Full time RVing cost

[Horizonchase]

Originally Posted by KSCRUDE

A reliable full timer posted a while back. Food per month, about $1000. Fuel about $1000 and campgrounds about $1000. This will very and can be higher or lower, depending on where you camp, what and where you eat, and how much traveling you do. Then throw in medical, rig insurance and all other expenses, which would probably be another $1000 easy. I would say 4 to 6 thousand easy. Or it could be less, just depends on your lifestyle.

Wow! Those are some cold, hard facts. Enough to scare me and the DW off from full timing. I try to envision us cutting those expenses by not eating out as much, and perhaps not traveling as much so as not to incur the aforementioned $1,000 fuel expense. And like you said, medical, rig insurance, it all adds up PDQ!

[dsbear]

$1000 per month for fuel seems very high, at $4.00/gal that's 250 gallons times 8 mpg is 2000 miles/month. I'm not saying that you couldn't drive that much but with a bit of planning you could reduce that by 75%. JMHO

[CampDaven]

Originally Posted by dsbear

$1000 per month for fuel seems very high, at $4.00/gal that's 250 gallons times 8 mpg is 2000 miles/month. I'm not saying that you couldn't drive that much but with a bit of planning you could reduce that by 75%. JMHO

If you are assuming $1000 per month on those items, you are waaaay over estimating.

Yes, $1000 for fuel would be about 2000 miles/month, $1000/month for camping would mean not doing any weekly or monthly stays and no boondocking, and if we spent $1000/month on food I would be dead before New Years.

Look at your bank statement for S&B expenses and tally them based on a monthly average. Them make assumptions on your monthly RVing $.

I am spending about 10% more fulltiming than I had estimated, but the S&B was costing me much MUCH more than I am spending now.

[spritz]

Originally Posted by CampDaven

If you are assuming $1000 per month on those items, you are waaaay over estimating.

Yes, $1000 for fuel would be about 2000 miles/month, $1000/month for camping would mean not doing any weekly or monthly stays and no boondocking, and if we spent $1000/month on food I would be dead before New Years.

Look at your bank statement for S&B expenses and tally them based on a monthly average. Them make assumptions on your monthly RVing $.

I am spending about 10% more fulltiming than I had estimated, but the S&B was costing me much MUCH more than I am spending now.

I am with you, We will go into Full-timing pretty much Debt free. We will have the monies from the sale of the S&B, sale of a old classic car, Garage sale monies, and SSDI. We don't eat out but maybe once a month if that, we are both great cooks. All in all I think we will be ahead of the game for a few years. We are going to take our time traveling, No hurrying around. We have never lived on a budget so that will be a shock I am sure. We are going for it.
The picker guy sounds like the way too go. I have a very large collection of Dept 56 to get rid of, & 50 years of collections.
My neighbor had a estate sale and the company that she found to do it took more stuff out of the house and into there cars,than what went out after the sale this went on for a week before the sale.
I will not go that way.
We are planning on being out of the S&B by Oct, Nov, I am sure it will take that long to empty the House and sell it.
Has anyone ever used a company that will rent and take care of the S&B while your away? I have heard of a place that does it, but have never talked to someone that has used this type of service. If I go that way I don't want to have anything to do with it while I'm on the road.
tb

[Bad Bolt]

Originally Posted by HHg

I kind of figure full timing will cost less than living in my S&B house. Just my property taxes alone exceed 5 figures annually. I'm going to have insurance, medical, etc....whether I'm full timing or not....so that's a wash. The utilities here are outrageous......so I know an RV Park would be less. I know there are a lot of considerations, but they differ for each and everyone of us depending on style of living, area of the country we are in, etc....BUT we all should go into full timing with as much knowledge as possible and our eyes wide open.

Hhg

I think you have made a very good point.

Full timing and whether it is financially doable has a direct line to how much you are paying now for your S&B. This assumes that you pull up stakes, sell and live in your rig permanently.

Your example of five figure taxes could prove to be a huge contributor to your monthly expense outlay full timing. Your situation, and others with high value homes and high expenses tied to them seem to me to be very will positioned for full time living.

I'd work down from there. There's certainly two crossing lines that meet somewhere that can be a go or no go for full timing. It's an interesting challenge to get it right, for sure.

[bokobird]

Originally Posted by spritz

Has anyone ever used a company that will rent and take care of the S&B while your away? I have heard of a place that does it, but have never talked to someone that has used this type of service. If I go that way I don't want to have anything to do with it while I'm on the road.
tb

A co-worker is doing that now. The service he uses was recommended by someone he knew so thus far, his experience is going well. Granted it's only been a couple of months but all the maintenance and midnight calls re: hot water heater issues, etc. are handled by the service firm. Of course there are fees involved but it still winds up being cost-effective.

[WheelingIt]

Full timing expenses are VERY variable. You can do it anywhere from $1,500 per month to $6,000 per month. The biggest variables are camping, gas and repairs. The good news is the first two are very controllable. We've been fulltiming for 5 years now and our expenses have decreased every year mostly by controlling gas and camping. We like the West so we only drive around 2,500-3,000 miles per YEAR, plus we workamp and boondock so our camping expenses are very low. So far this year we've spent less than $2/night on camping and yet we've stayed in absolutely gorgeous places. Right now we are boondocking in a site overlooking Lake Mead, NV for $10 (covers 1 week of camping). This summer we'll be Workamping on the pacific coast right by the beach.

