Our family of 4 spent 6 months living in San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua. We looked back at our numbers to see how much it cost us to live there. We spent $20,000 or $3300 per month.
We go into detail about these expenses in this post.
Lodging
Our lodging cost about $1,150 per month. We stayed in three different places while we were in Nicaragua. We spent one-month living in the town in an Airbnb. It was a small 2-bedroom apartment that costs under $1,000 per month. It was great because we could easily walk to the beach, restaurants, and the market.
Once COVID hit we decided to move just outside of the city (still within walking distance) to a gated community with a pool. We spent two months at La Santa Maria. We spent more money on this house than we normally would because we did not know how long we would be stuck in the house because of COVID. Our monthly housing budget is usually around $1,000. Our house at La Santa Maria had a small dipping pool and more space to spread out. It was definitely a splurge.
Food
We spent about $900 per month on food for our family of four. Groceries were the bulk of that cost.
We did not eat out much. COVID was a big factor for that. We did order take out sometimes, but we only spent about $100 per month on dining out.
Activities
We spent about $400 per month on entertainment and kid activities. Before COVID hit we were all taking Spanish lessons and we joined the Fight Club Gym. The boys took surfing lessons and horseback riding lessons. We also spent some money on tours and entrance fees to attractions like the Masaya Volcano and Lake Apollo.
Transportation
The cost of transportation was about $240 per month. We used taxis when we first arrived. We rented a truck for the last two months we were in Nicaragua. That cost us $400/month. A car is not necessary to get around in Nicaragua. It is easy to take busses, taxis, and shuttles. During COVID we did not want to take public transportation, which is why we rented the car.
Merchandise
We only spent about $100 per month on stuff (merchandise). We live out of backpacks, so even though we were in Nicaragua for six months we did not accumulate things. We would have no way to take it with us. The kids needed new shoes and we bought some clothing items, toys, and pool noodles, but that was it.
Healthcare
We were luckily all healthy in Nicaragua. We did not have health insurance while we were there. We did not need to see the doctor. We did visit the dentist and the boys got dental x-rays. Dental and medical visits are cheap in Nicaragua. We do have health insurance now and we will have it going forward to cover catastrophic incidences.
We were not sure how much it would cost to live abroad. We heard from many people that you can do it on a budget. We were happy to see that it cost us considerably less than what we spent to live in Atlanta. We will continue to monitor our expenses as we travel. A big part of our ability to travel long term is to keep our expenses as low as possible.
