146 Days 6,571 $1295.89 $1466.64 $1131.35 $667.31 $4561.19
DAILY 45 $8.87 $10.05 $7.75 $4.57 $31.24
X-TRA EXPENSE TOTALS:LP Gas$143.84
Repairs$0
Laundromats$81.75
Don't forget to add in extras like maintainance on vehicles.
NOTE: This year even though campgrounds went up our daily expense for campgrounds was the lowest
since we've been traveling beacuse of our occasional freebies at Wal-marts, etc.
ALSO SEE THE EXTRA, EXTRA BOX BELOW !!
Expen$e$
Anything worthwhile is going to cost money, and living in an RV is no different. The expenses however are relatively cheaper than maintaining a residence. The most expensive and the cheapest item of expense is fuel. The reason I say this is because you can determine how much you will travel in any given period. All of the other expenses will be determined by how well you like to live. (i.e. campgrounds, groceries, eating out, side trips for sightseeing, admissions into attractions, gifts and souvenirs, clothes, etc.)
Sharon and I "extended stay" for 5 - 5 1/2 months during the winter. This is pimarily the same thing as full-timing in that we incur the same problems as full -timers. We need to pay bills, manage our money, forward mail, file our taxes, maintain TV reception, plan our acivities and generally do everything that full-timers do. While some may argue that we are different, the differences are miniscule. We do, however, maintain a home base for our "stuff," which I concur is a significant difference. Not in our lifestyles, but in our cicumstances.
In the following entries monetary expenses will be entered as period and daily expenses. Period= total expense for about 5 months. Daily=self explanatory. You'll also see that some expenses are completely arbitrary as to how well you want to live. We know people who camp on the desert for free all winter. We also know people who stay in campgrounds, cheap and expensive, all winter. A good many people are vagabonds like us. They like to move around and see everything. We wouldn't presume to say that the way other people live is wrong from us. It's only different. Everyone has their own way of enjoying the lifestyle.
Winter 1997-98
PERIODMILEAGEFUELGROC.REST.CG's TOTAL
126 DAYS 6,935.1 $1101.44 $1047.01 $848.79 $689.80 $3687.04
DAILY 55.04 $8.74 $8.31 $6.74 $5.47 $29.26
X-TRA EXPENSE TOTALS: LP Gas $159.45
Repairs $351.10
Laundromats $ 39.75
These expenses should be added accordingly. If you use a space heater a lot it will decrease the expense for LP Gas. If you don't have repairs, that figure will decrease. But don't forget the maintainance on the vehicles.
ALSO SEE THE EXTRA, EXTRA BOX BELOW!!
Winter 1998-99
PERIODMILEAGEFUELGROC.REST.CG'sTOTAL
119 DAYS 5203.6 $798.86 $1013.69 $847.53 $883.73 $3543.81
DAILY 43.73 $6.71 $8.52 $7.12 $7.42 $29.77
X-TRA EXPENSE TOTALS: LP Gas $130.29
Repairs $294.44
Laundromats $ 43.75
Don't forget to add in extras like Maintainance on vehicles.
ALSO SEE THE EXTRA, EXTRA BOX BELOW!!
Winter 1999-00
PERIODMILEAGEFUELGROC.REST.CG'sTOTAL
117 Days 7244.9 $1069.28 $1101.30 $557.97 $606.00 $3344.55
DAILY 61.9 $9.14 $9.41 $4.77 $5.18 $28.59
X-TRA EXPENSE TOTALS: LP Gas $112.22
Repairs $229.17
Laundromats $ 72.25
Don't forget to add in extras like Maintainance on vehicles.
ALSO SEE THE EXTRA, EXTRA BOX BELOW!!
Winter 2000-01
PERIODMILEAGEFUELGROC.REST.CG'sTOTAL
123 Days 6181 $1228.02 $1201.01 $1018.44 $868.21 $4315.68
DAILY 50.25 $9.98 $9.76 $8.28 $7.06 $35.08
X-TRA EXPENSE TOTALS: LP Gas $166.91
Repairs $259.33
Laundromats $ 62.50
Don't forget to add in extras like maintainance on vehicles.
154 Days 6,280 $1990.65 $1484.62 $1260.87 $808.61 $5544.75
DAILY 40.8 $12.93 $9.64 $8.19 $5.25 $36.01
EXTRA EXPENSE TOTALS:LP Gas$94.64
Repairs$0
Laundromats$72.75
DON'T FORGET TO ADD IN EXTRA EXPENSES LIKE MAINTAINANCE ON VEHICLES.
CHECK OUT THE YELLOW EXTRA, EXTRA BOX ABOVE FOR ADDITIONAL EXPENSES.
