How large/small is your fulltime budget?

[GR "Scott" Cundiff]

While I know this poll isn't scientific, I'm thinking it is possibly the best snapshot anywhere of what fulltime RVers spend.  I refer people who are researching fulltiming to it all the time.

[Kirk W]

7 hours ago, GR "Scott" Cundiff said:

I'm thinking it is possibly the best snapshot anywhere of what fulltime RVers spend.

I tend to think so as well. The fact that a few more keep adding to it and yet the shape changes very little seems to support that view. 

[FTRV]

Great topic! Thanks for doing this poll and posting it. Escapees is best thing that ever happened to RVing. The information and services are priceless! They help make it simplifier to make contact with other RVers who know where the rubber meets the road. I am preparing to return to my full time RV lifestyle armed with a lot more information then when I left it in 2010. It is so much easier to make the significant change to full timing when you have more information that has been shared by those who are living the lifestyle more than 15% of 800,000 RVers have come to love.

[Kirk W]

7 hours ago, FTRV said:

Escapees is best thing that ever happened to RVing.

We should probably point that post out to the admin crew! I'm sure that the management would all appreciate your comments.

[sandsys]

On 3/13/2018 at 1:13 PM, FTRV said:

Escapees is best thing that ever happened to RVing. The information and services are priceless! 

x2. That's why I recommend them to people even just thinking about going full time.

Linda Sand

[GR "Scott" Cundiff]

I just posted our 2018 Fulltime RVing Expense sheet. Frankly, it was an expensive year with major repairs on both 5th wheel and F350. Some years are like that for everyone: both RVers and folks living in Stix and Brix. This year it was our turn to feel some financial pain.  

Here's a link to the 2018 expense sheet.

[vangophotos]

Here's our full-timing budget for 2 adults and a dog, traveling in an SUV towing a Casita trailer and driving across the US, Canada and Mexico.

We keep track of all our expenses and income as we go and find it easier to separate our expenses into 'yearly' and 'monthly' expense categories.

It comes down to about $2,000 per month total budget with $685 spent on things that fall in the 'Yearly' category and $1,345 that fall in the 'Monthly' category.

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Car insurance	$        600.00	Yearly
Health insurance & expenses	$     3,000.00	Yearly
Phone	$        480.00	Yearly
Car maintenance	$     1,000.00	Yearly
Annual parks pass	$          80.00	Yearly
Website hosting	$        170.00	Yearly
Eye lenses	$        300.00	Yearly
Clothing	$        400.00	Yearly
Tax return expenses	$     1,000.00	Yearly
Mail handling	$        100.00	Yearly
Groceries	$        400.00	Monthly
Alcohol	$          70.00	Monthly
Eating out	$        200.00	Monthly
Campgrounds	$        300.00	Monthly
Gas	$        200.00	Monthly
Entrance	$          75.00	Monthly
Misc	$        100.00	Monthly
RV insurance	$        600.00	Yearly
RV maintenance	$        500.00	Yearly

[Alice]

On ‎1‎/‎1‎/‎2019 at 9:40 AM, GR "Scott" Cundiff said:

I just posted our 2018 Fulltime RVing Expense sheet. Frankly, it was an expensive year with major repairs on both 5th wheel and F350. Some years are like that for everyone: both RVers and folks living in Stix and Brix. This year it was our turn to feel some financial pain.  

Here's a link to the 2018 expense sheet.

I almost had a heart attack at that monthly average.  My husband and I don't exceed that by much now, gross!  We'll have about half that as retirement.

[GR "Scott" Cundiff]

52 minutes ago, Alice said:

I almost had a heart attack at that monthly average.  My husband and I don't exceed that by much now, gross!  We'll have about half that as retirement.

Our expenditures aren't an effort to spend as little as possible - just to live within our means.  Keep researching, you'll find information on living a more minimalist lifestyle - a lot of people are doing it.

[Kirk W]

2 hours ago, Alice said:

I almost had a heart attack at that monthly average. 

When you look at the poll numbers, remember that the poll was taken 4+ years ago. 

[trailertraveler]

On 3/18/2019 at 8:06 PM, vangophotos said:

Health insurance & expenses  $     3,000.00 Yearly

Health insurance costs are extremely variable and depend on each individual's or couple's circumstances. Our Medicare Part B premiums are a little more than $3200/yr. Because of our age, amount of travel and residence location; We choose to have a supplemental plan that includes prescription coverage and just about everything that Medicare does not cover. Our yearly cost including the prescription copays is over 3X what vangophotos lists as their medical expenses.

Edited May 17, 2019 by trailertraveler

[docj]

46 minutes ago, trailertraveler said:

Because of our age, amount of travel and residence location; We choose to have a supplemental plan that includes prescription coverage and just about everything that Medicare does not cover. Our yearly cost including the prescription copays is over 3X what vangophotos lists as their medical expenses.

I just checked my 2018 federal tax return.  Our health insurance costs, which include Medicare and supplemental plans, came to a little more that $8,500.  That doesn't include the >$2k we paid for long term care insurance.

[Kirk W]

12 hours ago, docj said:

I just checked my 2018 federal tax return.  Our health insurance costs, which include Medicare and supplemental plans, came to a little more that $8,500.  That doesn't include the >$2k we paid for long term care insurance.

Our Medicare supplement premiums for 2 people total more than $4,000 per year but we have an HRA from my former employer that pays most of that. The $3000 of vangophotos can't be any health insurance that I know of unless he has coverage provided from some other source. But "GR Scott" doesn't list any health expenses at all.

