Permanent Caravanning.

[Ogre]

Hi SL. As you rightly say, it's a personal life choice for everybody, and obviously not for you. We love it. We will replace our caravan (with an 'as new' van to avoid silly depreciation) every seven years by the way.

No way would we ever keep money under the bed. In fact we don't ever leave any cash in the caravan at all. We have a local friend with a good safe.

I think, and always have thought, that politicians are about the lowest form of life on this planet, closely followed by estate agents and accountants, and recent events have supported my reasons. They are all in it to further their own greedy aims. Think differently....doesn't bother me. That's MY take on them.T

Greed and Money have always been the root of all evil. There's no getting away from it. Money breeds arrogance, and arrogance breeds contempt for one's fellow human beings.

I can't, but more, won't, be party to that kind of so called lifestyle.

The oncoming recession is going to decimate the UK. Be in no doubt about that whatsoever. It's already started. I know of 14 people personally, who have lost their jobs within the last three months. Good jobs where business has faded away to nothing. The recession (followed by the slump) will cripple the UK, and there will be millions of people out of work as a result, and further banking and housing calamities. I think WE are well placed to ride it out.

Tell me I was wrong........ this time next year. Love to all Ogre xx

 

[g_374369443]

Followed the thread, and indeed admire those who will stay full time caravaner's.

But wonder if some are missing the boat and the bigger picture when you hear their reasoning's.

Ogre.

It doesn't take a genius to predict the housing collapse, or the economy slow down, now if you could predict it to the day, that would be something!

And lets take a look at vanning, how much does it cost nightly for site fees? and what about gas for cooking and keeping warm?

Someone mentioned

 

[Surfer]

Thanks to this incompetent government our company is going into administration. Without doubt this is based on the greed and collusion of 6 other companies in the same sector who have forced up prices making it difficult for small independents to operate.

We now have to sell one of our cars but thanks to Alistair Darling the Clown increasing the road tax on a 1.8 litre saloon car by

 

[g_374369443]

Thanks to this incompetent government our company is going into administration. Without doubt this is based on the greed and collusion of 6 other companies in the same sector who have forced up prices making it difficult for small independents to operate.

We now have to sell one of our cars but thanks to Alistair Darling the Clown increasing the road tax on a 1.8 litre saloon car by

 

[g_374369443]

Excuse me, but its hard for me to understand how

 

[Guest]

Ogre, I think you have misunderstood what I have tried to present. I have stated several times that living the 'free life' has been an ambition of mine for many years. I first started looking at it in the late 60's and early 70's when interest rates were at 15% and the unions were hell bent on destroying Britain. That was of course before they figured out that Blair and Broon would do it for them. I shorcuited the initial plan by working abroad which gave us all many insights into the good and bad of such a life. We are now in (ok, sort off) retirement and things are different. The priorities change drastically, and not just financially. So, we are looking at what we have and whether that will be the best option for us for the next 20 years or so. Staying where we are is just one of them.

However, and i state again, caravans as a full time abode were the bottom of my list of choices as i felt they would never be profitable either in terms of cash or lifestyle. The main reasons being they are too small and built too flimsily for full timing. A US motorhome or a boat is another matter. I am currently suggesting to my wife very seductively?? that the boat I have in mind would suit us fine. 54 feet long, 3 staterooms ensuite and a water capacity of over 2000 gallons. That i suspect makes the aquaroll redundant.

I am not trying to be flippant, but trying to point out that we all have diferent ways of possibly looking at the same problem. I have used my caravan for trips extending to over 4 months at a time so do understand the issues of long term travel, but i also recognised that it would not last for 100% use. It just isn't made that way. Plywood and chipboard have limitations. My boat analogy is built of teak because weight is not such an issue. I also looked at US motorhomes because they are built like tanks. Horrible brasswork inside, but who cares when the fridge freezer is bigger than the one I have at home. Fuel consumption is not relevant if you do not drive it every day. I see units built in the 70's still hacking along.

We have all agreed this is a choice thing, but I also agree that there appears to be a lot of self justification.

By the way, the friends safe is fine, but if the house burns down, do you get your money back? Plus it is still depreciating daily.

