One answer is, "It depends". If we have no major repairs or don't eat out too often or no trips or events in the month our costs are low. But that is not realistic. I want to know the 'usual' monthly costs. I have attempted to track our costs every month and put together a compilation.
Below I show the Monthly Budget and our average over 45 months. The red numbers show where we are over budget. The two largest areas where we are over is in RV & Car Maintenance and in Miscellaneous Expenses.
The item that we will have to increase is our budget for diesel fuel. We intend to leave Virginia Beach in May and spend next winter in Arizona by way of Wisconsin and Oregon.
The other comparison I wanted to see was our most recent monthly expenses. Last month we were well under budget. That probably will not continue long but I wanted to show that every month is not full of bad news.
It may seem I am fixated on Finances. On one hand I am. On the other, I find great freedom in knowing where things are for us financially. One great concern of getting older and retiring is wondering if we are spending our future. At this point - we have been 'treading water' so to speak. All in all we have not touched our savings and retirement accounts. As long as we continue to monitor things and don't go crazy at some point, I think we will be fine.
I know life has a way of providing some challenges so we intend to take those in stride and figure it out when we need to.
For know - I feel much better being able to answer the question, "How much does it cost to live like you do?
As always, Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles! Until next time...
Thanks for sharing your budgets, Tracy and I are just finishing Financial Peace University and have found that budgets are key to making our money work for us. Safe travels.
ReplyDeleteI think I have heard about Dave Ramsey's materials more than any other. Wonder if there are any tools folks recommend?
DeleteCongratulations on enjoying being full timers. I have been wondering if you, like many others, would find a perfect spot and buy a house.
ReplyDeleteI share your blog with two old coworkers who are on the brink of being full time. They have told me your budget is very helpful.
As you know, we became house - car- Townhome snow birds. Last year averaged out to $ 4600 a month. I quit keeping track monthly and will have a new number next October.
Stay healthy and keep having fun.
Tom - good to hear from you. Glad the budget has been of some help. Hope our co-workers are able to get on the road. I highly recommend it~
Deletewe too have been treading water so far, which is much better than I had originally anticipated.
ReplyDeleteRandy, I keep track of our budget much the same as you, but we don't have the "track record" yet as you to see how we're really doing. Thanks for posting the budget, but is there any way to make the chart larger? I click on it and it's only slightly larger than the in-line budget chart.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the budget...we also have a yearly budget of monthly expenses to keep track of where the money goes. We have a spreadsheet with a 10 year budget that we plug numbers into so we can see where we will be in a few years. The decisions we make today effect the long range goals too.
ReplyDeleteWe sure enjoy this RV life style!
Great idea
DeleteVery few RVers are willing to share their financial picture as you have. For those who do, I applaud you. That level of transparency is so important for those who are investigating the lifestyle.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to see where you end up in Wisconsin, perhaps we'll run into each other!
ReplyDeleteJust want to applaud you for keeping such close track of your numbers. I'm also a numbers geek and have been tracking our expenses for the last 15 years. I have a few budgets like this on our site but haven't posted any for a while 'cause I figured people were getting bored of seeing how cheap we are! Haha. Nah, your numbers look pretty similar to ours. I do envy your cheap health insurance though. Geez, ours is 2x what you pay each month!
ReplyDeleteNice work!