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For those who are interested, our 2014 expense sheet is up - amazingly in line with our 2013 costs.
Thanks...this will help us budget...
Ian.
Thanks for sharing. Any surprises?
Safe Travels!
Thanks for sharing. Any surprises?
Safe Travels!
We came in really close to my planning budget however I will say that in spite of raising the vehicle and 5th wheel maintenance/repairs budget that I still came up short. If there's an expense that is hard to control it's that one because when something has to be fixed it has to be fixed.
Much appreciated! But it would be even more helpful if you broke down the "non-RV" expenses, since this includes things like dining out that many of us might be able to cut out to save money. 
Much appreciated! But it would be even more helpful if you broke down the "non-RV" expenses, since this includes things like dining out that many of us might be able to cut out to save money.
Ha - well if it inspires you I can tell you that we averaged $136 a month eating out - including stuff like getting an ice cream cone or buying a soda when getting fuel. Obviously, we aren't foodies!
Wow - time flies! For any doing budget research I just did our 2015 Mid-Year Budget report.
Man, you guys are really good with squezzin' the coin. Our budget is $60,950 a year. We've been over that every year for 10 years. We've never met our budget yet. Second year out was close.....but no cigar. We are in our 11th year of FTing. Last year, over $100K.
I clip coupons, watch the ads, price compare at Walmart and all. I think folks that live that cheap are just telling us fibs. Oh well, we are having fun though!!!
Edited July 17, 2015 by rockintom
Man, you guys are really good with squezzin' the coin. Our budget is $60,950 a year. We've been over that every year for 10 years. We've never met our budget yet. Second year out was close.....but no cigar. We are in our 11th year of FTing. Last year, over $100K.
I clip coupons, watch the ads, price compare at Walmart and all. I think folks that live that cheap are just telling us fibs. Oh well, we are having fun though!!!
It's kind of funny, really. When I do a budget post I hear from people who tell me we're spending way more than they do - we must be living an extravagant lifestyle! I also hear from a few like you who are spending significantly more. My idea is that people spend what they have and I'm good with that.
Some folks are on a really tight budget and they make a real effort to keep their spending in check. In our case, we just want to live within our means and if we don't go nutzo we are able to do it.
Our budget for the last 5yrs. has been $30K-$35K a year and we've never exceeded it. We pretty much go where we want when we want, and do whatever we want.
If I counted capital expenditures for the RV and truck - which we generally pay cash for - then I would be well above what I consider our "living costs to fulltime". I never count them though because everyone is different there and there is no way to account for it on average.
As I have reported in the past, we have varied a good deal over the 15 years we have been fulltiming. From a low of around $24K (depending on how you count things) to a high this year that will run around $32K-$34K if we keep up the current pace of expenditure (our rolling average for a year is right at 32 this month). We do work for 5 months and are fixed in one place. This DRASTICALLY cuts expenditures. Which is what enables us to live so cheaply. Plus the money we make pays for a good part of that outlay, anyway. So our real "out of pocket" is considerably less than the total costs of living.
We never workamped and got paid but we did volunteer often giving us the campsite. This and the fact that we love public parks and boondocking on national forests and BLM lands kept our budget low. We also don't typically do museums, amusement parks, movies, etc. and those really add to the budget. Same for eating in restaurants all the time. It costs to do so. We don't feel we missed out on anything.
It all boils down to how you live the lifestyle. Everyone has different needs.
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