debit.servus
Well-known member
April 1st, 2019
Frugal RVers are saving money in a new way this year. Snowbirding has a target on its back as a budget item to cut.
Last December, a group of RVers talked around the campfire about what they could save if they didn't leave Q next year at all. A cool cat vandweller posted about it online and the concept began building momentum. On christmas Eve, cool cat vandweller declared that this concept is to be known as Reverse Snowbirding.
As modest mobile dwellers trickled out of the South, Reverse Snowbirders had decided to stay in Quartzsite through the summer. The owners of Rose RV Park & Quail Run RV Park, decided not to close for the summer to catch the business. Q isn't so wide open this April thanks to the Frugallers who have taken on Reverse Snowbirding as a money saving strategy.
There are three types of Reverse Snowbirding:
-Reverse Snowbirding: means seeing the fronts of birds when you’re going the opposite direction of them. You go NORTH for the Winter, and SOUTH for the summer. Reverse Snowbirders realize that Everything is cheaper in the off-season, even for the locals!
-CheapBirding: Makes cost predictions on staying put vs snowbirding. CheapBirders check fuel prices (propane vs diesel/gas), grocery prices and whatever they're running low on (think things like parchment paper & painters tape) and calculate each scenario in a spreadsheet, including if it’s cheaper to stay with the snowbirds. After spending several days on their spreadsheet, they calculate the grand total of each cost prediction and choose the cheapest. Some less CheapBirders will allow themselves to choose the other options if it's less than $10 more. The cheapbirders motto is "If it costs a penny more...".
-NoBirding: Is like a CheapBirder but has a strong preference on not moving.
NoBirding can be easy, just stay put when the season is over & wait 6 months for good weather to return. If you already have highly efficient, cheap to run climate control (heat or A/C) it's even easier.
Quartzsite is packed in the winter, but wide open in the summer. Yes it’s hot, which is why Evaporative coolers are your money saving machines. You’re going into town anyway to restock, so that evaporative cooling water isn’t a stretch.
If you're staying north, you need to calculate if propane and / or RV park stay costs less than the drive south for the winter.
Last December, a group of RVers talked around the campfire about what they could save if they didn't leave Q next year at all. A cool cat vandweller posted about it online and the concept began building momentum. On christmas Eve, cool cat vandweller declared that this concept is to be known as Reverse Snowbirding.
As modest mobile dwellers trickled out of the South, Reverse Snowbirders had decided to stay in Quartzsite through the summer. The owners of Rose RV Park & Quail Run RV Park, decided not to close for the summer to catch the business. Q isn't so wide open this April thanks to the Frugallers who have taken on Reverse Snowbirding as a money saving strategy.
There are three types of Reverse Snowbirding:
-Reverse Snowbirding: means seeing the fronts of birds when you’re going the opposite direction of them. You go NORTH for the Winter, and SOUTH for the summer. Reverse Snowbirders realize that Everything is cheaper in the off-season, even for the locals!
-CheapBirding: Makes cost predictions on staying put vs snowbirding. CheapBirders check fuel prices (propane vs diesel/gas), grocery prices and whatever they're running low on (think things like parchment paper & painters tape) and calculate each scenario in a spreadsheet, including if it’s cheaper to stay with the snowbirds. After spending several days on their spreadsheet, they calculate the grand total of each cost prediction and choose the cheapest. Some less CheapBirders will allow themselves to choose the other options if it's less than $10 more. The cheapbirders motto is "If it costs a penny more...".
-NoBirding: Is like a CheapBirder but has a strong preference on not moving.
NoBirding can be easy, just stay put when the season is over & wait 6 months for good weather to return. If you already have highly efficient, cheap to run climate control (heat or A/C) it's even easier.
Quartzsite is packed in the winter, but wide open in the summer. Yes it’s hot, which is why Evaporative coolers are your money saving machines. You’re going into town anyway to restock, so that evaporative cooling water isn’t a stretch.
If you're staying north, you need to calculate if propane and / or RV park stay costs less than the drive south for the winter.
"It just makes so much sense for us! Why we followed the crowd all these years when we could have just Reverse Snowbirded or NoBirded and saved OODLES of money!"
