This month was split between Lisbon (13 days) and Barcelona (18 days), and this is a rare budget month in the year where the figures won’t be extracted and examined from an expat cost of living standpoint. There was better data for Lisbon in the April budget, and there will be better data for Barcelona in the June budget. The budget numbers are still meaningful though, with some important takeaways about our lifestyle the past several weeks.
Income
Total Income: $7,361.65
| Gross Rental Proceeds | $3,500.00 |
| Investment Withdrawal | $3,803.13 |
| Interest Earned | $58.52 |
Expenses
Total Expenses: $7,838.17 Withdrawal Rate: 4.5%
| Accommodation | $3,485.87 | Barcelona: $2316.22 for 19 nights Lisbon: $1169.65 for 12 nights |
| Cigna Global Silver w/ US | $558.42 | Sinking fund |
| Grocery Store / Food | $1,149.24 | $616.5 was projected Barcelona value, which was way off. Barcelona: $761.19 total including about ~$60 of Nespresso coffee and ~$30 alcohol. Projected out to a full month would be $1,201.88. Lisbon: $388.05, which projected to a full month is $970.13. |
| House Escrow (taxes $3,428.62, insurance $1,518, Rent Profit Tax $3,115) | $811.97 | Sinking fund |
| Discretionary | $0.00 | We actually spent $1,407.15 total in discretionary (i.e. fun) spending, but we paid for it entirely with our remaining side discretionary fund. Lisbon: $404.02 Barcelona: $1,003.13 |
| Transportation | $241.57 | We only projected $50 Lisbon: $129.33 Barcelona: $112.24 for four T-usual cards with unlimited buses/metro in zone 1. |
| Storage Unit (10′ x 20′) | $246.00 | This monthly rate keeps creeping up. Anyone using a storage unit as a permanent augmentation of space in their life is out of their mind. The storage companies have all the leverage since it takes a hero’s effort to move to a different storage facility. |
| Clothes | $100.00 | Sinking fund |
| Life Insurance | $99.81 | |
| Vaccines | $91.58 | Sinking fund |
| Phone (Google FI) | $64.71 | This is slightly elevated because we have started making international calls for insurance and things like that. |
| Gifts | $60.00 | Sinking fund |
| Giving | $66.53 | An unfortunate $23.53 went to a scammer selling roses. He pushed a rose into JC’s hands, so I was just going to buy that one and call it giving. I only had a 20 euro, and he said he had change. Instead of giving change, he gave us 3 roses and basically ran away. |
| Auto escrow (non-owner) | $41.50 | Sinking fund |
| Duolingo | $20.00 | |
| E-Sim (Airalo) | $20.00 | Sinking fund |
| Virtual Mailbox (PostScanMail) | $12.00 | |
| Amazon Prime | $11.59 | Sinking fund |
| Cloud Storage | $2.99 | |
| Prop Mgmt Monthly Fee | $350.00 | |
| Prop Mgmt Maintenance | $229.65 | HOA fees |
| Water bottle | $8.19 | AC’s water bottle was disgusting and uncleanable |
| Kid Purchases, haircut | $14.12 | The “kid purchases” are the kids money but it funnels through our account. |
| Kids Invest | $85.00 | This is the kids money but it funnels through our account. |
| School supplies | $67.43 | This is for the return to public school |
Analysis
The withdrawal rate of 4.5% is above our target rate (4.32%) for this month. We could have manipulated this number by covering some of the other costs with the remaining side discretionary fund, but hidden spending is not useful data.
Looking at this in terms of Barcelona fitting long term slow travel cost viability, it’s a tough location on our budget. all of the discretionary spending this month would have to stop entirely to keep the spending at a sustainable level. Our side discretionary fund won’t always exist. On top of that we would have to reduce grocery spending by about $200 to get to our target rate of 4.32%.
Hitting that target withdrawal rate combined with the cheaper months earlier in the year is what keeps us on track for a 4% overall withdrawal rate across the whole year. Not spending any discretionary and tightening down groceries wouldn’t ruin the stay in Barcelona. It would still be a fun location because you have the beach and plenty of free/cheap fun. For us to have some margin with Barcelona in the plan, it needs to be paired with extremely cheap other locations.
There are a few categories that we overran which are worth walking through in more detail.
Groceries
The Barcelona grocery costs really shocked us the first few weeks of our stay. At the pace we were spending, it would nearly double the originally projected amount (~$1200 instead of ~$600). One layer to this is that we are spending nearly $100/month on coffee since there is a Nespresso maker in our Airbnb. Another is that we have been shopping at smaller grocery stores which are typically more expensive. That’s all that was available in the area.
In a new development, a huge new Aldi opened just one block from our Airbnb a few days ago. The groceries are cheaper, so the June grocery budget should look much better.
Discretionary Spending
Our discretionary spending was in the land of bonkers at over $1,400. After breaking down exactly where that money went, one thing was clear. We partied like we were Snooki and The Situation from Jersey Shore. I can pinpoint exactly when the party started, which was our first adults only trip to Time Out Market in Lisbon. JC and I couldn’t get enough of being able to actually speak to people, and from so many different areas of the world. We drank a shit ton at those multiple outings, typically eating there as well. The party followed us to Barcelona where we continued paying too much for drinks and meals out. We are consciously reigning this in now.
Transportation
The $50 projection was silly, and I’m not sure how I came up with that. It may have literally been a copy/paste error in the spreadsheet. We 5x’d that almost with our actual spending. I should have seen that the T-usual cards alone would be $112.24, more than double the projection. Then when you add our party lifestyle in Lisbon, which involved taking Bolts on the regular, this wasn’t even close.
Conclusion
The inflated spending was worth the memories in my opinion. We had so much fun with that discretionary money, and I think we’re going to remember back to our Lisbon party days with a smile on our faces. June will offer us another crack at getting the groceries back on track, and we have a good plan for that. We’ll have a chance to finish the year strong, and possibly even counter-balance this months withdrawal rate to stick the landing on the year with a perfect 4.0%.
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