One year living in our timeshares: 2 1/2 year update

[Buckalew11]

This is amazing. Awesome for you all!!!

And good luck to your wife in the races! I can't believe it but we are passing on the races this year. (2014) But I'll be down there then anyway!! If you see my DH, tell him how great your life is and that we should do this too!

 

[goneviral]

You should consider compiling your posts and using them as the basis for a self-published book on Amazon. I bet the story would make for an amazing read.

 

[OhioDVC]

Great report... Do you have blog by chance? There are two people on another board doing this. One isn't reporting costs. The other's goal is to live off $2500 per month. They are doing mostly last calls and so far haven't travelled anywhere where a plane is involved. I'm not sure how realistic $2,500 per month is especially for my current lifestyle.

Your questions about costs got me thinking…I went back over my May’s credit card statement to see where the money goes. Below is a good example. It did not include ANY MX fees for the timeshares and it covers expense for 30 days:

Eating out 27 times $1,311 – best meal - brunch on Queen Mary
Food for eating in $ 674 - best meal - steak from Hickam AFB commissary
Medical Insurance $ 235
Car Rental $ 920 in Hawaii almost all month
Car gasoline $ 300
Storage long term furniture $ 150
Storage short term Orlando $ 80
Airline tickets $ 990 future travel to Caribbean and Hawaii
Airline baggage fees $ 100
Disneyland tickets $ 250
Amazon (books) $ 125
Mail forwarding $ 80
Recreation $ 550 tours in HI-, electric bike rental Huntington Beach CA, Sanibel Thriller boat ride, Sanibel Island FL
Race registration $ 50 Hibiscus half marathon - around Diamond Head
Waste Tasting $ 150 Temecula Valley, CA. GREAT!!!
Clothes/shoes $ 625 much higher than normal
Aulani tax $ 144 HI state hotel tax
Parking $ 100 in Honolulu park at Hale Koa $100 for the month mil $150 civilian - stayed at Wyndham for 2 weeks valet parking only for $30 per day
The Point $ 110 health club membership at Hale Koa for the month - for 2
Cell phone bill $113
Pickup storage $141 pickup in storage unit while we are in Hawaii

Petty cash $400 walking around money, small purchases

This month was a little more expensive than normal. For example rental car for 4 weeks and we bought a lot of clothes. We also sent a lot of stuff from Hawaii back to friends and family.

Expensive, but:

I didn't have to go to WORK!
I didn't do any yard work
Wife didn't clean bathrooms
Wife didn't clean house
We played on the beach almost some of every day in Hawaii
Great Wine tasting in California
Great beach bike ride from Huntington Beach to Newport Beach, CA
Ate so much at the Queen Mary buffet that I didn't eat again until the next morning
Sanibel Thriller boat ride around Sanibel and Captiva Island, FL
Read 17 books
Road my bike to Diamond Head and hiked to the top 7 times -
Wife hiked to the top of the KoKo Crater stairs - me too wimpy - 1 mile in length and 1200' elevation change
Hiked to the Makapu'u Lighthouse looking over the cliffs at the ocean
Went to sleep when I was tired, woke up when I was rested and only woke up to alarm once to get a flight to Oahu
Visited 10 different beaches on Oahu
Took driving tour around the whole island


I'm never going back to work! (for a pay check)

 

[carissa1970]

Your questions about costs got me thinking…I went back over my May’s credit card statement to see where the money goes. Below is a good example. It did not include ANY MX fees for the timeshares and it covers expense for 30 days:

Eating out 27 times $1,311 – best meal - brunch on Queen Mary
Food for eating in $ 674 - best meal - steak from Hickam AFB commissary
Medical Insurance $ 235
Car Rental $ 920 in Hawaii almost all month
Car gasoline $ 300
Storage long term furniture $ 150
Storage short term Orlando $ 80
Airline tickets $ 990 future travel to Caribbean and Hawaii
Airline baggage fees $ 100
Disneyland tickets $ 250
Amazon (books) $ 125
Mail forwarding $ 80
Recreation $ 550 tours in HI-, electric bike rental Huntington Beach CA, Sanibel Thriller boat ride, Sanibel Island FL
Race registration $ 50 Hibiscus half marathon - around Diamond Head
Waste Tasting $ 150 Temecula Valley, CA. GREAT!!!
Clothes/shoes $ 625 much higher than normal
Aulani tax $ 144 HI state hotel tax
Parking $ 100 in Honolulu park at Hale Koa $100 for the month mil $150 civilian - stayed at Wyndham for 2 weeks valet parking only for $30 per day
The Point $ 110 health club membership at Hale Koa for the month - for 2
Cell phone bill $113
Pickup storage $141 pickup in storage unit while we are in Hawaii

Petty cash $400 walking around money, small purchases

This month was a little more expensive than normal. For example rental car for 4 weeks and we bought a lot of clothes. We also sent a lot of stuff from Hawaii back to friends and family.

