Decisions, & more Decisions

[dandt]

There are a lot of varibles out there...Do you play golf? That alone raises your monthly expenses quit a bit. We just finished our first year of full-timing and completed my spreadsheet of costs. Just to give you a breakdown..we do workamp, our winter site fees are 140$ a month and include utilities. We are currently working in South Dakota and are paying 300$ a month for site, but workng 40hours per week each for 9$ per hour. If you volunteer for National or State Parks your site and utilities are free. We travel between season for about 2 1/2 months. Our actual costs were 22,500$. Rig and Truck are paid for. Something to consider is where you are based. We just switched from California to South Dakota residents and saved 1000$ a year just on registration fees on truck and trailer. Insurance is lower also, full-time for 1144$ year for both rigs. We sound like we have similar lifestyles, we do what we want, but what we want is pretty simple. One thing we did to is in the pantry where washer/dryer was to go we put a 5 cubicft freezer, that way we can shop Costco and sales for meat etc and that saves compared to goingto the market every other day. Good luck with your travels...Teresa

[RickW]

Wow a $1k a month budget. I would really like to see the details of that one. We are each different and what is important to some is not so important to others. I will say for the full time life style that my wife and I will want to live I feel that we will spend right in line to what Phil is spending. And that is what we are planning for as we work towards our full time goals.

Stiles has a very good list as well. There are a few other things I would like to add to Stiles list. How long do you expect to live in this RV until you replace it with another? What about your tow vehicle? It cost money beyond the payments to make a switch. We purchased our 3400 the first of March this year. Since then I have an additional $10k put in to the Monty above and beyond what we paid for it. It all adds up. New mattress, DataStorm, Surge Protector, Cell phone booster and more. Our old RV had a queen size bed our new one has a king. So we had to get new linen. While it was not important to me, it was to my wife to get new towels with colors that match the new decor. My point is if you are currently living in one RV and buy a new RV how much is it going to cost you above and beyond the purchase cost to be comfortable in the new RV?

One of the other topics not talked about when people talk about going full time is a exit strategy. This is a budgetary item in my opinion. It is a very common practice to sell the sticks and bricks and use the proceeds to purchase the RV. I realize I am in the minority but I fell that is a mistake. I think you have to have a exit strategy from the full time life style. What happens if one of you passes earlier than expected? What happens if the full time lifestyle is not what you think it is? What happens if you just get tired of fulltiming and want to settle down? What happens if failing health requires you to settle down in one spot and you are in a wheelchair or worse bed ridden? With the exception of today's market it is pretty safe to say you should get out of a sticks and bricks what you have in it for the most part. That is not the case with a RV. RV is just like a boat or airplane. You will never get back what you put in it. You spend the money on it because you enjoy it. The point is if you spend the proceeds from the sell of your sticks and bricks you will have to start over from scratch if you have to go back to a sticks and bricks. Personally when we sell the house the proceeds will go in to a safe investment so that if we ever have to come off the road we will have a nest egg to use to start over with.

[richfaa]

Give it a go.Hope you can do it. We are not full timers but long timers. We spend 9 months or more in the 3400 but we keep a stick home. The stick home is our exit strategy and is includes in our budget. Actually we consider ourselves full timers but with a home base. Many full timers have a home base or a stick home somewhere. You estimate would be low for us Even without the stick house cost. Our goal for Rv'ing as that we would maintain near the same quality of life that we have always lived. Each of us is different. Give you budget a try..you can always adjust.

[sunshineduo]

We've been full-timing since last October and came to south Florida then. We haven't considered the workamping option as we are both still employed full-time (c'mon 2012!!) but our budget is higher than we'd planned so we had to make adjustments. County parks let you stay a max of 6 months then you have to move on, Broward county is the most expensive (up to $40 per night for non-residents) and Miami-Dade is considerably less (like $550-$600 / Month). The private parks we've stayed at (Everglades Holiday - $750/mo, and Yacht Haven - $845/mo)are about typical for the area .. and they are seasonal so we plan our moves between parks to catch the lowest rates during the high-season. We have to figure in the commute so it's really not applicable to true full-timing, but insurance and registrations and fuel are a definite player. As mentioned above, we do have to factor in medical/dental/vision care and some maintenance on the rig from time to time. Thankfully there's been nothing major with the Monty at all so it's a blessing to live in.
We do spend some money on a regular basis for pest control (yes, there are bugs in south Florida) and we are aggressive fighters against mold/mildew and other humidity problems (Damp-Rids add up). I'll bet you do find your entertainment budget goes up as well, as some times it is just too easy to opt out of cooking and cleaning up
Enjoy the change! We sure are

Gary & Robin

[soulmate]

After reading several of your responses, we feel you all should probably come down some! Sounds like most of you have treated it like a high end vacation 24/7. AND THATS OK FOR YOU .

We have EVERYTHING WE NEED listed in the budget on an actual excel spreadsheet. Still coming in at 2335.00!!! HOW AWESOME IS THAT!

This is not 2 year olds without common since here, we are very good at planning and AWESOME at budgeting and shopping for the best deal ever! If we don't need something, we don't buy it. If you want something, and have extra $$$, then we purchase it. Good rule of thumb to follow. I have assisted MANY folks in the industry I came from with problems of overspending etc., so this has taught us how to "tighten" a budget and be aware of over spending. Not to mention years of children and other responsibilities!

AGAIN this is a planned change for us to enjoy EACH OTHER,and hang out together for once. If we traveled to all of the different states YOU ALL have (is this a competition thing?), then YES we probably would spend more. However no more than 3000.00/month.

