fulltimers


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Guest

Guest
I had a long time customer ,, he did bussiness with me in the auto shop when he was in town ,,vistiting his grand kids.. anyway ,, he's giving up ,, he has been full tiiming for about 20 years ,, and due to the cost of fuel, insurance , medical insurance and meds ,, he said that he can't keep going on like this,,, the expense is eating away at his ,, income ,, which bty has not gone up ,,
I know all u full timers ,use walmart"s and stuff ,, but he was like me ,, i like a full hook up rv resort ,, big and lotsa people ,, I was just wondering how all u fulltimer's do it??? I mean pay for u'r meds and insurance and (coach payments) and still have all the money to buy food,eats ,maint,toad maint, travel money and all the toys u seem to have ,, cell phones ,sat tv and such ,,
I would love to live this life sometime ,, but for now ,, my calculator does not calculate ,,,, what am i missing ,,
I know that fuel is the biggest cost ,, but still wondering :question: :question: :)
 

onthecoach

Senior Member
Re: fulltimers

HI 730,
We've been on the road for 2+ years. It's been tough, but DH has been working, so that helps. Now he is going overseas for a year, and I am putting the coach into storage for Jan/Feb/Mar of 2008. I will take it back out in April and need to find a CHEAP place to stay in the Frederick, MD area. I may have to work while he is gone to make ends meet, but he will be sending $$$.

One of the reasons he has taken this job is to secure our retirement. We will not be able to do all the traveling we wanted to do when we originally planned all this -- fuel is too expensive. But, we can find some nices places to spend the summers and winters and maybe do a little workamping int there, too. We are determined to make this work. We do not eat out much...maybe 1x a month. We don't go out much...we save all that for when we travel to the national parks and other sightseeing places.

Medical ins is a huge chunk of change, but you HAVE TO HAVE IT!!! That MUST BE A PRIORITY.

If things are really tight for you...consider workamping (www.workamper.com). You can work all over the country and typically your site (FHU) propane and laundry will be free!! Depends on what you can negotiate. We've met lots of nice people doing this.

Please don't give up!! We look forward to seeing you on the road!!!
 

DL Rupper

Senior Member
Re: fulltimers

We need to hang on for 1 more year and the 2nd generation Dodge CTD will be paid for and only have about 110,000 miles on it. We get by, but will need to stay in one place for a-month-at-a-time more often to take advantage of the lower monthly RV park rate.

We retired in 1995 when I was 51 years old and have been slip sliding along. Had to work for one 18 mos stretch in 1997 to get all 40 quarters to qualify for minimum SS (next year maybe) and pay off the first generation Dodge CTD. Other than that, we try to keep expenses down as best we can and still travel back and forth across the USA. The rapidly rising cost of overnight RV park fees coupled with the high cost of diesel fuel has been a $%^&* lately. Still haven't stayed at Wal-Mart overnight yet. Casino parking lots, YES.

Until just recently, we had to forego the computer and cell phone phenomenon. We had a old bag type cell phone we used for emergencies ($10/month + $2.00/min) and used calling cards to communicate with family, but can't find pay phones anymore so use a cell Tracfone that we can buy as many minutes as we want for about $.10/min. Works great without having to sign a contract. The computer is pure luxury. Free or low cost wifi only. We eat out for lunch almost everyday, off the value menu, at the fast food chains and go for a big nice lunch 3 to 5 times a month. Especially if we are at a casino. Casinos usually have great deals on buffets at lunch time. Great lifestyle at a fairly reasonable cost. :cool: Passport America membership parks come in handy if we can find one while traveling. ;)
 

hertig

Senior Member
Re: fulltimers

By the way, as far as medical insurance, it appears that NRA (National Rifle Associaton) has some pretty good (or at least cheap :) ) medical insurance plans. Must have been over 50 choices, one I looked at for 2 people in their early 50s, with reasonable deductables and copays, and drug coverage, was about $250 a month. I didn't follow up on it and don't know how good a plan it is, since I currently have adequate coverage through work. But this plan appeared on the surface at least to be a bit better than what I have now, and that cost is not bad at all these days. So I filed it for further investigation when the time comes for me to provide my own medical coverage.

If you have Medicare, AARP's 'Medicare Gap' insurance seems pretty good. For anything which is Medicare approved, they pay everything Medicare does not pay. I know someone who has this combination and it works well for her. I think the AARP cost is $150 a month or perhaps less.
 

Kirk

Senior Member
Re: fulltimers

We are fortunate enough to have health coverage as part of our retirement benefits so pay a pretty reasonable premium for that. Fuel costs have gone up, but as fulltimers we have the option of sitting still more and longer and that way we manage to keep the fuel costs pretty much in line with what we had planned. We just plan a bit more to enable us to travel a bit shorter distances now. All in all we really don't spend a great deal more than we did back when we started this, eight years ago.
 
