Inflation and the Cost of our Hobby

Well done peedee, i totally rely on people like you to remind me just how much i must spend towing a white tin box around the Uk & Europe, for me i retired some 12 years ago from project managing high end IT/Business projects and promised myself that apart from the excel spreadsheet we use to keep track of our daily income vs outgoings i would never look at a spread sheet or project management tool again, with that in mind i can barely remember how much we paid for sites last year

I just count my blessings everyday for what I have now, the first and foremost of these is my health that enables me to be able to enjoy what things, hobbies, holidays...I like doing at the moment. I don't look at what things used to cost only what I need to spend now. 

As for the cost of my interests outstripping inflation I don't care a jot, I do not expect any hobby or leisure companies to link their prices to inflation If it was a public company then maybe I would take issue, if it was some basic necessity like food, heating... certainly, but for things I wish to do and worked all my working life for then no.

But for anyone (not singling out anyone at all) who already has an outfit, the means to tax it, insure it, pay for fuel, store it, service it, go away from a few weeks here and there (often to go abroad) there's not any sympathy. I'll save that for 'pensioners' really up against it.

As to the next generation, again not worried at all.

Peedee

Perhaps you need to start doing jigsaw puzzles

Checking my own records I can see that what we paid for sites in 2017 compared to 2023 were very similar to your figures in terms of total price rises. I was fascinated to see that we only paid £21 a night at Chatsworth at the beginning of December 2017! You may recall a BBC report a few days ago where they put pensions in bands from just about managing, comfortable and really comfortable with figures attached. I suppose we fit into the middle bracket, just about! Who can tell what the next generation will spend their resources on. I suspect for many younger couples the first priority is buying a house and as that now tends to happen latter in life then perhaps the ownership of caravans and motorhomes in such volumes won't transfer to those couples. There have been a lot of changes to pensions in recent years and they are still a very tax efficient way to save for the future. Whether they will provide the same level of income in retirement as some of us enjoy will rather depend of how much they and their employers contribute. For those already in the hobby they have to decide whether they still get the enjoyment and value from what we do. You can have a lot of other holidays for what we spend in a year on using our motorhome and without the hassle of maintenance, insurance and other running costs. I don't think its ever going to be the better value option as we go forward and I am sure we will all get to the point where we have to decide to give up or continue assuming that choice is not forced upon us?

David

I agree the cost has risen substantially, and like many of the contributors to this forum are both retired on a decent joint income.  Having said that, I prefer using our van to hotels of bunkhouses for a number of reasons.  Firstly, the cost of a half decent hotel where you can sit around in comfort and pour your own drinks of whatever type you wish, secondly, due to being asthmatic and highly allergic to animal hair, am increasingly loathe to stay in some hotels / B&Bs AirB&Bs etc. due to presence of dogs etc. at the time, or simply residual hairs, and thirdly, because for some reason I am also allergic to a number of foods, eating out is nigh on impossible / boring.  So for us the van allows us to get away and enjoy the outdoors more easily.  We are not great fans of towns, so the thought of sitting around in a bar or similar every night compared to having a bit of greenery around........

But I do agree that for many not in our position, it might be thought to be expensive, but compare the cost of alternatives.    

We were also looking at the figures given by the BBC, and found ourselves not quite up to the "moderate" level, due mainly to OH not having been well enough since she was 21 to be able to work, so we have been a single income and now pretty much a single pension family.

However, we manage OK by keeping our costs down by swapping CAMC sites for a mix of CCC sites, commercial sites, and, mainly, CLs.  Sites last year averaged under £25 per night.  Up till a year or two back, that figure was under £20.

Our ideal site is a no facility one but with serviced pitches, as we have all we need in our van, and much prefer to use the van facilities to traipsing to a facilities block.

Not been out of UK since 2017, our max budget then was £60 per night to include everything ( ferries, insurance, sites fuel, sightseeing and food) but mainly we came in well below that, spending £6k for 4 months away.

These days we are spending at least £60 per  night (last year ) in UK using sites as above.  We now do about 10-11 weeks away each year.  Our van is  15+ years old, but still in good shape, we will not be buying another van.  Not sure as yet how much longer we will continue caravanning as I am now 81.

Rufs, glad the post helped. I too, in my final years, used project management tools and spread sheets. With modern software today, it is easy to keep budgets and analyse expenditure, no need to create spreadsheets although I do use excel to keep site records, but not seriously until 2014.

David,  I did do jigsaw puzzles in lockdown, they take a bit longer than a couple of hours! Yes, I did see the BBC article and I am unsure from their descriptions where we could be pigeonholed, but we have sufficient to meet our retirement lifestyle. It is easy to say I'm all right Jack, but I think your post encapsulates the scenario perfectly.

Hopefully with a dry day forecast I can be more productive.

peedee

Although we are fortunate enough not to have to think too much about money, I do keep a spreadsheet like Peedee - just for interest, really.  When we came back to caravanning in 2015, our average nightly pitch price was just over £16.  That was a mixture of CAMC / C&CC / CLs and CS's and commercial sites.

Last year the same figure was almost £28.

I think what puts it into perspective is that I'm now also paying over £200 per month for Meg's health insurance.

I think I'm in Corner's camp, really. You either spend it - or you don't.  Don't know how long we'll be caravanning - or even be here!! So enjoy it while you can

For us it's not the increasing costs of sites that affects us.  Because we can manage so few nights away we are just grateful to have the means to go away. The increased cost is swallowed up with increases everywhere.

But what we really notice is the cost of a replacement (new or old) caravan. Maybe I've rose tinted glasses, but I'm sure the cost has risen massively. Our caravan is nearly 20 years old (bought second hand in 2012) and there's no way we can afford to replace it. But we patch it up and keep on going. I think there's a two man tent in the cellar, but I'm definitley too old for that.

I agree Goldie, I could not possibly afford the same motorhome I have now at current prices.

peedee

"Our caravan is nearly 20 years old (bought second hand in 2012) and there's no way we can afford to replace it. But we patch it up and keep on going. I think there's a two man tent in the cellar, but I'm definitley too old for that"

ditto our caravan is a Coachman 2008 still going strong, even if we stop touring it will still be used as a spare bedroom for guests. For now although not rich we can afford a couple of nights away each year at £33 per night.

Peedee there is a competition being run by the Mail newspaper group 1st prize a 2 berth £90k motor home (Adria) , i know yours is on the large size so probably a lot more to replace in todays money.