Montana Owners Club - Keystone Montana 5th Wheel Forum - View Single Post

Montana_2779 · 04-20-2005, 06:07 AM

Agree with all above. Our RV park runs about $25 a night, but our monthly is only $375 plus electric (which seems to be about $50 a month with the A/C blowing constantly). The rate is about half that paid by daily campers.

We have found that there has been an almost exact trade-off between our new fulltiming life and the cost of the stickhouse. Once we totalled up the RV payment, lot payment, utilities, gas, insurance, mailbox, etc. and compared that number to our old mortgage, utilities, insurance, fees, etc., the two monthly totals were within $100 of each other. That being said, we DID NOT go from working and owning a stick house to retired and travelling in the RV. We have the same jobs, but our commute has been reduced by 2/3. This is saving us a fortune on gas!

Carol makes a good point, many of the newer parks (and upgraded older parks) are offering nice amenities at little or no charge. We are saving $90 a month over the stick house life as our DSL and cable are free at the park. As noted above, we're paying about $50 a month in electric vs. the $200 (avg) we were paying in the stick house. Combined with no charge for water and sewer ($25/ month at the stick house), we're saving $250 to $275 per month on utilities and services, alone!

In our case, we consider the truck payment AND the RV payment as part of our new "house payment". To date, Cheryl has been very pleased with the finances of the new lifestyle. We took about a year to plan all of this out, and it's paid off! Interestingly, we found that we had to focus more on the logistics of fulltiming than the costs. Switching over to all new providers (i.e., insurance on (2) autos, an RV and (2) scooters), mail handling, stick house sales, truck and RV ordering, selling ALL of our stuff, and stopping/changing all services to the old house took up a lot of time (and frustration)(can't tell you how many insurance and utility reps we've had to call multiple times to get refunds, correct billing addresses, status changes, etc.). We were REALLY glad to get started on all of this early! We found that we had to go to contingency plans for several things (our initial provider couldn't offer fulltime RV insurance in our state, we couldn't order our truck when we were ready as the model year was changing-- new tooling, our new RV park wasn't quite ready to open yet, and on and on).

I can honestly say that it was all worth it in spades! We couldn't be happier with the new lifestyle!!!

04-20-2005, 06:07 AM	#6
Montana_2779 Montana Fan Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: The Woodlands Posts: 211 M.O.C. #2779	Agree with all above. Our RV park runs about $25 a night, but our monthly is only $375 plus electric (which seems to be about $50 a month with the A/C blowing constantly). The rate is about half that paid by daily campers. We have found that there has been an almost exact trade-off between our new fulltiming life and the cost of the stickhouse. Once we totalled up the RV payment, lot payment, utilities, gas, insurance, mailbox, etc. and compared that number to our old mortgage, utilities, insurance, fees, etc., the two monthly totals were within $100 of each other. That being said, we DID NOT go from working and owning a stick house to retired and travelling in the RV. We have the same jobs, but our commute has been reduced by 2/3. This is saving us a fortune on gas! Carol makes a good point, many of the newer parks (and upgraded older parks) are offering nice amenities at little or no charge. We are saving $90 a month over the stick house life as our DSL and cable are free at the park. As noted above, we're paying about $50 a month in electric vs. the $200 (avg) we were paying in the stick house. Combined with no charge for water and sewer ($25/ month at the stick house), we're saving $250 to $275 per month on utilities and services, alone! In our case, we consider the truck payment AND the RV payment as part of our new "house payment". To date, Cheryl has been very pleased with the finances of the new lifestyle. We took about a year to plan all of this out, and it's paid off! Interestingly, we found that we had to focus more on the logistics of fulltiming than the costs. Switching over to all new providers (i.e., insurance on (2) autos, an RV and (2) scooters), mail handling, stick house sales, truck and RV ordering, selling ALL of our stuff, and stopping/changing all services to the old house took up a lot of time (and frustration)(can't tell you how many insurance and utility reps we've had to call multiple times to get refunds, correct billing addresses, status changes, etc.). We were REALLY glad to get started on all of this early! We found that we had to go to contingency plans for several things (our initial provider couldn't offer fulltime RV insurance in our state, we couldn't order our truck when we were ready as the model year was changing-- new tooling, our new RV park wasn't quite ready to open yet, and on and on). I can honestly say that it was all worth it in spades! We couldn't be happier with the new lifestyle!!!