 

[Surfer]

In reply to 9's comments. I am bitching about the fact that because of the increased road tax the car is more difficult to sell as it dropped in value overnight. Even more annoying is that we were told by GB himslef that road tax on older cars would not be increased which is why we traded down from a 2007 model to a 2004 model Avensis 1.8 auto. The swines moved the goal posts once again! When we sell the car, we still have to find about

 

[g_374369443]

In reply to 9's comments. I am bitching about the fact that because of the increased road tax the car is more difficult to sell as it dropped in value overnight. Even more annoying is that we were told by GB himslef that road tax on older cars would not be increased which is why we traded down from a 2007 model to a 2004 model Avensis 1.8 auto. The swines moved the goal posts once again! When we sell the car, we still have to find about

 

[Barking]

I set about adding a reply to this topic, but having called up the 'post message' box find my thoughts difficult to write down, that will not stop me doing so but please excuse me if it is disjointed and difficult to understand.

Everybodys' position is different, as will be thier reasons for having decided to embark upon full time living in a caravan. For ourselves (wife & I) it had nothing to do with not having a good jobs/house/propects etc and everything to do with getting out and enjoying ourselves whilst we still had the chance.

Whether we are (financially) a little better or worse off is irrelevent. We wanted a different lifestyle, with less stress and responsibilities than we had. We now have that and are much better off for it, though not neccesarily financially.

If in a few months/years time we decide we no longer enjoy this way of life we can always try something else. At least in the future we can look back and say " At least we gave it a go", rather than "We wish we had".

This thread has now become an argument between the fors and againsts of permanent caravanning where those that have taken the step are forced into justifying thier decision insted of being able to offer an insight into this way of life.

 

[Surfer]

I find the remarks made by "9" rather offensive as 9 has no knowledge of our personal cirumstances. I don't think a 4 year old car or a 5 year caravan are anywhere new.

As for greed I worked for the largest independent electricity supplier in the UK and we ended up with a cash flow problem not because of bad budgetting but because the big six have forced up the price of electricity through their greed. This was done by not allowing smaller suppliers to buy from the their pool of electric while they in turn were able to buy cheaply.

The cost price of electric is less than 3p per unit but by the time it has passed through 15 different organisations we end up paying over the odds. Do you still maintain this is not greed?

However I digress and rather than live on taxpayers money by obtaining benefits for housing, council tax, etc we are better off living in the caravan with less stress etc.

 

[Ogre]

Hi again guys. Just to clarify a few points.

We don't feel it is necessary to justify our style of life. Why should we? People can either take it or leave it. It doesn't bother us in the slightest. If you find reading our post a pain, then go to another topic.....simple.

Secondly. I see a 'breakdown' of financial costs ref caravan vs house from 'g'. Doesn't interest us in the slightest 'g', and I don't mean that rudely. The recent surge in repossessions says it all to us. And it will get far, far worse. We are living in a lunatic world at the moment.

Governments all over the world telling everybody to tighten their belts whilst THEY go on what is effectively the biggest credit card splurge of all time themselves. Bankrupting our future generations for many many years to come. It WILL end in tears. It has to. The politicians won't give a hoot. THEY will get their fat salaries and pensions regardless.

So call it a 'rant' G if you like, I don't take offence, ever, but please accept that others have THEIR point of view. We don't DO stress.

OK. and finally, To finish. I promised those who have been with us from day 1,(you know who you are guys and gals) that when we started out on this road, that we would keep a day to day log. Every little thing that we've done has been documented. THAT is why we are not divulging every aspect of our lifestyle. We will, in due course, publish it, and we already have an interested party to do this for us.

Be patient, it will be very interesting, and will highlight all sorts of funny, tiresome, enjoyable and satisfying experiences.

Love to you all. Ian/Wendy/ChrissieLizzy/Steve L/jo-anne and many many others. Keep Happy. OGRE xx

 

[Barking]

Hi again guys. Just to clarify a few points.

We don't feel it is necessary to justify our style of life. Why should we? People can either take it or leave it. It doesn't bother us in the slightest. If you find reading our post a pain, then go to another topic.....simple.

