Over the years we have occasionally presented our budget and tried looking at it from different perspectives. Budgets for this lifestyle are as varied as are budgets for any lifestyle. Depending whether you prefer caviar and champagne or cheap beer and hotdogs there will be a different total number for the budget.
However, there are so many commonalities about what each fulltimer must buy that the totals aren’t the important information. The important part of budgeting for this lifestyle is knowing what changes your sticks and bricks budget will undergo once you transition into a fulltime RV lifestyle. While one may spend less in this lifestyle some will likely spend more.
Every time I wrote a blog about our budget I received a lot of questions and requests for what tool I used for our budget. Over the years I tried to field as many questions as I could and offered advice when asked. I finally decided to spend some time formalizing all that advice as well as cleaning up my budgeting spreadsheet for more general use. This was a great exercise while we have been sitting during this extended stay. The culmination of all this gathering of information and retooling of my spreadsheet is this Ebook – Budgeting for Full Time RV’er.
I planned to offer this book for free at first but realized that I would likely have to personally answer a few questions about the spreadsheet for each person receiving the Ebook. Given that I would need to be available to follow-up with further explanation I decided to publish the Ebook through Amazon and charge for it. In looking at Amazon’s Ebook publishing tools it appears the lowest I can charge is $1.99. I feel this is a fair price for this Ebook especially since the spreadsheet alone would be very helpful to someone wanting to take control of their budget.
My intent is to offer this Ebook to all the aspiring full timers and to those who are fulltiming now but need some organization for their budgeting. The Ebook discusses the various budget categories we felt were significant and there are tips scattered through out the Ebook about ways to reduce costs in some of the expense categories. My hope is that this Ebook and spreadsheet will assist those in need and is my way of giving back some of the things we have learned during our last (almost) five years of traveling on the road.
Purchasers of the Ebook will need to email us with a request for the spreadsheet. Just send us the request along with proof of purchase from Amazon and we will send the accompanying spreadsheet. If you have any questions about the book or spreadsheet just ask us and we will gladly reply as quickly as we can!
Happy budgeting on the Road of Retirement…
Good luck, John, with you're ebook. Sounds like a good idea.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, John. That book is really needed. Please say something on your Facebook page so I can Share it.
ReplyDeletewill do - wanting to do a slow release to make sure there aren't any bugs in the spreadsheet... will post to FB soon
DeleteI see this asked all the time on various Facebook groups. I'll share this once you make sure all the bugs are worked out. I'm sure it will be a big seller, especially for that low price. Congrats on the 5 year anniversary. It made me think, we just had our 5 year anniversary too.
DeleteWhen you're a famous author, well you still remember us little people?? ;)
ReplyDeletepretty sure neither of those will happen...
DeleteHopefully, it will be a success and others will have lots of questions answered with your Ebook and spreadsheet. The RV lifestyle isn't as cheap as some think but then again, it is. You're right in that it all depends on how they do it. I know you'll have lots of great ideas and suggestions. I hope the book does well.
ReplyDeleteWould love to read it. But since we definitely don't require any help with our budget or expenses, I can't justify spending the two bucks ($2.80 CAD)!
ReplyDeletewww.travelwithkevinandruth.com
Congratulations on your book; I am sure many out there -- aspiring or otherwise -- will find it useful.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your book,
ReplyDeleteAs you know we are finishing up 9 years fulltime and have no problem with budgeting. We know how to make a little go a long way.
What an amazing lifestyle.
Good luck with the book. It's a great idea. I haven't talked much about finances on the blog since everyone's are so different. We've been keeping spreadsheets of every penny of our expenses for 35 years so moving to full timing just meant minor changes since our categories stayed mainly the same. It really was the spread sheets and knowing our monetary situation so well that enabled us to retire early and full time.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to read it, but like Kevin, we had our budget well under control for so many years before we started RVing, living life on the road has come easy for us. But... I'll bet there's a lot of folks who could use some pointers. Best of luck with your book.
ReplyDeleteA great idea, John. I know others post their budget numbers sometimes, but seeing this in one place would be a really helpful tool for new people who want to go full time and aren't necessarily spreadsheet savvy. It is always nice to read what someone else has learned and to skip their mistakes. Really nice that you made the effort. I, too, will share it on Facebook. There are a couple of crazy rv groups over there that I read now and then.
ReplyDeleteExcellent work John. Although in the early daysI, I always though you guys fudged a little on the beer budget :D
ReplyDeleteWow John. Something we have been meaning to do as well. Probably not budgeting though. Our first 5 1/2 years were lean and now we to that budget, well mostly. ;)
ReplyDelete