Spending Breakdown - Month 2

Malaysia, The Philippines, and Ukraine have all been added to the "Nationalities I've Met" page, bringing the total to 40!

One thing I bet you didn't know about Cambodia, is that they primarily use U.S. dollars. Their official currency, Riel, is usually only given as change. Shortly after my arrival yesterday, I bought $1.35 worth of items at a shop - the change for my two dollars? 2,600 Riel. The dollar is king here (well, they do actually have a king, but you get the gist). Therefore, month three will be very easy to track financially, as most transactions will be made with my home currency.

Anyhow, I could go on for hours about Cambodia, and I will (in future blog posts). For now, however, I want to do a financial breakdown of my second month. It was spent primarily in Thailand, and spans the dates 06/21/14 thru 07/20/14. Once again, there will be exceptions. I bought a Northern Thai instrument (Seung - which I had to leave behind at a guesthouse in Bangkok), which will not be factored in. Additionally, costs related to my film photography are very specific, and I don't foresee most people needing to factor such prices in.

Here we go! Month the second:


Accommodation - $127.64. Average of $4.25 per day. I more than halved my accommodation costs from last month ($282.93). There are several reasons for this, primarily the fact that I was traveling with a friend. We were able to split double rooms, paying half the price. Even when I was alone, I opted to stay in mixed dorm rooms, whereas last month I stayed in a (far more expensive) single room. Thought I thought dorms would suck, they actually turned out to be a great way to meet new people. They also saved me a lot of money!


Food - $180.39. Average of $6 per day, or $2 per meal. Roughly the same as I spent last month, just a few dollars more. I didn't make much of an effort to stay away from restaurants. Additionally, food in the South was slightly more expensive (as was everything else). I would never have dreamed this would be my biggest expense - even more than accommodation!


Alcohol - $65.33. Average of $2.18 per day. Same as food: roughly the same as last month, but with a few extra dollars due to inflated costs. 


Transport - $164.29. Other than food, this was my biggest expense during the month (up from $35.37 last month). The reason is that Lisa's method of traveling involved seeing as many places as possible. Sometimes this resulted in very expensive bus rides, some of which did save us money on accommodation (overnight buses). I don't regret a single penny that I spent; however, future months will certainly not be this costly for me.


Water - $17.46. Average of 58 cents per day. Roughly the same as last month.


Toiletries - $6.42. Much lower than last month ($18.61). This is because I had already purchased most of my toiletries last month (toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, etc).


Miscellaneous - $77.37. Includes ATM fees ($21.24), unintentional motorbike damage ($15.40), a haircut ($9.24), laundry ($4.56), and other items/admission costs, etc ($26.93).


Total amount spent - $638.90. Average of $21.30 per day. Slightly less than last month, but much more than necessary (especially with such low accommodation fees). Transport and miscellaneous things (such as costs associated with the Full Moon Party) really added up, inflating my budget. Though I am once more by myself in Cambodia, I hope this month will cost less!

Thank you once more to the creators of Trail Wallet. This app has been essential for me. 

Stay tuned, readers!