We had a very good month in March, spending wise. Right until the last day, that is.
February ended with a daily spending average of $56.93, with nearly $200 in spending over our monthly budget amount. We were determined to be more careful in March, and by March 30 we had managed to get our daily average down to $44.39, which included Meiling’s and her boyfriend’s arrival and our getaway to Odawara (our son took care of almost all our expenses there).
And then March 31 happened.
To celebrate our anniversary, and because we had two of our four children together who don’t get to see each other very much, we took everyone out to the Sunday Brunch at the New Sanno Hotel – six adults and one child (there was thankfully no charge for our granddaughter). And, following brunch, we went with Meiling to the Meiji Shrine and down into Harajuku where we treated all of us to crepes. On the way home we stopped in at the grocery store and bought some extra items for Meiling to bring home. Our spending for the one day ended up at $270.96 which brought our March average up to $51.69, and our daily average spend in Japan to $52.35. Ouch.
We are not off to a particularly good start in April either, with our daily spend average right now hovering around $57 (the day at Disneyland didn’t help), but we have the rest of the month to get back on track. I think we can do it because other than Brett’s birthday this month, and Easter, there are no big events coming up, just small outings and trips for groceries for the two of us. We shopped at the discount grocery store this past weekend and saw a considerable difference in the amount we paid, so that will help.
Fingers are once again crossed that we get through this month under our desired average of $50/day.
The Occasional Nomads 
40 years is a big deal and so is having all the family to enjoy it with. Money well spent and good times to remember.
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Could not agree more! And I’m sure the coming weeks will balance things. 🙂
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It is all about balance. We had a no-spend day yesterday, and will have another tomorrow and probably several more in the month and that should get us back in the area of where we want to be.
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That was exactly our thought! And we all had a wonderful time, and I think everyone hit the buffet tables at least three times, and there was lots of great conversation too. Harajuku was crazy, but Meiling and her boyfriend absolutely loved the crepe they shared (Brett and I shared another).
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I’m curious if your are doing an overall daily spending average as well as monthly? It would seem like some of the more expensive locations would be balanced out by the less expensive ones.
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Brett tracks our spending every day to arrive at our monthly average; he also tracks our spending for each place we’ve visited to give us an idea of which places have cost more, etc. Locations last year (South America, Europe) had lower cost of living expenses than the ones we’ve visited this year (India, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand and Japan). We have to work a little harder here to stay within the budget.
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