What does it cost to live in a Motorhome?
Written May 2004
What does it cost you to live on the road?
We track, classify and record every cent we spend - and have done since we left Sydney in July 2003. We use Microsoft Excel to budget, track and predict spending. The budget is broken down into a number of categories and we track our spending each week in each category against the budget.
However, we are of the opinion that we are unlikely to travel the same road twice and the cost of getting back to a particular place is high - so we would rather over-spend the budget than not do or not see something we want to.
When we built the budget we had little idea about some things (like the cost of maintaining a large vehicle) so the budget has evolved somewhat.
Here is what the budget looks like...
| Item | Category | $ per Year |
|
Bus Fuel |
Bus Fuel |
$ 4,160 |
|
Moke Fuel |
Moke Fuel |
$ 1,040 |
|
Fun |
Fun |
$ 1,560 |
|
Camp Fees |
Camp Fees |
$ 300 |
|
Drink |
Drink |
$ 1,144 |
|
Moke Maintenance |
MokeMaint |
$ 1,500 |
|
Bus Maintenance |
BusMaint |
$ 3,000 |
|
Tyres |
BusMaint |
$ 350 |
|
LP Gas |
Gas |
$ 456 |
|
Food |
Food |
$ 6,500 |
|
Miscellaneous |
Other |
$1,500 |
|
Storage |
Other |
$ 1,100 |
|
Phone |
Other |
$ 300 |
|
Bank Fees |
Other |
$ 48 |
|
Clothes |
Other |
$ 520 |
|
Insurance |
Other |
$ 590 |
|
Vehicle Reg |
Other |
$ 1,372 |
|
Subtotal |
Other |
$ 5,430 |
|
Grand Total |
$25,440 |
At the time of writing, we are tracking at 96% of this budget with food being our biggest overspend at 110%.
Notes
-
The fuel portion of the budget is geared to the speed that we move, if you are planning to travel around Australia in 6 months, this will be much higher.
-
Not included in this budget are major improvements we make to the motorhome (for example the 4 new solar panels we put up this year).
-
I feel that we could cut another $3000 - $5000 from this total if we cut out beer, wine and ice cream, did not eat out, and were more careful with what we spend on food. Still, where is the fun in that - no beer!
Update - 2008
Four years on from when this report was written and I am sure it is no surprise that costs have increased quite a bit. Our approach to budgeting has also changed a bit - we now have more confidence in our ability to earn money on the road and as such we are less careful about how we spend money. This year (2008) our budget will exceed $32,000. The rising cost of fuel has of course had a major impact on this figure, and I am sure it is not going to get any better any time soon.
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