How much?

[Coolasluck]

A message to you full timers out there.
How much does it cost to full-time each week minimum?

 

[Channa]

I average out at £100 per week.

I tend to get through more gas this time of year I cook more than summer and then there is heating.

It is always possible to drive the figure down by shopping around in the Supermarkets , keeping mileage down, avoiding a campsite.

Channa

 

[Coolasluck]

I average out at £100 per week.

I tend to get through more gas this time of year I cook more than summer and then there is heating.

It is always possible to drive the figure down by shopping around in the Supermarkets , keeping mileage down, avoiding a campsite.

Channa

you are living our dream!
I am 38 and am waiting for 5 years when we to can sell our house and full time,we are hoping to live partly on interest from the sale of our house and hope the interest rate climbs in the next 5 years.
We have just brought a b544 hymer so we can get used to how things are going to be for 5 years before getting a newer/bit bigger motorhome.
We want to avoid campsites as much as is possible and aim to stay for days at a time at wherever we are.We should have a place to rest at my sisters and the inlaws so to break up fulltiming for a period of rest.
We are both fed up with our jobs and being told how long we can have holidays for and for when.The way we work today is surely not how we were meant to live our lives,we feel that life seems to be about what we have rather than enjoying the more obvious things.

 

[Channa]

In respect of the van, I think you are absolutely spot on in your approach.

You will have a modified shopping list 12 months down the line wheter it is layout, or features.

As an example my van doesnt have an oven It is Euro spec, Whilst it isnt life changing I would want one next time round. I would possibly look towards diesel operated heating systems, Solar panels, Levels of Winterising etc.

Good Luck

Channa

 

[thejoys]

hi people,

I have great respect for fulltimers, am quite jealous, we were hoping to fulltime when we returned to the UK after 4 years in Ireland, sadly my wife doesn't share my passion for a nomadic existance, so we now live on a lovely farm in sussex.

question is, how does FTiming fair when you have small children? schooling, friends ect.

Also how do you stay within the boundarys of the law, ie, council tax, electrol roll, reg, insurance, licence, I assume you need to use a friend or family members address?

We were suprised at the reaction of friends and family when we decided to go to Ireland, they thought we were slightly madder than mad, we gave up good jobs for a big adventure, stayed their 4 years, had a baby and made some great friends.

£100 per week is cheap as chips to live, are you going it alone Channa? no site fees? do you include a yearly cost for van wear and tear, tax, mot, servicing? I'm in the process of trying to work out my costs for a 6 month round the UK trip, so lands end to john a groats in the Green Goddess would cost about £3000 in fuel, :-} kidding, before I get mpg cost replies.

Is fulltiming about just living a non comformist lifestyle? the reaction i've had is its strange not to live in a house, or do you really make an effort to visit new places and meet new people? I know a guy in sussex who lives in a transit MH, has been in the spot for 12 months, so a shed or caravan would do him, he has no desire to travel, we find travelling here much different to say Ireland, more acceptance to the not quite the norm lifestyle over there.

again much respect

 

[Coolasluck]

hi people,

I have great respect for fulltimers, am quite jealous, we were hoping to fulltime when we returned to the UK after 4 years in Ireland, sadly my wife doesn't share my passion for a nomadic existance, so we now live on a lovely farm in sussex.

question is, how does FTiming fair when you have small children? schooling, friends ect.

Also how do you stay within the boundarys of the law, ie, council tax, electrol roll, reg, insurance, licence, I assume you need to use a friend or family members address?

We were suprised at the reaction of friends and family when we decided to go to Ireland, they thought we were slightly madder than mad, we gave up good jobs for a big adventure, stayed their 4 years, had a baby and made some great friends.

£100 per week is cheap as chips to live, are you going it alone Channa? no site fees? do you include a yearly cost for van wear and tear, tax, mot, servicing? I'm in the process of trying to work out my costs for a 6 month round the UK trip, so lands end to john a groats in the Green Goddess would cost about £3000 in fuel, :-} kidding, before I get mpg cost replies.

