How to calculate the cost of RVing

[Jayco-noslide]

I'll use a 2003 Class C motor home purchased 7 years ago as an example because that's what we have.
I paid $23000 for it. Let's assume I sell today for $15000. OK much of this has to be estimated. So I spent $8000 (Not the price I paid for it). I estimate I've spent 75 days per year using it(525 days) so = $15 per day for "lodging". Not bad. But to the $8000 I need to add Camping fees($2000), repair, service and improvements($5000), fuel that's over and above traveling in a car for 40000 miles(that's actual)= $3600 car versus $12000 MH = $8400. Plus Misc. cost of $1000
Grand total cost = $24000 for 7 years, 40000 miles and and estimated 525 days of living in it. Averages out to $45 per day.
I can live with that. But a new MH, fewer nights use and trading soon would raise that to way more than a luxury hotel for same number of nights.
Different viewpoints or math?

[jdb7566]

It costs nothing to stay home and do nothing. I have a brother-in-law who did a "cost analysis" in regards to RV'ing. My first sentence is what he does now.

[suprz]

philh wrote:

Matt_Colie wrote:
We are sure not the Odd-Man-Out here.
As it happens, I have been an engineering manager most of my career and one of the first lessons I learned from a very effective mentor was to watch out for "Input Oriented Managers". These are the business school people that only look at the cost side of the ledger. They don't even want to look at the results unless you slam their faces into it....

I teach an occasional project management class and use an example video of two 1/2 trucks, one is stuck in the mud, the other is pulling a semi out of a snow bank. Point of the videos, both trucks are using the same amount of energy (your point of input), and have distinctly different outcomes.

Where I work they unfortunately do not think that a manager or your immediate supervisor needs to know How To do your job. Their directors exact words was "I don't think it's necessary for them to know how to do your job, they are only there to remove obstacles from your path in completing your job"... My reply was "and how would they know what the obstacles are, even if I tell them, and how would they perceive the same sense of urgency if they have never done my job? "... I never got a reply.... IDIOTS!!

[myredracer]

Walaby wrote:

I have a 63 Nova that is 90+% complete. Not happy with interior, so need to redo that. Also not happy with brakes, so work there too.

First one that I painted myself. Turned out pretty decent. Not perfect, but certainly decent. And a great learning experience.

How bout you?

Mike

I like the styling of the early Novas. Painting a car properly from bare metal is complex. Last time I painted a car was in the 80s. Paint technology has sure changed a lot.

Mine are a little different. Have a '66 Fiat Abarth 1300/124, a factory performance model. Less than 300 made, not many left. It's a serious restoration using a donor body. Will be like the white one below. Just doing the body work now. Other is a replica of a 62-63 Fiat Abarth 850TC factory race car, will look like 4th photo. Have done extensive rust repair and mods on the body. Have a build thread on a forum here and here. I do everything except machine work. Progress will slow a lot over the RV-ing season.

[philh]

Matt_Colie wrote:
We are sure not the Odd-Man-Out here.
As it happens, I have been an engineering manager most of my career and one of the first lessons I learned from a very effective mentor was to watch out for "Input Oriented Managers". These are the business school people that only look at the cost side of the ledger. They don't even want to look at the results unless you slam their faces into it....

I teach an occasional project management class and use an example video of two 1/2 trucks, one is stuck in the mud, the other is pulling a semi out of a snow bank. Point of the videos, both trucks are using the same amount of energy (your point of input), and have distinctly different outcomes.

[Matt_Colie]

We are sure not the Odd-Man-Out here.
As it happens, I have been an engineering manager most of my career and one of the first lessons I learned from a very effective mentor was to watch out for "Input Oriented Managers". These are the business school people that only look at the cost side of the ledger. They don't even want to look at the results unless you slam their faces into it....

I do live most of my life at the bottom-right corner of a spreadsheet, but you have to try to assign true value to things like being at the Balloon Fiesta for the Dawn Patrol and then hanging on the fence with your dog between you while 600+ hot air balloons take to the sky. Or the look on that same dog's face (she was in the passenger seat because Mary was making coffee) when we were stuck in a "Bison Jam" in Yellowstone. Or the time we left where ever we had spent the night in time to watch the sun come up on one of the high tops of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The coach also allows us to do many things that would be otherwise at least impractical if not impossible.

Our coach was bought for cash, and as it is a classic upkeep is not cheap and while it is extra work for me, at least if I do it then I know it was done right. Even if I roll that cost into the spread sheet, we still could not travel as we do for any less money.

In a typical traveling year, we go to two type-specific rallies. Other than that, our times in an FHU campground are very limited. We don't need or want them as they have nothing to offer that we do not have on board.