So, bottom line is it's up to you. Our fulltiming is much cheaper than it was to live in a fixed house....for us! Your experience, depending on how you camp and drive could be different.

[Air Baron]

The way we see it, RVing is about travelling and seeing all that this wonderful country has to offer. If you are looking for a cheap place to live, just buy a single wide and live in a trailer park...but make sure it is somewhere that you won't freeze to death. We have been full timing for almost 21 months and have travelled 16,000 miles thus far. We are planning a 7,000 mile trip this year. The good news is, due to careful planning, we have not spent one penny of our savings...or the equity in our now-rented S&B. Just figure $1,000 per month for RV parks and another $1,000 per month for fuel getting to the next place. Food, insurance, driving around in your other vehicle, medical, dental, prescriptions, clothing, entertainment, etc...that pretty much remains the same. As others have said, the big item will be what equipment you buy. A brand new Prevost will cost you one heck of a lot more than a 20 year old pop-up camper. The bigger and more luxurious your aspirations are, do not forget to calculate depreciation and maintenance.

[CampDaven]

Originally Posted by Air Baron

The way we see it, RVing is about travelling and seeing all that this wonderful country has to offer. If you are looking for a cheap place to live, just buy a single wide and live in a trailer park...but make sure it is somewhere that you won't freeze to death. We have been full timing for almost 21 months and have travelled 16,000 miles thus far. We are planning a 7,000 mile trip this year. The good news is, due to careful planning, we have not spent one penny of our savings...or the equity in our now-rented S&B. Just figure $1,000 per month for RV parks and another $1,000 per month for fuel getting to the next place. Food, insurance, driving around in your other vehicle, medical, dental, prescriptions, clothing, entertainment, etc...that pretty much remains the same. As others have said, the big item will be what equipment you buy. A brand new Prevost will cost you one heck of a lot more than a 20 year old pop-up camper. The bigger and more luxurious your aspirations are, do not forget to calculate depreciation and maintenance.

7000 miles at 8 mpg and $4/gallon would be only $3500. You must buy lots of ice cream and sushi. ;-)

[Air Baron]

Originally Posted by CampDaven

7000 miles at 8 mpg and $4/gallon would be only $3500. You must buy lots of ice cream and sushi. ;-)

Hate sushi and gave up ice cream 50 pounds ago.

I guess that I was figuring 23,000 miles in about 28 months would equate to 821 miles per month of fuel. At 7 mpg and $4.25 per gallon would equate to about $500 per month...just for fuel. The problem is, engine and chassis maintenance, plus tires, easily brings that figure up to $1,000 per month. Before heading out this year, I will be paying $620 for chassis service, $1,600 for repairing leaking exhaust manifold gaskets and another $450 or so for repairing air leaks in the air ride suspension.

[arlinv]

Originally Posted by spritz

Has anyone ever used a company that will rent and take care of the S&B while your away? I have heard of a place that does it, but have never talked to someone that has used this type of service. If I go that way I don't want to have anything to do with it while I'm on the road. tb

It's been a long time, but I used a rental service when I spent a couple of years working in Africa. They handled everything from collecting rent to making my loan/tax/insurance payments. For the few things that needed repair they handled them to a pre-arranged max value, and asked for approval if it went over. Fortunately we didn't have any of those that went over. They also deposited the remaining proceeds to my account each month, after deducting their 10% fee. The house was in great shape when I returned. I was very fortunate to find such a good property manager.

[Barbaraok]

Originally Posted by Air Baron

Hate sushi and gave up ice cream 50 pounds ago.

I guess that I was figuring 23,000 miles in about 28 months would equate to 821 miles per month of fuel. At 7 mpg and $4.25 per gallon would equate to about $500 per month...just for fuel. The problem is, engine and chassis maintenance, plus tires, easily brings that figure up to $1,000 per month. Before heading out this year, I will be paying $620 for chassis service, $1,600 for repairing leaking exhaust manifold gaskets and another $450 or so for repairing air leaks in the air ride suspension.

You're equating repair with maintenance. Repair is a different category - - it is not a reoccurring expense and you should be saving small amounts each month in case something needs to be repaired.

Now we have times when we will put ~2000+ miles on the coach in less than a month (Seattle to Boston last summer) but then we will have months when we do maybe 150 miles or less. If you are routinely moving that much each and every month you are still in vacation mode and will get very, very tired.

Barb

[spritz]

I think I will look into this service a little closer this week, 10% is lower than I thought it would be.
I heard about this listening to public radio and sounds almost to good to be true...
Thanks, Tim

[Air Baron]

Originally Posted by Barbaraok

You're equating repair with maintenance. Repair is a different category - - it is not a reoccurring expense and you should be saving small amounts each month in case something needs to be repaired.

Now we have times when we will put ~2000+ miles on the coach in less than a month (Seattle to Boston last summer) but then we will have months when we do maybe 150 miles or less. If you are routinely moving that much each and every month you are still in vacation mode and will get very, very tired.

Barb

The term full-timing applies to many different RVing scenarios. We do not travel 800 miles each and every month. We have stayed put for 5-6 months the past two winters. It is difficult to bounce around the southern climes when most, if not all, the RV parks and campgrounds are full of part-time snowbirds. Our home base happens to be south Florida. Our destination of choice happens to be the western states. Our scenario lends itself to more miles, which equates to more fuel, maintenance and repairs.

We will be staying this entire summer season in the Durango area...work camping. I'll let you know if we get tired of that.