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Old 11-12-2019, 11:58 AM   #1
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Planning the budget

I was thinking about what I would be saving by going full time.
I know there are things like house insurance utility bills etc. Lawn mower gas etc.

Has anybody ever compiled a list of savings? I mean just by dumping the house.

I believe that it would be a trade off one life style to the other.
Full timer expenses are variable as the day is long. Owning the bricks and sticks is more predictable??

I really like to hear about your thoughts and experiences.
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Old 11-12-2019, 12:10 PM   #2
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Originally Posted by Ted Lambert View Post
I was thinking about what I would be saving by going full time.
IMO it is a risky venture getting into FT'ing trying to save money. Some people save money perhaps. What if your Diesel engine needs replaced? You might never recovery if you don't have the savings in the bank.

Real estate can be a good investment. An RV will never be a good investment mathematically.

I want to say the memories I've had RV'ing with my kids/gkids are priceless....... in reality there is a price. Be responsible and it will likely work out.
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Old 11-12-2019, 12:35 PM   #3
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I just posted this on another thread. It may help as to what kind of expenses you'll have.

Always have a fund going for any 'surprises'.

You can fulltime as frugally as you need. Everyone is different and there are many different ways of fulltiming. Some do it cheaper than others. Typically, you can do it very well on $35,000/year depending on the types of places you stay. Volunteering in public parks is a good way to save on camp fees. You usually get your site free; however, that's shouldn't be the sole purpose of volunteering. You can save by not driving continuously and getting a monthly rate can save, also.

There are many free things to do rather than paying big entrance fees to things.

Always have a fund going for emergencies.

If you aren't on Medicare be sure to have your medical covered and that could be a big expense.

Hopefully you aready have a RV and it's paid for. If selling your house don't put that money into a RV. Set it aside for when you leave the road. Even though you may think you'll fulltime forever things have a habit of changing plans. Have a backup.

2017 - End of Year Expense Report - Here and There

https://www.rv-dreams.com/fulltimingbudgets.html
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Old 11-12-2019, 12:36 PM   #4
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Who says you same going Funtime in a rv?

You still have to buy a rv and pay to camp somewhere.
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Old 11-12-2019, 12:37 PM   #5
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If you look at it as trying to save money I wouldn't do it. If you use RV parks 24/7 that can get expensive. Also if you're not really into the lifestyle then you might not like the lack of space inside and lack of storage.

To sum it all up, don't do it to save money unless you're a roughneck or something living on the property free of charge and next to the worksite. But other than that I wouldn't even think about saving money. It would be cheaper to rent an apartment but you will not get equity in that.

If you are into this lifestyle, I would look at BLM lands where you can camp for free most of the time (boondocking). But yah, don't do it if your sole purpose is to save money.
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Old 11-12-2019, 01:42 PM   #6
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I just posted this on another thread. It may help as to what kind of expenses you'll have.

Always have a fund going for any 'surprises'.

You can fulltime as frugally as you need. Everyone is different and there are many different ways of fulltiming. Some do it cheaper than others. Typically, you can do it very well on $35,000/year depending on the types of places you stay. Volunteering in public parks is a good way to save on camp fees. You usually get your site free; however, that's shouldn't be the sole purpose of volunteering. You can save by not driving continuously and getting a monthly rate can save, also.

There are many free things to do rather than paying big entrance fees to things.

Always have a fund going for emergencies.

If you aren't on Medicare be sure to have your medical covered and that could be a big expense.

Hopefully you aready have a RV and it's paid for. If selling your house don't put that money into a RV. Set it aside for when you leave the road. Even though you may think you'll fulltime forever things have a habit of changing plans. Have a backup.

