The costs of longterming (1 Viewer)

[Coolbeanz]

Well I have finally found the time to update the financial page of my blog. I still have some more to add but I have now posted some of the costs of our trip as well as a chart of supermarket prices. I will try to get it finished this week. Hope you find it useful

http://2midlifecyclistsinamotorhome.blogspot.co.uk/p/blog-page_15.html

 

[davidbaldam]

Great job keep it up but let the poor boy have an ice cream out every now and then.

 

[Coolbeanz]

That made him chuckle

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[irnbru]

Oh my goodness. What wonderful valued information you have provided here especially for people like me that have still to venture to Europe. It must have taken a great deal of time and much effort .

I look forward to seeing the route you travelled.
A BIG THANKYOU. . This has been very much appreciated.

 

[scotjimland]

I have set a base line budget of £8400 with a (hopefully) top line of £10,000

If you can do it for that you will be doing very well..

We full timed for three years and it cost us closer to £12k per year.. but our circumstances were a little different in that we were a family of four.. we also had an RV that was expensive to run and maintain and only did 12 mpg

We all do things differently... so it's difficult to compare, for example, we never spent money on restaurant meals or expensive sites, most of our camping was on aires or CLs in the UK.. we rarely spent money on anything other than essentials..

Full timing is not as cheap as many believe .. it's cheaper than living in a house .. but not cheap.

If you are not adding enough money to the pot to cover your outgoings, (which, despite my best efforts we weren't doing) , no matter how much you have in the bank.. it will eventually run out.. it's like a leaking tap.. drip drip drip..

 

[buttons]

Very impressive, you should get together with GJH Graham and yourself from what I see have a great deal in common.

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[Snowbird]

I wish I had been more organised, having long termed for the last 15 years I haven't a clue how much it costs .

 

[Coolbeanz]

If you can do it for that you will be doing very well..

We full timed for three years and it cost us closer to £12k per year.. but our circumstances were a little different in that we were a family of four.. we also had an RV that was expensive to run and maintain and only did 12 mpg

We all do things differently... so it's difficult to compare, for example, we never spent money on restaurant meals or expensive sites, most of our camping was on aires or CLs in the UK.. we rarely spent money on anything other than essentials..

Full timing is not as cheap as many believe .. it's cheaper than living in a house .. but not cheap.

If you are not adding enough money to the pot to cover your outgoings, (which, despite my best efforts we weren't doing) , no matter how much you have in the bank.. it will eventually run out.. it's like a leaking tap.. drip drip drip..

We are much the same as you when it comes to restaurants. We only ate out once as I love to cook but there is one meal my husband had never tried so we did venture to a lovely seaside restaurant along the Normandy coast to try moules frites. They were nice but I'll do them myself next time and save a fortune!!
The reason for the base line budget is I wanted a figure to put in the ExpenseNova as a starting point. Surprisingly I now think it is definitely possible to stick very close to that figure.
We also avoided expensive sites and I was extremely surprised that my initial thoughts on going over budget in summer and under in winter turned out to be wrong. I will try and finish the post today or tomorrow as I want to add more on what it cost us on Aires/Campsites and why it was cheapest for us in August.

 

[Coolbeanz]

I wish I had been more organised, having long termed for the last 15 years I haven't a clue how much it costs .

I wouldn't worry now then, as long as your bank account stays in the black just keep going

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[Clive]

This is just so useful, I'm on my countdown to retirement, OK still have 3 years to go but realised it takes a lot of planning on the finance side

 

[Theonlysue]

Really useful info.
The euro rate is so good at the moment, that must help a lot.

 

[Coolbeanz]

If you can do it for that you will be doing very well..

We full timed for three years and it cost us closer to £12k per year.. but our circumstances were a little different in that we were a family of four.. we also had an RV that was expensive to run and maintain and only did 12 mpg

We all do things differently... so it's difficult to compare, for example, we never spent money on restaurant meals or expensive sites, most of our camping was on aires or CLs in the UK.. we rarely spent money on anything other than essentials..

Full timing is not as cheap as many believe .. it's cheaper than living in a house .. but not cheap.

If you are not adding enough money to the pot to cover your outgoings, (which, despite my best efforts we weren't doing) , no matter how much you have in the bank.. it will eventually run out.. it's like a leaking tap.. drip drip drip..

Just noticed that you were fulltiming in the UK, that makes a big difference as everything is cheaper in France, fuel, food, lpg, campsites, Aires. Did you spend any of the 3 years in Europe?

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[Coolbeanz]

Really useful info.
The euro rate is so good at the moment, that must help a lot.

