The Costs Of Fulltime RVing (Part I) – Budgeting & Planning Your Spend
Pre-Post NOTE/ THANK YOU for all the awesome comments on my last post regarding our NE trip this summer!! We’ve spent lots of time digesting them and will definitely make use of your many tips during our trip. Looking forward to it!
This is a set of posts that have been on my back-burner for a loooong time. My one and only post on fulltime RV costs was done way back in early 2011 and I’ve been wanting to write an update ever since. But I’ve also been very reluctant to do so at the same time.
On the one hand, these are supremely useful posts. Costs are a huge question for anyone who is considering getting on the road and one of the most searched-for items for newbie fulltimers. I remember it was one of the top things we fretted about before we went fulltiming and we had such a hard time figuring it out. Could we afford it? For how long? What kind of budget would we need? We found several blog posts, but no-one seemed to be able to give us an exact number. How are you supposed to work with that??
On the other hand, it’s a VERY individual thing. After 7 years on the road I can honestly tell you there’s a very good reason why no-one ever gives you an exact number. That’s because many of the big fulltime RV expenses are totally flexible! What kind of rig you buy, where you decide to camp, how much you drive, whether you decide workamp, whether you eat out (or in) etc. -> ALL these are flexible costs that can vastly alter your spend numbers. There are ranges (and I’ll go through them below), but there is quite simply no one single number for everyone.
And finally there’s just the whole money thing. Money is a “hot” topic and these kinds of posts almost always generate heated debate about how much it really costs. What one person might consider “a pretty good deal” could be construed as “ridiculously expensive” to some one else (“you spend that much on xxx??” is a common response). So I’m going to say this up front. Don’t take ANY of these numbers as fixed. Rather use these posts as a guide together with other folks who publish their data (which I’ll link to) to create your own, individual financial plan.
With that said, this is a BIG topic so I think it best to split it out into 2 posts. My first post will simply cover general cost & budget considerations for folks looking to get on the road. My second post will go into more detail about our specific spend as well as providing links to other folks & resources on RV budget. Here we go….
Start By Tracking Your Current Spend
Anyone who wants to plan a budget for the future should start by understanding what $$ they are using now. I think this is a critical part of any healthy financial plan, and there’s really no excuse for not doing it.
These days everything is available online and if you’re putting most of your spend on credit or debit cards* it’s super easy to import it into programs (e.g Quicken or Mint) that will summarize and keep track of exactly where your money is going. Not only will this give you a solid idea of your starting point, but it will be key to pointing out places you can possibly save once you change your lifestyle and get on the road.
*If you have any cash spend you’ll obviously need to keep receipts of that in order to record & break down that spend
How do we do it? We do 99% of our spend through credit cards (where we actively collect points too**) and I’m old-fashioned so I import all my bank & card data into an Excel spreadsheet. I do this every month, allocate each line to a category (e.g. entertainment, RV parks, insurance, groceries etc.) and then churn out a pretty pivot table to display it in one place. I’ve been tracking our spend this way for over 13 years and before that I used paper, so I literally have detailed spend numbers going back to when I was around 17 years old (crazy, I know).
**We haven’t paid for air travel to see family in years thanks to our various card points 🙂
Now Tell Me What It Really Costs? Answer: It Varies…!
As I said in the intro there is really no one single number here, but I can give you a general range.
From a baseline perspective, we know RVers who spend anywhere between ~$1500/mo (on the low end) to ~$5000-$7500/mo (on the very upper end) on their lifestyle, with the majority ending up somewhere in the low-middle (~$2500-$3500/mo). These numbers are for two people.
Anything below $1500/mo is tough IMO especially if there’s two of you and you throw health care, insurance and other fixed costs into the mix. The folks on this end of the spectrum are super-budget and generally travel in vans or smaller rigs (= lower maintenance & insurance/registration costs), boondock or workamp most of the time (= ultra-low camping fees), limit their travel (= less gas costs) and cook at home most of the time (= low entertainment costs). It requires some frugal dedication, but it’s do-able. We know several folks traveling this way who absolutely love the freedom of their super-budget lifestyle.
Anything above $5000/mo means you can start to splurge and of course if you have more to spend, you’ll have more opportunities to splurge. The folks at this end of the scale generally travel in larger rigs (= more expensive maintenance/registration/insurance fees), stay in private RV parks most of the time (= higher camping costs), drive more miles and like to eat out. These folks also love their lifestyle.
Around $2500-$3500/mo is a do-able mix of the two extremes IMO. At this level you’ll still have to watch your budget and look for frugal camping options, but you’ll have the flexibility for some looser spending too (e.g. occasionally staying at pricier RV parks, eating out etc.).
Fixed Versus Flexible Costs
When looking at fulltime RV costs I like to separate the budget into fixed and flexible costs and I think it’s helpful to plan your own RV budget in this format too.
Fixed costs are standard items that you pay each month and which you have (somewhat) limited control over. Examples are RV registration & insurance, health insurance, mail service, storage (if you have that), internet/phone and maintenance costs.
Obviously these are not the same fixed costs for everyone. What kind of rig you buy, where you insure it, how much maintenance you do (incl. paid versus self-maintenance), whether you keep a storage unit and what kind of internet plan you get are all individual choice. But once you’ve made those decisions they’ll become fixed, recurring expenses that you should expect to pay each month.
Flexible costs are costs that are entirely within your control and this is where RV budget gets exciting 🙂
By far the largest two contributors here are camping costs (what kind of places you decide to stay) and driving costs (how far you chose to drive each year). These can easily contribute 30% of the fulltime RV budget, which means a huge part of your monthly budget is completely controllable!