2017 - End of Year Expense Report - Here and There

https://www.rv-dreams.com/fulltimingbudgets.html
WOW!!!! You spend more in a month than I do in 3 months! I always camp free. One person for food, and there will be a dog and a cat as well. Insurance for the dually will be $100 or there about for full coverage and good driver discounts. State Farm will cover both car and 5th wheel at approx $200 per month. So probably $150 in food per month for me. $50 for both pets (I spend about $50 now for two cats and 1 dog for wet/dry food and treats). $0 for rent unless needed. Gas will probably be on average $300 a month depending on how much I travel. Internet for unlimited using my phone as hotspot is approx. $50 through Xfinity (will have to pay more once I stop bundling everything). About $25-$30 per month for paid subscriptions. Local channels cost nothing. Registration costs about $100 per month. My car was $350 per year and assume 5th wheel will probably be more than that so $100 a month averaged.

There will be no real upgrades cost. I had planned on being ready before I go, complete with solar ect ect.

It's going to cost me approx. $1,300 per month and I can even get leaner. My last two week boondock was about $100 for food, and $250 for gas, and that's it. It's my friends 5th wheel so he has the insurance on it. We are good friends (known him since I was 5 years old and have been best friends since). So I spent about $350 for two weeks, and had a lot of leftover food.
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Old 11-12-2019, 03:42 PM   #7
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WOW!!!! You spend more in a month than I do in 3 months! I always camp free. One person for food, and there will be a dog and a cat as well. Insurance for the dually will be $100 or there about for full coverage and good driver discounts. State Farm will cover both car and 5th wheel at approx $200 per month. So probably $150 in food per month for me. $50 for both pets (I spend about $50 now for two cats and 1 dog for wet/dry food and treats). $0 for rent unless needed. Gas will probably be on average $300 a month depending on how much I travel. Internet for unlimited using my phone as hotspot is approx. $50 through Xfinity (will have to pay more once I stop bundling everything). About $25-$30 per month for paid subscriptions. Local channels cost nothing. Registration costs about $100 per month. My car was $350 per year and assume 5th wheel will probably be more than that so $100 a month averaged.

There will be no real upgrades cost. I had planned on being ready before I go, complete with solar ect ect.

It's going to cost me approx. $1,300 per month and I can even get leaner. My last two week boondock was about $100 for food, and $250 for gas, and that's it. It's my friends 5th wheel so he has the insurance on it. We are good friends (known him since I was 5 years old and have been best friends since). So I spent about $350 for two weeks, and had a lot of leftover food.
Last I knew, State Farm didn't write insurance for fulltimers. When did that change.

Not everyone wants to do bare-bones types of fulltiming. We worked long and hard to be able to enjoy our retirement in comfort.

Of course we only have 14 yrs on the road, so what do we know.
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Old 11-12-2019, 04:04 PM   #8
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Last I knew, State Farm didn't write insurance for fulltimers. When did that change.
That depends on what you want insurance for. There's no such thing as "full timer insurance". I'm insured with State Farm and am full time. And yes, my agent knows I'm a full time RVer and travel all over the place. I ate up a little over an hour of her time discussing what I needed.



Best thing to do is schedule a 1 hour (or 3 hour if need be) appointment with your agent and have a real conversation with him/her about what you want to be insured against. Theft? Fire? Rodent damage? Liability only? Don't use phrases like "fulltimer policy", or "full coverage", or anything like that. Talk to them in plain old English. If your agent doesn't have time for that, find a new agent. That's really what the agent's job is. Your agent can be a wonderful ally if you take the time to talk to her.
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Old 11-12-2019, 04:20 PM   #9
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I was thinking about what I would be saving by going full time.
I know there are things like house insurance utility bills etc. Lawn mower gas etc.

Has anybody ever compiled a list of savings? I mean just by dumping the house.
Haven't compiled a list, but I can tell you one thing, our monthly expenses since we went FT are at least 1/2 of what we spent every month at the house. Heck...the house property taxes alone was $500/mo. and you don't get anything for that. Add insurance to that and now you're up to $700/mo. and the list just keep on going. House payment, 2 car payments and insurance, water and electric bill, landscaping every spring with new plants and mulch, cleaning the pool, running to Home Depot all the time for something and so on and so on. It took my wife & I both working FT to keep that puppy up and running, have a little fun from time to time and maybe save a little extra. Boy do I wish we had some of that money back.