Secondly. I see a 'breakdown' of financial costs ref caravan vs house from 'g'. Doesn't interest us in the slightest 'g', and I don't mean that rudely. The recent surge in repossessions says it all to us. And it will get far, far worse. We are living in a lunatic world at the moment.

Governments all over the world telling everybody to tighten their belts whilst THEY go on what is effectively the biggest credit card splurge of all time themselves. Bankrupting our future generations for many many years to come. It WILL end in tears. It has to. The politicians won't give a hoot. THEY will get their fat salaries and pensions regardless.

So call it a 'rant' G if you like, I don't take offence, ever, but please accept that others have THEIR point of view. We don't DO stress.

OK. and finally, To finish. I promised those who have been with us from day 1,(you know who you are guys and gals) that when we started out on this road, that we would keep a day to day log. Every little thing that we've done has been documented. THAT is why we are not divulging every aspect of our lifestyle. We will, in due course, publish it, and we already have an interested party to do this for us.

Be patient, it will be very interesting, and will highlight all sorts of funny, tiresome, enjoyable and satisfying experiences.

Love to you all. Ian/Wendy/ChrissieLizzy/Steve L/jo-anne and many many others. Keep Happy. OGRE xx

Slow down Ogre, I never said I found it a 'pain to read', please dont put words into my mouth, and imho (having read this thread from the start) there has been a considerable amount of 'defending' the lifestyle choice some of us have made!

 

[Graham_374381709]

Hi again guys. Just to clarify a few points.

We don't feel it is necessary to justify our style of life. Why should we? People can either take it or leave it. It doesn't bother us in the slightest. If you find reading our post a pain, then go to another topic.....simple.

Secondly. I see a 'breakdown' of financial costs ref caravan vs house from 'g'. Doesn't interest us in the slightest 'g', and I don't mean that rudely. The recent surge in repossessions says it all to us. And it will get far, far worse. We are living in a lunatic world at the moment.

Governments all over the world telling everybody to tighten their belts whilst THEY go on what is effectively the biggest credit card splurge of all time themselves. Bankrupting our future generations for many many years to come. It WILL end in tears. It has to. The politicians won't give a hoot. THEY will get their fat salaries and pensions regardless.

So call it a 'rant' G if you like, I don't take offence, ever, but please accept that others have THEIR point of view. We don't DO stress.

OK. and finally, To finish. I promised those who have been with us from day 1,(you know who you are guys and gals) that when we started out on this road, that we would keep a day to day log. Every little thing that we've done has been documented. THAT is why we are not divulging every aspect of our lifestyle. We will, in due course, publish it, and we already have an interested party to do this for us.

Be patient, it will be very interesting, and will highlight all sorts of funny, tiresome, enjoyable and satisfying experiences.

Love to you all. Ian/Wendy/ChrissieLizzy/Steve L/jo-anne and many many others. Keep Happy. OGRE xx

Hi all I'm new to this site, and I have an interest in full timing or should I say we do, I have read all the comments here, now I would like to add my comments for what they are worth. We have looked into full timing for about a year now and we think we have covered most of the aspects mentioned here, The only comment that has not been made is why have full timers sold there property, that's if they had property that is.

We like one other person purchased our property from the council, we have no mortgage, we all ready have a caravan, so afer a lot of advice from the family it was decided to rent out our property and live in the van. O I here you say renting out can be a big problem, well the council will rent it from us for

 

[Barking]

Hi Graham

If you want you posting to appear in the main body of the thread you will need to 'reply to topic' not 'comment'

We sold our property for the following reasons:

1. We were living in an area we had moved to with our work and had no other ties to the area.

2. The proceeds of the sale will in part finance our lifestyle in later years.

3. The property would not have been suitable for letting without some changes, mainly to the garden.

4. A relative had had some unfortunate experiences with letting.

5. I was expecting there to be some downward movement in propery prices, we sold in October last year and property prices have been dropping ever since.

All that said we are now considering buying again (to let) when prices stabalise.

 

[g_374369443]

IAN.

You have taken offence to something I said, sorry about that,its just that your statement is a contradiction.

For instance,you changed a 2007 car for a 2004 car! Well you will not be loosing bucket loads on that type of deal will you!