Some of your budgets are showing higher bills on ie: entertainment, eating out,beverages, smoking paraphanalia, hobbies gifts etc. To spend more on these things than what one does on medical expenses and everyday normal living needs on a monthly basis is not for us. We believe in exercise, eating correctly (most of the time), and general overall taking care of ourselves inside and out. THIS will help eliminate a lot of medical needs that are common.

Please understand ARE response is for US, we are not saying your budget is wrong or right. JUST NOT RIGHT FOR US AND ARE NEEDS.
We thought we would feel more "hey thats great" maybe YOU can show us how to cut down are costs. Instead we got a lot of negitiveness from some of you in the MOC.

HOWEVER, we did receive several Private messages with words of encouragement and AGREEMENT that the budget can be lower in some cases!

The sad part is this, we joined the MOC thinking what a great idea for people with similiar RV's to join together!!
SORRY WE HAVE NOT FELT THE LOVE HERE! PEOPLE SHOULD RESPECT OTHERS OPINION NO MATTER WHAT! Thats what we did with you all...and thats all we wanted in return.

With that last note, it will be are last reponse on this subject. We will see you all later on another subject.

[stiles watson]

quote:Please understand ARE response is for US, we are not saying your budget is wrong or right. JUST NOT RIGHT FOR US AND ARE NEEDS.
We thought we would feel more "hey thats great" maybe YOU can show us how to cut down are costs. Instead we got a lot of negitiveness from some of you in the MOC.

HOWEVER, we did receive several Private messages with words of encouragement and AGREEMENT that the budget can be lower in some cases!

The sad part is this, we joined the MOC thinking what a great idea for people with similiar RV's to join together!!
SORRY WE HAVE NOT FELT THE LOVE HERE! PEOPLE SHOULD RESPECT OTHERS OPINION NO MATTER WHAT! Thats what we did with you all...and thats all we wanted in return.

With that last note, it will be are last reponse on this subject. We will see you all later on another subject.

After your last post, I reread every post that responded to you. I did not read any remarks that criticized your ideology. You asked a question. What do you expect people to do, LIE to make you feel good? Sounds like "you don't feel the love here" because you didn't get the response you wanted. Perhaps you should "respect others opinions no matter what."

When you ask for advice, maybe it is better to just say "thank you", then use what you can and disregard the remainder without shooting the messenger because you don't like the message.

I am writing for no one but myself so don't blame the group. But if you ask me a question and then carp about my answer and accuse me of disrespect and being unloving after I have taken my time to give you a good faith answer, I think that speaks more of your need for agreement than honesty from a responder.

[Mrs. CountryGuy]

I think full time expenses will depend on what you visualize as your full time life style.

If you are going to pretty much sit in one or two campgrounds a year, maybe moving from the north to south and back again, as weather changes, and if you are gonna work, and you have NO interest in sightseeing, I would bet the total monthly budget could be quite low.

If, your vision of your full timing is to SEE America (Canada, Mexico??) and travel, then the monthly budget is gonna have to be much higher. Those tourist traps sure can add $$ to the budget fast.

We have noted the months we run, we spend a LOT more $$, than the months we sit in one place (winter, TX, 3 months at a time type camping).

We enjoy eatting out, that said, our food budget is about the same at home as when we sit for 3 months, we eat out close to the same amount. Again, when we run, we spend more eatting out. It is the way we do things. We tend to stop and have a HUGE lunch, and then snack at night in the rig, have breakfast in the rig.

This thread is another example of what you expect is not what I expect, different strokes for different folks. From the reaction of the OP, it seems a lot of fulltimers want to SEE America. I might be reading this wrong, but soulmate does not seem to be as interested in SEEING America. Hey, whatever, I don't see anything wrong with either vision.

Enjoy the full timing, enjoy the rig, do it while you can, at any moment, things/situations/health can change and you might not be able to live the dream, maybe not even part of the dream.

Different strokes, different folks, neither wrong, shame to fuss about it. Go forth and FULL TIME! Your budget or mine. I just wish I was out there having a chance to see if my budget worked or not.

[bigbob7777]

Wow!! I haven't seen any malicious posts - except the last one from the OP. Oh well; there are plenty of other forums for him to try. Good luck and happier camping.

bob

[dsprik]

Who knew this would turn into a Chevy vs Ford vs Dodge topic???

I agree with those above who suggest that "Fulltiming" has as many variations as we have MOCers...

You can FT at basically any budget you want to use. Just do the research. Living in your Montana in your brother's back yard for 12 months is basically "FTing" if I understand the definition correctly. Trying to put a color on every state in the Union and Canada on your travel map in a 2-3 yr span is also considered a a FT activity - if there is no stick house involved.

Here it seems that the responses to the OP are giving their experiences with finances as a FTer. This is a good smorgasbord of different lifestyles. None are wrong.

[RVWheels]

Communicating is a difficult thing even when everything is just about perfect. Communicating via an email account or on a Forum such as this one can really be a challenge. I believe this thread illustrates this point perfectly. Expectations can interfere with effective and clear communications. Perhaps the OP of this thread had one thing in mind and some of the responders had something else in mind.

Whatever the situation please remember to try to keep your posts as positive as you can. Overly critical posts can only make the situation worse. And remember that things may be clear in OUR minds as to what we want to say but when we write down our thoughts they may be completely different!

We welcome any and all members who adhere to the Mission of the MOC even if we may not agree with some things they may say.

Thank you to all the members who have contributed to this particular thread. I saw nothing that was negative and I read and re-read the posts. Obviously the OP saw some things we did not see. Time to move on.

RVWheels, MOC Admin.