Somebody said something about Walmart many posts back. We have stayed at some Walmarts. They are handy as we do need to pick up provisions. It we stop there and then spend the night, that is a convenience for us. We ONP lost of other places too. Many of those have been very memorable for good reasons. The problem is that you have to look for these places.

It has been a long day and I am going to end this here because I am tired.

Matt

[Walaby]

myredracer wrote:

Walaby wrote:
restore classic cars as well. Two other expensive hobbies.

Mike

That caught my eye. What do you have?

I have a 63 Nova that is 90+% complete. Not happy with interior, so need to redo that. Also not happy with brakes, so work there too.

First one that I painted myself. Turned out pretty decent. Not perfect, but certainly decent. And a great learning experience.

How bout you?

Mike

[philh]

toedtoes wrote:
I think planes may be the worst thing to ever calculate costs for... 🙂

I thought my photography was bad.

I've gone through almost every expensive hobby known to man and have the bank account to show for it

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

I will admit that after calculating that our fixed-keel sailboat kept at a marina, was costing us about $500 per sail excursion, we decided to sell it and get a trailerable boat. We could have rented a sailboat for that kind of money (and not have had the worries of it beating itself to pieces against the dock during a storm, etc). But it doesn't really apply to RV's because they just sit quietly when not being used 🙂

[toedtoes]

I think planes may be the worst thing to ever calculate costs for... 🙂

I thought my photography was bad.

[philh]

jplante4 wrote:
At one point I decided to calculate how much I spent to get my flight instructor certificates in an effort to see if I will ever break even. That was a good 5 minute laugh.

i made the mistake of adding up 10 years of plane ownership... eye opening it was.

[myredracer]

Walaby wrote:
restore classic cars as well. Two other expensive hobbies.

Mike

That caught my eye. What do you have? I've got a couple that I've been restoring/modifying the past several winters. One I've had for 30 years and the other 10+ years before finally having time for them (finally about to paint one). Yes, definitely expensive! And like RVs, you'll almost never recoup all the time and $$ you put into them.

In the beginning we went through 3 TTs before one stuck. Thousands of $$ down the drain (sigh). Then, there's all the $$ spent on mods & ugrades on our TT. On the positive side, we are Thousand Trails members and in addition to the $800 we spent on a used membership, the annual dues are only around $500 so our annual per night cost is fairly low. We went on a car road trip once from BC to San Diego. Stayed in motels and tented in few CGs. DW (an accountant) tallied up every single receipt (including things like tourist attractions) and came to almost $5K! It's really hard to compare RV-ing to road trips in a car, there's too many variables.

I love everything about RV-ing - towing a "rig" down the road, doing mods, travelling to new places, figuring out how to get from point A to B, meeting folks in CGs, etc. Just can't put a price on that.

If you call it a hobby, then it's all good... 🙂

[toedtoes]

I priced some Antarctica cruises. $17,000 for a week.

But not really something you can do with an RV.

[goducks10]

If you think RV'ing is not cost effective per night then go on a cruise. Depending on where you live and where the cruise departs from, you have airfare, probably one night in a hotel before the cruise and then the stateroom. We've done 8 cruises that have varied from inside cabins to a Haven Suite. Adding in all the $$$ for drinks and some specialty restaurants and the costs are $1500 on the low end to $6-7,000 on the high end for a one week vacation.
For that much money we can travel 1,000's of miles and camp where we want for many weeks.
For $6K I can spend 2 months in my RV easily. I guess it all boils down to what you prefer to do and how you justify it.

[RobWNY]

Grit dog wrote:

RobWNY wrote:
Here's some examples of what I've experienced in Hotels that have never happened to me in my RV...Kids running and stomping their feet for hours in the room above me while I try to sleep. Constant doors slamming all night long. The group of teenagers that rent the room next to me and have a party only to be broken up by the Police. The smell of Marijuana coming through the air ducts because the people in the room next to me thought they would "relax". I can't put a price on any of those things that I get to avoid with my RV.

My advice is find better hotels and you can't include Vegas in your list of hotel turnoffs! Lol
Or just don't exaggerate. Now tell us per 100 nights in hotels, how many nights resulted in behavior you considered disruptive? And be honest, how many disruptive campground or RV park nights?

Nothing I wrote has been an exaggeration. Of course there will be nights in a campground that have issues as well but they are few and far between. I'll take spending the night in my RV over a Hotel 10 out of 10 times if I have a choice.

[fitznj]

This exercise is similar to my calculation of how much it costs to fish.
Cost of boat, trailer, gas, ramp fees, reg, ins......... When I get home
I joke with the wife that I pay about $150 per lb of fish caught. But like
the RV, it's not about the cost.