I mean a nearly new car looses value quicker than water down a plug hole!

I am truly sorry your 2004 cars value is lower than the HP, but we are all grown ups here, I assume the car was bought this year,for xxxx pounds,with the first

 

[Rioja]

How do you guys living in a van manage internet access ?

 

[Guest]

It seems like Millions of

 

[Barking]

Rioja

I use a 3 'dongle'. A usb mobile broadband device, which incidently costs less than my home broadband used to.

There have only been two sites (so far) where I have been unable to pick up a signal, that has been rectified by driving to the nearesr Little Chef (or similar) with the laptop in tow.

Barking

 

[Rioja]

It seems like Millions of

 

[Rioja]

That's interesting that mobile cost's less than your home broadband used to Barking.I take my laptop on trips , mainly to watch TV or DVD's. I have driven to a wifi hotspot to pick up and send messages on the odd occasion but I don't tend to bother with accessing the net otherwise. I did have a plug in connector for my old mobile but the speed made the cost prohibitive.

I guess if you're staying on a site with a good mobile signal it's not a problem, provided that the cost is not too bad.

My question was really intended to find out if the site you where on provided wi fi access as do quite a few nowadays. I do think the prices being charged by the likes of the CC are unreasonable, although they might well retort that there are high set up costs. On the other hand I have stayed at loads of sites where you can pick up a neighbouring house's wireless network and just wished I could log in !

Maybe the well informed Euro might like to be a bit more explicit in how he connects and at what cost too.

 

[Guest]

Sorry Rioja, but surely you must see all the ad's about cheap mobile internet dongles? The "3" network O2 and Vodafone having been pshing them for a long while.

The first ad on UK web news this morning was for "3" mobile broadband dongle.

I have a UK mobile phone that gives me wi'fi and 3G and HPDSA high speed connection. It's an internet phone so I can connect and post to web sites such as PC or also connect my vaio via the phone. Umlimited data connection connection is free from 02. I have a French mobile broadband dongle and that costs about 15 euro's a month but we mainly use free wi-fi.

The British UK O2 data connection works fine around the world, it is not cheap but I don't pay the bill as it's a business account. But I take care to log on and off when surfing the web.

 

[Rioja]

Thanks Euro. I have seen the advcerts, taken one look at the bottom line and they all seem hugely expensive for someone like me who takes the van out infrequently.

When I was working I had a company mobile and did use it for replicating with the company server for mail etc. I used to get a bill of about

 

[Guest]

Well I can appreciate that Rioja, fair play to you. If you need an occasional internet connection and have a laptop when travelling you can always pull up outside a McDonalds or one of many places that offer a free open connection.

 

[Steve L]

We use our caravan site wifi link for our tinternet. Quite good value at

 

[Guest]

I note from a comment that the avergae site cost is 15 pounds per night. Well, that is more than I pay for my apartment in Edinburgh. I do not have amortgage, and I think that is the point. The mortgage is a finite time scale, while site fees are not.

People are stating that this is a life style choice and I have stated already, that I agree with that. What i disagree with is the use of the lifestyle choice as a means of trying to correct financial problems. We all have them at many stages in life and have to cope as best we can. Ther are dark hours in all our lives, and then with luck, things improve. I ahve now discovered I have arthtritis. While it is still early stages the Docs tell me things wont get better, so activity will gradually reduce. I am sorry but looking forward to that scenario, then the last thing I want is to be living in a caravan in midwinter. Being in the caravan in midwinter in the sun on North Africa for example, is another matter. I can enjoy it while i wish, and return home as and when i wish.

Unfortunately, my 'dreams' of sailing away may also have to be just that, dreams. Maybe not too bad a thing though. I get seasick.

Unfortunately, I think this thread is polarising opinions. All many of us are trying to state is that we acknowledge what others are doing, and maybe are trying to justify our own reasions for not following. I think the opposite side are doing the same in reverse.

Somebody made a comment that they would prefer more on the actual living activities as a permanent caravanner. That is fine, but in defence the original Post was about the financial side of not being a home owner, and becoming a full time caravan dweller, and that is what we have discussed. Possibly a separate thread on the other aspects of permanent caravanning would be appropriate.