Is fulltiming about just living a non comformist lifestyle? the reaction i've had is its strange not to live in a house, or do you really make an effort to visit new places and meet new people? I know a guy in sussex who lives in a transit MH, has been in the spot for 12 months, so a shed or caravan would do him, he has no desire to travel, we find travelling here much different to say Ireland, more acceptance to the not quite the norm lifestyle over there.

again much respect

For us my wife feels the same way as me with regards to full-timing,and as we do not have any kids things should be more straight forward.We will be going on the electoral roll at my sisters address,as long as we dont have to pay or if it does not effect my sister and other half financially.Council tax is the first tax i bitterly resent paying!You are better to be officially living somewhere than not as the goverment likes to know where you are.You also could do with having a secure place to have your documents sent to and things like bank statements.We are hoping to spend half the year in england and half abroad and intend to spend our time visiting national trust and english heritage properties whilst here.For us we are not bothered about owning properties and being in the rat race,we have a gorgous house with fantastic views and everything but for us thats not what life is all about.We are trying over the next 5 years to make our house as valuable as possible in order to sell and bank the money.We are then going to full time and work for two years the first year to give us bank interest to get started with and the 2nd year to generally take the piss out of our employers and going sick every 5 minuites!!!Time to get our own back on the inflexible *******s that we work for.
Once we are off the property market we have decided that we will not own in this country ever again,and i doubt we will miss anything about home ownership.


I also have another plan,i plan on getting a job for a laugh as a traffic warden,but i will be letting everyone off parking tickets and generally let people park where they want! Just another finger to stick up to the establishment.

 

[Channa]

Hi TheJoys,

Naturally I am not the only full timer here but will answer your questions from my own perceptions and experiences I first went full time in April last year.

I am divorced which allowed me to do it in the first place, my share of the house sale funded my folly my travelling companion is a German Shepheard dog.

Children schools and friends didnt figure in my equation I have a grown up daughter who is doing her 'own' thing in London.

A bricks and mortar address is vital even as a c/o, I am lucky in that respect I was able to use a parental address and registered on the electoral role etc, and swopped driving licences passports bank accounts to that address.

So all level and above board there !!.

In terms of wear and tear in all honesty my figure of £100 per week doesnt include it. I currently have an issue with the gearbox synchro, but I can live with it rather than spend £600- £800 to put it right.

In terms of lifestyle and conformist, I guess I never have been exactly conformist.

My lack of interest in pursuing career has pretty much shut doors to returning to my previous life...Scary or an Opportunity ? I prefer to think the latter.

Last year I picked up courier work in the Dordogne looking after mobile homes and Tents for a leading UK camping company

At one stage all my guests were Dutch, An interesting opportunity to meet new people and have fun.

On aires I met countless folk, I met a chap with an old Hymer in Antibes ( we were camped on the beach )...It turned out he was a serious cycling nut, not a spring chick either he was 56. His bike looked a bit battered and bruised but turned out was hand made with quality hardware. He was following the Tour de France and would ride the stages.

A highlight of the day was when he returned normally amongst a gaggle of French that Le Monseuir from Angleterre had kept up ...truth was he often whipped em !!!

Another character who was a software engineer and was writing his own navigation program was someone else I made friends with.

Ex Belgian rock stars, Art professors, And surfer types all other fascinating folk I met.

Negatives ....Hard to get work living full time in the camper it is possible but more of a challenge...And according to the UK Benefits agency and Local council I am a traveller and homeless of no fixed abode.

I add the last paragraph in an attempt to illustrate it isnt all milk and honey.

But can be a very fulfilling way of life

Channa

 

[barryd]

Coolasuck you sound like a right old rebel! Like the traffic warden idea.

I have been trying to work towards going full time for a while now. Mrs D is still unsure. We did three months in Europe this summer as a kind of trial as well as an adventure. Loved every (well nearly) every minute of it. Wish we had never come back and got sucked back into the rat race. Channa I dont know how you can live on £100 a week if that includes everything. We spent about £1000 per month in the summer but we did do a lot of miles (6000 in the van and 1500 on the bike). I reckon you could do it comfortably for £1000 per month including insurance, fuel etc etc. My idea is to rent our house out. With investments and rental we would have over £1000 per month easily and wouldnt have to dig into capital apart for emergencies. It bugs me a bit that we could do it but I am still sat here in Yorkshire bored and carrying on working in IT when I could be living the dream. You are lucky if you and the mrs both like the idea. I think its something we will both eventually do but it may take a while.

