How much do you you spend...???

[mookiebones]

How much, in general, do you spend on a monthly basis rv'ing?  Include (if you don't mind): park fees, gas, food, insurance, and anything else that has to do with rv'ing . 

I am curious about how people spend their money when rv'ing and how much it actually costs them per month. ;D

-Adrienne

 

[Ned]

Some quick figures over 9 1/2 years (3537 days) of full time RVing:

Campground costs: $48,956 or $13.84/day
Fuel (diesel): $17,805, 10,045.7 gallons, 98,277 miles
Insurance: $11,600
Licensing: $1,908.50
Maintenance: $19,353
Repairs: $8,791
Accessories: $25,600 (includes everything no in above, extended warranties, furniture, etc.)

Other expenses like groceries are not any different than living in a stick house.

 

[mookiebones]

wow, excellent response.  You live in the cheap!  Okay, so I totaled everything up, divided by 9.5 (years) and then divided that by 12 (months), and got for a monthly basis $1,175.55 per month.  or $39.19 a day!  Great figures Ned.

any other takers?

-Adrienne

 

[woodartist]

There are a lot of variables to be considered, such as the type of RV (therefore insurance costs vary), miles driven, campgrounds or dry camping, etc. Ned's figures are a lot higher than what we experience. I don't have the breakdown with me ( in the tax file), but if I can gestimate, the numbers would be around 500 a month max. We do a lot of dry camping, but also a lot of traveling. Last year we went 10,000 miles. Oh, we own everything outright. If I can get to the tax box I can you specifics. However we are heading to the Grim Reaper State ( AZ) tomorrow......

 

[Ned]

We aren't trying to live cheap, just comfortably.  I'm still working part time so we can afford a few luxuries that we would do without otherwise.  We have found that living in an RV is about the same as living in a house or condo, if you maintain the same standard of living, but with changing scenery   If your goal is to live on a limited income, it can be done that way too, but again, no different than in a fixed location.  We never believed that fullltime RVing would save us money.

 

[woodartist]

Understood Ned. We don't try to live "cheap," but our interests fall along those lines Love the woods and dry camping..dislike campgrounds, for the most part. We are able to save the excesses Do have some hobbies that are expensive though : It will be interesting to see what others costs are. Suspect it might fall along the lines of the type of rig, State of residence, etc.

 

[colleenfl]

Ned
You forgot to add in For the Love of it ...... Priceless

If you store your MH off your property you can add that monthly cost as well. We use to pay $90 per month but now we have moved our MH to a new place that is covered with electric, washdown area and monitored by cameras oh since I live in FL the covered space is hurricane wind prof to 140mph winds and this place is $175 per month

Colleen

 

[woodartist]

Location...good point Colleen. We are Full timers and live throughout the West...lot cheaper here except for CA

 

[chrpennings]

Hi Adrienne,

Thanks to Ned's software "Rolling Stock" we have some accurate figures I'm glad to share with you as long as you don't show them to my wife.

We are NOT full timers.

We own our coach for 7 years since new. 2578 days and during that time used it for 663 days (25%). We have 77854 miles on it.

Fuel (diesel) $19864,10392 gallons,7.46 MPG (663 generator Hours)
Maintenance $7811 (This includes 6 new tires at 60K miles)
Repair $4695 (This amount included a 7 year 100k miles extended warranty.
License fee $6995 (California)
Insurance $10371
Campgrounds &18.75 day. (Of the 663 days we dry camped 105 days.

Operating cost $ 0. 67/mile
Total cost $1.98/mile

A Major difference in comparing cost of FULL time versus NON full time will be campground fees.

Chris

 

[woodartist]

License fee $6995 (California)
Insurance $10371

WOW !!!! Are these numbers correct? Geez, I guess we are really going "poor." 

 

[Ned]

Ned
You forgot to add in For the Love of it ...... Priceless

You're right, I did forget that part   Impossible to quantify, but perhaps the most important item.

 

[Jeff]

Adrienne:

As Betty Brewer so aptly put it on another thread on the Forum most of us find that we spend what is available. You will hear full timing budgets ranging from 15-20k per year to 6 digits.

Your lifestyle can be enjoyed at many levels. Controllable expenses include how oftern you move, how many miles you travel, and how much you spend on eating out and entertainment.

 

[Mike (ex-f-221)]

Trying to gather all about the cost of RVing in the USA I am amazed about the difference in licence fee (~7000 to ~2000 USD). Why is that? Seems as it depends on the state the MH is officially stationed. Is it a yearly tax or something other? Deep in mind I have "60 USD for tax per year" - read it somewhere. Now I am a little bit confused....

 

[Tom]

Mike,

Yes, it is a yearly fee (or tax) imposed by the state in which the RV is registered. The fee varies significantly by state. The value of the RV is included in the calculation of the fee, so a more expensive RV would have a higher fee.

 

[Ned]

The value is used in some states to calculate the registration fee, in others the weight is the determining factor, and in still others it's a flat fee.  There is no universal method for calculating the registration fee.  Similarly, insurance (fulltimer specifically) will vary with the "garaging" address, which is meaningless for a fulltimer.  One of the advantages of fulltiming is we get to pick our domicile to keep the total of these costs to a minimum.

 

[Mike (ex-f-221)]

Thank you for this information, Ned. Seems you always have to carry a "Tax'o'meter" with you to find the best adress?  ;D

 

[Ned]

Nope, just one time.  We've had the same address for nearly 10 years, and rarely ever go there.

 

[Tom]

Thanks for the correction Ned. I meant to say in our case (CA), rather than imply the value was a factor in all states.

 

[Clay L]

To date this year we spent $3200 per month. Of that amount, close to $500 was for health insurance for DW. That will go away in a couple of years. Last year was similar.
We have no debt.
The good news is that we are finally in a positive cash flow situation after four years of negative values.

 

[Bob Buchanan]

We own our coach for 7 years since new. 2578 days and during that time used it for 663 days (25%). We have 77854 miles on it.

Hi Chris --

Was wondering if Ned's program accounts for depreciation expense. That's a real cost most RVers tend to overlook. For example for the 7 years you owned the coach what is the difference between the initial buy cost and the current value of the rig -- divided by 663 days?

I did that with a boat I owned years ago that I kept on Folsom Lake outside of Sacramento. The shock was almost unbearable. ? Once I figured the cost per day that I was actually in or using the boat, ownship started making a lot less sense.

OTOH, as the sign over the boat shop at Brown's Ravine read, "There is nothing quite so nice as just messing around with your boat". I transfer that thought to my RV all the time. A depreciating asset is one that must include a lot of Love . . .?