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Is it Cheaper to live in a House or RV?


Bob52

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Guest David & Lorna Schinske

WARNING!!! LONG, WORDY POST!! IF YOU ARE NOT INTO SAVING MONEY, PLEASE DO NOT READ!!!

 

My rent and electric bill total about $1045/ month. That amounts to $12,540/year. I believe that for a bit more, I can live full time in my motorhome. That will include all living expenses including food. Hope my calculations are correct, for I am gone this summer.

 

 

Our rent in a commercial campground which includes water/30 amp electric/sewer/cable/wi-fi is $375 per month. From $1045 that would leave us $670 per month to pay for groceries, fuel (gas,diesel,propane) and "repairs". Could we do it? Sure could. And we would live quite well on that. But we have lived on what many consider less for a long time. We just find too many free & cheap things to do that we really enjoy doing. I have found that we cook better (and cleaner) than many restaurants. So much better that we will cook our own special anniversary dinner this year... again. We are a tad picky when it comes to seafood which is what we will splurge on... a snow crab legs and shrimp boil and our favourite pineapple upside down cake for two... yumm yumm! Can't buy that, done right, here in the desert!

 

I have figured out that we use less LP (I don't have an fuel sucking RV range in my residential vehicle), less gas (we plan our trips to town and the Jeep uses less than one tank every two weeks = $30 to $45), less diesel (you wouldn't believe what the 8.2L TA V8 Fuel Pincher diesel engine gets... It's not called a Fuel Pincher for nothing), and with the way I precook/freeze meals, we are eating better and saving not only on groceries but on gas and LP all at the same time. We owe nothing to no one. What little we have is ours and ours alone. Our 40 ft school bus conversion was converted by ourselves, cost us INCLUDING the bus shell under $6K all total and paid for in cash. We have insurance. We have stocks. We have savings for a future purchase of land to park the bus on in case we need it. I still need to buy a generator for the bus. We live frugally and do not waste money on things we don't need to waste money on.

 

Do we feel the need to keep up with the "Kirk$ & Barb$" of the RVing world? Nope.

 

Will anyone who lives on far less than they do ever convince them that it is not only doable but we aren't shorting ourselves in the process? Nope. So don't waste your time.

 

We have noticed that if you live frugally while in a house, then you will live frugally in an RV. Can you make a conscious decision to downsize your more expensive living habits when you downsize to an RV? Of course you can. And why not? You are living in far less space, you are heating/cooling a smaller area. You have less space to have all the pricey purchases like lots of clothes, shoes, toys. You do not need the biggest, newest RV that you can buy (despite what some may say). You do not need all the latest gadgets. You do not need to eat out 3 or 4 times a day. You do not need to buy expensive souvenirs from every place you visit (where will you keep them anyway). You don't need to suck down expensive bottles of wine or other booze. That kinda indicates a problem and isn't very healthy for you. You do not need to stay in expensive "RV Resorts" and "Destination Parks".

 

You do not even have to move every one to three weeks! While that may come as a complete shock to some who advocate that way of "fulltiming", the fact remains you do not have to move from park to park to park to be a fulltime RVer. You can save a great deal of money by staying by the month in one central location and day trip to nearby attractions. Even if you only travel within one state, you can save a fair amount of money over bouncing hither and yon in one state this week, in another state the next week. A little judicious planning can save a great deal of dollars. Many attractions have free or low cost days of the week. Get a tourism book/map from the states you are interested in. Use the internet search engines. Look for free and cheap things to do. Often you can find a tourism place that can help you out. Other times it will be the chamber of commerce. Searching for "museums" combined with city/county/state names will yield a lot of locations. Many museums know of other museums. So look around while there for more places to visit. Some of the best museums we have found were either free or super cheap. One of the neatest places we have been to was Westville. I found it in a tiny tourism pamphlet at a GA Welcome Center. For the price (currently $10 per person but you can print off a $1 per person coupon from the internet) we paid at the time ($6 ea I think... no guided tours at that time) it was a great deal and I packed a picnic lunch too. Plus we wandered around Richland as well. We like old towns and the vintage architecture since at the time it was our profession. Every place we have ever been has had hidden gems that were rarely well advertised or well-known locally. Some were even in the towns we lived in. Museums are notorious for keeping a far too low profile.

