Creating Maintenance Budget for Full-Timers

[kcaravelli]

Hello, we are full-timers in an 03 Suncruiser. We live in the Seattle area and have full-time professional careers. We are putting together a budget to help account for maintenance year round. I need to create a very detailed budget to keep her running and working well. Since we can't plan for all things of coure, we are going to put aside a special "reserve for replacement" for those things we need and did not plan for. If something ends up with a short useful life we hope to be prepared for it. We are also going to research this after the 2 year mark in case we feel another RV would be better suited. This is quite a nice rig though and we got it at a great price. Showroom condition with 5k miles on it. 60k price tag four months ago. I have no idea of usefull life on some of our components since most people don't use these full time. Our gas heater for example, how much maintenance, how often to have the genset serviced. Much of these are in the manuals but I am hoping someone with experience has kept track of their normal maintenance expenses and can relate in whole or in part to this question. Thank you in advance for you answers.

[AFChap]

We have an '03 diesel motorhome, and are fulltimers. Our diesel generator service interval is 150 hrs. Engine/chassis is 15k or 12 mo. It is a great idea to budget monthly for maintenance/repairs so when it is needed, you are well prepared.

We put aside $250 every month for service/repairs. That includes the cost of new tires at apx 6 yr point. Our LP furnaces have never required any service. Refrigerator has had minor repair twice. Basement a/c has had blower motors replaced twice. Water heater has been replaced just recently.

[Lorna]

We replaced our water heater 2 summers ago (tank developed a leak). It was the original water heater from 1977. Also original to the RV.... The AC unit & Suburban Furnace. We trashed the old RV fridge when we bought since the LP igniter was broken & it did cool well in the first place (replaced with 120VAC under counter fridge & an under counter freezer). Our RV was not well taken care of!

[Barbaraok]

We put money aside each month for maintenance and repairs for both DP and toad. I automatically deduct it from our checkbook at the first of the month and it goes into a separate account in Quicken. Then when we need service or repair, the money is there and doesn't upset our plans for the month - other than the 'downtime' while repair is taking place. I also have amounts for insurance, memberships, etc. also transferred to a separate account each month for all yearly costs.

Barb