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Let’s get real.

March 6, 2012 by EM Leave a Comment

So here I was in Roatan, talking to instructors in dive shops who were encouraging me to do a divemaster internship and go on to the instructor course. YES! Of course I want to dive all the time and then do it for a job. Obviously I asked about the price… “Oh, a couple thousand dollars”. EASY! I could do that in a few months, no problem. I went home and looked up flights for June (it was the end of February) and got super excited.

Then I thought to myself, hey EM, since you’re mega-OCD and looooooove lists, maybe you should write out a budget just to make sure you’ve got all the bases covered. Go responsible adult behavior!

I wrote out a quick list: dive courses, renting a place in Roatan, dive computer. Smugly smiled about already owning my own wetsuit & boots. Then, to my horror, I realized I had forgotten about a TON of stuff. Like eating. And drinking. And a flight. And what I would do with all my stuff in Vancouver. And that I realistically should probably go down there with at least 4 months of living expenses covered so that I can either (a) have a cushion while I look for an instructing job or (b) go home with my tail between my legs after a fucking awesome 4 month holiday (both options allowing me to not have to rush through my courses).

My heart sank as I added more and more to the list. I actually calculated it twice because I couldn’t believe the number the first time I added everything together.

This list is something I was looking for online when I was searching through other people’s posts. I hope it helps someone out there looking to do the same thing I’m doing!

Dive courses: Rescue, Divemaster, IDC$3400
Rent @ $300 per month for 4 months$1200
Food/drink/entertainment @ $600 per month for 4 months$2400
Round-trip flight to Roatan (need a ticket out to get into the country)$700
Dive Computer$300
Fins, mask, snorkel$250
Women’s BCD (extremely hard to get in Roatan)$350
First Aid/CPR Course (need for Rescue Diver course)$130
Trip Insurance$100
Home Insurance (still have to pay this at home for all my stuff!) @ $30 for 4 months$120
Cell phone at home (can’t cancel contract without paying it out, around $800) @ $60 per month for 4 months$240
MSP (that’s our health insurance premium we have to pay here in BC) @ $65 per month for 4 months$260
Storage locker for all my stuff in Vancouver for 4 months @ $100 per month$400
TOTAL$9850

Then I cried a little bit. TEN THOUSAND FUCKING DOLLARS!?!?! Really!?! I found it a little hard to believe that all these people I met had gone down to Roatan and done these courses with ten grand in their pocket. How am I going to do this? That doesn’t even include having a couple thousand dollars in my savings account for when I (eventually) get back. Or any emergencies down there. Ugh. Very discouraging!

Check out tomorrow’s post for my plan to get the cost down and my current cash situation up!

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Filed Under: Life, Money Tagged With: Budget

Previous Post: « Begin at the beginning….
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i’m rika!

hiya! i'm a canadian paralegal-turned-scuba diving instructor-turned EFL teacher-turned digital nomad. i left my cubicle in 2012 and haven't looked back since. i'm a serial expat, but right now i'm back in canada on hiatus for a while. welcome to the place where i say things.

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