What does it cost you to full time?? - Montana Owners Club

Glenn and Lorraine · 08-17-2006, 04:14 AM

I was asked by vabluebird in another thread to start this thread so here it goes...

Salle & Samuel,
The cost of Full Timing has many variables according to what the individuals are doing in their pursuit of Full Timing. We have 47 MOC Full Timers listed in the other thread and if they all responded you will propably get 47 different answers

I'll just throw in a couple quick points...

If you are the type to spend 12 months a year traveling and sightseeing your cost will probably be higher than those that travel 2/3s of the year and settle into one location for the winter.

For those that sell their homes the cost may be lower than for those that keep their homes.
Without a house we don't pay property or school taxes. We have no need to pay someone to shovel our snow, rake our leaves or cut or grass. We don't have near the up keep on our rigs as you would have on a stick house. We don't worry about a big storm passing by the stickhouse while we are 2000 miles away. And the big one, at least for some us, We no longer have those pain in the butt mortgage payments.

As a resident of the state of Florida I pay NO state income tax and the state has no vehicle inspections to deal with but I am finding out that insurance in Florida is quite high. In fact, Pinellas County, our county of residence, has the highest taxes in the state.

Anyway, As this thread grows you will find it isn't as easy as "What does it cost you to full time??" in order to realize your own Full Timing costs.

Glenn
Montana Owners Home Page
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Glenn and Lorraine

M O C - 4 2 0

We are using a 2005 White GMC Sierra SLE 2500HD Extended Cab, Short Bed, 4X4
with the Duramax/Allison Combo and Firestone Ride-Rite air bags
to drag around our 2004 Montana 2955RL 32'
using a PullRite 16K SuperGlide Automatic Sliding Hitch

"We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned,
so as to have the life that is waiting for us!"
You know you are retired when you wake up in the morning with
nothing to do and go to bed at night with it only half done.
BUT, Keep in mind, doing nothing can be a very
tiresome job because you can't stop to rest

FulltimeFollies · 08-17-2006, 04:48 AM

Ahhhhhhhh, the age old, forever asked question. There are many catch phases to answer this question with. As Gaylord once remarked, "whatever you have". But I doubt if that is the type answer you are looking for. You will find hundreds of blogs from fulltimers that list their expenses. Again this is not the answer that I think you seek.

There are several types of fulltimers and in order to expense out those different groups, you must first decide what you seek from the fulltime life.
Do you travel much, and if so how long do you expect to stay in one spot? Do you avoid , at all cost, cold and hot weather? Do you eat out and if so how much are you willing to budget for that? Do you "tourist trap" and if so how much are you willing to budget for that?

You see expenses are controlled by the individual, unlike living in a house or apt. RV parks and campgrounds charge from 75 a month to 3000 a month for site rent. What type amenities are you seeking?

We follow the sun, stay for a month at a time, visit the area, rarely eat out, have no debt, seek a nice , friendly, with pool, secluded sites, (not the tourist trap parks or state parks where fools rush in on the weekends), travel approx 6000 miles a year with our trl, another 3000 miles without the trl visiting the areas. We own our own property with a site of our own, with all the trimmings that we spend 2-4 months a year at, depending on the weather. I will give you only our examples of what we require.

Park rent of 300-450 per month, or as little as 100.00
Food budget of 250-300 per month,
Elec service runs from 15 to 75 a month , depending on the climate
We use wifi exclusively except at our own site
We use Dish for our entertainment
We use Cingular for our phone and thats it for phone service
We use Explorer Ins (national) for our insurance that cover our needs on the truck and fiver and it cost us 1800 total for a year for both units.

Any other expenses, such as medical insurance, gifts, charities, clothing, repairs, taxes, are basically unchanged whether you fulltime or live in a storm cellar.

Fuel is an expense that is controlled by YOU. Figure your mpg and how many miles you are planning on traveling, then budget your fuel and stick to it
.

