We are going to try to be as transparent about our cruising costs and preparation as we can be. Why? Because when others have been open about their planning, saving, investments, and monthly costs, it has helped us plan and know what to expect and prepare for. If there is something we can pay forward to future cruising families, it is to show the details of how we are making this happen. Starting in June, I will try to publish monthly budgets to post, and saying I will do this will help hold myself accountable for actually doing it! We expect to spend an average of $2,000/month, which will include boat, medical, and life insurance, as well as all food, fuel, travel, communications, and maintenance costs. Let’s see how it goes!
But to start, a very quick summary of how we prepared financially to do this trip – because we are already getting a lot of questions:
- Scraping pennies off the floor of the car to do it, we bought a boat slip in 2010 that was meant to be our cruising kitty (the slip was also our home for a while when we lived aboard). When we sold the slip last year we took a small loss, but it still meant that we were building equity instead of paying high moorage fees for 8 years. We used most of the money to pay off remaining non-mortgage debt in order to reduce our monthly expenses and to buy a number of the high-ticket items we needed before departing (four new sails, SSB radio, water maker, Hydrovane, windlass, new chain).
- We bought a small house at the bottom of the housing market in 2011. We will sell this house this spring in a market that is much stronger than it was then, and it is this sale that will primarily fund our trip for the first two years.
- When my grandma passed away in the summer of 2016, she left us some money, and my parents also helped us purchase a larger home. But we were very picky about what we were looking for. We wanted a property that had two units to rent when we eventually left. We found a property with a large house and a small house, both of which we will rent and which should cover the mortgage and expenses, and provide a very small income for us.
- We will likely still have to work periodically along the way, especially if we want to prolong our trip. Tom will do some locum PA work, and I might eventually try my hand at some writing if boat-school doesn’t suck all my time and energy.
- We will become minimalists and low-consumers again. We have both lived on a shoestring before when we had very little money, and I have no doubt we can do it again. In fact, I look forward to giving up the high-consumer lifestyle that two-income families seem almost forced into in the name of speed and convenience.
- We might have to come back and work until we’re 75. But it will be worth it!
I feel it needs to be said that in these final months of preparation, I am feeling more than I ever have the privilege that we have both come from and the opportunity it is affording us. It isn’t that we haven’t worked hard; quite the contrary. We have worked our butts off to earn good degrees and to work and save money. But it is both the moral and financial help and support of parents and grandparents that, in the end, have actually tipped the balance to be able to make this happen. I want to recognize that this has been a group effort. And we look forward to our parents joining us periodically along the way to celebrate and participate!