Cruising itself must be one of the lowest cost ways of living. Certainly while under way there is no opportunity to spend money, and anchoring is still free in most places! The trouble comes when you start visiting marinas and the temptations of the land start to nag away: extreme self control is necessary if you are to keep your expenses down. Some of our inspiration came from the book 'Sell Up and Sail' by Bill and Laurel Cooper, and John's son Mike took his from Anne Hammick's 'Ocean Cruising on a Budget'. Our tattered copy of the latter travelled around the world with Mike and Lisa on their Contessa 32 Jemmana in 1999/2001.
We maintain a record of our expenditure. One day we hope to analyse this and publish it on this web site. So far we have not settled into a routine. During the first winters we were heavily in project mode, then during summer 2005 we were hit with the extraordinary expenses associated with John's illness, returning to the UK, and even buying and running two cars!