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Up here the diesel is about $1.17 a litre or approx $5.25 a US gallon... retired full timers would certainly feel the crunch.. a lot snowbirds are stickhouse owners that shut down the homes for the winter and head south..the basic calculations are to compare the cost of travelling down and back add in the cost of accomodations and then compare that to the cost of staying home...as of now, with the cost of fuel as I see it above..my 2000 mile trip would cost around $1000 for fuel, double that for coming home...$2000.. accomodations for 5 months are approx $1500......so we now have a total of $3500........deduct the savings realized by not staying home and using the house for the winter..heating costs vary by occupants and method..so that amount will be way up or down ...I heat with wood and electric.. I cut my firewood myself (free, I so love the sound of that word))so lets say I spend $150. for heat and hours of free labour.my electric is a constant budgeted amount and runs all year so i dont really use it as a costing loss or savings.. Those that heat with electric or gas/oil would come out way ahead on that figure..then there is the savings realized by shutting down a majority of the appliances and services to the home...I think our total there is about $200 over the course of the winter..so, for us, the winter snowbirding costs me about $3000 for 5 months...for those that can deduct their entire heating costs it would be much cheaper.......over the broader picture, we have traveled to various locations and spent $3000 for a two week vacation... If you have ever had to endure the pain of staying in the cold cold snow and sleet and freezing rain for 4-5 months that $3000 looks puny and inconsequential...hopefully we will both be healthy enough to go south next year.....money be dammed, the SKI club awaits, the kids can have the leftovers.....
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