Our startup costs for full timing

2freelife wrote:
We have fulltimed with a diesel truck for many years. When we travel we spend on average $140 for a tank of gas which will pull our 32 foot 5th wheel about 450 miles. Even if we are sitting still for a few months we will fill the tank at least twice in a month so we can go sightseeing, so that comes to at least $280 a month just to stay put. People need to have realistic numbers so they can truly judge if this lifestyle is affordable for them. I never came across a campground cheaper than $300 a month. The cheaper ones usually don't offer any many amenities. We would go bike riding or hiking wherever we visit. Both activities are free but usually involve using fuel to get to a certain area to explore. Personally I wouldn't think this lifestyle is great if I could only afford to sit in the 5th wheel at a crummy rv resort trying to live on little or nothing. I just want people to be realistic that it is kind of an expensive lifestyle, but anything worth doing does costs money. It's a wonderful lifestyle but can't be done comfortably on less than $5,000 a month. $5,000 would be a stretch if people are traveling every few days unless you want to park in a Walmart parking lot or truck stop.

We're gearing up and getting ready for fulltiming next year. We'll be funding this adventure ourselves until retirement age. I agree with you to some degree that it CAN be costly, but you should have some form of a budget pre and post fulltiming that shows ALL of your cost. Our budget while still in the S&B is ~$3K/month. We are 100% debt free and will be that way while in retirement and fulltiming. We have done a budget for fulltiming based on our current budget and feel that the $3K will still work, but are going to bump it to $4.5K so as not to strap us down to sitting in resorts and looking out the window. Our budget will be a "work in progress" as we figure things out. You should do the same and find what works for you.

As too others budgets. I have looked at A LOT of them that I found on the internet and have found that we fall in line with them. We will have expenses that they don't have an visa versa, but we will keep to OUR budget and spend how we think we need to.

-paul