by Tom & Marilyn Clark
It has been nine months since we began our fulltiming adventure. So many newbies and wannabes have written us since our six-month update article that we decided to do a more in-depth look at the financial aspect of this very different lifestyle. Most folks want to know about total monthly expenses, average campground fees, and average travel expenses. The short answer is: our average expenses may not be anywhere close to your average expenses, simply because this lifestyle is so flexible. It's kind of like the investment disclaimer, "Past performance does not guarantee future results."
Here's a little background info that may help to put our figures into perspective for you:
Of nine months of fulltiming, seven were spent workamping or volunteering. This dramatically reduced our campground fees.
Because we were "in one place" for those months, our travel expenses were also reduced. Of course, both our workamping jobs were in the boonies, so we did have to travel quite a bit for shopping, church, and doing the "tourist" thing.
Our truck is paid for. Our trailer is financed to gain a little bit of a tax advantage. The trailer payment is not included in our chart of expenses that follows.
We are going on a caravan to the Calgary Stampede in July, and to a major rally this Spring. Our figures reflect those pre-paid items.
We have tracked 15 categories of expenses, and calculated our monthly average for each. Our total monthly expenditure (not including trailer payment) has averaged $2,127. Here's how it breaks down, based on nine months of fulltiming:
Category
Mo Avg.
Definition of Expenditure
Camping Costs
74
Campground costs, camping membership
Clothing & Personal Care
73
Clothing; laundry, dry cleaning,
Communications
115
Telephone, cell phone, ISP, mail forwarding
Computer
13
Software, supplies, hardware.
Food & Staples
286
Groceries, snacks, household items
Gifts & Tithes
238
Gifts for family; church & other
Health
172
Health insurance, Dr. visits, Rx,
Household Supplies
93
Propane, trailer accessories,
Memberships
14
Club dues, e.g. SKPs, Good Sam, etc.
Recreation
349
Eating out, extended rallies, DSS, etc.
Travel Expense
141
Fuel, tolls.
Taxes
173
Income Taxes
Vehicle Maintenance
143
oil changes, bearings, truck & trailer supplies
Vehicle Registration/Ins
191
Licenses, truck & trailer
Miscellaneous
52
Any items not included in named categories.
We hope this helps answer some of those questions you may have had about fulltiming. Keep in mind that budgets and travel styles are a very individual kind of thing, and can vary widely depending upon your spending and travel habits.
One couple asked us what we would change, given our RV experiences thus far... We couldn't think of anything, except maybe for that fence attack in Alabama....<BG>