1/2/2009 - Queen Creek, Arizona: We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. We sure did! Larry's dad came down from Prescott, Arizona and spent a few days with us. He brought his motor home and stayed in the same RV Park with us. We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner at Leslie's house. We returned for Christmas morning to see what Santa Claus brought everyone. Having a 2 year old around sure makes Christmas more fun. The one-month old didn't pay any attention to the festivities. Later int he week, we had Larry's old boss, Gene and Patti, over for dinner and some table games. It's fun catching up on each others life, even if we only see them once a year. Larry and Gene worked together for over 6 years until they were both laid-off when the company went bankrupt. That was bad news, but it turned out to be what set us free for this great lifestyle of traveling in our motor home! Gene's also doing real well in his own business.
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For New Years Eve, we had a small pot-luck and party with neighbors in the RV Park. Yesterday, we attended a large pot-luck for the entire RV Park. Whew! Who knew being semi-retired and not working for the winter would be so busy! Ahh, but it's great!
Now that 2008 is past us, I've updated our expense report. We now have over 4 years worth of expense data to see what this lifestyle is costing us. I know many of you wonder what does it cost to live and travel fulltime a motorhome or trailer. As stated before, everyone's comfort level will be different, but our expense record shows you what it cost us. I think we've been doing pretty good, averaging a little over $2,400 a month in expenses. 2008 was an expensive year for us, and this was by choice. We remodeled the front of the motor home and took a 2-week vacation to Jamaica. Both of these were optional and would have saved about $7,500. We seem to like our food, as groceries have averaged $412 a month and dining out averaged $198 a month over the past 4 years. But these numbers reflect us preparing meals for family during the holidays. Our meal expenses always go up when we're with family. Our motor home expenses have been fairly good, averaging $188 a month for fuel and only $188 a month for camping fees (interesting that they are the same value). In 2008, our nightly camping fee was under $6 a night. However, workamping for 6 months really helps reduce the fuel and camp fees for the year. Sure, there's areas we could cut back even further in the expenses, but we don't want to sacrifice our comfort level. Just because we're living in a motor home doesn't mean we have to live in poverty. We don't want our comforts to be reduced. We enjoy working in the summers and think we're doing well financially. In the big picture, our savings level will be higher at the end of the year than it was when we started traveling in 2004. To us, that's a financial success. Larry's 51 years old. If we can get away with working in the mountains in a fun job for 6 months a year, then traveling and "goofing" off the other 6 months of the year, we're perfectly happy with that.(Have I convinced you to come out and play yet?)
I hope everyone has a wonderful, fun, and prosperous new year!