G

Guest

Guest
Re: fulltimers

Not to doubt u Kirk ,, but how can u afford the satillite and the cell phones and the other play toys ....
I myself have a paid for MH ,, and this last spring it cost me more in fuel than our resort sight ,,, not to mention the insurance ,,,,
I spent $500.00 on fuel and $450.00 on camping,, and then there was propane :eek: $20.00 ....
I am just trying to get a grasp on this ,, but please u must know that i stay at the highend resorts ,,, never camp in a state park ,,, have a paid $12,000 a year sight ,, but still don't under stand how u guys do it on the fixed income u get ,,, heck between me and the wife we make over $200.000 ,, but it seems to be small change when we go somewhere ,, the fuel and the eats ,, we dont eat out much ,, we like to do the in campground cook out thingy ,,, but we don't have Sat in the rv ,, we use free cable ,, and our cell phones bills a pretty cheap ,, mine for the Business is not ,, but that's another thingy ...
But how do u all manage ,, i barely keep the farm going and it's paid for also ..
If i were to go full timing right now ,, i would go broke in 2 years ,, as i figure it
JMO :laugh:
 
G

Guest

Guest
Re: fulltimers

sorry ,, had to start a new post ,, anyway i know that i own a stick house and farm ,, but if i didn't and retired ,, my income would be alot less than the farm and the rv repair brings in ,, but me and the wife both have ira's and she has profit sahring that she can borrow against ,, and i also have proffit sharing form the contractor that worked for i the Gov,, yes i stil pay into it ,, but even if i drew out all my ira's and the wife did the same ,, and we sold everything ,, we could maybe travel for about 5 years and then we would have to get cardboard sighn ,, saying will rv for food :laugh: anyway i guess my taste is to high and if i ever full time then i'm going for broke gonna buy a 45ft ,,2 million dollar coach .. and live life up and weh the payment is due ,, tell them come get it i'm done ,, and then go back to farming :eek: :eek: ;) :laugh: :laugh: :evil:
 

DL Rupper

Senior Member
Re: fulltimers

Hey Rod, we don't stay in high end RV Parks. Myrtle Beach for 5 nights was about all our budget could stand. Tonight we are in a great Passport America (Good Sam) Park and it is only $14/night with free Cable TV and wifi. Staying 3 nights.

We sold our stick house when we retired, so don't have any house payments, maintenance fees, taxes, or utilities to pay. The RV is paid for and the BIG BAD DODGE DIESEL only has 1 more year of payments and it should last another 200,000 miles. Can't ask for much more. It costs less to live in a RV full-time, than to live in and maintain a BIG STICK HOUSE. If it came to choices, we would choose RVing all over again. We get too bored sitting in one place doing the same thing over and over.

We will just slow down, stay longer if fuel gets much higher. I think if fewer RV'ers are traveling, the RV Parks will probably not raise their fees quite as fast. ;) Sure. :laugh:
 
G

Guest

Guest
Re: fulltimers

Good point DL ,,
OK mental note ,,, start staying at cheaper sights and eating celery (wife loves that stuff) :dead: :laugh: :eek:
 
G

Guest

Guest
Re: fulltimers

Hey Tex ,, i did have a good savings 30 yrs ago ,, but five of that got cut off due to getting married ,, but i cna't afford to get rid of her ,,, but she might want to throw me to the cows ,,, u never know :eek: :eek: :eek: :laugh: :laugh:
 
G

Guest

Guest
Re: fulltimers

But still wonderng ,, if u got all u'r toys ,, sat ,cell and stuff u need for the rv ,, it just kinda puzzles me ,, i guess i was raised wrong ,, i was brought up to go for the big american dream ,, yes my parents were loaded ,, but they wanted me to get what they have on my own ,, and ,, sorry if i sound this way ,,, but that is what i'm going for ,,, but i think the new world has set in ,, all the overpriced stuff ,,, i want to full time someday but as of now ,, i don't see how ,,, when me and the wife retire there will be no SS and all we have to live on is our hard urned retirement ... I guess i see it this way ,, i see a few of the people here in my home town ,, that have no ambition to go above their rasing ,, i mean ,, go out and try to build a future ,, not just sit at home and collect the minimum wage ,,, buy a house ,, and quit renting and get a real job ,, one that u have to actually work 40hrs a week :eek: ,, not the one u have now ,, u work 2 to 3 days outaa the week and the rest of the time live on the state ,, i'm sorry but i guess i was brought up wrong ,, but i want to advance and i want to live life to the fullest ,, and yes i have money (it's in the will) but what money i have i want to spend and enjoy life ,, i don't care if diesel hit $60 ,, i'm going ,, but still without all the toys and stuff ... well i'm done :laugh: :laugh:
 
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