Our startup costs for full timing

Larryzv7 wrote:
Nazpaz, I enjoyed reading your blog and perusing your budget. I make up a yearly budget which for more than a decade now I’ve handled very well. I put it on a spreadsheet with 12-monthly columns showing my estimates and then each month I put in my actual spending and compare it to the monthly estimates.

Averages are good but they are very general because one month I may have to renew my insurance, or have some other bill come due, which would mean spending more in that month than I would in other months. So while averages show “normal” expenses they do not show accurate expenses that are specific, like paying for insurance, which is not a monthly occurrence.

I think you are on the right track; each person that makes up a budget does so with consideration for what is germane to their particular situation, and their understanding of cash flow, etc. I don’t think that there is any right or wrong in this. The budget I make up for myself is germane for my situation, i.e. I do not use diesel, camp for free at State Parks, and use space heaters instead of propane to heat my 5th wheel during cold weather.

Being a full-time RV’er is a culture unto itself with very flexible parameters. In the few years that I have been full-timing I refined my budget many times to better have it reflect the scheduled RV stops I may have planned for a given year. Little things have made themselves known to me, like if I plan on dry camping I will budget money for generator gasoline, unlike if I was going to be at a place that had full hookups. So I would guess that as you go along you will refine your budget as well.

Like you, my actual spreadsheet is quite a detailed effort. I like doing stuff like that and I have formulas for just about everything with worksheets for projected fuel use and camping plus lots of other little tricks. There's way more than is necessary but it is fun to put together and see work.

Because of that I could give tons of data but opted to go with averages. I do admit your point that using annual averages tends to gloss over some annual major expenses. You will note though, that I gave vehicle insurance it's own column so it wouldn't be lost in all the figures.

On my 7 month 2013 fulltiming budget I overshot by just over $1000. That looks pretty impressive for a first year's budget but really I have to admit that it was just the result of over-budgeting for a lot of stuff and then getting hit with more major repairs than anyone would budget for. I blew past my repair budget about three months in and then kept going! Had I not over-budgeted for a bunch of other stuff I would have been off by a lot more than $1000.

Also, I certainly appreciate your point that little things sneak in and I know you are right that if I continue keeping good records that I'll be able to better refine the budget as time goes by.