By Russ and Tiña De Maris
Are you an RVer tired of the cold winter weather and ready to become a snowbird? Wondering how you can afford to snowbird? Here are a few things to help you figure out whether or not you can fit the snowbird lifestyle into your financial limits.
Getting away from the cold country for the winter can bring some amount of relief to your finances. Pull out the records for the last couple of years and figure out how much you’re spending on heating the house. You may be able to cut way back on that expense, and in some cases, even eliminate it altogether. How so?
Afford to snowbird: Cut back on thermometer and utility expenses
When you’re out of the home for the winter, you can cut way back on your thermostat dial. There are a couple of different views on the heating issue. Some snowbirds leave the heating system on, but dial back as far as they can on the temperature – up enough to prevent pipe freeze, but low enough to keep the energy-chewing heat system at bay.
Others drain their pipes and water heater, dump RV antifreeze into their plumbing drains, and shut down the heat system altogether. It takes a bit of doing to ensure you have all the water out of the system, but for some, it’s doable.
Before you decide to take that approach, check out your home insurance policy. Some insurance companies require that heat be left on at all times. If something adverse were to happen in your absence, if you step outside the bounds of the policy, you may find yourself not covered.
Aside from reducing the cost of home heating, there are other financial savings snowbirds can rack up. Other utility costs may be able to be reduced. For example, how much does your home TV cable or satellite provider ring up? Some of these may be put on “vacation” settings or shut off entirely. Of course, you’ll need to weigh the costs of reconnection and setup fees. Your water usage, while gone, will certainly go down, and you can also put garbage collection services away for the winter.
Cost balance: home vs. on the road
Now comes the balancing act—and the balance sheet. Of course, it does cost you to snowbird, too. But there are ways to run those costs down.
How much will it cost you to get to and from your snowbird destination? While coming back costs may be hard to predict, right now, the cost of motor fuel is lower compared to a year ago in some locations, but you can reduce travel fuel costs even further. Enjoy RVing by “staying put” for longer periods of time and enjoying the local scenery and activities, rather than constantly traveling.
What about “where to stay” costs? If you have a membership in a camping club, check out the costs for staying in your targeted snowbird area. Check out how long you can stay in any given park during your season. Consider other discounts available: You may qualify for discounted stays at state or federal campgrounds.
If you’re “stuck” with staying at a privately operated RV park, you may find that paying by the month, the season, or even for a full year in advance can rack up considerable savings. Sure, you may not really stay a full year in the snowbird zone, but paying for the whole year may actually save money. Sad to say, fewer parks are offering year-round rates. However, there are some that offer seasonal rates. If you stayed on in Quartzsite, Arizona, you could pay as little as $1,200 for a November-through-March stay.
Boondocking can make life much more affordable
What about boondocking? Here’s where real money can be saved. Again, using Quartzsite as an example, for less than $200 for the entire snowbird season, RVers can camp out in the desert and still have access to water, a sewage dump, and garbage drop-off. Of course, you’ll need to make a capital investment in outfitting your rig with solar panels to provide enough electricity to care for your needs, as there are no hookups available in the desert.
Some RVers simply roll into Quartzsite and make an appointment with one of the local solar retailers, and get solar installed on their rigs within a few days. The money they save from staying at an RV park pays for their solar installation, and they retire to the desert and the low-cost camping.
Watch out for “hidden costs”
But what about the “hidden” costs of snowbirding? There can be a few and can affect your ability to afford to snowbird. If you stay in a given area for a lengthy period, you may find it easier to rent a post office box, rather than rely on General Delivery for your mail. Some post offices are cleverly forcing folks into renting a box by limiting how long General Delivery can be used. A small box will set you back a few dollars—around $90 for six months.
What about TV? If you need more than the limited “free” TV signals coming off the air, then you’ll have to factor in satellite TV for your RV. And internet service? If you stay in an RV park, it’s sometimes included as a “free” service; just don’t count on it for downloading movies and other big data-hogging activities. RV park Wi-Fi service is generally dependable only for getting your email and web browsing. If you depend on the internet for more, then add the cost of service—most dependably a cellular provider’s 4G or 5G service.
