Tips for saving money on being a short-term snow bird?

[jfer_rose]

My significant other and I are both FIRE'd and live in a cold, snowy climate. This winter we took a vacation in Florida and now find ourselves dreaming about the possibility of spending a month someplace warm next winter.

We've been searching for month-long stays in AirBnBs and are having a bit of sticker shock.

While I am nervous about spending so much, my take is that we're so frugal in general that we can comfortably afford this. We keep our finances separate, but both of us currently have withdrawal rates below 3.5%. My significant other is trying to weigh whether he would get enough value from being someplace warm to justify the high cost.

Do you have any tips for saving money on something like this? I would also welcome your thoughts in general for what you would consider when deciding whether to make this sort of expenditure.

[Dee18]

In the past 12 months I have spent 6 in New England, to get away from my home in the South. LOL  I rented by the month and have now found a place where I hope to buy a condo.  I have an annual budget and as long as I stay within that I am letting myself do whatever I want.  It's a strange feeling after so many years of giving a lot of weight to the cost of any decision.  Partly because of still being covid conscious and partly because I have become friends with a group that socializes with dinners at home, on my last month long trip I never ate out and and never even bought take-out.  So the only cost I had was rent...and a few fees for nordic skiing.

For a warm vacation in the winter you might want to really think about what you enjoyed on your trip.  The beach? Tennis? Just being in warm weather?  Once you determine that you could decide which less expensive places would provide the same benefits.  Also, if you meet people who actually live in your desired location year round you may end up receiving invitations to stay for free while those people travel.

[swashbucklinstache]

One option, though riskier, is furnished finder. I'm 1/1, by finding a property that was also listed on Airbnb. Basically a platform that finds places and connects people but nothing else. You save Airbnb fees but can't call Airbnb if something goes wrong.

You might have luck with apartments in Florida. I'm under the impression that one can break any lease in Florida for 2 month's rent. My guess is there's a fair number of people who rent and, possibly illegally, re-rent short term for profit, because the downside is low. Another option is casitas.

My other tip is consider driving over renting a car for a month if those are your choices.

@2Birds1Stone

[treffpunkt]

Some people will want to spend time in a wintery place so you could consider a house swap (I've never done this so have no recommendations).  You could also consider pet/housesitting through something like Trusted Housesitters (I do this).

[FIRE Artist]

Go to Mexico.

[RExplorer]

How warm is warm for you?  We snowbird in coastal SC/GA area.  It isn’t FL warm, but it also isn’t PA cold (and grey).  We do a lot of biking, walking/hiking, birding, pickle ball.  So highs in the 60’s to low 70’s with lots of warm sun is our sweet spot.  It is a great temperature range for all kinds of outdoor activities.  And a bonus is that prices aren’t FL prices. 

[xbdb]

Where in FL? You might want to look at the gulf coast, which I understand is cheaper than places like Miami. I had a nice vacation at St Pete's, which is near Clearwater bit not as touristy. Nice weather and beautiful white sandy beaches!

[jfer_rose]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone!

We still haven't made any decision but we have been exploring a lot of these ideas. I think we've ruled out Mexico at least for next winter. I really did like some of the listings there though!

@treffpunkt -- I'm curious more about Trusted Housesitters or similar. Can you tell me more about your experience using this service? How far in advance do people typically list/book for that? Is it common or uncommon for people to look for a sitter for a longer length of time (say 2 weeks-1 month)?

If we do a long trip our plan would absolutely be to drive. That also solves the problem of what to do with my vehicle if we take the trip-- I use street parking and in the winter you can't leave a vehicle parked in one place for long due to snow clearing needs.

We did spend some time looking at rentals in SC/GA. We're still considering that although I think we both really like the idea of an even warmer place.

@xbdb -- Funny you should mention that. We were looking in much of Florida but our favorite listings were all in St Pete's!

@spartana --LOL on what we would spend on a two week vacation. Our vacations are almost always camping and we haven't ever gone more than about a week at a time. Actually I think this is a lot of our problem-- we don't have a benchmark. Camping or RV'ing might make a lot of sense for us.

@Dee18 -- this is part of the reason I think the prices are so high where we are looking. For me, the most important thing is that our rental has a convenient place to sit outside within easy access of a bathroom (so if not a porch/patio, a park within say a block or so from the rental). However, my significant other really enjoyed taking daily walks on the beach and so his preference is for a place within a bike riding distance of the beach. That rules out SO many places!

[JoJo]

I've been snowbirding the last few years for 1-4 months per year.  Here are some things that have worked for me:

* I have a van that I converted myself (added a bed, refrigerator, lithium battery, camping cooking gear, spent about $1400 upgrades and gear).  With this I can both free camp, some places in Arizona and California are warm enough most nights without heat.  I love to camp at a place where I pay $450/month for camping and they have excellent facilities (bathrooms, showers, pools, hot tubs, gym, etc) and loads of activities... easily could camp there for months.  Other people in small vans set up an additional tent or shade to have more living space.

* pick a non-traditional place like Tucson - I worked remote from there and paid $800/month in the winter 2020-21.  However, that area is getting hot and prices have gone up alot. 

* Someone mentioned Mexico, I went down to Baja for a month this year.  I shared gas and acommodation costs (camped half the time and motel/airbnb in cities) with one travel companion, ate out 1 meal per day, other meals were from grocery, and did a few day tours.  Our total cost per person was $45/day.   There are lots of cities in Mexico with many expats. 

*Other international destination - southern asia wouldn't be bad in winter. 

[treffpunkt]

@treffpunkt -- I'm curious more about Trusted Housesitters or similar. Can you tell me more about your experience using this service? How far in advance do people typically list/book for that? Is it common or uncommon for people to look for a sitter for a longer length of time (say 2 weeks-1 month)?

Pre-Covid there were lots of people who booked things far in advance, but now many are hesitant to plan anything further than one or two months ahead; for example, there are tons of sits for April and May but far fewer further out. But they do exist! Some people still like to plan (I got my six-week sit for Aug/Sept way back in Jan). If/when things normalize and people start feeling confident again making plans, this will likely shift back to somewhat longer planning again. I'm seeing a few sits already for the coming winter and generally, the longer the sit, the longer in advance they tend to plan it.

The majority of sits are less than two weeks, people going on holiday type of thing, but there are definitely still hundreds (thousands across the world) of sits available for longer than that. There is more competition for the one-month plus sits lately with more people working from home and hitting the road.

Currently there are more sits available than sitters, particularly in the UK and the US. It used to be tough getting that first sit. Now new sitters are getting accepted quite easily due to desperation on the part of the home owners. This imbalance could shift in favour of the home owners again any time.

Anyone can look at available sits on the site so you can take a look and see for yourself what is out there (you can filter for duration, dates, locations you're considering, and so on).

If you do decide to join, don't pay full price! I can give you a 25% discount code or if you already know someone in real life who is a member do get it from them (in return I or they get two months of free membership).