 

We are currently in Roswell, NM. I find it surprising the amount of locals who have never been out to Bottomless Lakes State Park (the lakes aren't really bottomless... great place to hike and picnic for $5 per vehicle day use fee), never been to any of the local art museums, never been to the Lincoln State Monument(1 hour drive away & $5 per person fee to get into the 4 or 5 museums) or even attended many of the festivals & fairs in the surrounding towns. How can you live 95 miles from a lava flow and never gone to see it? We took our kids to the Roswell Museum & Art Center, the Alien Museumand the local Zoo for their 26th birthday. But then my kids area little different. They love wildlife (the zoo allowed them to see buffalo, wolves and eagles up close), they like art and astronomy (one is an artist, the other an amateur astronomer) so this was a lot of fun for them. And we ate at really nice restaurant. All-in-all, a fun filled day for our family.

 

I carry a digital camera with me. I take LOTS of pictures. With as many pictures as I take, one or two have got to turn out decent. I can make my own "souvenir" T-shirts if I wish with my ink jet printer, a piece of ink jet transfer paper, my computer and a $5 light coloured cotton shirt from Goodwill. Am I cheap? Yes. Does that make my idea of fun any less fun? Not to me. Does this appeal to everyone? Nope. Do I care? Nope. Will someone say it's stupid? Probably. But I will most likely not see it. The ones who will say it's silly or stupid or I'm wrong will be mostly the same self-important folks that I have blocked so that I never see their self-important posts.

 

The amount that you can live on depends a great deal on you. Sit down and figure out you must pay (site rent, fixed bills like insurance etc). Fuel to get you to and from. This is a flexible amount that depends on where you need to go. Many towns, even small ones, have some sort of public transportation. Even site rent is flexible. We have $400 per month budgeted for our personal budget. We rarely hit $400. We did in our current campground because we were not in a monthly site where we had an electric meter. We moved into the first available monthly site that opened up. We are also 30 amp because we want to keep our power requirements low and therefor in lower priced sites. If you pay separately for power, you can keep that down as well. Buy a Killawatt meter and some timers. You don't need things on overnight while you are sleeping or at work or gone for the day. So turn them off. Power strips with on/off switches, a few timers and taking the time to simply turn things off, will save you a great deal on power. If you don't use a cellphone much, a pay-as-you-go plan may be right for you. We use Tracphone and have the double minutes for life combined with promocodes. We buy 60 minute cards every other month per phone or 200 minute cards with a far longer time frame. Clothes (pants, shirts, jackets) are bought from Goodwill or other thrift stores. Socks and undergarments are bought new. Right now I'm looking at used tablets to buy (super cheap of course) so that I can have an e-reader. Food prices can be lowered by making your own heat & eat freezer meals. And they tend to taste better than the commercial products. And far cheaper than eating out. I can easily make 4 meat loaves and bake all 4 at the same time as I can make one meatloaf. My original meat loaf recipe makes two meat loaves. I simply divide the mixture into 4 rather than two. I bake them all at the same time (along with a batch of 60 meatballs for sauerbraten meatballs... 10 meatballs per meal). When I buy pot roasts (2 per package at Sam's Club) I split the roasts in half and bake all 4 in the oven at the same time and then cool/freeze them. I also bake my Hungarian Goulash recipe at the same time. I have 4 little 1/6 pans from a steam table that I make 4 batches of goulash. That's 1 pound of good lean stew meat per pan and then I dump the recipe ingredients in each pan and then bake them along with the pot roast for 3 hours. I end up with one meal for supper and seven meals to freeze. And only used as much LP as it would take to cook ONE meal. I have a 12 cf upright freezer in the bus. Like I said earlier, residential vehicle. the bus wasn't built as a recreational vehicle. This is home and we built it as such. While you may not be able to cook as much as I do at one time, most RV ovens can handle a double batch of most recipes. Especially since most recipes are made for 4 to 8 servings. Just freeze half (or more). Then you just thaw in the refrigerator and heat up in the microwave. Think about how much cooking fuel you can save. Saving cooking fuel (either LP or AC) = saving money. Having a meal that all you have to do is toss it in the microwave to thaw and heat = saving money on frozen meals & eating out/gas for the car. All for the cost of a few freezer bags (we use ziplock bags since we eat the freezer down once a month) and a few extra minutes of your time. I know what I save. You would be surprised.

