I've spent a bit more than I thought getting to Portugal, especially since I had to pay for two new wheels following a flat tyre (and driving for way too long on it), and having left a week earlier than expected meaning I'm paying for an extra few nights in an Air BnB (with my house to be rented sitting empty, what a waste, grrr). 

However, these temporary very short-term 'transitional expenditures' are nothing compared to what I'll be saving on my monthly cost of living expenditures once I'm settled, which should be by the end of next week at the latest, one way or another. 

I've worked out two budgets for the next few months, a luxury budget and budget budget:

- Luxury budget = £1250 a month 
- Budget budget = £850 a month 
![Portugal luxury and Budget Budgets .png](https://images.hive.blog/DQmcShPbF3LXxzV7stjuFHuRbbBnCSXnxXA82Jq6dTsBn6s/Portugal%20luxury%20and%20Budget%20Budgets%20.png)

Even the luxury budget is about 30% cheaper than my usual, pre-covid monthly expenditure in the UK, which averaged out at around £1700. Although [more recently my monthly expenditure has been lower](https://peakd.com/hive-167922/@revisesociology/august-2020-expenditure-review) because of not-going-out if I had stayed in the UK that would have meant picking up my part-time teaching job again, and that just adds on more money: I spend more in order to work, and because of the stress! 

### The luxury and budget Portugal budgets
<br> The luxury version is mainly luxurious because it allows me to rent a flat to myself, for which I've allowed 300 EU. The cheapest rents in the area are for 200, but by the time you go up to 300, there's plenty of choice, and that's just looking on the [first return from a relevant Google search](https://www.idealista.pt/en/arrendar-casas/castelo-branco-distrito/?ordem=precos-asc). 

In the budget option I'll just be skanking on someone's land in my tent, but I've included £100 a month for the occasional AirBnB (laundry!) and to maybe chuck my freebie-land lord a little something. 

I've had to allow for £300 to 'sub' my house being rented in the UK - I'm actually getting ever so slightly more in rent than my mortgage repayments, but by the time you add on management fees (fully managed), landlord's insurance, and tax (which actually won't be very much for the first year at least once I factor in all the costs of prepping the place for rent), and a little buffer just in case, i think £300 is a decent amount to ensure no nasty financial surprises. It's probably overkill. Actually maybe in my budget budget I should reduce this to £250, that'd probably be enough! 

The cost of the car is something that's just fixed - £100 a month should cover insurance, MOT, breakdown, fuel. 

Food is also fixed, £150 should easily do it, again I could probably go lower in my budget option, but I always think of food as something I wont' compromise on. 

Health insurance - I can get away with cheap as chips travel insurance for3 months, because I can pass-off as travelling temporarily (I have an address in the UK!), but after that I'd have to switch to nomad's insurance which is pricey for an almost 50 year old. This is just medical we're talking about - I have thought about NOT getting it, but no, this is the one thing that could potentially drain ALL of my wealth in one month's worth of medical bills, it's just not worth the risk. 

As to the mobile, I'm keeping my SMARTY contract, £10 a month and I'll also go for a £30 month unlimited data option for Portugal. I'd probably rather do without food than data TBH. 

If I rent a flat then I guess there's bills, if I'm camping then I've got solar but I'll probably need a little gas for cooking. Water will cost in a flat, but again should be free, but more hassle if camping out. 

Coffee and Beer I've just included more in the luxury options - I bought a bottle of what looks like fairy decent white wine ealier for under 2 Euros, so even with the budget option I can be well on my to alcoholism if I so choose. 

As to savings, In the luxury option £100 goes straight into my share-fund, with the budget option I can just discount this by drawing down every few months. 

### Budget or Luxury?
<br>I must say I'm feeling 'luxury' for 6 months over winter - maybe even just stump up £1800 in advance (I think my tenants are paying me 6 months up front) and then I've got a nice base from which to develop my land, somewhere to shower and do laundry, and wake up toasty, and then transition fully to off-grid in Spring once it's warming up. 

It might take me a while to find my land as well of course. 

There's also the fact that I'm looking at my primary earnings from my REVISE blog and they're sitting at £1000 for last month, and that's just one income source, so the money is looking GOOD! 

And that luxury budget itself is transitional, for a few months only, once I get established on my land, that's another £300 off my budge straight away, more once I get my food system going proper come summer, hopefully. 

It's interesting to note that at the rental prices in this area, I could even sack-off the whole off-grid thing altogether and just live in a regular apartment and have a much better quality of life than in the UK, but I'm painfully aware that my online income is so dependent on Google that I'd rather work that cost of living down much further so I'm less dependent on that particular company. 



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