March 26, 2005

house on wheels

we’re thinking about purchasing a motorhome... to live in over the summer and maybe longer. some people think this is completely insane. some seem to think it’s an okay idea. some just nod their heads and say, “oh, yeah?!?”

here’s how i see it: i wouldn’t pay more than $500 in rent or house payments. it’s getting harder to find rent like that anymore. even more so with a dog... and a cat. plus we’re not really sure where we want to live. we have some places we’d like to try out first. but to move costs around $1000 (moving truck, gas, your car, deposit on housing, etc.). once in your new town you’d better find a job fast, cuz all those reoccurring bills (power $100, natural gas $60, water/sewer/garbage $20, vehicle insurance $150, car payment $230, credit card debt $250) start adding up real quick ($810 without rent — $1310 with). oh and don’t forget food ($300) for a total of about $1610 a month. (plus all of the security deposits everyone wants, late fees incurred due to deficit spending).

a full-time (40 hr) job at $8.00 per hour over the course of four weeks brings in $1280. two part-time (20 hrs/each) jobs at $5.15 per hour equals $1648 over four weeks. (minus 12% taxes on both; $1126 and $1450). if we work any more than this, we need child care which is completely outrageous financially and difficult to do on a temporary basis (too much research needs to be done).

to live in a motorhome would cost around $1400 per month. here’s the breakdown:
RV payment: $200
insurance: $100
credit card debt: $250
food: $300
camping fees: $300
gas, propane, maintenance, etc.: $250

plus it only costs you the amount of gas it takes to get from point A to point B if you decide to move. with either one or both us of working we should easily be able to bring in just enough working minimal hours on minimal wages. we are both over qualified for minimum wage jobs, but if we had to, we could make it on them. if we live in a house on wheels. otherwise we are spending way to much on housing, heating, etc.

we did well on our taxes this year so we’ll have a savings going and enough money to get us started. i’m looking forward to it. although our visit to the RV place today was less than i had expected, we’ll eventually find us a relatively nice, affordable little unit.

and the long run picture goes like this: we either sell the RV and rent a small apartment in our perfect city or we keep it, buy some land and use the parts (like the refrigerator, stove, propane tanks, generator, batteries, etc.) in our cob house. which we build while living in the motorhome.

it’s really not so crazy. just not the normal way people do things. but “normal” people like big houses, separation from their spouse and kids, big fancy jobs to pay for big fancy houses and cars. that seems crazy to me. but i’ll gladly build the houses for them.

posted @ 10:35 PM

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