Why can we all afford trailers?

[Midwestgirl]

Loved reading all the different circumstances that allow the friends here to see America while bringing their home along. All ages and all walks of life!

My husband faithfully worked at the same job for 40 years; we've owned several TT and decided in September to buy a 5er and see more of our country.

He's 70 and I'm near 60. His health is fair most days and poor on others. His pension sees us through each month.
Our biggest expense each month is health...between Medicare and a second policy we spend $1200 per month for great coverage which we need!

Why can we afford to travel? We aren't going to take anything with us later except good memories. Our children and grandchildren are being treated to their inheritance now while we can enjoy watching them enjoy a little extra each month.

[Zhanna]

God has just blessed our socks off! We inherited a house when our son was 5 years old. Up to that point, we were renting a crappy apartment and living pay check to pay check. We have since been working our butts off! The boy is in college now! There are health issues on both our sides of the family. We honestly don't see either one of us living past the age of 70, we're 40 now. So we're taking advantage and taking time off when we can, while we can, before age catches up with us.

[BigBaron]

Zhanna - That's awesome. You got started EARLY!!!! I'm 51 and my son is 13! (It took ten years to get one to "stick")

[DutchF]

We're in our 50's and fall into the "busted our butt's" category. There were times when we both worked two jobs and for a short time, I worked three. We research lots and buy what we want, at the best price we feel we can get. We either pay them off, or down (as quick as we can) so we can position ourselves to "upgrade". We started with Pinto's (no A/C, either!) Now we have 2 nice (newer) cars and fairly new F350 4x4 dually (got a GREAT price on it!). We're on our 3rd RV. Bought them at a great price, paid them down quickly, then traded off at the right time.

It's been all about patience, responsibility, patience, hard work, patience, saving, patience and being able to take VERY good care of what we do have.

Did I mention patience?

FWIW, we both dropped out of HS and got GED's. We've both never been afraid to work HARD. We plan LONG, aim TRUE and stick to the PLAN.

YMMV, but it works for us.

Cheers!

[lanefj40]

Our average age is 57. We both work, grab overtime when we can. Last kid is just about done with college. We live simply. Never owned a new car. Built our first house ourselves. Have no credit card dept. If we didn't have the money we didn't buy it.
My parents always told us "if you want something bad enough, you work for it".
Paid Cash for our used TT. Plan to buy a new truck and have 1/3 of the cost saved for a down payment.
Neither one of us has a college education. We both spent time in the Army.
We both work for the Postal Service.

[BigBaron]

Normal, hard working folks. Love it! My hat is off to you! Thanks for sharing.

[Mister]

My formula... Low interest rates, a pair price on a trade in, (currently) no dependents, and luck!

[Zhanna]

Originally Posted by BigBaron

Zhanna - That's awesome. You got started EARLY!!!! I'm 51 and my son is 13! (It took ten years to get one to "stick")

Ha! A honeymoon pregnancy was not in our plans! MANY complications with said pregnancy are why we only have one child.

We fought "technology" for the longest time to save money. We don't pay for television; if I can't get it on the rabbit ears, I don't watch it. We bought the truck and the trailer used; paid a total of $25k for both. Hubby is in construction. I work for him from home. We're both exhausted! LOL!

[phrogpilot73]

For us? A simple phrase explains why we can afford it:

DINK - Dual Income, No Kids.

My wife is active duty Navy, I'm a Government Civil Servant and a US Marine Reservist. Getting ready to start my third job (my salary is the "fun" money).

We bought a used trailer that we could tow with our paid off truck. Love it. Now we're looking at something a bit larger, and we're only looking at used again. For what we want, we've got to upgrade the TV. So, we're going to buy a TV (used) - pay it off, then shop for a new trailer.

We haven't taken a vacation in well over a year. Our RV allows us to take mini vacations throughout the year. And it allows us to bring our dogs, so we don't have to pay boarding fees. We have season tickets to Navy Football games in Annapolis, and not boarding the dogs every game has damn near paid for the trailer...

[wpredock]

Originally Posted by phrogpilot73

For us? A simple phrase explains why we can afford it:

DINK - Dual Income, No Kids.

My wife is active duty Navy, I'm a Government Civil Servant and a US Marine Reservist. Getting ready to start my third job (my salary is the "fun" money).