Expensive, but:

I didn't have to go to WORK!
I didn't do any yard work
Wife didn't clean bathrooms
Wife didn't clean house
We played on the beach almost some of every day in Hawaii
Great Wine tasting in California
Great beach bike ride from Huntington Beach to Newport Beach, CA
Ate so much at the Queen Mary buffet that I didn't eat again until the next morning
Sanibel Thriller boat ride around Sanibel and Captiva Island, FL
Read 17 books
Road my bike to Diamond Head and hiked to the top 7 times -
Wife hiked to the top of the KoKo Crater stairs - me too wimpy - 1 mile in length and 1200' elevation change
Hiked to the Makapu'u Lighthouse looking over the cliffs at the ocean
Went to sleep when I was tired, woke up when I was rested and only woke up to alarm once to get a flight to Oahu
Visited 10 different beaches on Oahu
Took driving tour around the whole island

I'm never going back to work! (for a pay check)

I love this. Seriously. Congranulations to you!!!!

 

[Diva of Dragons]

You are my hero!!! LOL! I have to agree about the GCV! We booked the Grand Villa once and they didn't get us into it until 5:00 pm and we were having a dinner party at 6:00! Then, they called us a half hour before check out the next day to see if we would out in time! I was pissed! We have also stayed in the Concierge there. They were awesome! Much better service. Apparently, we were the first DVCers to use points for concierge there.

 

[Heighho]

I love this. Seriously. Congranulations to you!!!!

Congratulations on living out your dream! Most of us would never do this because it would be considered "crazy" (LOL). My husband works out of town and we only see each other about once a month. We are leaving for DW on Wednesday morning. Can't wait to share this with him on the plane!

Best wishes to you and your wife on this fabulous adventure!

 

[nunzia]

I agree this would make a fabulous book.

 

[a742246]

When I lived in CA, those beach biking routes from Huntington Beach to Newport was my favorite thing to do. Did it just about every weekend.

 

[OurDogCisco]

Your questions about costs got me thinking…I went back over my May’s credit card statement to see where the money goes. Below is a good example. It did not include ANY MX fees for the timeshares and it covers expense for 30 days:

Eating out 27 times $1,311 – best meal - brunch on Queen Mary
Food for eating in $ 674 - best meal - steak from Hickam AFB commissary
Medical Insurance $ 235
Car Rental $ 920 in Hawaii almost all month
Car gasoline $ 300
Storage long term furniture $ 150
Storage short term Orlando $ 80
Airline tickets $ 990 future travel to Caribbean and Hawaii
Airline baggage fees $ 100
Disneyland tickets $ 250
Amazon (books) $ 125
Mail forwarding $ 80
Recreation $ 550 tours in HI-, electric bike rental Huntington Beach CA, Sanibel Thriller boat ride, Sanibel Island FL
Race registration $ 50 Hibiscus half marathon - around Diamond Head
Waste Tasting $ 150 Temecula Valley, CA. GREAT!!!
Clothes/shoes $ 625 much higher than normal
Aulani tax $ 144 HI state hotel tax
Parking $ 100 in Honolulu park at Hale Koa $100 for the month mil $150 civilian - stayed at Wyndham for 2 weeks valet parking only for $30 per day
The Point $ 110 health club membership at Hale Koa for the month - for 2
Cell phone bill $113
Pickup storage $141 pickup in storage unit while we are in Hawaii

Petty cash $400 walking around money, small purchases

This month was a little more expensive than normal. For example rental car for 4 weeks and we bought a lot of clothes. We also sent a lot of stuff from Hawaii back to friends and family.