 

I know it's cheaper for us to live in the bus than it was to live in the house. It was not an expensive house nor was it a large house. 1152 sf on 2 acres on top of a mountain. Our site rent alone is less than our house payments. We no longer have all the "stuff" we used to have. But we really do not miss it. Nor do we have to maintain all that stuff. So for us, it's far cheaper to live in the bus.

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Lorna sounds like we live and do alot of the same things as you to save money. We also volunteer, so site, electric, propane, freezer, laundry are all at no monetary cost to us. We will continue to be frugal, but our income will increase in 4 1/2 years and at that time we may stop volunteering for site etc.

Pat DeJong

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It's obvious that there are too many variables to provide a direct comparison. House payments? Haven't made those since 1990, so an RV space rent is an added expense. No property tax, though. :) If all you like to do is hang out in the same place for months, then, yes, you can save some money. I prefer to travel around, so I spend a lot more on fuel and camping fees than some of you do. No debts. That helps, of course.

RVing since 1994
2000 Born Free 24RB Class C
6.8L Ford V-10 Engine, E450 Chassis

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Yes, you can live well and cheaply. At least by my definitions. Disregarding buying a new truck :) how much did we spend for EVERYTHING in Dec? $986. That did not include prorated insurance on the vehicles,however, and that would be another $200. So was that month a "fluke"? Well, in January we spent $1878, AND that included 280 gallons of diesel fuel and a trip to Tampa and back. Is every month that low? No it is not, but it is not all that much higher even in peak months. And none of that includes our RV, which I admit is not cheap. But it IS paid for. Living expenses do not have to be that great to have a "good time".

Jack & Danielle Mayer #60376 Lifetime Member
Living on the road since 2000

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Holy crap..the guy already has 12,540 per year he knows he has. No he did not say what a bit more is but maybe another 500.00 per month for 18,540 or even 20K a year.. That is plenty to full time on. We have NEVER paid 1045 per month for lot and utilities in our nearly 7 years on the road and we do not cut many corners. We could live our present on the road lifestyle at 2K per month easy,Lot, Utilities, Camper ins, truck ins. At 2k we would have 1400.00 average per month for food, etc.How much does one need.Some folks must have a great lifestyle.

If this guys a bit more was @ 500.00 per month he would be more than fine. He may be fine now....

Helen and I are long timers ..08 F-350 Ford,LB,CC,6.4L,4X4, Dually,4:10 diff dragging around a 2013 Montana 3402 Big Sky

SKP 100137. North Ridgeville, Ohio in the summer, sort of and where ever it is warm in the winter.

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I think the guy is on the right track and might benefit from some constructive advise instead of the usual bickering
Interesting comment, coming from one who then jumps into the fray...... ;)

 

None the less, I really fail to see what is harmed by a debate about most subjects, particularly for those who avoid any personal attacks. A good debate usually brings out many points which would never arise if there were simply one opinion stated and then everyone else just went along. I rather doubt that any two of us actually live on the same amount of income. Most of us have learned well before we went on the road, how to live on what we have and find ways to be at least reasonably happy in doing so.

