Cost of your hobby

[pitch]

I am constantly asked by non Rv'ing friends and family how expensive this hobby is.
I did not figure the cost of the truck as I have always had one,I spread the cost of the trailer out over a guessstimated life of ten years. Nor did I depreciate either the truck or trailer as I tend to keep things till the wheels fall off.
Any way I came up with a ballpark of 1.25 per traveled mile of outing. More if it is a destination trip much lower for simple short camping.
If any of you have figured it out where do you come in at?

[the_bear_II]

I figured it up..... PRICELESS !!!

[fla-gypsy]

The cost? Are you kidding? The cost is insignificant compared to the benefit derived. The ROI is priceless!

[michigansandzil]

I have added camping/RVing up for our family, but per year as opposed to per mile.

We both work and have school aged kids, so for us, it's a hobby; we still own a home, etc. We use the RV as a portable hotel to go to new exciting places, and we use it to go 15 minutes down the road for a weekend to sit by the fire with friends.

For us, we get 1-2 BIG week long trips out of state (ie-we just returned from 11 days in the Smokies), 1-2 week long trips in state on a great lake, and probably 6 weekend/extended weekend trips during the year.
All of the campsite rentals, gas, excursions (horseback riding, amusement parks, etc), camper payments and insurance for a year costs us about 4-5K. If we kept our old paid off camper, stayed only at state parks and didn't do excursions, it would be less.

Most people I know spend 1 week at Disney for the same price. I think we're making out in the deal.

[rickeoni]

With my stressful job the 40 or 50 nights a year away from the phone, email and spreadsheets is priceless.

[Community Alumni]

As others have stated, it's a lifestyle. We live in our rv six months spread over a year and expenses associated with doing this are relative to living at home for six months.

Cost per mile is never a factor.

[Kittykath]

Since ours sits on a seasonal site, we usually end up comparing the cost of the camper + the site fee + storage to owning a cabin. The number comparison isn't apples to apples, but the feeling of having a slice of summer heaven is. The cost is worth it when I forget the math.

[RollandB]

It's our way to enjoy traveling and seeing new places. We spent the $$ some do flying to a resort for a week or two. The only place I need to fly to is Hawaii since it's a bit tough to pull the trailer there.

[Campfire_Time]

I've done rough calculations. And I do count the cost of the truck because if we didn't RV, we probably would have a car with a 4 banger in it.

We've bought our trailers new and have kept them for 10 years. Even then we've gotten 50% of the original cost back on them. Taking that number, the cost of gas over and above what not having a truck would be, and the cost of sites, it comes out to somewhere around $80-$100 a night. Not cheap, but no worse than staying in rooms for vacations. And far more fun!

Its tough to compare though. We've done a couple of vacations where we've stayed in really nice places, once at the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite for our 25th anniversary. Far more expensive than we normally do. And I know a lot of people who will spend 5k for a week in an all inclusive resort just to sit on the beach for a week.

Bumpyroad wrote:
I think it is meaningless to equate the cost per mile. Per night/day of camping/RVing would make more sense.
bumpy

I agree.

[FlatBroke]

A few years ago I quit buying, just gotta haves, piece of mind, cheap insurance and wow that's neat do-dads. Sold a lot of that krap I never used. Cleaned out the storage bay of all the stuff. Had to be a gazillion dollars worth. Now our "hobby" is more enjoyable and less expensive. Now I have real PEICE OF MIND!

[Bumpyroad]

I think it is meaningless to equate the cost per mile. Per night/day of camping/RVing would make more sense.
bumpy

[Dutch_12078]

For us, RV'ing is not a "hobby", it's our way of life. We've found over the years that living and traveling in our coach costs us little more than staying stationary at our cottage.

[ryegatevt]

dbbls wrote:
All hobbies cost, but if I can afford it I do it.

Ditto!

[camperpaul]

For us full-timers, it's not a hobby; it's a lifestyle.

[dbbls]

All hobbies cost, but if I can afford it I do it.

[Dick_B]

No and probably never will. I like to sleep at night!