Sunday, December 7, 2014

One Month Done

Well, we have been on the road for one day short of a month. This year we have made it only as far as Palm Springs, CA and will be staying her for another six weeks at least. Last year at the same time we were in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas visiting with our friends Chris & Juan and Wandering Mike. Last year we were covering much more ground and burning up the gas. This year, not so much.

Here is a quick comparison of costs:
Gas - motorhome  2013, $1,500   2015, $900
Dining Out            2013, $490      2015, $310  Temptation is higher on the road
RV Park fees         2013, $544      2015, $410 (pro rated) short vs. long term stays

That is a total of $914 savings in the first month alone!

Other expenses like groceries, liquor, propane are about the same. It is easy to see that costs can be kept down quite a bit by staying put. But then, I really miss Cajun food and Betty's RV Park!

I will do more comparisons as the winter goes on.

17 comments:

  1. But are you as happy as you are traveling more?

    I still think you could have spent more on gas the first month to get to MX and done the monthly rate thing here and come out way, way, way ahead of last year's costs because food and booze are so cheap here.

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    1. The jury is still out in the happy part. I have to agree that staying put in Mexico is even cheaper than staying put in the USA.

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    2. That was my attempt at subtly pointing out that you haven't been your usual cheery bloggy self this last month. :(

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    3. Ah.. No, it is tough to come up with anything interesting when we are doing so little.

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  2. Costs certainly have to be factored into travel. It's always nice to see the sights when wandering, however saving nearly a grand a month is worth taking into account.

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    1. I think the difference will actually increase as we go. After all, we were traveling for the first couple of weeks on the first month.

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  3. We tried to sit for a month the odd time, but did not much care for it. But we have memberships campgrounds we usually stay at with an average cost of about $7.00 a night, Dining out is not something we enjoy very much. Now the fuel prices this year really make it more affordable to travel.

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  4. well with that savings you can increase your booze budget and things should look cheerier ;)

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  5. Staying put and saving money always sounded like a smart plan... but we never managed it. We lived in a wheeled home to explore! I am grateful that both Odel and I had the wanderlust; would have been tough if we disagreed on how we wanted to spend our fulltiming years.

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  6. Croft: if I had your money I'd burn mine. Just keep having fun no matter where you are or what you do!

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  7. I think our future trips will be the same. Stay put for awhile. We're also thinking about choosing a different city in Canada each summer and renting an apartment for a month, move a month, etc. and then fly back home. I'd like to rent a Class B but they seem so expensive plus the fuel. Have fun. Post pictures.

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    1. Hi Chris. We are in Tofield, a small town, close to Edmonton, Alberta. The fuel price today was 78.9 per litre. Hopefully, the prices this coming summer will stay low.

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  8. Linda and I rented a one bedroom condo in Antigua Guatemala, a modern place, fully furnished for $750 a month last winter. The bus stop was just outside the door, we rented cars when we needed for about $45 a day. The air fare was $1600 for the two of us, transfers to and from the airport were $35 each way. The place did not have a laundry, it ran $15-20 a week and we had to lug it there or call a tut-tut. The place is a tourist town known for its Spanish schools, it has to have over a hundred restaurants; we have never run through all of them in a winter. If you ever get where you can't or don't want to RV, it is something to consider. Linda and I tend to spend about a grand less than we do in any given month here in Ohio when living in Antigua and we still have our normal Ohio bills in the mix.

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    1. Sounds like something to consider! Thanks.

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    2. Guatemala gets a bad rap, I've wintered there the last three winters, drove over most of the nation and have never felt threatened. It is like Mexico was 30 years ago.

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  9. Our friend Kathe Kirkbride lives in Chetumal and goes to Guatemala by herself all the time.

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    1. We are going to Chetumal this winter. We found a cheap Cancun ticket ($600 USD round trip for two), we are going to explore Bacalar, Majahual, local ruins and maybe slip over to Belize for a week. We'll bus down from Cancun or rent a car, a basic 'wing it' trip this year. We can only get away for five weeks this year, Linda and I's parents are getting frail.

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