 

Do you think that it is a good thing for everyone to simply tell every person that asks about the cost of RV life that whatever number they suggest will work and that they can live happily on the road and travel wherever they wish with what they have when we know that it would not be enough for us to live in a manner which we would enjoy? I think that it serves much better when we do express differing views of what we believe to be the minimum income for a successful life on the road, particularly if the one asking has some way of discovering the author's lifestyle. Budget numbers by themselves are probably not particularly useful, but when given as an indication of the cost for a particular lifestyle and way of travel they can tell the person asking a great deal of information.

 

With the fuel prices of today, the amount of travel is a tremendous factor in fulltime costs, just as is the choice of where one stays both while traveling and when sitting still for extended periods. About the only lifestyle out there which is not, so far as I know represented here at all is the one mentioned who lives out on the desert with little or no travel. I suspect that even in that group there are differing budget sizes and even a debate about what is required to live in comfort.

 

Debate is what fuels a through discussion and should not be discouraged. Anyone can be friends with those who always agree with them, but good friends are those who remain on good terms while holding divergent opinions! :D

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

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First off, I have not read all of this. Perhaps it would do me good to read it. My mom has made a little over, and I mean not 100 dollars over, but just a small bit over $1,000 since 1984, when my dad passed away. Her little brick home, out in the country, was paid for. She had no need for credit, she paid cash for everything. If she needed work done around the house, she paid for someone to do it. New roof - cash, new refrigerator - cash, new vehicle - cash. You see, sometimes she would put back as much as 500 a month. It was no problem to her. She had her freezer and her garden. She put away food all the time in that freezer and she ate like she wanted to. She grew up on a farm and it did not take much for her. She read books and would watch TV ever so often. She had all the comforts anyone would want. She has her medical insurance and Medicare but she sure hates to use them. You see, the doctors still try to make her quit smoking. She will be 92 in June, the last of a long line of sisters and brothers. She has never sweated doing without or paying for what she wanted. Some remarkable people know how to save and know how to live. I am not that remarkable. But my mom sure is.

 

And, I realize this is about RVing vs brick and stix. I just had to brag on one this outstanding little woman. I am so proud of her. Unfortunately, some things, some of her wonderful attributes, I did not learn them.

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I jumped because I see bickering between folks who just need to be right.I said he is on the right track and he has a good start with the $$ he already has.The manner of lifestyle I enjoy and the $$ it takes to do that is my lifestyle only and is is wrong to suggest that another can not Rv on less. We could. We choose not to. I know from experience that 1054.00 per month for lot and utilities is high as others noted. We do it on @600.00 per month and have a nice lot full hooks and all utilities. Example if he could get by on a 600.00 a month lot and utilities as many do he would have 454.00 of that amount available to include in his "a bit more" BTW there is a difference between debate and bickering or questioniong others comments.

 

He may have learned that he may be spending to much for lot/utilities.

Helen and I are long timers ..08 F-350 Ford,LB,CC,6.4L,4X4, Dually,4:10 diff dragging around a 2013 Montana 3402 Big Sky

SKP 100137. North Ridgeville, Ohio in the summer, sort of and where ever it is warm in the winter.

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I still doubt that there are many here who would be able to live their dream, on that small an income.

Yeah! But if they were not interested in trying why would they still be following this thread?

There is a hard line between facts and opinions but vested emotions can really blur it and then the whole conversation becomes tangential. Maybe it is more fun to digress than to address the actual topic?... like me.

Before going full time, we planned, projected and simulated our dream life for several years. The reality check was in the details of our "Dream-Life". We expected monthly costs to be between $2000 - $2600. They have been... mostly but that excludes Fuel costs. Those we look at completely differently.

