I don't consider my self a optimist nor a pessimist, but a realist.
We have been in the planning stages for Two years now and we have made good progress - all credit debt paid, One year left on mortgage, have built up savings, developed budget and are currently living with-in our means, developed budget for fulltiming, continue to research the lifestyle, continue to research RVs, etc., etc.
We still have Two years to go before retirement but I am wondering with all the credit crunch, mortgage crises, fuel prices up and up, food prices up and up, medical insurance up, etc. if our fulltiming lifestyle is just slip sliding away.
I use my fulltiming budget and adjust it monthly but we will not have a never ending supply of income.
I have no problem with the stay longer-move shorter distance concept -a good one I might add.
But as stated above the fulltiming budget margins are depleting the expendable retirement income.
Those of you that are already living the lifestyle but was in our position what would be your thoughts given today's conditions?
Is this lifestyle slip sliding away for those of us that wish to pursue it?
I don't think so. Costs for many things are going to rise no matter where you are living - stick home or RV. Our biggest expense is gasoline and we have control over that. We stay in campgrounds rarely which saves a ton of money. In fact right now we're camped a national forest , not far from a little town. If you want or need to have full hook ups in a resort type RV park you might have to rethink a few things.
Best move might be to quit fiddling with the numbers for a moment, make a new list of experiences and qualities of life you expect out of RVing. Then go back and see if your present plan is the only way to achieve those ends.
Some people are very happy as snowbirds. In some areas, you could own a whole slew of stationary mobile homes or cabins you visit for little stretches of time for the same price as many MHs. Or keep the house, get a Class C, and jump in and out of extended stay hotels when you please. There's really no set way of doing this vagabond thing, and no reason not to map your own path. The only bad thing I could think of would be to get in too deep financially to change course when you like. Long as it agrees with your personal vision of what you want, it's cool.
The suggestion that being REALLY self-contained is the other key to freedom is, I think, very valid. I don't know what you expect in terms of fuel costs, but space rents can also eat thousands each year. Real flexibility beats fixed costs, every single time.
Personally, I do feel the "fulltime lifestyle" as described by many on these forums ARE slipping away. But then again, those are the ones that want to burn the roads up, stay in 5 star resorts, etc.
For the average Joe, who wants to enjoy freedom, choices of their own, and the wildness of "snubbing our noses" at the socially accepted life in america, it is never too late nor too costly.
First, are you going to sell your home and really fulltime or just part-time.
I think that for part-timers it may be harder than for fulltimers. Yes, fuel costs are more. And the stock market is down, so we have had to reduce some 'income' in order to maintain the size of our investments, but by staying longer, not being in vacation mode, we find that we are still able to enjoy ourselves - though we have had to reduce the number of golf games per month. We just do more geocaching.
But as fulltimers we don't have property taxes, HOA dues, costs for maintaining a big home, etc. That's why I think for part-timers it will become increasingly hard to do - trying to maintain a home and an RV may be more than a lot of people thought it would.
Barb
Barb & Dave - full-timing Traveling catpanions Kit (age 18) and Shadow (age 11) Figment II (2002 Alpine 36 MDDS) Mischief (2004 Subaru Forester Toad) FMCA - F337834, SKP #90761 http://homepage.mac.com/barbaraok/ Our blog
The point, at least to us, of the fulltime lifestyle is adaptability which means that the lifestyle offers the ability to be a high roller - move every 2 days, stay only in 5 star resorts, etc. or you can dry camp and only move every 4 or 5 months. There are as many different ways to enjoy the freedom of being a fulltimer as there are people to do it.
So it'll only slip away if you let it or if you don't have the flexibility to adjust to changing times.
John Ewing
2007 Allegro Bus 42QRP ("TisIt")
2005 Sportster/HydraLift ("Dinky")
2002 Miata toad ("Mellow Yellow") www.jandse.com
FMCA 104106
What goes around comes around - always treat others the way you'd like them to treat you.
I'm not sure I really understand the question. Though on the road now for 11 yrs and getting older, my faded memory reminds me that stix & brix living, taxes, insurance, utilities, maintenance etc. plus commuting or pleasure vehicle expenses, fuel, plates, ins., maintenance plus food, entertainment, occasional vacations and weekends out --- all those prior normal expenses we had more than a decade ago were more than our current FTing expenses, even with the 5 star resorts some deprecate here but we prefer and despite rising fuel costs. So I guess my question would be, if one can't afford FTing in one form or another, what's the alternative?
IMHO everyone focuses on the COST of full-timing without considering what you NO LONGER have to pay. IMHO The yearly cost of living on the road is less than the cost to own/live in a home. I know for me it doesn't even come close to my home expenses.
All I have to do is remember what the electric,gas bill, and real estate taxes were per month on the stick built, you know the one I don't have any more? And while I was living in it the equity on the house was not 'making me money' like it is now-invested!
I can stay at some mighty fine rv resorts per month and never come close to what those monthly bills where.
Those were constant monthly bills that had to be paid whether I was retired or not had I stayed there. Those are 'forever' bills for everyone that owns a home, unless you full time that is.
31 ft Four Winds
Chevy Tracker 4x4 BlueOx Aventa LX We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned,
so as to have the life that is waiting for us.
At this point we are okay as far as income goes, however being proactive, we spent last summer as volunteer park hosts and are doing so again this summer. That's a significant cost avoidance - four months of a free site with utilities with no actual work involved. We aren't required to do bathrooms or maintenance but do pick up litter left behind. That takes maybe 30 minutes a day and the walk is something I would be doing anyway.
We no longer go back east each year to see the kids in NH for a whole summer, but now shoot for every two to three years for a month. Oddly enough we see them as much in a month as we did in the whole summer before. That's a big savings in gasoline and RV park fees.
Park fees in the northeast are higher than anywhere else we travel.
We have full timed for almost six years and have the as described by WTTCS "must move every two or three weeks" out of our system.
Unless we are actually traveling between locations we spend at least a month in any given location so as to get the much cheaper monthly rate.
Clay (WA5NMR), Lee,(Wife) Codi, Brandi (Shelties) and Damncat (damn cat)
Full Timing in a 2004 Winnebago Sightseer 35N, Workhorse chassis, Honda Accord toad
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