What kind of investment is a $5,000 Disney Cruise?
How about $3,000 for a week at Disney World? (probably more really)
How about a $3,000 week at the beach in a condo?
We replaced our travel budget with the TT then switched to a MH. That's how we look at it. If we keep it after it is paid off, the cost per year will start to go down.
In reality, it cost us more than we use to spend on travel, but we travel a whole lot more. We have taken many weekend trips to outdoor destinations that we would have never done without the RV.
Just figure out your family leisure budget and see if an RV fits into that. If there is no room for other trips, commit totally to the RV lifestyle or you shouldn't try. If you have room for RV-ing and other non-RV trips, more power to you. The only destinations I can think of that would be bad in an RV are some big cities. We don't want to go to those anyway. RV-ing at the beach is the best! We reserve ahead and get a site right up front.
We rented some really nice beach houses and condos before we got the RV bug. Don't get me wrong, I loved those vacations, but when we left, I felt like we just threw some big bucks away on rent.
With the RV, we are still "throwing" money away but it's down our very own money pit! There will be some residual value left at the end of ownership. I guess some get stuck sending their RVs off to the dump at the end of the useful life. Most have some value and can be sold.
It's only money. Just figure out if this lifestyle is the way you want to spend it.
