Extreme frugal living: Move into an RV
Posted
Sep 12 2008, 04:36 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Jacob at Early Retirement Extreme is about to cut his already spartan monthly living expenses in half. How? He and his wife are moving into an RV.
This blog is called Early Retirement Extreme for a reason. Jacob, a guy in his early 30s, spent five years saving and investing 70% of his income on his way to a goal of quitting the rat race, and now he's going to save even more.
Here's how he explains his goal: "Six years ago, I decided that a lifestyle based on bills, mortgages, retirement plans, and conspicuous consumption that depended on working a job for 30 more years or maybe even the rest of my life was not for me."
He and his wife are nearly financially independent, but wanted to cut living expenses further and increase savings. Thus, they came up with the RV plan. They bought a 1991 34-foot recreational vehicle (289 square feet) with 58,000 miles, paying $14,200 -- in cash, naturally. Their rent for the parking space will be much less than they were paying for an apartment in the Bay area.
"It has wheels," Jacob writes. "It also has everything we typically use in our rental except wasted space."
(Jacob originally considered a tiny Tumbleweed house -- an idea we find very appealing -- but his wife wasn't enthusiastic.)
How does this lifestyle work? He explains some of it in a post called "How do I get my spouse to go along with my frugal plans?" (For more information, read "How to retire in 5 years.") Here are a few details:
He knows that living like this is not for everyone. "Of course there are some compromises," he writes, tongue-in-cheek. "You can't have a media room. You can't have a home gym. Also you have to say goodbye to the bowling alley in the basement you just financed with a second mortgage."
