My budget plan for full time RVing

[Bilgerat]

Hello G-JLD9,
First and foremost to You Both, Thank You For Your Service!!!
You have received "A Ton" of great advice, I'm going to chime in with my $0.02 cents worth. The Best Advice Is, "Don't Put Off To Tomorrow, What You Can Do Today, Or ASAP!"

Now that's my opinion from 1997 until present, looking back over my shoulder.

We went Full Time on July 26th, 2014.

1. If You feel renting your home is viable, this is a good road to evaluate. Adds some income to budget, if FTing does not work out, you still have S&B.
a. if possible rent only through local Military base if applicable. To many reasons to list, .
2. I refuse to advise on (Cash or Payments) for RV and/or TV/Toad. You are on your own on that. I chose the cash route.
3. When folks say they saw that they were saving money when they went FT, for me it was true. Electric went from $300.00 summer - $700.00 winter to $45.00 summer - $95.00 winter. Cable Gone, was minimum with unlimited WiFi $95.00, no commuting to work fuel about $300.00 now $100.00, Changed home of record from Maryland to South Dakota, no more state tax, yearly tags MH & Truck combined is less than 1 of my 3 vehicles alone. Insurance dropped dramatically, but all considered we will not see the savings until house sells. Due to cost of Full Time MH insurance, still saving money, just not notable at present.

House payment is a tough one since the S&B hasn't sold yet and that is "Killing Us"We just grin and bare it. At present S&Bs $825.00, our site rental is $544.00 per month no fee for; water, electric, sewer. Propane tank is 24.4 gal, from July 30- Dec1 we used 26 gallons of gas. (for water heater/stove/oven) (I am providing gallons vice cost as this varies all across the country). Since the cold snap, we use approx 9-12 gallons every 15 days. We pay $2.80 at local store, if gas is delivered ($4.95 gal, $2.95 sir charge, $20.00 delivery fee). so we break camp and pocket $60 plus easy. This was our first unexpected kink, other dual expenses were planned, heating cost we WAY UNDER ESTIMATED. Not a show stopper, BUT this needs to be considered.
Food is another savings area; "you're eating less?" As others posed, habits have changed GREATLY; less dining out, not buying as much food (no where to store it all), do not cook as much at one time (no where to store it). Oh please I Hope You Know I Am A Chow HOUND . I'm sixty, 3 knee surgeries, plus all the other garbage meds/surgeries & problems that goes with over half a Century of being a Professional Knucklehead... But I Feel Better Physically/Mentally due to less stress, we do a hell of a lot more walking, due to the 3 Owners wanting out all hours of the day and night.

We are doing this on less than you are planning per month.

Tough, Oh Yeah, But Worth It, OMG YES!!!

There are a number of budgets that have been posted, here and on sites like www.frugal-rv-travel.com/ & Frugal Shunpiker's Guides - Frugal RV Travel

This also lists huge areas of Fed Land and other options, best if you read and make up your own mind. DW & I took advantage of some of the advise we got, stay at City or County CG's if possible and suitable. KEY WORD IS SUITABLE. Price is very good, for us always under $10.00 with water/pwr minimum service. We saved $30.00 plus just getting away from the Interstate... We only stayed at 1 that was ??? at a golf course, I think the golfers said, wow lets build a campground. Then said, "what's an RV"?

If you would like more info, you may feel free to PM me, I will answer any question you have. Good Luck...

[oakcreekeric]

Please... I implore you... go see a reputable (recommended) financial consultant/planner... think of it this way.. you are on IRV2 to gain advice and concoct a game plan... PLEASE do this for your money too...

If you have that kind of money laying around.. you REALLY need to make sure it is working as hard for you as possible, if you want to make the most out of it..

One caveat... If you do go see a financial consultant/planner... Likely, they will advise AGAINST buying an RV... and likely, they will advise against retiring early... but its their nature... they are trying to make you the most possible money.. not the most possible memories...

[trvlguyjim]

I dont understand your "volunteering". How does that figure in to saving money on a full time life style? What tangible benefit do you get from it. I volunteer for things with my Lions Club and enjoy it, but dont see it as helping me "survive" from day to day. Can you expand on this aspect, please?

[WheelingIt]

Trvguyjim - by volunteering they likely mean volunteering at state parks, national parks, etc. you can usually get a full hookup campsite for free in return for volunteering at these spots. We do it every summer. We volunteer at state parks in OR so we can stay for feed in beautiful beachside campgrounds. It saves us quite a bit in camping fees.