We are retired now, our coach & toad are paid for, we are debt free, we live, eat & drink what we want (no skimping) go where we want, have a nice emergency fund JIC and again easily spend at least 1/2 of what we used to at the house.

We don't stay at high highfalutin resorts. I mean WHY? To us, that's like booking a hotel at $150+/night and saying wow, what a beautiful hotel and stay there. We stay in CG's/RV resorts but that's not our destination. It's a place to park & sleep. But unlike the hotel it's a whole lot cheaper. Once we park at where we're going to sleep (think hotel) we spent the rest of the time exploring all around that area.

We live and enjoy a more simple life now. We'd have it no other way.

To prepare, we just looked at what our monthly income was going to be and now live within those means. We took 18 months of planning and preparing our lives, the coach and the toad before we went FT to make this work.

I think a lot of folks spend way more money than they need to and a lot of it is from not searching out all available options and a lack of planning. Now if someone has a bunch of money to burn, good for them. Go for it.

I also do 95% of all the maintenance and repairs myself and that really helps hold down costs.
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Old 11-12-2019, 05:03 PM   #10
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WOW!!!! You spend more in a month than I do in 3 months! I always camp free.
I didn't say that's what we spend. It's a good average of what others spend. Some can go lower (we did) and some much higher. Just depends where you stay and what you do.
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Old 11-12-2019, 06:16 PM   #11
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That depends on what you want insurance for. There's no such thing as "full timer insurance". I'm insured with State Farm and am full time. And yes, my agent knows I'm a full time RVer and travel all over the place. I ate up a little over an hour of her time discussing what I needed.



Best thing to do is schedule a 1 hour (or 3 hour if need be) appointment with your agent and have a real conversation with him/her about what you want to be insured against. Theft? Fire? Rodent damage? Liability only? Don't use phrases like "fulltimer policy", or "full coverage", or anything like that. Talk to them in plain old English. If your agent doesn't have time for that, find a new agent. That's really what the agent's job is. Your agent can be a wonderful ally if you take the time to talk to her.
So you don't have full timers insurance that also covers someone visiting at your site, tripping and breaking a leg, etc. Because that isn't part of vehicle insurance. And yes, there are insurance specifically for full-time RVers.
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Old 11-12-2019, 09:21 PM   #12
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I think I might have said saving money! Wrong the money is there I just want to quit spending money on the bricks and sticks that give me nothing in return but all the do it yourself repairs that I don’t find interesting anymore!

Moved from an acreage and saved about 2/3rds of our living costs.
But now we live in a nice condo with all the comforts that I don’t use. Pool hot tub etc and pay 650 dollars a month condo fees. And I still do the maintenance on our unit because I don’t trust anybody To repair a leaky tap.
I know I’m nuts

I would rather put that money into something I would enjoy.
We are gone from April to sept and return in the winter to look at the snow on the ground waiting for spring.

Hopefully this will explain the misplaced SAVING MONEY.
I promise to save money after my wife no longer requires my services like after I have passed to the other side!
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Old 11-12-2019, 09:25 PM   #13
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Keep the comments coming!
I’m reading everything and making a list.
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Old 11-12-2019, 09:29 PM   #14
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That depends on what you want insurance for. There's no such thing as "full timer insurance". I'm insured with State Farm and am full time. And yes, my agent knows I'm a full time RVer and travel all over the place. I ate up a little over an hour of her time discussing what I needed.



Best thing to do is schedule a 1 hour (or 3 hour if need be) appointment with your agent and have a real conversation with him/her about what you want to be insured against. Theft? Fire? Rodent damage? Liability only? Don't use phrases like "fulltimer policy", or "full coverage", or anything like that. Talk to them in plain old English. If your agent doesn't have time for that, find a new agent. That's really what the agent's job is. Your agent can be a wonderful ally if you take the time to talk to her.
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