Save or budget money each month for replacement or sudden reparis, license plates and tires.

That is what we do, others do different, so expect the wide ranges.

stiles watson · 08-17-2006, 05:06 AM

Insurance ..$150
Health ins ....285
Utilities ........150 (Home base)
Camp fee .....-0- (Home base)
Camp fee .....600-900 (on the Road)
Food .............1000
RV Maint .......150
Clothing ............50
Meds ..............500
Fuel .................800 (average until fuel costs go up more)
Life ins ...........200
Debt ................-0-
Mortgage ......-0-
Taxes ..............-0-

No need to touch the IRA's or 401K's. This is a survival budget.
Entertainment, gifts, excursion fees, tours would have to be added.
Just thought I would throw this out there for others to shoot down.

Stiles n Dianna
"Life is an adventure unfolding"
03 3670RL Big Sky
02 Ford F250 Lariat Longbox 7.3L PSD
Hypertech Programmer III
Prodigy

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RADHAZJOE · 08-17-2006, 05:32 AM

We have been fulltiming for 15 months now. Spent a lot on fuel in the beganning. Now we stay in one place a lot but not more than a month. We have 50,000 a year in income and our expenses seem to come out to that. Only debt we have is a little left on the truck.

We play a lot of golf, eat out too much, and fly to Boston yearly to see the Grandbabies for their birthdays. With the hassle of security this year, i am not sure we will do that.

Even though we have veterand medical insurance. medical and dental are still a big part of our expenses. We have to have a supplement with premiums, then many remote providers seem to not be able to handle the insurance thing. Especially those that provide tertiary services like fancy arm slings or grossly over priced cold therapy devices. When the gov. won't pay, they want you to pay. That is 6 mo to a year later and then it is too late to refuse the thing in the first place. Make sure this extra stuff is going to be paid for by your insurance before you accept it. Most of it is not needed, and some of it doesn't work as well as the old method, like a simple arm sling.

Gin & I(Geminis)
Where ever we go, there we are.
2004 Silverado 2500 HD Duramax
Montana 3400RL

sreigle · 08-17-2006, 06:05 AM

There's probably as many answers to this as there are people doing it. And the number will vary as much as if you asked the question "What does it take to live in your stick home?"

One thing I'd add to Glenn's comments about it costing more if you are traveling and sightseeing more. That's true but you can still be moving around the country. In that case just amend the above statement to reference how long you stay in one place rather than how much you are traveling and sightseeing. We like to stay a month or more in many areas and do a lot of sightseeing during that whole time, albeit maybe just two, three, or four days per week. We reap the benefit of monthly campsite rates that way, too. A month at a site will average roughly the equivalent of 2 1/2 weeks of daily rates. That varies wildly by park but that's about our average. Also, we average $22/night for campgrounds including our propane usage and any electricity charges. We do not do Walmarts, Flying J's, or other free parking lots although we're talking about trying a Cracker Barrel on our way home from the rally.

I agree with the comment about saving some each month for those periodic expenses such as insurance, birthdays, Christmas, etc. For many years I have divided those totals by the number of months and set that amount aside each month. It sure eliminates the pain of the larger expenses.

See another Montana or Mountaineer on the road? Flash lights twice, it might be one of us!
Steve Reigle (pronounced Regal)
Fulltiming since 3/21/03
'03 3295RK
'05 Ford F250 SD Lariat CC SB 6.0L PSD/TS FX4 4x4

Our RV Travels (now Firefox-compatible)

vabluebird · 08-17-2006, 06:34 AM

Thanks Glenn,

This is what I'm looking for. I guess I need to find out where we want to go, and research the camping areas. We are all for, the no frills campground. Country Side RV park in Lake Panasoffkee is just that. No pool, but have laundry and restrooms with showers, shuffle board, basketball hoop. They have a nice clubhouse where we the campers run the activities. We have our own meter and find gas for some things cheaper. We also learned that if we turn off the hotwater heater during the day we didn't use as much gas.

