Living in, and running a business from a RV or Motor home- how to do it for $400 a month (or less)
Bill Myers
This article provides an example of how you can reduce your housing costs (including combined water, electric, cable, wifi, and sewer) to under $400 a month - and still live in some of the nicest places in the world. While on our recent cross country trip, we met a number of people who retired young and live full time in their motor homes or RV trailers. In asking some of these people how they came to be able to afford to live free like this -- to be able to live the kind of life that others just dreamed of -- most of them told me the same thing. They said . . . "It is actually a lot less expensive to live this 'dream life', than it is to live a conventional lifestyle." Living the dream on $400 a month At the Siesta RV Park, in Las Cruces, New Mexico, within walking distance of the historic village of Mesilla (where William H. Bonney, a.k.a. Billy the Kid was jailed for murder), we met a husband and wife who lived full time in their motor home. They told us they were 'wintering at the park', and when the weather in southern New Mexico warmed up in the summer, they would be moving to a park in the cool Pacific Northwest. Then, when the weather in the Pacific Northwest turned wet and cold, they would head back south. I asked them how they came to live this lifestyle, and they explained it this way. When they lived a normal life, with all the overhead of a real home, and maintaining two jobs, and having to cover all the costs related to their home and lifestyle, it was costing them nearly $7,000 a month. Yes, between them they earned almost $10,000 a month, but after taxes and expenses, they had little to show for it each month. In contrast, they found they could live in an RV park almost anywhere in the US for under $400 a month, and that $400 would cover space rental, all utilities (including electricity, water, phone, cable tv, sewer and unlimited internet), trash pickup, and yard service. When living in the RV park, their only other expenses were food, health insurance, and life's incidentals, which worked out to less than $500 a month. So their 'dream lifestyle' of living in different RV parks depending on the season, actually cost them 90% less than living the conventional lifestyle. True, they did have to purchase a RV to live in - but in their case, they purchased an older Airstream trailer which they could tow with the pickup truck they already owned. And the 29 foot Airstream Land Yacht cost them less than $5,000. So, with a minor investment in a RV, they were able to reduce their cost of living by almost $6,000 a month, give up their full time jobs, and live full time in their RV - choosing where to live with the seasons. (They still generated income from small ventures they were running on the internet). They were not alone While staying in the Fort Bridger RV camp in Wyoming, we met another couple who had also given up their 9 to 5 jobs, sold their home, and lived full time in their RV. And like the couple we met in Las Cruces, this couple saw their monthly expenses drop significantly. But they went a step further - by signing up to be campground hosts (which meant they ran the office at the RV park), they lived rent free, and were paid a small monthly salary by the out-of-state park owners. The couple told us that because they didn't have to pay rent or any utility bills, their only overhead was food and personal health insurance. And the salaries paid to be campground hosts pretty much covered those expenses. This meant that the money they had set aside for retirement wasn't being touched for their day-to-day living expenses - it stayed in their investment funds where it was earning interest for them. Paupers and millionaires The more RV parks and campgrounds we stayed at, the more people we met who were living the full time lifestyle. And while some of these people were millionaires living in million dollar motor homes, many were regular people who had chosen the freedom of the road, and the low cost lifestyle. Others that we met were people with full time jobs who had chosen the RV lifestyle to cut their expenses so they could save up money for a home or other investments. We met a number of construction workers who live in RVs. They told us they travel to wherever the jobs are, move into a RV park, and save money on rent and overhead. (In Las Cruces, we met a number of aerospace engineers living in RVs, who had been hired to work at the new space port being built near Las Cruces.) In historic Virginia City, NV, which was the site of the famous Comstock gold and silver mines, we stayed at the Virginia City RV park, where we met a family that lived in the park full time. They enjoyed all the amenities of the park, and the parents availed themselves of the job opportunities in nearby Virginia City during the tourist season. When the season was over, they'd move to another park where the tourist season was picking up, and find jobs in that area. Product Developers Dream? A small but growing trend among product developers and others who make their living on the internet is to purchase a RV trailer, park it in their back yards, and use it as a home office. These older RVs can make excellent home offices, as they have all the amenities one would want (heat, air, running water, bathroom, TV), and by removing a bed, you have plenty of room for your desk and other office equipment. In many areas of the country, you can find used travel trailers, even Airstreams for under $5,000. And if your local neighborhood code allows it, you can pull one of these in your own backyard and have an excellent office. Or, you could go further, and outfit one to meet your product developer's lifestyle, and go the route of others who have chosen the freedom of living on the road (actually in RV campgrounds), moving with the weather or whenever you want a change of scenery. Or just to get your feet on the ground Back when I was transitioning from publishing the 'Black Box News' newsletter to the 'Desktop Video Newsletter', my home and office were destroyed by a tornado. Because I had an obligation to keep the two newsletters going, I couldn't let being homeless put me out of business. So, I searched around and found a 26 foot travel trailer, bought it for around $4,000, and had it towed to where my house once stood (before the tornado). And then, working out of that travel trailer (for 8 months), I continued to publish both newsletters, produce new videos, and generally conduct business as normal (while my home was being rebuilt). Sure, it was cramped and sometimes inconvenient. But it was affordable, it was a roof over my head, and it gave me a foundation from which I could appreciate future good times. It also taught me that if necessary, there are ways one can live well, even on a very minimal budget. My prediction: as more and more baby boomers reach retirement and discover they don't have enough money to retire, some will choose to live the 'free' life on the road. Some may have no alternative. For more information on affordable Airstream trailers, see the list below:
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