Budgets and Vacuums

I think the rain may have moved on out of here.  It sure has been a drab and wet couple of days.  We’ve gotten a lot done inside, though.

Our little Christmas Tree

Last week I got a new vacuum.  Since moving into an RV 6 years ago the vacuum cleaner, a mundane thing that I really never gave much thought to, has been an ongoing issue.  In our first 5th wheel (Montana) I brought my house vacuum with me.  There was a real coat closet right by the door and that’s where I stored that huge upright vacuum.  I liked that vacuum and it did a good job of cleaning the carpets, but it was large for an RV.  Plus, it was heavy to lift of the steps to the bedroom and cumbersome in tight corners.  But, I had attachment galore that would clean every nook and cranny.

When we moved into our Everest 5th wheel, I didn’t even wait to be asked.  I ordered a central vacuum.  I thought I’d love it, but that affair never got off the ground.  My main objection was the lack of suction.  Then there was the hose which was about a mile and a half long.  It plugged in at the steps to the bedroom and would reach all the way to the back wall.  While I vacuumed, the hose banged into everything, cabinets and furniture alike.  I didn’t have a coat closet in the Everest, either, so I stored that massive hose in the basement.  That was a pain to get in and out two or three times a week.

Then we moved into the Class C.  Now, there’s really no space to store a vacuum.  I asked around of other Class C owners and finally purchased a small hand-held, cordless Shark vacuum.  It worked great for vacuuming the upholstery, but crawling around on hands and knees to vacuum the carpet got old quickly.  Being cordless it had to be charged all the time.  That vacuum was out in the way more often than not.  It finally got to where it wouldn’t hold a charge, so we were in the marked once again for a new vacuum.

Friends told us about a Shark hand-held with an electrical cord.  That sounded better than cordless, so we searched around until we finally found one.  It had a powerful motor and a larger beater brush and was far superior to the smaller shark.  I liked it better, but I was still crawling around on the floor.

My new Eureka Quick-up

For several months I’ve been thinking about a tiny upright, but we really don’t have a place to store even a small upright.  Nevertheless, that thought has been in my mind.  Last Friday, the motor in the second Shark burnt up.  We headed over to the vacuum department at Wal-mart.  I found a Eureka upright with a removable handle which just snaps into place.  Perfect.  The vacuum part is not much larger than the first Shark I had.  And it was only $22.  It is so easy to use I’ve vacuumed every day.  I love it.  It might not last long, but for $22 it doesn’t have to last a lifetime.

Gene’s big project for the day has been the budget for next year.  That always leads to interesting discussions.  Most categories stayed the same.  We increased groceries, but lowered gasoline.  Of course, 2011 was the year our gas budget was $800/month to get us to Alaska and back.  We have a more reasonable $450/month for gas this year.  At the beginning of 2011 we had lowered our campground fees to $22/night.  We were slightly under that budget for the year, so we’re leaving it at $22 for 2012.  Of course, we had several boondocking nights this year and will try to do that again next year.  Besides gas, groceries seems to be the thing we are consistently over budget on.  We’ve increased groceries by almost $100/month.  Lipitor has just gone generic and we’re really hoping to see a reduction in that big bill each month.  In the end, it looks like we’ll be able to continue this lifestyle for another year.

Well, I’ve rattled on plenty with nothing much to say.  We’re moving tomorrow to Oak Mountain State Park just south of Birmingham.  They’ve got trails there, too.

That’s it.  Thanks for tagging along.

Budgeting for the RV Lifestyle, Part III

We worked hard at saving our money and we got the RV we wanted. Now, how do we manage to live within the budget with fuel and grocery prices much higher than we anticipated? It’s not easy and we look at the budget a lot. However, there are a few things which we have learned from other RVers as well as a few things we have stumbled upon ourselves.

The cost of fuel has been the biggest concern lately. What we, and other RVers, are doing is staying in one location longer. Instead of going somewhere for a week or two then moving on, we are staying for a month. Monthly rates in campgrounds are considerably cheaper than weekly rates. (Not all campgrounds offer monthly rates) We save on the campground fee plus we are not towing. We may not get to see as much of New York as we want, but we would rather make that sacrifice than give it up all together. Occasionally we have a situation like the one we are in currently. Where we want to be is the high peaks region of the Adirondacks for the hiking. Every campground in the area is above our budget. To be farther away would get us a cheaper campground, but we would spend much more on fuel. We chose to stay close, drive less, and hopefully make up some of the costs by boon docking occasionally on our way back to Tennessee.

We also belong to a couple RV clubs which offer discounts at some campgrounds—Escapees and Good Sam. AAA members can get some pretty nice discounts, also. We are not old enough for the government discount card, but we are looking forward to the Golden Age Pass, now called the America the Beautiful Pass for seniors, for half price admission to the national parks and the Corp of Engineers campgrounds. While we are talking about passes, let me say that each year we look at where we are traveling in relation to National Parks. If there are several National Parks on our itinerary, we purchase an annual pass to save on entrance fees.

When we made our initial budget, we based our monthly allotment for groceries on prices we were spending in Nashville. Prices across the country vary greatly. We do pretty good staying within the grocery budget by selecting foods that are on sale, eating less expensive cuts of meat, or frozen instead of fresh vegetables. I have never been one to clip coupons, but some folks save a lot by taking the time to do that. Some groceries have what they call “senior days” when they give an additional discount to shoppers over a certain age.

Our great love is hiking and, although it may be free to walk the trail, it is not a free activity and good boots and gear are very expensive. We offset some of this cost by using an REI credit card which pays a small dividend. There is no skimping on boots and socks, but we have gotten into wearing shirts and shorts from WalMart rather than the outrageously priced Exofficio and Patagonia brands from the outfitters.