We bought a used trailer that we could tow with our paid off truck. Love it. Now we're looking at something a bit larger, and we're only looking at used again. For what we want, we've got to upgrade the TV. So, we're going to buy a TV (used) - pay it off, then shop for a new trailer.

We haven't taken a vacation in well over a year. Our RV allows us to take mini vacations throughout the year. And it allows us to bring our dogs, so we don't have to pay boarding fees. We have season tickets to Navy Football games in Annapolis, and not boarding the dogs every game has damn near paid for the trailer...

well said, we have no kids. it's just me, my wife, and my puppy, and i guard all three with my life. most all my friends are rich and are all fine people. i chose a different route. worked my butt off for what little i have and enjoyed every off hour to the fullest. no one to leave anything to makes it an easy decision. use it all up. if it was'nt for those rich people everyone hates i would have been poor and jobless. i get tired of hearing the old poor me crap. i got no use for derelects and freeloaders.

[BigBaron]

Originally Posted by wpredock

if it was'nt for those rich people everyone hates i would have been poor and jobless. i get tired of hearing the old poor me crap. i got no use for derelects and freeloaders.

People seem to forget that their jobs are because of those nasty rich people! LOL

It's good to read about so many people who just plain work hard. Kudos!

[John S]

It's a matter of priorities.

[BigBaron]

Originally Posted by John S

It's a matter of priorities.

That's what I keep telling Julie, but she keeps telling me, "We don't NEED a bigger TV or trailer!"

[bobcrowder]

We bought our first TT 3 years ago. Our dealer rents new RVs for one season then sells them. The discounts are huge and you get all the benifits of a new RV with all the bugs worked out.

[Caveman239]

Funny I've been looking through the Welcome Mat the last few days and glad to see so many new RV owners and forum members, which got me to asking myself the same question the OP asked on this thread almost a year ago. Then I ran across this thread and couldn't stop reading, and a great read it's been. We are in the working our butts off class also, but I get a kick out of our 9 yr old daughter asking us two or three times a week if we can go camping again. I really get a kick out of our 24 yr old daughter who grew up camping, who has grown and gone, and who changes boyfriends like clothes showing up every time we're camping still. I don't think it matters how much money you have really as much as what you do with it defined by what's important to you. We could spend our money numerous other ways or not at all but I'll have no regrets when I can't go anymore. Makes me damn proud actually to be part of a camping / RV'ing society that appreciates what they have and holds family values to their highest no matter what the media wants you to see and believe on the watch box. As John S simply stated...It is a matter of priorities. Well spoken John.

[doodler]

Me and DW both work full time jobs, mine 40 hour week plus 300 - 600 hour overtime a year.

[Iggy]

Trailers?????????????????
Why doesn't everyone own a motorhome?

[Old Bones]

The economy here is doing very well at the moment and usually hasn't been to bad in the past. We've had our ups and downs, but think there have been more ups than downs.

For quite a few years we would liked to have purchased a trailer, but couldn't afford one. In the late 80's the cost of a nice travel trailer was not much less than the average home here and a motor home was more expensive than the house we had.

As is turns out for some reason as the cost of many things usually goes up, the purchase price of travel trailers here declined. I'm guessing the trailer we currently have is close to being half the cost of something similar over 20 years ago.

[davel1971]

all about priorities. We live very moderately at home. Rarely go out to dinner. Don't take any other vacations. We have 3 Hondas for daily drivers. All 3 purchased used for under $20k total. That's why we have a 2014 Chevy Duramax for our love of camping. Prepared for our future 5er upgrade.

[Iwannacamp]

I have posted on this before... We have "many kids". That's what the ex calls my new family anyway. I have a 20 yo DD my wife has 3 "many" 17, 13, 7 yo. I also have a perfect grandson. Lol. We need a big trailer. Us + guests= BIG.
Can we afford a triailer? No. We don't eat out either. Take-out 2-3 times a month is about it. We don't live extravagantly...ok we live modestly. I work a lot, wife works full time and we do without some stuff cause we will never take a 3000+ vacation. We figure we can camp several times a year for 2-5 days and fish, tube, boat and camp. Ohhh and eat. I am good at that. This is just what we chose to do.