It did, I had to alter my expenses app from a base line of €10,080 to €10,584. More money to spend
Let's just hope it doesn't go down again

 

[scotjimland]

Just noticed that you were fulltiming in the UK, that makes a big difference as everything is cheaper in France, fuel, food, lpg, campsites, Aires. Did you spend any of the 3 years in Europe?

no.. just part of the time when we came back for MOT etc... and to help my mate at his pub in Kent ..
we spent more than two years in France and Spain

Aires are cheap .. fuel was cheaper, but never found food cheap..

 

[Taran_Las]

Very informative, though I've never considered food cheap in France.

I can't wait for the Campsite/aires figures.

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[Clive]

Very informative, though I've never considered food cheap in France.

I can't wait for the Campsite/aires figures.

but thw wine is to take your mind of it

 

[scotjimland]

but thw wine is to take your mind of it

wine and baccy is cheaper.. baccy even cheaper in Belgium,
but no financial benefit for those like us who use neither ..

 

[Jim]

Worth a look

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-livin...t.jsp?country1=United+Kingdom&country2=France

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[Taran_Las]

but the wine is to take your mind of it

How very true​

 

[Coolbeanz]

Very informative, though I've never considered food cheap in France.

I can't wait for the Campsite/aires figures.

Meat wasn't cheaper but we found most other stuff was, it was a relief to get to Germany and pig out on Bratwurst

 

[Coolbeanz]

wine and baccy is cheaper.. baccy even cheaper in Belgium,
but no financial benefit for those like us who use neither ..

that explains why our food bill was so much cheaper then, more wine and less meat!! It also explains the permanent grins on our faces!! Or is that just the joy of giving up work and travelling

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[MitchandJenny]

Great info.. Don't you ever wild camp ??

 

[Coolbeanz]

Great info.. Don't you ever wild camp ??

So far we have only done it once in the Pyrenees for the TDF. Hubby was a bit nervous of Aires but now loves them so I am breaking him in gently

 

[Coolbeanz]

Worth a look

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_countries_result.jsp?country1=United Kingdom&country2=France

It's interesting when you scroll down and look at the groceries they compared. Nearly every item was cheaper in France but the cheese skews the figures and where did they buy the water?? If you look at my supermarket list water isn't anywhere near that expensive. All I know is I spent approx £100 a week in the UK on groceries and I now spend around £52. I suppose if we ate a lot of meat the cost of our weekly shop would go up but we didn't skimp as we ate chicken and chorizo every week, Merguez sausages and minced beef so lots of paella, home made burgers etc

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[Jim]

We've always found groceries were much cheaper in France, that said in the UK were buying at supermarkets and in France we are buying most of what we eat at markets. Nothing processed, all home made.

 

[Coolbeanz]

We've always found groceries were much cheaper in France, that said in the UK were buying at supermarkets and in France we are buying most of what we eat at markets. Nothing processed, all home made.

That's what we found, lovely fresh food although a couple of the markets we visited were very expensive. We even bought some of the finest cheese I have ever tasted, Epoisses, and it was less than €5 direct from the Fromagerie. Half the fun is visiting the vineyards, fromageries and markets, it's part of the journey for us.

 

[Snowbird]

Have just returned from the Masymas across the road and for 2 kgs of mussels, 15 bottles of wine of which 8 were Cava, 2 cartons of milk, 1 carton of creme fresch, and a bunch of chives, the bill came to 39-17 Euros. At todays rate, thats £30-81 for a few headaches and a good feed. Add 15 Euros for the camping at the same rate which is £11-85 and am sitting in the sun. So for 2 bottles of wine plus 2 kgs of mules marinier and the camping for 1 day for 2 people it works out at £20-96p. Thats £10-48 each all in. Now I know why I love Benidorm . Must go now, am off to the pool to cool down before lunch.

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[carolyn]

How very interesting, although we won't be fulltiming when Nick retires in April we will certainly spend a few months in France. I took early retirement a few months ago and have become a Lidl convert in the UK. It's not often that we think that the quality is poor. Thank you very much , I have book marked it. App looks good too.

 

[BreweryDave]

Very comprehensive ! Well done.
But surely you'd have a better time having fun than compliling spreadsheets!
I find it hard to budget - especially after the first few beers! It always leads to more!!! But on the positive side - with a hangover I tend not to spend anything the next day

 

[Coolbeanz]

How very interesting, although we won't be fulltiming when Nick retires in April we will certainly spend a few months in France. I took early retirement a few months ago and have become a Lidl convert in the UK. It's not often that we think that the quality is poor. Thank you very much , I have book marked it. App looks good too.

We don't full-time either as we will come home probably twice a year for 3 or 4 weeks but who knows what we may decide in the future.

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