but we definitely need to review this cost going forward.

Moorings also fall under 'Living Expenses' and is one of our biggest outgoings and is also over budget. Going forward we need to take every opportunity to anchor where possible to keep this cost down.

The categories of 'Repairs & Maintenance', 'Property', 'Let', 'National Insurance', 'Health', 'Subscription' and 'Vehicles' are currently at or slightly under budget.

'Risk & Contingency' is well below budget because we haven't had to increase our yacht insurance, buy medical insurance or purchase flights home given that we are still in the UK.

So to summarise ... we're reasonably happy with our budget so far. :-)