Sunset Ajo Arizona

I posted a link to my 2019 expense blog post yesterday on the Escapees forum, "RV network" and got a comment from one of the readers that gave me some food for thought when he commented about my total expense for the year and said, " I don't think I could get anywhere near that [total], I like to do too much". That made me wonder if I'm not doing "enough", and should I be having more fun?

It's true I don't live an exciting life by any stretch of the imagination but that comment made me wonder if I wasn't doing enough things in my life, and if I was more interested in saving money every day than actually enjoying life? so I gave it a lot of thought because I know that I don't live a life of discomfort and austerity, but am I doing enough to be having fun? And here's what I came up with.

I'm 73 years old and was lucky enough to retire when I was 47. I've only been full-timing for about five years but I've been RVing in one form or another since I was a young man. Before I went full-time I spent time deciding on what kind of life I wanted to live while full timing and the best way I could come up with was basically the same way I was living at home only without the snow, in other words a normal life but in a home that had wheels.

I knew that some folks describe their full time RVing life as an "adventure", or a full-time "vacation" or a "marathon" of seeing every national Park in the country which is all well and good it just wasn't what I was seeing for the remainder my life.

Since I retired fairly young, was already into RVing, and had done a lot, and seen a lot already I wasn't really seeing my full timing life to be an adventure or a vacation, and especially not a travel marathon. All of those things seem to imply a lot more effort, a lot more driving, and way more planning than I wanted to deal with, after all I just wanted a new view every once in a while without the snow.

Since selling my home and becoming a full timer living in a house with wheels was such a huge change I figured why not live my life the way I wanted to and enjoy the things I want to enjoy, after all I'm rapidly becoming an old geezer and this drastic change in my current life may be my last hurrah.

So I came up with this current life that I'm living now. And the very fact that my life fits me so perfectly and makes me so happy is a sign that it probably wouldn't work for hardly anyone else because were all different enough that something that works perfect for me is probably not going to work very well for anyone else. But that's the beauty of the full-timing lifestyle you can shape it and form it to make it fit our life without having to worry about whether it works for anyone else or not.

This post is getting way too long so this will be my last thought. Even though we full -timers are all different and all live different lifestyles I believe there are two things that we all have in common that I believe will make almost anyone happier in their life, and that is simplifying life by getting rid of all the useless stuff that we've all bought to make us happy only to find out it has the opposite effect, and most important, being as free as you can be. Free to come and go as you please, free to be who you want to be, and free to make your own decisions all the time. It's hard to get to that point, it's even a little scary, but when you do you will find joy, happiness, and yes even fun in everything you do, or even doing nothing at all.

                                    theboondork

                                 

Not having anything interesting to do today I decided to take a break from relaxing and gather up all my expenses from last year and find out what my full-time lifestyle has cost me. Not that it makes any difference in my life, I spend what I spend, and it is what it is, it would be more useful to know the number of brain cells I lost last year, at least that would explain why I can't remember what I spent any this money on without reading it off the spreadsheet.


CAMPING-- $1,700-- that sounds like a lot for someone that's supposed to boondock all the time, and that works out to a little less than five dollars a day. But remember I have a very loose definition of boondocking. To simplify my life I decided in the very beginning that anytime I'm not hooked up to any utilities I will call it boondocking even if I'm at an RV Park and paying money to stay there, if I'm not hooked up to anything by my definition I'm boondocking.

TRUCK--$1,784-- this includes insurance. I also had new brakes put on the back of the truck, and some other maintenance work done but my 2007 GMC 2500 Duramax 4 x 4 truck has about 180,000 miles on it, runs great, and still passes Denver's extremely strict pollution control laws.

GROCERIES-- $2,851-- that averages out to about eight bucks a day. But when I'm boondocking in my daughter's yard in Denver during the summer I frequently eat with the family, so my grocery bill in the summer is mostly for snacks.

EAT OUT-- $166-- as usual restaurants are going broke waiting for me to come in and eat, and if it wasn't for Popeyes red beans and rice I could probably cut that amount in half.

TRAILER-- $619-- I think most of that was me buying different rearview cameras trying to get the wireless cameras to work on the Arctic Fox, which never did but fortunately I kept them and put them on the little Bronco pop-up camper where they worked just fine. So I still prefer wired cameras for the Arctic Fox.

FUEL-- $2,152-- What can I say, diesel fuels expensive, and some of the little towns that I'm boondocked near charge more than the average for diesel fuel.

MISCELLANEOUS--$786-- I don't remember what any of this is, which is the reason I put it under miscellaneous because it was probably something I shouldn't have bought and I wanted to forget about it as quickly as possible.

PERSONAL-- $7,317-- most of this was when I got tired of shaving and had a full body hair removal done.... Noooo wait a minute, I remember now, I sobered up canceled the hair removal appointment and bought the little Bronco popup slide- in camper instead.

HOBBYS-- $1,051-- I'm not sure how I spent that much on my two hobby's, I take pictures, and I ride around on my little dirt bike. I don't know why those things should cost that much. Maybe I have another hobby I can't remember. Whatever it is it must be fun because it's costing me a lot of money.

UTILITIES-- $3,590-- this includes my storage room, propane, cell phone, Mifi, and any money I need to hide for tax purposes.


TOTAL-- $22,016 -- I guess that sounds pretty reasonable considering it includes buying a used slide in pop-up camper, 400 watts of solar panels and a 20 amp solar controller. I figure if I'm somewhere in the general area of $20,000 a year I'm doing okay, and since I live a very happy and comfortable life that amount appears to be enough.

                              theboondork

It was a cloudy day today but it was still T-shirt weather by 11:00 AM and any day I can go outside without a coat is a good one.

I had to switch over my propane tanks yesterday which meant my last tank only lasted two weeks. That's a lot less time than I was hoping I would be getting but it gives you an idea about how chilly it's been this year.

Financially I guess its not all that bad because that means I'm keeping the Arctic Fox comfortable when it's cold outside, I'm cooking all my meals, running my refrigerator, and having some hot water, all on roughly $50 worth of propane a month.

That got me to thinking about how folks on the RV forums are always asking about what does it cost to be a full timer? And can I live on X number of dollars a month? So I think I've got two numbers here there are a pretty good start to determining what it cost to live in an RV on a budget if you're set up for boondocking.

When I'm boondocking for free like I am now, and which almost anybody can easily do if they want to, you can take the number that I've given you which is $50 for propane add +0 dollars for camping fees, add in the cost of food, which for me is around $300 a month and you will have the most basic number it will cost to live comfortably in an RV.

All the other costs will depend on how you live your life. Insurance, gas for the vehicle, repairs, running a generator, etc. etc. all that will be added to that basic cost of roughly $350 a month. And remember I'm a solo boondocker, so for two people with a couple of dogs, a cat, and a parrot named squawk, that cost will be considerably higher.

Like I've said in the past I don't live this way because I have to, I live this way because I love it. I don't boondock to save money, although it's a nice benefit, I boondock because I enjoy the lifestyle. So yes a person who wants to live frugally can save a lot of money living the way I do, but I'm not out here trying to save money, I'm living this way because it makes me happy and it gives me the freedom to come and go as I please and that to me is worth more than money at this point in my life.

All of that just reminded me that I need to get on the ball and figure out my expenses for last year, I've been so busy relaxing in my easy chair that I haven't had time to gather and put all those numbers together, but I'll get around to it just as soon as the desire outweighs my laziness, and the benefit overcomes my procrastination.

                             theboondork