[RLTimblin]

I think paying cash for your RV is smart. We did that. We could only afford a 2003 knowing we were retiring in 2012. We have about $4100 fixed income from SS. I have a small amount being paid to us each month from my 401K. I try to keep the 401K growing when possible.

The smartest thing we did, was purchase a membership with Thousand Trails and we stay for free the remaining of our lives. The only catch is that you have to move every three weeks or find a TT Manager that will let you pay for your week out. That all depends on how busy the resort is.

Our budget allows us to make all of our medical expenses ($800 per month) and yet save a few hundred per month on our worse months. I created a very detailed budget in Excel and weekly fold our expenses from American Express and our bank so that my workbook shows exactly where we are and whether we are winning or losing. It works great!

We went with a 5th wheel first but as we aged it became apparent that we needed a Class 'A' because they practically set themselves up (the newer ones do).

I also think too many people wait too long to retire, thinking that they need to have a ton of money to live. They are accustomed to spending a ton of money on property taxes, etc. When you're retired you have very few costs. Membership, maintenance, gasoline, food and medical.

If you have any other questions give me a shout.

[G-JLD9]

I just wanted to thank everyone for there all the great infomation they have posted. We have done alot of research all winer and started making steps in the deirection of what we need to do before we sell everything and hit the road. Im very confident now that we will have enough money coming in each month to start our dreams in 2019.

So now that spring is here and I dont wake up everyday dreaming of leaving the cold weather here in Kansas, we will enjoy spring and do reserch when we have time.

I think we are going to plan a trip to the next RV Super Show in Florida and make a vacation out of it. A week in a warm weather state will be great when its snowing here next January

Thanks again everyone!

[Ramets]

I think we are going to plan a trip to the next RV Super Show in Florida and make a vacation out of it. A week in a warm weather state will be great when its snowing here next January

Thanks again everyone![/QUOTE]

I would plan on at least two days for the Tampa RV show. When you buy a ticket they give the second day free. There's a lot to see at the show. We go whenever we winter in the area. But every year we leave with the same thought, why buy new? When we went fulltime 5yrs. ago I never considered a new coach. I wanted everything paid for when we hit the road. No major bills hanging over our head, because believe it or not you can't do it forever. I had planned $5K a month for our income, but we've NEVER spent that much. I don't worry about reciepts, but we do just fine on $30K-$35K a year with the rest going into savings.. A time will come when we all will have to give it up. And having an RV payment would only make it more difficult. When you get a little experience under your belt looking at RV's, you'll be able to tell the ones that don't have the fit & quality you want. Don't be fooled by all the bells & whistles, they don't get you from point A to point B. Fancy fullbody paint jobs won't get you there either. You'll ultimately have to figure out which builders make the best RV. BUT they ALL will have problems. That's why when we bought used I figured the problems would've been taken care of. My strongest advice is if you choose to go the used route, find a good independent RV Tech to check out all the systems, and if you can, get it to a mechanic to check out the drive train. THEN make sure you get ALL the maint. records. Without those records I'd walk away. The seller might seem like a nice guy, but his motive is to sell. There are so many good used units available you shouldn't have any problem finding one to suit our needs. You seem to have plenty of time before you decide, so be picky. A good point of reference is PPL in texas. They sell consignments. But on their web site they have a place where you can see what actual RV's sold for. It's a good source of information. Sorry for being so long winded, but I hate to see when a newbie gets snowed when purchasing something this important. Good luck on your search.

[G-JLD9]

Originally Posted by Ramets

But every year we leave with the same thought, why buy new? When we went fulltime 5yrs. ago I never considered a new coach. I wanted everything paid for when we hit the road.

Definatly going to go with used, no payments is what we want. We have 4 years to reserch and find a great rig for 100K, really leaning twords a DP since my dog said she would like that better, LOL.

Originally Posted by Ramets

When you get a little experience under your belt looking at RV's, you'll be able to tell the ones that don't have the fit & quality you want. Don't be fooled by all the bells & whistles, they don't get you from point A to point B. Fancy fullbody paint jobs won't get you there either. You'll ultimately have to figure out which builders make the best RV.

There are so many builders out there and so many models to choose from that some times I get overwelmed with choises. But Im going to pick the powertrain and chassis we want first and then look at all the pretty stuff. I work on CAT, Cummins and Detroit Diesel at work but really like working on Cummins better, so Im sure we are going to go with that. Gary drives heavey quipment at work so Im going to let him decided what he wants in the cockpit and chassis since he will want to drive most of the time.