Expensive, but:

I didn't have to go to WORK!
I didn't do any yard work
Wife didn't clean bathrooms
Wife didn't clean house
We played on the beach almost some of every day in Hawaii
Great Wine tasting in California
Great beach bike ride from Huntington Beach to Newport Beach, CA
Ate so much at the Queen Mary buffet that I didn't eat again until the next morning
Sanibel Thriller boat ride around Sanibel and Captiva Island, FL
Read 17 books
Road my bike to Diamond Head and hiked to the top 7 times -
Wife hiked to the top of the KoKo Crater stairs - me too wimpy - 1 mile in length and 1200' elevation change
Hiked to the Makapu'u Lighthouse looking over the cliffs at the ocean
Went to sleep when I was tired, woke up when I was rested and only woke up to alarm once to get a flight to Oahu
Visited 10 different beaches on Oahu
Took driving tour around the whole island

I'm never going back to work! (for a pay check)

Thanks for the breakdown. As I said before your plan looks a little more realistic at least for my current lifestyle. I'm game for it. You should consider doing a blog.

 

[dbprimeaux]

Congratulations!!! You are definitely living out my dream!! A personal question... How did you live to get to this point in your life? Any suggestion for us??

 

[amyy]

What a life! Good for you and thanks for sharing.

 

[melindaPR]

Your ears must be burning, as I suspect you are the topic of many conversations recently! I told my DH all about you, and we dreamed about what our version of this might look like someday. I even asked my 3 year old if he'd visit us if we moved to "Etcot" (what he calls WDW), and he replied, "I can't drive, but when I get older and can drive, you can move there," (we live in CA).

Happy travels, and thanks for letting us live vicariously through you!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[OhioDVC]

Congratulations!!! You are definitely living out my dream!! A personal question... How did you live to get to this point in your life? Any suggestion for us??

I am really not trying to be preachy, but...

My wife an I both developed a highly employable skill set and an educational background that provided us with well paying careers. I started off enlisted in the Air Force and while my friends got a six pack and partied I went to college part-time after work to earn a degree and a commission. Early in our marriage we skipped on luxuries and we worked extra reconditioning boats to pay for my wife to attend college. We both ended up getting our master's degrees (2 actually for me) to improve ourselves for career advancement. We worked hard and saved for the future but also balanced quality family time.

The best thing we did looking back was to invest in skills that we could offer an employer. One of my in-laws says we just got lucky (the one that has been on welfare for 5 years, no education, no job skills), but we made our own luck through education and hard work. I'm not trying to sound like too much of a jerk but I get tired of people telling me (not on this thread but friends and family) how easy we have it now without realizing the work we put in to get here. I still remember 75+ hour work weeks - yes 75 hours per week. 12 hours every day, 13 days in a row with 1 day off.

We both walked away from six figure incomes to do this, without ANY regrets. We do not overvalue money but we do highly value success and achievement. Both of us had careers doing something that we LOVED and excelled at.

Both of our children (23 and 25) have already set up retirement accounts even though their employers provide pensions for them (teacher and military). They are planning to retire at 50 to beat their parents. They want all of our timeshares when we are done with them.

 

[BestDadEver]

I am really not trying to be preachy, but...

My wife an I both developed a highly employable skill set and an educational background that provided us with well paying careers. I started off enlisted in the Air Force and while my friends got a six pack and partied I went to college part-time after work to earn a degree and a commission. Early in our marriage we skipped on luxuries and we worked extra reconditioning boats to pay for my wife to attend college. We both ended up getting our master's degrees (2 actually for me) to improve ourselves for career advancement. We worked hard and saved for the future but also balanced quality family time.

The best thing we did looking back was to invest in skills that we could offer an employer. One of my in-laws says we just got lucky (the one that has been on welfare for 5 years, no education, no job skills), but we made our own luck through education and hard work. I'm not trying to sound like too much of a jerk but I get tired of people telling me (not on this thread but friends and family) how easy we have it now without realizing the work we put in to get here. I still remember 75+ hour work weeks - yes 75 hours per week. 12 hours every day, 13 days in a row with 1 day off.

We both walked away from six figure incomes to do this, without ANY regrets. We do not overvalue money but we do highly value success and achievement. Both of us had careers doing something that we LOVED and excelled at.

Both of our children (23 and 25) have already set up retirement accounts even though their employers provide pensions for them (teacher and military). They are planning to retire at 50 to beat their parents. They want all of our timeshares when we are done with them.

Thats amazing .

That is really cool . You deserve it . Live it up .

