I wasn't going to do a December costs post, figuring that I'd wrap it up in a whole year 2021 review. That was before I found that we'd spent £10,338 / €11,682 / $14,060 in the month - it seemed too much money to gloss over.
So how on earth did we spend that much? For sure, we're not living a low cost early retirement, but this much isn't normal. One month is 8.33% of the year but we spent 17.2% of our annual costs in that one month. How and why?
The quick answer is a trip to Finland, Christmas, teeth, running shoes, a bike rack. Not forgetting our normal, but higher than I think they should be, grocery costs, bills for two houses because we stayed in our UK Airbnb property for a month, plus a little extra on charity in December.
We haven't actually gone to Finland yet, it's scheduled for mid January, so fingers crossed we stay Covid free and can travel. We paid the balance of the hotel and activity pack - snowmobile rides, reindeer farm, husky safari, snowshoeing, cross country skiing, Aurora camp, Aurora snowmobiling. Finland is not a low cost destination! The cost for Sally and me is in holiday/travel and for the kids it's included in gifts.
Teeth includes the final installment for Sally's dental work, and the cost for some veneer on my front teeth - it turns out I've been brushing them too well. It's just cosmetic stuff, I reckon I should be able to start my modeling career now to recoup the cost🤣. I bought another two pairs of running shoes, I think I have a problem as that's five pairs purchased in the last couple of months, I'll have to see if there's a Running Shoes Anonymous help group close by! And as to the bike rack, who'd have thought it would cost £615 / €695 / $836 - I guess that's what happens when you buy VW original parts, although the alternatives weren't that much less in truth. Of course, Christmas costs a bit extra too. We bought gifts for our loved ones, and some special foods to eat.
So, when you add it all together, that's how we spent so much in December. In the coming days, I'll look at our spend for the full year and see how that feels. I'm hoping it feels better!