Now a quick word about work camping (workamping). Many, many, many fulltime RVers supplement their income by working at campgrounds, National Parks, state parks, and various other establishments across the country. Often these jobs offer minimum wage, a free campsite, or both. Some are for a season, others for a month or two. This is very appealing and we have thought of doing it often. I could handle dipping ice cream at Yellowstone a few hours a week and spending my off time in that great park. Technically, Gene is a work camper since he is working his job from the Montana.

My point in all this--we have to stay within the budget. If one area is overspent, then we have to compensate for it in another area or make up the difference later on. With the rising costs of just about everything, it is a difficult juggling act at times. For us, juggling and sacrificing is preferred in order to live our dream.

Budgeting for the RV Lifestyle, Part II

Our original dream had been to retire at age 55. When that time came we found that full retirement was just not financially feasible. We could, however, take 6 months off and work 6 months. Six months off was better than no months off—you do what you can. About the same time, we got the idea that we might like to try fulltime RVing. Now that we had worked all these years on this retirement plan, how would we adjust our budget to accommodate RVing?

Before we did anything too drastic, we wanted to be sure full timing was what we really wanted. Our first 6-months off was only a few months away, so instead of spending a lot of money on a camper, we just bought a bigger tent and a couple folding cots. We had everything else we needed for camping. That first summer we spent in Colorado and loved every minute of it. We were outside, we were hiking and exploring the country. We were convinced we would love RVing. But we had a little problem—we still had to work 6 months of the year.

We went back to the budget to see what adjustments needed to be made to accommodate 6-months on the road. We learned that first summer that tenting was good for a week or two, but was difficult for an extended time. I guess the main problem was cooking and eating outside in all kinds of weather. We felt we would be more comfortable in something that was somewhat more self-contained but we didn’t want to spend a lot of money and we also had the issue of where to store a camper during the working months. Additionally, we had a relatively new Honda van so we wanted something that it could tow. A pop-up camper seemed about perfect.

Making that decision brought on a whole new set of questions. Where would we get the money for the pop-up, the additional insurance costs, the additional fuel cost, etc. It occurred to us that if what we really wanted to do was fulltime RVing then we needed to be thinking like fulltimers. We didn’t need a house!! Neither did we need two cars. The money allocated to electricity, water, sewer, taxes, insurance, maintenance fees, car registration and tags could all go to the pop-up. That problem solved, a new one came in its place. We could spend the summer months in a pop-up but we could not spend winters in Tennessee in a pop-up. A little research and investigation proved that it would be cheaper to rent a small apartment for the winter than keep the condo.

We spent 2 summers in the pop-up and had a blast. Moving into an apartment each fall and out again in the spring was not so desirable. So back to the budget we went and back to the RV dealerships. One thing that had been a great blessing that we had not counted on was that Gene was able to continue working for the company where he had been working for many years rather than at a minimum wage temporary job. That allowed us to continue saving his excess salary. With a few adjustments to the budget (seasonal campground fees were less than apartment, furniture, and storage unit fees) and a good trade in on the Honda, we felt comfortable with purchasing a 5th wheel.

With an RV large enough to live in it would require more fuel to tow, a larger, more expensive campsite, and a pretty good pile of money for maintenance. The best solution for providing for that money was to continue to work for 6 months each year for a couple or three more years. That’s really not so bad. It’s not our dream, but having 6 months off really boosted your moral and went a long way toward making those working months better. Plus, we were technically fulltime RVers.

So, now that we are on the road, how do we adjust the budget for rising fuel costs? Answers tomorrow.

Budgeting for the RV Lifestyle

With the cost of fuel skyrocketing and the housing market plummeting there is almost everyday on national TV some expert giving us the three best things to do in order to survive the financial crisis. Last week on one particular program there were three experts giving their three best things to do to survive. That was a total of nine best things to do to go along with all the other best things to do. So I thought I’d just jump on this band wagon and offer up a few of my own “best things” to consider when budgeting for the RV lifestyle during these desperate times.

Actually, I think I have jumped the gun already. Although fulltime RVing can occur at any time in life, you encounter it most among the retired. Perhaps I should have called this “budgeting for retirement”, because that was really what it was in the beginning. It is when you are young that retirement planning should take place in order to give yourself enough time to save for the day of your dreams.

The great question to be answered is “How much money will I need when I am retired”? Gene went about answering that question by determining what we needed to live on right now. For two years he kept a record of every expenditure—every cent for every thing. That data gave him a fairly accurate indication of how much we actually spent. It was shocking to realize just how much was spent for things like afternoon coffee, or ice cream, or Girl Scout Cookies (oh my goodness). We then took the data and created a budget that realistically portrayed our spending habits.

The next step was to convert this present time budget into a budget of a time 10, 15 or 20 years in the future. By adjusting the budget for inflation by a rate of 3.5%, Gene was able to determine how much money we would need in any given year in the future. It was a guess, of course, but at least an educated one. He subtracted the amount we expected to get from Social Security and my retirement pension, but the amount we still needed to save was staggering.

But we had a dream and my mama had read to me over and over about the “little engine that could”. There was no stopping us. We lived by the budget and saved every dime we could. Gene found in a magazine a picture of a man in a scuba diving suit climbing out of a fountain with a bucket of change. The caption read, “how will you fund your retirement?” We never did that, of course, but the picture hung on the refrigerator and kept us inspired.

Our dream, of course, was to retire early, while we were still young enough to enjoy traveling and still healthy and fit enough to hike. We had read some about fulltime RVing (living exclusively in an RV) and although that concept may have existed in our subconscious, it was certainly not in the forefront of our planning. Stay tuned to see how these first steps evolved into fulltime RVing.