Here is just one story out of the dozens of people we interviewed:
"When we snowbirded we spent most of our time in the RV, because going out costs money. So we asked, Why drive 1000 miles north to just sit in the RV like we do here? We covered half the windows with block foam & reflectix to insulate, and we traded 3 windows for coroplast panels & foam board to save weight & propane. It takes 4 hours to remove the triple-layer reflectix directly behind the big windshield, just to drive somewhere! We don't even have a view and yet we pissed away $300 twice a year to change scenery twice a year! Now With the money were saving, we sit comfortably inside & can afford a second night out each month." Says a Frugal Full-timer.
Another said: "It just makes so much sense for us! Why we followed the crowd all these years when we could have just Reverse Snowbirded or NoBirded and saved OODLES of money!".
Reverse Snowbirding is for those leaning towards hermitage, and those mostly shut-in already. If you can live without heat or A/C, Reverse Snowbirding IS GUARANTEED TO SAVE YOU MONEY!
The hardest part about Reverse Snowbirding, Cheapbirding & NoBirding is deciding whether the extra few hundred dollars a year in RV fuel is better spent just staying South or North and putting it towards Dometic Li-Weight appliances, a solar powered mini-split AC unit, a big picture window to enjoy your frugal surroundings, or simply the propane needed to live through winter up North.
Critics have lambasted Reverse Snowbirding as "frugal insanity" noting quality of life should not be not seperated from cost of living if you have a choice. Debit.servus, a popular full-time blogger wrote "if you're considering [Reverse Snowbirding] you better consider questioning every life decision you have made up to this point you're reading my post. Hopefully your answer to Reverse Snowbirding is: That 6 months you'll spend holed up to save $300 is too expensive!"
Even with the criticisms, Reverse Snowbirding has so many possibilities that as I write this I can't even think straight! All I can write is if you want to save hundreds of dollars a year consider one of the 3 types of Reverse Snowbirding!
"When we snowbirded we spent most of our time in the RV, because going out costs money. So we asked, Why drive 1000 miles north to just sit in the RV like we do here? We covered half the windows with block foam & reflectix to insulate, and we traded 3 windows for coroplast panels & foam board to save weight & propane. It takes 4 hours to remove the triple-layer reflectix directly behind the big windshield, just to drive somewhere! We don't even have a view and yet we pissed away $300 twice a year to change scenery twice a year! Now With the money were saving, we sit comfortably inside & can afford a second night out each month." Says a Frugal Full-timer.
Another said: "It just makes so much sense for us! Why we followed the crowd all these years when we could have just Reverse Snowbirded or NoBirded and saved OODLES of money!".
Reverse Snowbirding is for those leaning towards hermitage, and those mostly shut-in already. If you can live without heat or A/C, Reverse Snowbirding IS GUARANTEED TO SAVE YOU MONEY!
The hardest part about Reverse Snowbirding, Cheapbirding & NoBirding is deciding whether the extra few hundred dollars a year in RV fuel is better spent just staying South or North and putting it towards Dometic Li-Weight appliances, a solar powered mini-split AC unit, a big picture window to enjoy your frugal surroundings, or simply the propane needed to live through winter up North.
Critics have lambasted Reverse Snowbirding as "frugal insanity" noting quality of life should not be not seperated from cost of living if you have a choice. Debit.servus, a popular full-time blogger wrote "if you're considering [Reverse Snowbirding] you better consider questioning every life decision you have made up to this point you're reading my post. Hopefully your answer to Reverse Snowbirding is: That 6 months you'll spend holed up to save $300 is too expensive!"
Even with the criticisms, Reverse Snowbirding has so many possibilities that as I write this I can't even think straight! All I can write is if you want to save hundreds of dollars a year consider one of the 3 types of Reverse Snowbirding!
Last week: Semidwellers are now Tractordwellers (To distinguish from part-time RVers)
Exclusive: First Look at Dometic Li-Weight2 (It's going to be 20% lighter & more efficient!)
Next week: We’ll Give You The Inside Scoop on How To Save on Cell Phone Taxes by Changing Your State Residency
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