As you can see we're simple people, don't require much to be happy. I guess we just need to go and see. We have a good pention with good insurance. The house on Smith Mountain Lake is a small 28 wide by 36 long doublewide, new in 1999. It's paid for, cheap taxes, (we don't own the land, rent is $125 a month for space, water, and sewer). We would keep the house because family is here and this would be our home base. We know someone who would care for the lawn if necessary, no snow to speak of. Last winter a lady from the church checked on the house once in a while and was delighted when I gave her $30.

Your right about the travel. Gas is the killer. We didn't go to far last winter in Fla.
found a Senior bus tour cheaper than we could travel. Took that a couple of times.

Looking foreward to seeing how others make this work. Sounds like many of you like us, watch you pennies also. We enjoy life but don't spend foolishly. As for the food, Samuel likes to cook and we enjoy our own cooking. We stay away from cities and tourist traps. We also like stopping in WalMart and Flying J overnight when traveling from one place to the next.

Salle & Samuel
South Central Virginia
2000 Montana 35'
1998 Chev 3500 Diesel

ols1932 · 08-19-2006, 01:04 AM

Probably the thing that most people shudder at is fuel prices. I just checked my costs for last year vs. this year thus far. Last year our fuel prices were 4.7% of our pension income. This year our costs thus far are 5% of our pension income. I don't feel this is significant enough to give me a headache. Other costs are reduced--except for food. It seems we eat more!

Orv

adelmoll · 08-19-2006, 02:54 AM

Our first year cost us a LOT. I think that is usually the case before you get out of the vacation mode. We also traveled 37,000 miles including a trip to Alaska. We ate out a lot and it was very expensive.

This year might not be much different except we will not drive 37,000 miles.

Diesel and CampGrounds are the only thing we use our Visa Card for and it runs about $2000 per month. We save a big chunk on taxes and insurance by using South Dakota as our home base.

I can't see us cutting down a real lot because we became full-timers to see the world. One of the nicest things about traveling in enjoying the different foods and things that go on in each area. That takes $$. We also set money aside each month for the unforeseen. We do not look for the resort type campgrounds but in some areas, that is the only place we can find or would want to spend the night in. We do not use the Walmarts, Fred Myer or Flying J for overnight but we have stayed at a few of the casino's. We really like the casino's that have their own campgrounds. They are usually pretty cheap and have 24 hour security.

Helen

To follow our journey please click: Bill and Helen's Journey
2005 Montana 3475 pulled by our 2005 Ford 350 Power Stroke Diesel

patodonn · 08-19-2006, 03:02 AM

As previous posters said, "What comes in, goes out". Just a fact of life..

Ran a quick check on the fuel costs. There is an interesting comparison to be made, based on miles TOWED, vs TOTAL fuel costs (towing and not towing combined).

In 2005, we towed 6500 miles, and drove another 13,500 mile, with a TOTAL fuel costs (towing PLUS all other driving) of $3473. That comes out to $0.53 per mile TOWED. So far, in '06, we have towed 3500 miles and drive an additional 7600 miles with a TOTAL fuel cost of $1950, for $0.55 / mile TOWED. Our projected TOWING milage this year will be 8900 miles, and a projected TOTAL fuel cost, based only on the 0.55 / mi would be $4620. It will probably be significantly less than that, for reasons noted below.

That makes the AVERAGE fuel cost / month in '05 $289, the average, to date in '06, actually lower, at $229/mo. (We have towed less, and also "wandered about" somewhat less in the first 8 months of '06.) Projected figure for 2006 will, however, be higher, at about $300-$310 / mo, with LOTS more towing planned for the last quarter of '06 that we did in late '05, but way less "wandering around".