Cheers
BD

 

[Channa]

Interesting Barry how one mans food is anothers poison.!

I have little chance of getting back on the property ladder, and the reason for my meagre budget is each penny I spend there is no income stream to replace it. So one tends to become focussed.

Interestingly , I have often wondered about a career in IT. Working remote on a laptop etc ....I suspect it is a little harder than that.

But on face value seems a good way of providing a few quid, whilst enjoying the peace and quiet of a field.

Channa

 

[guerdeval]

We did 2 years but are now back in the UK with a house to renovate, my only advice would be to try to rent out your property before you make a final decision. I say this because we have owned a French property for many years and there were so many people regretting not being able to get back on the UK property ladder, it did cost nearer to £1000 a Month but again we did travel around a lot.

 

[biggirafe]

Hi CoolasLuck
There are a few of us here working towards a dream, just make sure you keep working towards it and don't be put off by anyone who trys to put you off.
Many people we have talked to initially said 'yeah go for it, I wish I had' then as they realised we were 100% genuine they were agast in somecases that we could even contemplate selling our house and all our none transportable possesions.

In the last 2 months we have put the house on the market and disposed of about £3000 worth of possesions like 'audiophile' hi fi etc. This week my best PC goes on ebay.

If all goes well by April we will be 'homeless', I will possibly be jobless and by May we will be on our way to Europe.

With Diesel and without any breakdowns we think £10,000 for the year will take us around most of Europe about 7000 miles. This will still leave the majority of our money from the house sale snugly in the back for when (if) we decide to return to the rat race.

 

[Deleted member 967]

We are going Full Time from 1 March. Sold the houses to buy Motorhome and rented one back for the last 3 years. Tried Motor homing out and both really love it

We reckon the rent we pay now will pay for any campsites we need to use.

We use £50 of gas a month so that should fill our tank twice a month.

Food and washing are part of our expenditure now.

We will save on Garage rent, Council Tax, Electricity, House Insurance, land-line telephone & Broadband, Repairs to my wife's car plus its Road Tax, Insurance, Petrol, MOT etc. This should allow a better standard of living and enable us to save as well.

We already run the Motorhome but there will be a small extra on the insurance as a Full Timing premium. We run mobiles and a dongle on the laptop already. We spend much time away already.

We will be using our daughters address as a UK base for the essentials.

Our reason for going full time was Joan worrying what was happening at home and was everything secure and safe? Was the garden OK? Was her allotment OK etc? We are both retired. Without a house garden or allotment we only have to worry about ourselves and where we are going next. We do not intend to have an itinerary other than go South as the weather deteriorates and come North to avoid the excess heat and sun.

I will keep you all informed of our adventures.

 

[Polly]

Hia
full Timing is different than holidaying. You live to your budget in August 2010 I will be on £200 a week to keep a house running and my motorhome and car I will be hoping to go away for a few months on this money
Maybe making my way up to Northumberland over to Edingbuorgh then up to Aberdeen then maybe over to Orkneys then work my way back home for couple of weeks in Sept early October then over to Bilbao for a small wonder round and Xmas. Thats roughly my dream for august- Jan 2010-2011 Then back to reality for a while

 

[Channa]

Hi CoolasLuck
There are a few of us here working towards a dream, just make sure you keep working towards it and don't be put off by anyone who trys to put you off.
Many people we have talked to initially said 'yeah go for it, I wish I had' then as they realised we were 100% genuine they were agast in somecases that we could even contemplate selling our house and all our none transportable possesions.

In the last 2 months we have put the house on the market and disposed of about £3000 worth of possesions like 'audiophile' hi fi etc. This week my best PC goes on ebay.

If all goes well by April we will be 'homeless', I will possibly be jobless and by May we will be on our way to Europe.