 

[rutgers1]

As at least one other person said, I suggest you start a blog. There are several great free services to choose from.....or of course you could just start a thread here (or perhaps the "community" board) where you could just update it over and over again throughout the year.

I think the blog would be popular because, as you can see, what you are doing is something a lot of us dream of. If we can't do it on our own, many of us would love to live vicariously through you.

My wife and I both teach. I have a business on the side. The money isn't great, but we do ok. The main issue is that we blow a lot of money on vacations now, as well as movies, eating out, day trips and other things like that. I made the decision a while ago that I wanted to experience everything I can in life while my kids are young, rather than save for a future date that might never occur. I am not saying that you didn't have your fair share of fun while your kids were young, rather I am just saying that -- on our income -- saving for a rockin' retirement wouldn't be feasible while still having the type of lifestyle we want to have right now. I am willing to sacrifice my retirement for the memories that I can create with my kids right now. But there definitely is a part of me that wishes I had saved a wee bit more each month over the past 18 years!

 

[carissa1970]

I am really not trying to be preachy, but...

My wife an I both developed a highly employable skill set and an educational background that provided us with well paying careers. I started off enlisted in the Air Force and while my friends got a six pack and partied I went to college part-time after work to earn a degree and a commission. Early in our marriage we skipped on luxuries and we worked extra reconditioning boats to pay for my wife to attend college. We both ended up getting our master's degrees (2 actually for me) to improve ourselves for career advancement. We worked hard and saved for the future but also balanced quality family time.

The best thing we did looking back was to invest in skills that we could offer an employer. One of my in-laws says we just got lucky (the one that has been on welfare for 5 years, no education, no job skills), but we made our own luck through education and hard work. I'm not trying to sound like too much of a jerk but I get tired of people telling me (not on this thread but friends and family) how easy we have it now without realizing the work we put in to get here. I still remember 75+ hour work weeks - yes 75 hours per week. 12 hours every day, 13 days in a row with 1 day off.

We both walked away from six figure incomes to do this, without ANY regrets. We do not overvalue money but we do highly value success and achievement. Both of us had careers doing something that we LOVED and excelled at.

Both of our children (23 and 25) have already set up retirement accounts even though their employers provide pensions for them (teacher and military). They are planning to retire at 50 to beat their parents. They want all of our timeshares when we are done with them.

You have nothing to explain to any of us. We are all envious! I wish I had done a lot more to save/prepare as you did. You and your wife deserve every second you have now...enjoy it for all of us!!

 

[BestDadEver]

I made the decision a while ago that I wanted to experience everything I can in life while my kids are young, rather than save for a future date that might never occur. I am not saying that you didn't have your fair share of fun while your kids were young, rather I am just saying that -- on our income -- saving for a rockin' retirement wouldn't be feasible while still having the type of lifestyle we want to have right now. I am willing to sacrifice my retirement for the memories that I can create with my kids right now. But there definitely is a part of me that wishes I had saved a wee bit more each month over the past 18 years!

I made that same decision . I hope too retire some day though .

 

[OhioDVC]

My wife and I both teach. I have a business on the side. The money isn't great, but we do ok. The main issue is that we blow a lot of money on vacations now, as well as movies, eating out, day trips and other things like that. I made the decision a while ago that I wanted to experience everything I can in life while my kids are young, rather than save for a future date that might never occur. I am not saying that you didn't have your fair share of fun while your kids were young, rather I am just saying that -- on our income -- saving for a rockin' retirement wouldn't be feasible while still having the type of lifestyle we want to have right now. I am willing to sacrifice my retirement for the memories that I can create with my kids right now. But there definitely is a part of me that wishes I had saved a wee bit more each month over the past 18 years!

I think we balanced between the future and living for today. My daughter was 19 when she made her 100th trip to Disneyworld. One thing I know for sure is that I would have never been able to take so many vacation at the price I did without DVC. You could say that DVC was my best retirement plan.

 

[Goofy DVC]

Congrats to you and thanks for sharing your amazing adventure.
You have given me and DW some great ideas and inspiration as we enter what I call phase I of retirement at age 51. Phase I is instead of two full time jobs only working one. This will allow us a lot more of life's only commodity- TIME! Thanks again and I am genuinely happy for you and your wife. Keep sharing and teaching.

 

[dbprimeaux]

Thanks so much for sharing you history with us... You are not being "preachy" it's the truth!!