OUR HOME PARK EXPENSE WENT UP THIS YEAR TO $4 PERDAY THUS THE INCREASE IN CG EXPENSE
Winter 2004 - 05
PERIODMILEAGEFUELGROC.REST.CG'STOTAL
154 Days 6,386 $1611.77 $1551.46 $1489.94 $681.25 $5334.42
DAILY 41.47 $10.47 $10.07 $9.67$4.42$34.64
EXTRA EXPENSE TOTALS.LP Gas$145.21
Repairs $519.41
Laundromats $32.25
Don't forget to add in extras like maintenance on vehicles.
CHECK OUT THE EXTRA, EXTRA BOX ABOVE FOR ADDITIONAL EXPENSES.
THE BIG STORY ON OUR EXPENSES THIS YEAR WAS THAT OUR CAMPGROUND EXPENSE WENT DOWN.
WE STAYED AT OUR HOMEPARK AS LONG AS WE COULD THUS INCURRING A CAMPGROUND EXPENSE
OF $2.50 PER DAY FOR THOSE DAYS.
Winter 2006-07
PERIODMILEAGEFUELGROC.REST.CG'sTOTAL
90 Days 6654 $2056.63 $961.34 $997.27 $549.39 $4564.63
DAILY 73.93 $22.85 $10.68 $11.08 $6.10 $50.71
EXTRA EXPENSE TOTALS:LP Gas $165.96
REPAIRS $306.32
Laundromats $44.00
DON'T FORGET TO ADD IN EXTRA EXPENSES LIKE MAINTAINANCE ON VEHICLES
CHECK OUT THE YELLOW "EXTRA, EXTRA BOX" ABOVE FOR ADDITIONAL EXPENSES
YOU CAN SEE BY THE AMOUNT OF DAYS THAT THIS YEAR WAS DRAMATICALLY SHORTENED. ALTHOUGH
IT WAS SHORTENED, THE AVERAGES FOR FOOD, FUEL AND CAMP0GROUNDS, ETC. REMAINED COMPARABLE WITH PREVIOUS YEARS.
Winter 2007-08
PERIODMILEAGEFUELGROC.REST.CG'sTOTAL
161 Days 6504 $2756.71 $1514.30 $1433.06 $950.95 $6655.02
DAILY 40.39 $17.12 $9.41 $8.90 $5.91 $41.34
EXTRA EXPENSE TOTALSLP Gas$177.37
REPAIRS$0
Laundromats $69.00
DON'T FORGET TO ADD EXTRA EXPENSES LIKE MAINTAINANCE ON VEHICLES
CHECK OUT THE YELLOW "EXTRA, EXTRA" BOX ABOVE FOR ADDITIONAL EXPENSES
THE UNUSUAL THING ABOUT THIS YEAR WAS THE PRICE OF GASOLINE. IT DRAMATICALLY INCREASED AND SKEWED OUR EXPENSES, ALTHOUGH SOME THINGS ARE STILL STABLE. i.e. GROCERIES, CAMPGROUNDS AND MILEAGE ARE STILL AVERAGING OUT COMPARABLE. WE ALSO SPENT 10 DAYS AT HOME THIS YEAR WHEN WE FLEW IN TO SEE OUR GRANDDAUGHTER. (A PRECIOUS LITTLE ANGEL)
EXTRA, EXTRA BOX
This portion of the expense sheet is to let you know that the above expenses are NOT all the money that you will spend during your travels. While the above expenses include coffee and milk, they do not include other beverages such as beer, wine, liquor, soda, iced tea and anything else you may drink.
They do not include medications, drugs, postage stamps, paper and pencils, pens, motor oil, spark plugs, Toad expenses, gifts, souvenirs, clothes............ and by now you should be getting the idea of what we mean. There are so many variables that they just can't be included here. It will cost you just as much on the road for the extra items in your lifestyle as it does now at home. Maybe more as your ability to store larger quantities will be restricted by the lack of available space.
The expenses that we've tried to spell out here are for basic travel. your lifestyle will determine exactly how much the rest of your expenses will be. But the good news is that for the most part, it won't be any more expensive. Below are some of the variables and they show why they shouldn't be included in the basic expenses, even though some are:
**2006-07 WAS A SHORTENED YEAR. WE NEEDED TO RETURN HOME AFTER 90 DAYS BECAUSE OF HEALTH PROBLEMS IN THE FAMILY.
Just in these 5 items there is a swing of $1369.48 from 1999-00 to 2004-05 which translates to $8.89 a day over 5 months. (62.24 a week, 266.70 a month) Our expenses seem to adapt to fit our budget. You should allow yourself the same amount of money for incidentals that you allow yourself before you leave home. The differences in figures account for the activity that we incurred that particular year. One year (2003-04) we ate out a lot, and visited many National Parks, by car (toad gas). Surprisingly our campground costs stayed around the same, because of our "almost exclusive" use of our membership campgrounds. i.e Coast to Coast, Resort Parks International, Adventure Outdoor Resorts and our Homepark in Desert Hot Springs. (Catalina Spa And RV Resort) You can also see that our total expenses for these 5 items has remained almost the same from 2001-02 to 2005-06.
LP Gas