With Diesel and without any breakdowns we think £10,000 for the year will take us around most of Europe about 7000 miles. This will still leave the majority of our money from the house sale snugly in the back for when (if) we decide to return to the rat race.

Nike ....Just do it !!!....I think your figures are spot on ...there is a clan of giraffes so I have a lower cost base.

As a complete aside when we emptied our house which was due to a matrimonial breakdown I literally threw thousands of pounds away...Old tapes , videos we would never watch again books clothes you name it etc etc ...But total up the original cost a serious amount of money.

Clear as if it were yesterday, something struck me we dont need material possessions to have a quality of life ...we are sucked into consumerism ..watch the tv ads.....was I questioning i was non conformist

Channa

 

[Channa]

We are going Full Time from 1 March. Sold the houses to buy Motorhome and rented one back for the last 3 years. Tried Motor homing out and both really love it

We reckon the rent we pay now will pay for any campsites we need to use.

We use £50 of gas a month so that should fill our tank twice a month.

Food and washing are part of our expenditure now.

We will save on Garage rent, Council Tax, Electricity, House Insurance, land-line telephone & Broadband, Repairs to my wife's car plus its Road Tax, Insurance, Petrol, MOT etc. This should allow a better standard of living and enable us to save as well.

We already run the Motorhome but there will be a small extra on the insurance as a Full Timing premium. We run mobiles and a dongle on the laptop already. We spend much time away already.

We will be using our daughters address as a UK base for the essentials.

Our reason for going full time was Joan worrying what was happening at home and was everything secure and safe? Was the garden OK? Was her allotment OK etc? We are both retired. Without a house garden or allotment we only have to worry about ourselves and where we are going next. We do not intend to have an itinerary other than go South as the weather deteriorates and come North to avoid the excess heat and sun.

I will keep you all informed of our adventures.

good luck to you ...interestingly you mention laundry still not perfected the art on that one, drives me mad I normally dock at A CC site washing time

Channa

 

[barryd]

Interesting Barry how one mans food is anothers poison.!

I have little chance of getting back on the property ladder, and the reason for my meagre budget is each penny I spend there is no income stream to replace it. So one tends to become focussed.

Interestingly , I have often wondered about a career in IT. Working remote on a laptop etc ....I suspect it is a little harder than that.

But on face value seems a good way of providing a few quid, whilst enjoying the peace and quiet of a field.

Channa

When we were away in the summer I did the odd bit of remote IT support work charging £60 per hour. Its nice to earn enough for the weeks Diesel in two hours sat by the side of Lake Maggiore! The problem is I am self employed. Mrs D and I both run our own business. Yes when its quiet like it has been this year we can get away with going away for three months and do support and work remotely. The issue with full timing would be that sometimes "you have to be there". Clients will put up with remote support for a while but what happens if you need to go to a meeting or be onsite urgently when you are in the Rhone Alps? Personally, I dont give a £$%^ and would drop it all tomorrow but Mrs D is much more cautious. Things are picking up as well, I could well be taking on two long term projects for the new year, one up north and one in Devon! I should be pleased but in the words of Lucky Alf from the fast show. Oh Bugger.

Mind you if Big G is going to do it with three Little G's in tow then we have no excuse to get out there. I used to be interested in making a fortune and being the next Richard Branson. Now and especially after this summer I realise that this would be a waste of my life and that there is so much more to life than being a conformist and working 9to5.

If she hasnt agreed by Easter I am going to kidnap her and just set off! Cant leave her behind as I dont know how anything works on the inside of the van.

BD

 

[Coolasluck]

For us, once we have sold this house ,as we need the money to be banked we dont want to own property in the uk again.Wouldnt be able to afford a nice house like we have now anyhow.We dont want to rent as you never know what cretins you are likely to have living in your house,and dont fancy having our granite clad kitchen ruined amongst other things.Our only option is to sell.
I think it depends on how people are used to living,my wife and i are real cheap skates and so if we pack in our jobs and relax into an alternate lifestyle we feel we can live as cheap as chips.We dont smoke,and only drink a little in social settings,and live low maintanace lives,i am rather hopeful that we can enjoy an active life style whilst we still have our health,being a postie sooner rather than later!

