Having finally received my electric bill for November I can tell you how things stand financially after my third month in this bizarre experience.  Again, I’m not tracking my money in quite the same way as the field team, but this should paint a pretty good picture of what the difference in living expenses are like.

Housing: $500/mo. still.  This isn’t likely to change any time soon.

Utilities: $66/mo.  Since last month this number has literally doubled.  I’m expecting it to double again next month when the temperature drops even further (daily averages are in the 20s here).

Food: $58/mo.  Oh dear.  That’s less than one third of what I was spending on average as of last month.  It also works out to roughly $2/day.  The real secret is that I happened to buy a bunch of bulk items right at the end of October and then ate nothing but turkey for a solid week after thanksgiving, so my grocery bill was largely negated.  The only increase was in eating out: I have decided to start liking coffee, which I foresee becoming a financial burden in the long run.

Drinks: $188/mo.  Of course, what I gave up in my stomach I reclaimed in my liver.  It should also be noted that I lost 10 lbs in November (and for those of you who know me the pertinent question should be “from where?”).

Transportation: $0.  I still ride a bike.  It’s still a piece of shit.

Other: $13/mo.  I didn’t buy any more clothes this month (though I’m still on the lookout for a decent pea coat), or any luxury items/entertainment at all.  Some hardware to help insulate the house was about all I purchased in this category.

JS0 Expenses: $167/mo. (average of Sept. – Nov.)   I feel like it might be interesting to also track how much editing for JS0 costs me.  Since I’m all the way on the other side of the world it doesn’t make much sense for the field team to be handling procurement for my office.  I buy the hard drives, the networking gear, the cabling, and whatever else is necessary to keep my office afloat.  It doesn’t cost all that much (discounting the camera I use to capture tapes with and my laptop) but it might be nice to see where this number goes.

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So, all told, I’m looking at roughly $1072/mo., now including JS0 business expenses (but still excluding my taxes).  Sustainable?  Maybe!