[Al F]

Our medicare plan B plus Medicare supplement Part "F" plus Prescription drug plan Part D total right at $4000 year total for both of us.  Basically $2000 each.  Last year we had over $5000 out of pocket copays for Rx.  Sharon has some expensive Rx that pushed her into and beyond the Donut Hole.  The only good thing about going beyond the donut hole is the drugs get pretty cheap.  

On edit I made it clear the $4K is for both of us.

2nd edit.  Barb & Docj are keeping me straight.  Redid my figures, this time on a spread sheet instead of just a calculator.  The total for both of us is a little over $8000.  

Medicare Part B

Medicare Part F

Medicare Part D

Edited May 18, 2019 by Al F

[docj]

11 minutes ago, Al F said:

Our medicare plan B plus Medicare supplement Part "F" plus Prescription drug plan Part D total right at $4000 year. Last year we had over $5000 out of pocket copays for Rx.  Sharon has some expensive Rx that pushed her into and beyond the Donut Hole.  The only good thing about going beyond the donut hole is the drugs get pretty cheap.  

Is your $4000 per person or for the two of you?

My total (posted above) did include premiums for dental insurance but that was only ~$600 of the total.   So we would be right at about $4k/person. With Medicare Part B costing $135.50/mo= $1,626/yr  ( $3,252/couple) I have to assume you meant that to be per person. 

That would put us in roughly at the same cost.  We also have some large Rx costs, but my former employer does cover the cost of Rx once we go through the Coverage Gap into the Catastrophic region.  That's not a huge savings because the drug prices are cheap at that point, but every little bit helps.

[Barbaraok]

You know most people don't count the Medicare Part B premiums in their budget because they never, ever see that expense - - they just base their 'income' on the amount that is deposited into the account and maybe at tax time enter the correct amounts.  

[Al F]

3 hours ago, docj said:

Is your $4000 per person or for the two of you?

My total (posted above) did include premiums for dental insurance but that was only ~$600 of the total.   So we would be right at about $4k/person. With Medicare Part B costing $135.50/mo= $1,626/yr  ( $3,252/couple) I have to assume you meant that to be per person. 

That would put us in roughly at the same cost.  We also have some large Rx costs, but my former employer does cover the cost of Rx once we go through the Coverage Gap into the Catastrophic region.  That's not a huge savings because the drug prices are cheap at that point, but every little bit helps.

I should have made it clear.  The $4K cost is for BOTH of us.  I'll update my original post.

 

Edited May 18, 2019 by Al F

[Barbaraok]

Al, it would be helpful to indicate what that includes.  For example, does that include the Part B costs?  

[Al F]

4 minutes ago, Barbaraok said:

Al, it would be helpful to indicate what that includes.  For example, does that include the Part B costs?  

Yes it includes Part B costs.  I don't know just why some folks would think that Part B is free.  But then I guess some just don't pay attention.  

I guess "not paying attention" comes from so many folks always making "payments" and never looking at the true cost of stuff.  I guess, like having a monthly payment for a car.  Once the payments end, then that is either more money to spend on whatever, or it is time to buy a new car.  To build wealth, you keep the car as long as possible and when your initial payment period is over you keep making the payments to yourself.  

[Barbaraok]

Al, so you are saying that the rest (plan F and drug plan) cost less that $1000 a year for both of you?  

[docj]

50 minutes ago, Barbaraok said:

Al, so you are saying that the rest (plan F and drug plan) cost less that $1000 a year for both of you?  

Do you have one of the "high deductible" Plan F supplementals? We're each paying >$150/mo for our Plan F and that's with the "calculator" at ViaBenefits figuring out which plans are most cost effective for us.

[Al F]

1 hour ago, Barbaraok said:

Al, so you are saying that the rest (plan F and drug plan) cost less that $1000 a year for both of you?  

Barb & Docj,

Thank you for keeping me straight.  I really messed up on my math.

This time I created a spread sheet and entered all the numbers and came up with a total of a little over $8000 for the two of us. Or roughly $4K each.  

--  Medicare Part B deducted from SS

--  Medicare Part F  

--  Medicare Part D  

 

Edited May 18, 2019 by Al F

[docj]

9 minutes ago, Al F said:

a total of a little over $8000 for the two of us. Or roughly $4K each.  

And now I'm in total agreement with you!

[GR "Scott" Cundiff]

9 hours ago, Kirk W said:

Our Medicare supplement premiums for 2 people total more than $4,000 per year but we have an HRA from my former employer that pays most of that. The $3000 of vangophotos can't be any health insurance that I know of unless he has coverage provided from some other source. But "GR Scott" doesn't list any health expenses at all.

As I explain in the expense sheet - I don't line item anything aside from RV related expenses.  I then do a lump sum "just living" line.  I explain that what I pay for health insurance and many other items won't help anyone researching fulltime expenses so I try to maintain a bit of privacy by not line iteming them.   

In our case, unless a person worked for the same employers we did and retired at the same age and year we did our health insurance costs would be meaningless to them.

---

I'm reminded of the TV commercial for Home Advisor - the neighbor asks his friend if he knows of a good landscaping company.  The neighbor says he does and before he can give his questioning friend the address, the fellow directs him to call them, describe the project and collect bids.  

It's one thing to share figures that a person can use in the mix in collecting expense information, another to try to tell them what they will spend on groceries and vehicle registration.

[Kirk W]

15 hours ago, GR "Scott" Cundiff said:

In our case, unless a person worked for the same employers we did and retired at the same age and year we did our health insurance costs would be meaningless to them.

In our case, we too had employer-provided health care insurance, but I did list the cost of it with the note that it was my previous employer's plan. I guess that I didn't read far enough in your associated notes.