Medical care? Again, read your insurance policy carefully. Most policies will provide for emergency and “urgent” care. If you need to see a doctor for more than that—say regular testing or consultation—make sure your policy will cover you where you go, and factor in additional costs, if needed.
Many RVers are happy to “break even,” or even find they spend a little bit more to snowbird. After all, getting away from sore joints, snow shoveling, and gray skies can make a huge difference in life’s enjoyment. A few others find they even save money by getting away from Old Man Winter. So, can you afford to snowbird?
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RVDT2786
We offset the cost by working for the RV park. We each work 35 hours a month in exchange for a site, utilities and park amenities.
I’m leaving for California in about a week.
As you stated, gas prices are much lower than a year ago. I’ve even seen $1.99/gallon in some states.
Things are looking up!
Hi, Bob. I heard on the radio this morning that the average gas price in California now is about $4.56.🫨 Have a great day. 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com
Bob, $3.99 a gallon at Costco this morning, just east of San Diego,
Thank you for laying out the costs methodically, Russ and Tina! Thankfully, we get a semblance of winter, but can also RV within 1 or 2 hundred miles of the house all year. One day we may check out Quartzsite. Meanwhile, we’ll be satisfied with reading about it. Have a great week and safe travels!
When thinking of turning down the thermostat, consider this. In my home location winter temps can drop to minus 40 degrees. When snowbirding our thermostat is never set below 65F (18C). To do so could allow frost to infiltrate the walls. That would be like the worst water leak you could imagine when it thaws.
Haven’t done a careful look at our costs in several years of snowbirding. Because the house has hot water heat, we have to leave our thermostat at 50F when gone. But the natural gas, electric, water & sewer, trash pickup savings while not completely covering our snowbird costs, are significant. Remember, most utilities have a fixed charge even when not using any of their service; and paying disconnect/reconnect charges can be steep. Your municipality may require your sidewalks to be cleared. If you are gone you may have to hire that. For as little as $1.25, the USPS will temporarily forward 1st class mail for up to 6 months. Your RV park may or may not accept your mail on your behalf.
In my community even if you aren’t using water you’ll still pay a large minimum charge for sewer. If you have the city turn off the water you won’t have that sewer charge. It’s well worth the $20 charge for turning the water off and on.
We have a Simplisafe alarm system with active monitoring. Besides monitoring for break-ins it also monitors the temperature, smoke, and water leakage.
Yes, I can afford to snowbird, but don’t waste the money traveling to Florida for 3 months.
Besides, I despise Florida. There’s no mountains. It’s flat, hurricane bombarded, and too many non-English speaking people.
Last winter we stayed home with three feet of snow, but not this year. We joined the snowbird crowd at the start of November, heading to Texas for six months—a true test of our ability to stay in one place. Dragging a 35-foot fifth wheel across four states has been quite an experience. We’ve stayed at Harvest Host, Love’s RV, and RV parks in Idaho, Colorado, and two RV parks in Texas for a week each on our way to the coast. We’re keeping track of expenses to get a better picture of our travel costs.
In our 5th year of snowbirding! We live in NY state near the Canadian border, long, cold grey winters. We spend our winter in the Southwest. We spend 3 months volunteering at a Nature Preserve in southern Arizona. We save about 2K a month when we are stationary. The other 3 months we spend traveling around the Southwest and taking a couple weeks to get back and forth to home. We set our thermostat at 58 and have neighbors checking our house and watering plants. We offer to pay them but they refuse! We are on a well so no water costs and no sewer costs. We put our internet on seasonal, $5 a month. Our electricity is only running the refrigerator and a freezer. Propane is our biggest expense.
Gas is our biggest expense, we have a 28’ class C and tow a car. RV maintenance and repairs can be $ too as we aren’t the handiest people! We stay in city, county state parks and National Forests. We do boondock as well. We rarely stay in RV parks. We don’t buy much, and don’t have satellite internet, we just use our cellphones. Not big TV watchers. We eat out occasionally and go to museums and botanical gardens. We hike and ride our bikes a lot. Simple life.