The costs that we did not include have all been dependent on external events that, to maintain our set of values, have come up and each made a major bump in our planning. Such things as:

  • Helping our son and wife move from NC to IL. - Not an unavoidable expense but a real "Gotta do" for love.
  • Helping our BIL and family through some rough medical times. Again, a Gotta-Do for love.
  • Not being able to sell the S&B for a rational price when we planned to. We still have it but rented monthly at a loss.

The things that we did seem to do right were:

  1. Picked the right RV to live in
  2. Picked the right tow vehicle (on the second try)
  3. Seriously simulated our travels to find the hidden costs

The thing we found we had little control over were:

  • Premature loss of a job with no replacement income
  • Age difference between us
  • Wildly dancing fuel costs
  • Deflation of our investments value simultaneously with income damages.
  • Slippage in health and health care levels.

All in all, we are living our Dream-Life 2.0 because 1.0 could no longer be accomplished within our means. We kept the things that we both feel are vital and released those that have or will increase the unpredictability of our means in the future. It is a work in progress and we expect to still have more dreams.... they will just have to be customized to fit what we already have working for us.

Our bucket lists are not shorter..... just different.

RVBuddys Journal Our progress into full-timing.
Budd & Merrily ===-> SKP# 088936 Other Websites:---> Hub of all my blogs
Clifford - 2000 VNL64T770 :: DakotR - 1999 C40KS King of the Road :: $PRITE - 2013 Smart Passion w/cruise

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You don't need to suck down expensive bottles of wine or other booze. That kinda indicates a problem and isn't very healthy for you.

 

Actually, a glass of wine, preferably red, is good for you. A little alcohol has proven to be good for most people. The trouble is the word "little", for some even a little is too much. But that doesn't mean that there is something evil about those who do enjoy a glass of wine with dinner. After all, they served wine at the Last Supper.

 

Once again a discussion has disintegrated into "I can less on less than anyone else, therefore I am better" argument. It is all well and good to live below your income level - I think that we all try to do it. But does that make anyone who lives above the poverty line bad?

 

What would happen if nobody ever went out to eat - think of all of the restaurant owners/cooks/wait staff that would be out of work. What if nobody ever bought any new clothes - where would Goodwill get merchandise from to sell back to others? The list goes on and on.

 

If you want to sit in one place, then it will cost you less. If you want to put ~ 10,000 miles on your RV each year, visit lots of different places, try local restaurants, etc. it will cost more.

 

Maybe the first question ought to be, what is it you want to do and why?

 

 

Barb

Barb & Dave O'Keeffe
2002 Alpine 36 MDDS (Figment II), 2018 Ford C-Max HYBRID
Blog: http://www.barbanddave.net
SPK# 90761 FMCA #F337834

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I think Lorna already said that she has certain people blocked, so it matters not what they say. I copied her note and sent it to my daughter, who is fixing to RV, on "less". I think it gave her a new lease on life. Some constructive talk helps, some does not. You take from each post things that mean something to you. I have not been on here in a long time, only recently getting back on. I have never been flamed. I like humor, I like constructive criticism. What I see coming from some people is an attempt to be constructive, maybe a little authoritarian, but that comes from his past life. Actually, I think he might be a kind person. What I see coming from the "other" is just meanness and probably will never be anything else, but it takes all kinds so if that person keeps having his/her say, that is just the way it goes, that is just the way he/she goes. A lot can be learned from authoritarian and it matters not what people say. We are gonna do what we want anyhow. But, a lot can be learned from Escapees. A lot of people are kind. A lot of people cannot help not being kind. You just have to learn to ignore them.

