A traveller's budget

Vancouver is a pretty expensive city to live in. It’s not that I don’t have a well paying job…well, it’s not exceptionally well paying, but it’s ok. The problem is that the cost of living is higher and the wages are lower than what I was used to in the last city I lived in, Perth in Western Australia. Now, I am tempted to cry recession, and I guess that's part of it but, as I was told when I first arrived here, living in Vancouver is a lifestyle choice. It’s a fantastic place to live, and this means rent and everyday things are more expensive, and it doesn’t have the higher wages of a bigger city like Toronto. And, of course, I am saving to go travelling – the story of my life. Whenever I get on my feet in a new place, I almost immediately start saving to leave it. It’s not that I don’t enjoy where I am, but I know I will leave at some point (especially when I am only on a one year visa) and I enjoy the lifestyle whereby I live somewhere for about nine months of the year, and then spend the other three travelling. It's worked out pretty well for me the last five years.

I have recently decided that I will most likely leave Vancouver when my contract ends in November and travel round Canada, South America, Mexico and Cuba for a few months. I say most likely because I constantly change my mind, and I am a big believer that situations and circumstances can affect decisions, so things are never certain. What this means however, is that I have to try and stick to my budget a bit better than I have been. I’m usually pretty good – I get out in cash what I have to spend for the week, I get groceries for the week, try and eat dinner at home as much as I can and I take my lunch to work. I’ve been saving since I started working in Vancouver, but it’s always been a bit of a struggle and I often end up dipping into my savings, or spending money for the following week when I run out of cash, especially when things like weekends away or un-missable events pop up. Last week I decided to see if I could make it ten days and only spend $30, which was what I had left in my wallet. Today is Day 9 and I think I’ve done pretty well and haven’t been bored at all. I’ve discovered there is a lot of free stuff to do in Vancouver. Here are the highlights:

Day 2: I discovered that Carousel Theatre, a theatre for young people, was putting on a free outdoor production of Macbeth on Granville Island. Now this required me to buy dinner but I got some pretty tasty sushi and popped the change from $10 into the donation bucket for the Shakespeare performance as I was very impressed. Well done Carousel Theatre teens – you rock.

Day 3: I was invited to a barbeque at a friend’s place. I made a salad with stuff from the fridge and the veggie garden to take.

Day 4 (Friday): I arrived home from work to find my roommate preparing for a last minute dinner party, which she promptly invited me to join. I ate an amazing dinner I didn’t have to cook (complete with dessert) and enjoyed excellent company. Since I didn’t contribute anything edible, I washed up after. Thanks Amanda!

Day 5 (Saturday): I baked muffins with ingredients from the cupboard and the blackberries from the huge bush in our driveway. In the evening, I bought a 6 pack of ciders ($14) and watched a downloaded movie with some friends.

Day 6 (Sunday): It was a beautiful sunny day, I had a coffee in trendy Yaletown ($3) and a wander round. The café I went to had free samples of all their muffins – score! Then I rode my bike around the waterfront for a few hours in the sun, and even packed my lunch.

Day 8: Home sick from work. Got sunburnt on my patio. Had a potluck dinner with my roommates - more good food and excellent company.

Day 10: I've been invited to a taco and decoration making night at a friend’s place – the decorations are for a party we’re all going to on Saturday with a Martian theme.

And then Day 11 is pay day….and I can go a tiny bit nuts.

Other free activities I amused myself with - watching downloaded tv episodes, organising my ipod, Skyping and speaking to various friends overseas, used the free gym in my office building, research for my trip and reading. I even had a free movie ticket I didn't get around to using! Ok so maybe I cheated a little bit. I did buy $40 worth of groceries to get me through the week (a girl’s gotta eat!) and I might’ve put some new hiking shoes on my New Zealand credit card (they were half price and I need them for the Inca Trail)….but I reckon I still did pretty damn good. Yay for sunshine and free times in Vancouver!

Picture source: M. Fuller