A testimony from Jill of Organizational Toast:
Five years ago, our little family of four moved from Florida to the midwest. Neither my husband or I knew much about where we were moving, but we vowed we would take every opportunity to travel and explore our new home. We quickly realized we loved being on the road and that there were so many amazing places to visit!
Two years ago, my husband and I decided we wanted to purchase an RV to explore even more. We also knew we would only buy an RV if we could pay cash. And we did!
So how did we do it?
1. We Researched
We spent months researching RVs and came up with a reasonable budget based on the information we gathered.
We went to multiple RV dealers to compare prices, models and features. We went to each dealer armed with pertinent questions related to pricing that we had found on the web.
Once we gathered all our information we looked over our finances and picked an RV that met our needs and that we could reasonably pay cash for. We chose a purchase price of $15,000.
2. We Set a Savings Goal
We set a 1-year goal to save $10,000. We already had $10,000 in savings, but we didn't want to empty our savings account. We came up with a savings plan and each month, we put aside $850 in a dedicated savings account.
Having a separate savings account helped us stay motivated.
3. We Found Money in Our Budget
Creating and sticking to a monthly budget was so important to reaching our savings goal. We already have $500 a month dedicated to savings, so we only had to find $350 more each more.
Here are a few ways we found that additional money
- My husband started taking his lunch to work
- I ramped up my meal planning, especially frugal and meatless meals
- We implemented 2 No-Spend weekends a month
Here is where it gets interesting.
About 8 months into our year of saving, one of the dealers we visited contacted us about an RV they had on sale. It was still $3500 OVER what we had in our savings. We let the salesman know we would only pay in cash and that we were willing to wait until we had the full amount saved before we made a purchase.
We went back and forth with the RV salesman and even got a call from the sales manager promising us great rates on a loan and that the deal wouldn't be around forever. We stuck to our guns and simply let them know we would only pay cash and we were willing to wait.
After a couple more phone calls, the dealer lowered the price to meet our budget. We dropped off our check and drove off with an RV the following week!!
We have built so many beautiful memories in our RV since we purchased it and are so grateful we can enjoy it without the burden of a loan!
Jill is a work at home mom to two sweet and crazy kiddos and the creator of Organizational Toast. Her goal is inspire other moms to get organized and simplify their lives with uncomplicated strategies to manage their finances, home, and life.
