February 21, 2015

The Seed Sprouts.

The seed of an idea was planted.  What will follow in this and the next few posts is OUR situation and how WE approached it.  Hopefully we will give you some ideas and things to think about, but YOUR situation is different so YOU have to answer the questions as they apply to you.
After we get you caught up on how we get to April 30, 2015, you will be traveling around this great nation with us as we learn to live outside the box!

How do we know if this full time RVing is a good idea or just a pipe dream?  So many questions to answer. Would we be happy living in a smaller space?  What do the financials look like?  If we try it and don't like it, how do we get out of it?  How do we get rid of all our stuff?  Do we even want to get rid of all our stuff?  It goes on and on so lets break it down.

EXPENSES
One of the first questions, we had to answer was "what will it cost us to live a FT lifestyle and be happy doing it?"  The answers to this really depends on who you are talking to.  Some folks get by on less than a thousand dollars a month, and others spend 10 times that.  Again, it is what works for you and your situation.   This variability only proves that living full time in an RV allows you to be flexible.  You have options that don't present themselves in a S&B.

Now, let me say at this point that I am a planner -  always have been and always will be.  I will think a day or two before I buy a loaf of bread just to be sure its what I want.  A bit of an exaggeration but you get the idea.  And in this situation, it's a good thing because I have fairly detailed records on our current expenses.  Knowing that, it is somewhat easier to identify the things that will not change and then research and estimate those that will.  For instance, I don't expect our food bill to change that much.  We cook a lot and since we enjoy it, I expect that to continue.  Insurance on the toad should remain about the same.  Cell phone, satellite TV, pet expenses, personal care items, all will be about the same as living in the "sticks and bricks" (S&B).  We traded a landline phone and DSL internet for Verizon wireless with a hot spot.  We are taking Dish Network with us.  Our two Shih Tzus have to eat and toothpaste and deodorant make for happy campers!

And then there are an entire host of expenses that we do expect to change. The options we select will cause some to go up, some to go down, some will be new, and others may disappear.
RV - We were camping in our 2003 Winnie Brave and we knew that for full-time RVing, we would want something a little bigger and better suited for full time.  So we would be trading a mortgage for campground fees and most likely a payment on the RV. Now I will be the first to say, if you can make the move to full time (FT) and be debt free, that is the ideal way to go but that was not a reasonable expectation for us. So the RV payment, just like the campground fees, became a budget item.

Taxes and Insurance - We simply traded taxes and insurance on the house for the same things on the motor home (MH).  Right now it looks like insurance on the MH will go up a bit while taxes will go down a bit so I expect this to remain pretty much the same.  One option we now have that can affect both of these costs by hundreds or thousands of dollars each year is where we select as our domicile state.  When your home has wheels, you can do things differently. You can select a legal address that offers benefits concerning taxes, insurance, and cost of living.  Domicile is an entire topic in itself and we'll talk more about it later and give some links to other blogs that have tons of information on this topic.
Fuel expense - this changes from gas in the cars driving to work every day, to fuel for the MH and toad to get us down the road.  This is somewhat variable since the less you travel, the less fuel you need.  Also, staying in one spot longer generally gets you better campground rates than the shorter stays and it gives you more time to see an area and experience the flavor and culture!  We think that during the first two years, we will be rambling a good bit to see all of the sites on our bucket lists and then hope to settle to a more leisurely wandering kind of pace.  Consequently, we budgeted more fuel expense AND campground fees to support this more mobile phase of our adventure.  At this point it is a planned amount based on the miles we expect to cover each month.  This will be fine tuned each month once we are on the road. (Remember, I AM a planner!)
Preventive Maintenance and Repairs - are another budget item to consider.  Oil changes, filters, and other minor repairs have to be taken care of on the road and depending on your set up, this can run into some big bucks.  This category could also include tire replacement depending on the age of your rig or tow vehicle (TV).

Clothing expense - will go way down since the dress code in most RV parks and boondock sites is not quite as stringent as work.

Health Insurance - A big expense for us is health insurance.  Diane and I both have a few years to reach Medicare age so health insurance is an item we have to budget for.
While researching FT lifestyle costs, I read a lot about people that live on less than a thousand dollars or so a month.  I'm not sure how you do that if you have to purchase your own health insurance.  If you don't have many assets, you can surely role the dice and go with out it but if you do have assets, one stay in the hospital can ruin you financially.  For us, going without health insurance is not an option so again, we have to budget for a major expense.
Entertainment - One reason we are traveling is to see the USA and unfortunately, some of the things we will want to see are not free.  Those rainy, lazy, days may call for a movie or a good book. Hobbies and things we enjoy doing now will go with us on the road so let's budget for it!
Clubs and Memberships - We will need a mail forward service.  We are currently members of Good Sam Club, Coach-Net, and Escapees.  I have an account with RV Trip Wizard  for planning our routes and stays, (there is that planning thing again!). I will join Passport America  before we hit the road to hopefully save a bit on camping fees while relocating from point A to point B.  As we get some miles under our belt we may eliminate some of these, but for now, we budget for them.

I think that about covers it.  What are we missing here?  Leave a comment below and let us know what your experience has been or maybe some things you have thought about that can help others.

Our next post will talk about getting rid of STUFF!  Hope to see you back here!