On 11/22/2015 at 6:07 AM, Independent Lady said:

To try to figure out what it costs, obviously depends on each persons, or couples lifestyle. Also on what material things, or activities people consider important parts of their lives.

 

Yup. The RVer whose hobby is playing golf will pay more than the RVer whose hobby is geocaching. The RVer who likes to visit a variety of restaurants will pay more than the RVer who prefers to cook at home. The RVer who travels most days will pay more than the RVer who stays at least a month at each place. The RVer who likes parks with lots of amenities will pay more than the RVer who prefers to boondock. What it will cost you to RV depends on what lifestyle you choose to live.

Linda Sand

the one thing I really pushed my wife for was to make sure all bills were paid off,so we went into this with only food and other costs you can't do without and it has worked.one thing we did was to practice living on what our retirement was going to be to make sure we could handle it.

  On 11/25/2015 at 7:23 AM, hydehunter1 said:

one thing we did was to practice living on what our retirement was going to be to make sure we could handle it.

That is a very good point.

We went from two good full-time working salaries to retired & gone. Adjusting to living on a fixed income did take some doing. We got there, of course, but it is not to be taken for granted.

HB

Edited November 25, 2015 by Jim&Alice

  On 11/25/2015 at 7:23 AM, hydehunter1 said:

the one thing I really pushed my wife for was to make sure all bills were paid off,so we went into this with only food and other costs you can't do without and it has worked.one thing we did was to practice living on what our retirement was going to be to make sure we could handle it.

We did exactly the same as you, starting a bit more than 1 year before we actually left the house. Since our house was not paid off but the RV would be, we did pay the house payment over and above our living amount but we kept all other spending to what we would have after retirement and we put the excess into savings. We didn't do that in one stage however, but started to pare the budget in that direction at 2 years out with that as our target.

What we found interesting was that once we were actually retired our budget was not nearly as tight as in that year before since there are expenses associated with a job that most of us do not realize. Our clothing budget was a particularly large drop. And the fuel that we burned to get to and from work was nearly enough to supply fuel for our travels, if you leveled it out over a period of 90 days.

Before going full time I made sure we were debt free, except for healthcare, long term care and cell phone. I wanted a minimum of $60k at our disposal to give us flexibility. In over 5yrs. we've never come close to spending that much, I figure we've been doing just fine on about $35k a yr. And we've been from FL., to AK., ME. to CA., and many places in between. We've actually increased our bank account by quite a bit. It gave us the ability to put a substantial down payment on a home we're having built.

We will hit $35K this year for the first time. ALL the additional expense is Health Care insurance costs.

  On 11/25/2015 at 9:48 PM, Kirk said:

 

What we found interesting was that once we were actually retired our budget was not nearly as tight as in that year before since there are expenses associated with a job that most of us do not realize. Our clothing budget was a particularly large drop. And the fuel that we burned to get to and from work was nearly enough to supply fuel for our travels, if you leveled it out over a period of 90 days.

I had to laugh when I read your comment.

Before I retired I was sitting in a retirement seminar and the presenter mentioned all the items on your list.

I looked at my t-shirt, jeans, and sandals and wondered what I could do to "lower" my clothing costs in retirement?? There are advantages to being a Forester! Then there was that awful commute of 1/2 mile that I finally got rid of in retirement.

In our case, our costs went UP significantly in retirement. That was a good thing. It meant we were having more fun.

  On 11/27/2015 at 4:24 AM, Vladimir said:

I looked at my t-shirt, jeans, and sandals and wondered what I could do to "lower" my clothing costs in retirement?? There are advantages to being a Forester!

We at least stopped wearing ties a few years before I retired but even then it was "business casual" with only collared shirts and no jeans.

  On 11/27/2015 at 5:06 AM, Kirk said:

We at least stopped wearing ties a few years before I retired but even then it was "business casual" with only collared shirts and no jeans.

Roger on ties! When I retired I took an entire box of ties to the church and put a "free to good home" sign on them. The quilter's group said they could use them for quilting and I gave them all the ties. Hopefully they now make up lap quilts for the folks at the nursing home. If so, they are finally being put to a reasonable use.

Dave still has a few ties in his closet - ones our daughter gave to him and he can't bring himself to giving those away. Fathers & daughters.