Household goods storage is $1600 / yr, but we are no longer subjected to Calif State income taxes, no LA County property taxes, registration and insurance fees way down from Calif days. That is a plus of about $5000/ yr. No mortgages, everything is paid off, no debits of any sort....as they say "Priceless". We spend about $1000/mo in combined dining out and grocery store shopping costs. A significant part of grocery store expenses are cleaning supplies and "etc" and "misc" stuff (other than food) .

RV campground expenses, including CG Membeships (C2C, AOR, ROD and a "home" CG which we seldom use) are $6800 so far in '06, or about $28 /day. Based on our projected locations and costs from now until the end of '06, that will drop considerably to about $21 / night by the end of the year. '05 totals were $7020, or $19 / night. I note that we stopped at 39 locations in '05, and will do a few more in '06; some for only a night or two, some for a month or more. No Wal-Mart parking lots or relatives driveways in the mix.

Hope some of these figures will assist in making the "Full Time or Not" decision. I think we live towards the high end of the "Full Timer" cost scale, primarily because we choose to do so. Obviously, there is a great range of possibilities available for the Full Timer....doing "as you like" is a major part of the lure of this life-style.

Best to all, Drive Safe!!

PJ, Nan and Scooter
3655FL
'99 Dodge Diesel 2500, BD auto trans, pwr chip, Pac brake, Bielsen shocks, Banks Exhaust.

vabluebird · 08-19-2006, 05:34 AM

PJ, Nan,

I can see the biggest expense is diesel and campgrounds. I think next Spring to Fall
I will try to get us out once a month for a week or two, then back to the Lake. The Lake expenses are minimal.(note below, not so) Crazy to get rid of it. You mentioned $1600 for storage.

Our park rent for house is $1500, lights $636, property tax on house $170, Tax on 2004 Wilderness travel trailer last year was $430. This year the tax will be on a 2000 Montana. Another thing you full timers don't have is a 2nd car. I have a 2005 Jeep Liberty, $287 a month.

I can see putting this on paper, we do have extra expenses. I guess when you go full-time, there are some things you give up and some things you gain.

I always said, "talking things out make them a whole lot clearer".

Salle & Samuel
South Central Virginia
2000 Montana 35'
1998 Chev 3500 Diesel

sreigle · 08-19-2006, 06:39 AM

As stated above, number of miles traveled, towing and solo, make a big difference in fuel costs. Our first year we did about the same as Adelmoll, 37,000. 2006 is the first year I've logged towing miles. We also slowed down a bunch this year. Still, we've towed 8,930 miles this year and put a total of 21,363 miles on the truck so far this year. Our only remaining towing for this year will be to another rv park for Labor Day weekend (about 30 miles roundtrip), to the rally (about 1500 roundtrip including taking the long way back), and then maybe 1500 after Christmas getting to our Winter destination, again taking a roundabout route. So our towing this year will be "limited" to about 12,000 miles. That's about 8,000 miles shy of other years.

See another Montana or Mountaineer on the road? Flash lights twice, it might be one of us!
Steve Reigle (pronounced Regal)
Fulltiming since 3/21/03
'03 3295RK
'05 Ford F250 SD Lariat CC SB 6.0L PSD/TS FX4 4x4

Our RV Travels (now Firefox-compatible)

Kimmrg · 08-19-2006, 06:42 AM

Great topic. We seem to be in the same ballpark as others, what goes in, goes out. We have little debt, just the trailer, but spend lots on food. Dogs seem to cost lots more traveling as we end up at a new vet everytime something happens. I do carry their medical records tho. The first year we were out of control, but we seem to be getting the hang of it now. I have all our records in Quicken and that helps tremendously for the dreaded budgeting and reports. We use credit cards for everything so we have good records.

Kim - Dog Mom to the Golden Retriever girls - Copper and Penny. Full-timing since September 1, 2004 with hubby Steve (Gyro) in a 2005 Model 3475 with a Ford F350 duelly truck. Life is good!

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