It’s that time of the month where I invoice clients and tweak the new month’s budget while looking ahead to the next few months. This is getting more and more critical as May is already looming and I need to make sure I’m well buffered for the drive home since I don’t know how much, or even if, I’ll be able to work on the way back. I did take a special extension on my health coverage to the end of May that I don’t want to waste, so I am thinking of getting a couple of weekly rentals at various places in the States.<\/p>\n
But I digress. Despite its frighteningly slow start, January ended with a bang. I worked my tail off, but was also paid a bonus amount for the project. So not only did I end up exceeding my minimum earning goals for the month… I just<\/em> met my ideal target. I just about never make that amount, but it’s something to shoot for. That ideal target would cover bills, allow me to live comfortably for a month, and also leave a generous amount for my buffer\/emergency fund. So I am in good financial shape for the first time since I left home and February is off to a busy start! The tide is turning!<\/p>\n One thing that helps is just how simple my life here is in Mexico. Really, what do I have to spend money on? About 95% of my budget goes to food (groceries and dining out), 2% to beer (both at home and at bars), 1% to public transportation, and 1% to household and miscellaneous small outings. I feel like I have a fantastic quality of life and that I am well stimulated. Much as I miss home, I know that my budget is going to balloon there when I have a property to maintain again. \ud83d\ude41<\/p>\n Doing this math made me feel a lot less troubled by how my dining out habit has increased in the last few weeks. I have to eat anyway, so why not enjoy the local culture that way? Yes, I could slash my budget by eating only at home with a very simple diet, but, seriously, how frugal does one person have to be before it’s enough?! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n One comment I get from people is that I have to watch the dining out because it will mean weight gain. Well, I guess it depends on what you eat and I tend to make sensible choices. I’m very happy to say that I haven’t gained a pound since I got here, but I lost two inches around my waist, which means that I’m building muscle from all that walking and losing fat. So my simple Mexican life is working well for me!!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It’s that time of the month where I invoice clients and tweak the new month’s budget while looking ahead to the next few months. This is getting more and more critical as May is already looming and I need to make sure I’m well buffered for the drive home since I don’t know how much, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[815,14,635,11,814,3,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mazatlan","category-mexico","category-north-america","category-personal","category-sinaloa","category-travel","category-work"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2008\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}