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"You don't need to suck down expensive bottles of wine or other booze. That kinda indicates a problem and isn't very healthy for you"

 

Now you have done it.... Insult wine will you....We never miss a good winery wherever we are. We are now down to less than two cases of good wine and we are planning a trip up to lake Ridge Winery up on Rt 27 for a resupply. I have a liking for Rum any kind and kuala. Don't care for Scotch or Whiskey but we keep some around just in case. Never liked the taste of beer. The wife has a bottle of wine that she actually paid 18.50 for somewhere in S.C. She does not suck that down.I go for the cheap stuff... 2 buck Chuck..now 3 buck chuck is good for me.Anything over 8.00 per bottle is suspect of being way to good for me.We have been known to go out of our way to visit a good winery... :D

Helen and I are long timers ..08 F-350 Ford,LB,CC,6.4L,4X4, Dually,4:10 diff dragging around a 2013 Montana 3402 Big Sky

SKP 100137. North Ridgeville, Ohio in the summer, sort of and where ever it is warm in the winter.

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"You don't need to suck down expensive bottles of wine or other booze. That kinda indicates a problem and isn't very healthy for you"

 

Now you have done it.... Insult wine will you....We never miss a good winery wherever we are. We are now down to less than two cases of good wine and we are planning a trip up to lake Ridge Winery up on Rt 27 for a resupply. I have a liking for Rum any kind and kuala. Don't care for Scotch or Whiskey but we keep some around just in case. Never liked the taste of beer. The wife has a bottle of wine that she actually paid 18.50 for somewhere in S.C. She does not suck that down.I go for the cheap stuff... 2 buck Chuck..now 3 buck chuck is good for me.Anything over 8.00 per bottle is suspect of being way to good for me.We have been known to go out of our way to visit a good winery... :D

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We love going to wineries, especially during the week when there are few people out and we get a chance to chat longer, usually try something unusual that the wine maker has blended the year before - often with the wine maker. Wine making is really as much art as it is science (but the science is really, really interesting) and we enjoy hearing about how rain or lack of the year before affected the grapes, which ones blended well, which didn't, how the fog up on the hillside makes a perfect area for whites, while their low valley acres are great for big reds.

 

We have found good wineries all over the country. A lot of them are becoming members of Harvest Hosts - which means you can stop, visit with the wine maker, maybe get a bottle of wine for dinner, and boondock on their site for the night. A great deal for everyone and what is better than spending the night in a vineyard.biggrin.gif

 

Barb

Barb & Dave O'Keeffe
2002 Alpine 36 MDDS (Figment II), 2018 Ford C-Max HYBRID
Blog: http://www.barbanddave.net
SPK# 90761 FMCA #F337834

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Maybe the first question ought to be, what is it you want to do and why?

Absolutely! When we started full timing our wish was to visit lots of places and see lots of things. So we bought a small rig that would get good mileage and that we could park in museum parking lots along the way. If our original goal had been to hurry south then sit in a resort park for the season we would have bought a very different RV. Later we learned we could have bought a bigger rig and parked it someplace then explored everything within a perimeter of that place. But then we would have missed the experiences of driving the Natchez Trace and the Blue Ridge Parkway and Historic Route 66. Unless you know the "what" and "why", you are unlikely to get the "how" right.

 

Linda

Blog: http://sandcastle.sandsys.org/

Former Rigs: Liesure Travel van, Winnebago View 24H, Winnebago Journey 34Y, Sportsmobile Sprinter conversion van

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Another thing to think about. In the first 3 years of our Longtiming adventure we traveled way more than we do now per year.the winter 0f 06/07 we did more than 7500 miles and the fuel bill alone was huge. We planned for that so we had the dollars. We took our time but it was a nearly 8 months adventure.I think that many folks tend to start out strong them taper off.Condidering our trip to Florida for the winter is 1200 miles we did les than 3500 rv miles in 2012.We now stay for 6 months for the winter instead one month or so at each location.The truth is we are running out of places that we have not seen or been to. So many things to consider and much depends on your lifestyle.

Helen and I are long timers ..08 F-350 Ford,LB,CC,6.4L,4X4, Dually,4:10 diff dragging around a 2013 Montana 3402 Big Sky

SKP 100137. North Ridgeville, Ohio in the summer, sort of and where ever it is warm in the winter.

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...My rent and electric bill total about $1045/ month...