Originally Posted by Ramets

A good point of reference is PPL in texas. They sell consignments. But on their web site they have a place where you can see what actual RV's sold for. It's a good source of information.

I really like there web site. It shows a picture of the rig and the floorplan without having to click on it. Makes look really easy to pass on a floorplan I definatly dont want. Lots of great info on PPL, Thank You.

[trvlguyjim]

At the end of the day...if you sell one house and buy a rig = even
you eat here, you eat there = even
You buy gas here, you buy more gas there..+$200-400/month

Get the idea

Since you have taken the two or three most major expenses out of the picture,
you're good to go.

And....if you dont like it, come home, live in a driveway till your tenant's lease is up in your rental. Sell the rig, live in the rental.

DO IT

Adventures are not ordinary or they would not be called adventures!

=Jim=

[Tom222]

Originally Posted by G-JLD9

Definatly going to go with used, no payments is what we want. We have 4 years to reserch and find a great rig for 100K, really leaning twords a DP since my dog said she would like that better, LOL.



There are so many builders out there and so many models to choose from that some times I get overwelmed with choises. But Im going to pick the powertrain and chassis we want first and then look at all the pretty stuff. I work on CAT, Cummins and Detroit Diesel at work but really like working on Cummins better, so Im sure we are going to go with that. Gary drives heavey quipment at work so Im going to let him decided what he wants in the cockpit and chassis since he will want to drive most of the time.



I really like there web site. It shows a picture of the rig and the floorplan without having to click on it. Makes look really easy to pass on a floorplan I definatly dont want. Lots of great info on PPL, Thank You.

We purchased a 2007 Fleetwood Diesel , but I with I had purchased a Tiffin because of the great service that Tiffin provides, no matter what year it is.

Whatever you purchase Get a Warranty,there will be things that go wrong with any RV, a good warranty will pay for itself.

We are full time since 2014, 1 year and 1 month,

Thomas


Thomas
Our Big RV Adventure - Facebook Group

[rjsupersonic]

I would look into a membership program so you are not paying 30 to 50 dollars per night... check out Thousand Trails or Coast to Coast we use RPI so we can stay at any RPI for about 10 dollars a night. We have been full time since 2011. Passport america is also useful for short stops. Always ask for the monthly rate if you want to hang around for awhile it's usually much cheaper. I know many folks that make it work on 2 to 3k per month. Some folks work for Amazon or UPS in the fall season for extra money.Even if you work one or two months out of the year its not a bad way to go. Good Luck!

[nothermark]

Originally Posted by rjsupersonic

I would look into a membership program so you are not paying 30 to 50 dollars per night... check out Thousand Trails or Coast to Coast we use RPI so we can stay at any RPI for about 10 dollars a night. We have been full time since 2011. Passport america is also useful for short stops. Always ask for the monthly rate if you want to hang around for awhile it's usually much cheaper. I know many folks that make it work on 2 to 3k per month. Some folks work for Amazon or UPS in the fall season for extra money.Even if you work one or two months out of the year its not a bad way to go. Good Luck!

Watch the cost of the membership. Sometimes its pay me now or pay me later. Either way they cost more than just the daily charge. They also need to be where you think you want to go.

[G-JLD9]

I have been looking at membership programs and seeing what they have to offer. We hope to stay at the military FamCamps across the country to keep costs down.

I have done a little research on RV warranty but since Gary and I fix everything our selves it would be hard for me to pay for one. If the motor blowes then it would be hard for me to out/in a motor after I sell most of my tools and shop. So in that case I might have wished I had a warranty, but I will still see how much they are when it comes time to buy.

We are having fun looking at RVs and dreaming. I really like the 2016 Dutch Star we looked at a few weeks ago. Maybe in 4 years we can find a good used one.

Saving more money is the biggest thing I have learned since I first wrote the post, and we set up a "DP Fund" to add to what we already have. We put Gary's Fed retirement pay and my army reserve checks in there. We have pretty much stopped buying stuff since we will be just selling it soon. Doing little projects around the house so when its time to sell she will be ready to go on the market.

3 years and 10 months will go by fast, right? I hope so, I'm getting trouble at work day dreaming instead of turning a wrench, lol.

[montana4two]

Well, your budget is almost twice what ours is! Our health care in Canada is a lot different as it is free once you turn 65, but we live quite nicely by parking at our daughters in the summer and taking trips out and boondocking in Southern Arizona in the winter.mi guess it all depends on the lifestyle you wants. Good luck to you both, but please don't put your dreams off too long