 

[biggirafe]

Nike ....Just do it !!!....I think your figures are spot on ...there is a clan of giraffes so I have a lower cost base.

As a complete aside when we emptied our house which was due to a matrimonial breakdown I literally threw thousands of pounds away...Old tapes , videos we would never watch again books clothes you name it etc etc ...But total up the original cost a serious amount of money.

Clear as if it were yesterday, something struck me we dont need material possessions to have a quality of life ...we are sucked into consumerism ..watch the tv ads.....was I questioning i was non conformist

Channa

A whole load of stuff in the loft brought in a couple of grand, LP's from the 70's and 80's did very well. I was a big music collector or rock LP's and my good taste finally paid off. Its a life lesson for us that we really don't need to store so much cr@p in the loft just because we can't part with it. The house and garage are now nearly clutter free, and guess what? we really do not miss any of it. We have a few things which we will keep until the end, TV, washing machine, dishwasher, freezer etc. These will either go with the house or we will get a house clearence guy in and take whatever he will give us. Its strange people keep saying 'But its worth x amount why sell it for so little, but my experience of electrical stuff is that after 3-5 years they packup and are worth nothing then you go buy another one for £300 and start all over again.
Yep were thouroughly peed off with this lifstyle. I just don't want to find mysef sat in this corner chair in 20 years at aged 65 regreting not haveing done this and hating everyone because its too late. If you have the dream and the idea I think whatever the outcome you just have to go with it or you could end up very bitter and twisted, better to give it a shot and if it fails -- so what you gave it a go

 

[Coolasluck]

When we were away in the summer I did the odd bit of remote IT support work charging £60 per hour. Its nice to earn enough for the weeks Diesel in two hours sat by the side of Lake Maggiore! The problem is I am self employed. Mrs D and I both run our own business. Yes when its quiet like it has been this year we can get away with going away for three months and do support and work remotely. The issue with full timing would be that sometimes "you have to be there". Clients will put up with remote support for a while but what happens if you need to go to a meeting or be onsite urgently when you are in the Rhone Alps? Personally, I dont give a £$%^ and would drop it all tomorrow but Mrs D is much more cautious. Things are picking up as well, I could well be taking on two long term projects for the new year, one up north and one in Devon! I should be pleased but in the words of Lucky Alf from the fast show. Oh Bugger.

Mind you if Big G is going to do it with three Little G's in tow then we have no excuse to get out there. I used to be interested in making a fortune and being the next Richard Branson. Now and especially after this summer I realise that this would be a waste of my life and that there is so much more to life than being a conformist and working 9to5.

If she hasnt agreed by Easter I am going to kidnap her and just set off! Cant leave her behind as I dont know how anything works on the inside of the van.

BD

Like your style,i would deff kidnap her she would thank you in the long run.
I just am so sick of the way this country is run and my taxes are paying for the abuse that politicians do.This country is a **** pit.The worst one is the raising of fuel duty in the name of the enviroment.

We just want to enjoy the nice parts of england and at the same time stick our fingers up at Gordon Brown and tell him to shove his taxes.

 

[Coolasluck]

A whole load of stuff in the loft brought in a couple of grand, LP's from the 70's and 80's did very well. I was a big music collector or rock LP's and my good taste finally paid off. Its a life lesson for us that we really don't need to store so much cr@p in the loft just because we can't part with it. The house and garage are now nearly clutter free, and guess what? we really do not miss any of it. We have a few things which we will keep until the end, TV, washing machine, dishwasher, freezer etc. These will either go with the house or we will get a house clearence guy in and take whatever he will give us. Its strange people keep saying 'But its worth x amount why sell it for so little, but my experience of electrical stuff is that after 3-5 years they packup and are worth nothing then you go buy another one for £300 and start all over again.
Yep were thouroughly peed off with this lifstyle. I just don't want to find mysef sat in this corner chair in 20 years at aged 65 regreting not haveing done this and hating everyone because its too late. If you have the dream and the idea I think whatever the outcome you just have to go with it or you could end up very bitter and twisted, better to give it a shot and if it fails -- so what you gave it a go

We are one and the same as you Giraffe,a man after me own heart.