 

As has been said several times already, what you plan to do has a great impact on what RVing will cost. $1045/month for rent and electric comes out to about $34/day. If your plans are to stay in each location for a month or more, in my experience there are many many places all around the country that you could stay for considerably less than $1045/month. If your plans are to travel extensively than it will be more challenging, but not impossible. Staying a week in each location will split the difference between monthly and short term stays. Fuel costs are a major factor in traveling in an RV versus just living in one.

The one that dies with the most toys is still dead!

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As has been said several times already, what you plan to do has a great impact on what RVing will cost. $1045/month for rent and electric comes out to about $34/day. If your plans are to stay in each location for a month or more, in my experience there are many many places all around the country that you could stay for considerably less than $1045/month. If your plans are to travel extensively than it will be more challenging, but not impossible. Staying a week in each location will split the difference between monthly and short term stays. Fuel costs are a major factor in traveling in an RV versus just living in one.

 

Not really, two weeks at the weekly rate is close to the month rate at most places..

 

Newt

2012 HitchHiker Discover America 345 LKSB

2009 Dodge/Cummins

 

LIVINGSTON TX

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Not really, two weeks at the weekly rate is close to the month rate at most places..

 

Newt

OK. if you want to nit pick, I should have said will generally be less than the daily rate.

The one that dies with the most toys is still dead!

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There are many ways to control the cost of overnight fees including monthly rental, boondocking, membership parks, discount clubs, America the Beautiful Senior Pass discounts, etc. For example, for a mear $225 for an annual pass, a non-resident can dry camp in New Mexico State Parks for free. Most have dump stations. For an additional $1,460/year you can have electric and water which is available at most. For and additional $2,920/year you can have full hookups at those that have them. The down side is that because of the elevation, New Mexico is not always the warmest place in the winter so some of the savings will be needed to keep the RV at a comfortable temperature. The current stay limit is 21 days. I have heard that it will change to 14 days, but do not know when that might take effect..

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Guest David & Lorna Schinske

... For example, for a mere $225 for an annual pass, a non-resident can dry camp in New Mexico State Parks for free. Most have dump stations. For an additional $1,460/year you can have electric and water which is available at most. For and additional $2,920/year you can have full hookups at those that have them. The down side is that because of the elevation, New Mexico is not always the warmest place in the winter so some of the savings will be needed to keep the RV at a comfortable temperature. The current stay limit is 21 days. I have heard that it will change to 14 days, but do not know when that might take effect..

 

 

For a 30 amp full hookup site (w/e/s/cable/wifi),in Roswell NM, we pay $375. Works out to $12.50/day. And we don't have to move at the end of the time limits. Non-resident NM state park... Bottomless lakes in this case since we have been out there and it is basically just down the road from us costs $18 per night for a fullhookup site (w/e/s) as a non resident and $8 with the annual permit. At which point you need to factor in the cost of the yearly permit ($180 resident/225 non-resident) depending on how long you intend on using it. Not to mention $$ it takes to go to the nearest laundromat (to be polite, Roswell does NOT have but a few.. 3 I think) whereas we have an onsite coin laundry.

 

 

For a stay of less than one week, public parks tend to be cheaper. For stay of 7 days and longer, private parks tend to be cheaper. That is just a generalization. Pick up an issue of Don Wrights Free & Cheap Campgrounds or check out a similar online website.

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That's not nit picking. It is a substantial difference.

 

Newt

 

Newt's correct. Generally weekly rate = 5 or 6 nights at daily rate. Monthly rate = 2.5 weekly rate. So it really is a big difference. In most cases, if going to stay 3 weeks, pay the monthly rate and it will be cheaper!

 

Barb

Barb & Dave O'Keeffe
2002 Alpine 36 MDDS (Figment II), 2018 Ford C-Max HYBRID
Blog: http://www.barbanddave.net
SPK# 90761 FMCA #F337834

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