Year 2 Saving Review

Wow, this has been a great year of savings for the dream! At the end of year one we had saved $10,200 in the "Boat Fund". Now, at the end of year two, we have $20,975 in the Boat Fund. So we kept the pace of savings that we developed in the first year. Not enough to buy a boat yet, but enough to get me searching in Yachtworld.com to see what's available in the $25,000 to $30,000 category.

The biggest jump in our savings has been the "Cruising Kitty". This is separate from the Boat Fund and is the amount of money we plan to live on when we are out there. I'm estimating a $450 per week budget. At the end of year one we had $3,810 in the Cruising Kitty, now there's $16,202 in the Cruising Kitty or enough for 36 weeks! We really put every bit of money into this fund that we could.

We are sharing this data with everyone because it's the biggest question people seem to have on the websites and blogs that I visit. "How much does it cost to go cruising? How much did your boat cost? I know the answer will be different for everyone. If you spend a lot on land, you will spend a lot on the water, etc. The mindset change has been important to me and I look at every dollar as a freedom chip. We still have fun, but I'm no longer an impulse buyer.

I have an example for you, recently the competing telephone/tv/internet provider came into town knocking on doors about their new service. The old company had a monopoly and the new company was offering some really great deals to switch to the new service. I think 90% of our neighbors made a switch and I was tempted too. We'd get tv back, higher speed connection and pay less. However, I slept on it and realized this was an opportunity to call the existing company to renegotiate our current price for internet. The result was I now have an internet connection 3 times faster and pay $20 less per month for internet. The difference goes into the Cruising Kitty.

Don't get caught in the trap if you are serious about cruising. You can do it!