In our case there are months we pay almost ZERO here (e.g. when we are sitting still in one place and either volunteering or boondocking) and there are months we chose to splurge. Either way we are able to completely manage how much we want to spend and can ramp it down (or up) as needed to match our income. Honestly if we’d fully understood the power of this flexibility we probably wouldn’t have fretted quite so much over costs before we got on the road. This is a BIG DEAL!
There are other flexible costs which are smaller than these two, but can also be managed to match your individual needs. This includes things such as groceries, entertainment, electronics, gifts and clothing. In our case we spend about the same on groceries as we did before we hit the road (we love our food), somewhat less on entertainment and electronics, and way, way less on clothing (we don’t need much of a wardrobe on the road!).
The Influence Of Domicile
Many folks who go fulltime RVing switch their domicile (= legal residence) to a low-cost state.
Now there are a lot of factors that go into domicile choice and there’s not one, single right choice for everyone. But for the purposes of this post what’s important for you to understand is that that domicile DOES have a significant impact on your RV budget. Not only does it affect your take-home $$ (due to state taxes), but it also affects your health insurance costs, RV/car insurance costs, RV/car registration costs and business costs (if you have any). And the difference in these $$ between different states can be significant!
As an example, before we started our RVing journey we lived CA which is a very high cost state both for income taxes, RV/car registration and insurance. When we went fulltime we severed our ties with CA and switched our domicile to SD which reduced those expenses significantly. Our state income tax went from one of the highest in the nation to ZERO while our RV/car registration dropped by around a factor of 5! Talk about instant savings!
Fast forward 7 years and SD is still one of the least expensive states for fulltime RVers to domicile, but some things have also changed in that time frame. For example registration/insurance costs have risen (this was a state-wide thing that happened in SD a few years ago) and health insurance options for our age-group have deteriorated to the point of being abysmal. If we were choosing domicile today, we’d probably chose a different state.
The Impact Of Unexpected Expenses
A critical part of any RV budget plan is unexpected expenses. No matter how confident you feel with your budget you should always keep an emergency fund for unexpected expenses because these WILL happen.
For healthcare we keep $8,000 in our HSA account (tax-free health savings account). This not only covers our regular yearly self-pay checks, but also covers the individual deductible on our health care plan in case we should ever need it. We keep an additional 4-6 months of savings in ready cash (e.g. cash, money market, savings) for unplanned RV, pet & other expenses and regularly add to these savings through our monthly budget.
There are many years we’ve not used any of our emergency fund, but last year we really needed it. First Polly had her TPLO leg operation, then Taggart had her I-131 treatment and finally we got hit with our RV accident. All three were unexpected expenses that went beyond our normal budget.
Stuff Beyond The Regular Budget
There are certain things I won’t be covering in these budget posts, but which you will want to include in your own plan if you’re looking to get one the road. This includes one-time expenses such as the cost of whatever RV you’re going to buy as well as $$ for initial fixes, necessary equipment and upgrades along the way.
For example if you’re buying an older RV, you’ll want to plan for some initial $$ to fix the things that will undoubtedly need to be fixed before you can get on the road (e.g. new tires? oil changes? new hoses? new suspension? broken appliances?). Also you’ll want to buy some basic stuff (e.g. sewer hose, camping chairs, surge protector, TPMS) to set yourself up for starting on the road. Lastly, if you plan to do some upgrades (e.g. buy a cellular booster, install a solar system) you’ll want to plan for those too. These one-time expenses can easily cost $5,000-$20,000 depending on what the condition of your rig is and what you’re planning to do. Some of of them (e.g. upgrades) will likely spread across multiple years too, so include some extra $$ for these in your yearly plan as well.
And Don’t Forget About Income!
One very last thing to think about before you decide whether you can afford to fulltime RV is income. Whether or not you currently have an income, creating some $$ on the road can greatly ease the constraints of a tight budget and radically change your available budget. If you are pre-retirement and have an online job that you can take on the road, then absolutely do that. Otherwise there are lots of opportunities to create some income on the road. We’ve met folks who workamp, edit, write, invest, compose music, create art, make jewelry, tattoo, run online businesses, take on temporary jobs (Amazon, Beet Harvest, Christmas Tree sales etc.) or do a slew of other creative things on the road for money. Some make only a little money while others make pretty significant $$. And these opportunities are not just for young folks, either! We’ve seen all ages making money on the road.
That wraps up the intro post! This is just an overall budgeting post, so please keep any specific $$ questions until my next post. If you have any general questions related to these subjects however, feel free to ask below!
Coming Next -> we delve into some specific spend numbers and link to others who’ve done the same. Click HERE to read part II.
Related Posts:
Very well written. From my prior life in management, a lot of people have problems separating fixed & variable costs. Especially since many bills are a combination of both.
Yeah, in truth there’s probably a slim grey band between the fixed and flexible expenses in that graph I created. That would represent bills that are mixed or could be considered either flexible or fixed depending on the individual person and their needs.
For example we consider internet a fixed expense since it’s a “must have” for us (for our work, Paul’s investing etc.), but someone else who doesn’t necessarily care about internet (and only pays for it occasionally) could put it into their flexible bucket. It can get a tad complicated when you really delve into the details 🙂
Nina
Thank you for this report. We hope to head up to Oregon in April.
I hate getting old as insurance goes up, but being retired with only Social Security, and not having to pay taxes sure helps. We are considering Texas as our domicile for family and our truck registration, but it depends on the cost of changing health insurance. We have an old travel trailer we bought for $4,500, so we will save if we want something newer. All we can do is try. We will have a storage place though, just in case.
Sounds like a good plan! I wish I could guide you on the health insurance decision, but as things stand today it’s anyone’s guess on what’s going to happen. The options and costs could look entirely different a mere year from now. Wish you the best of travels!
Nina
This is most helpful and informative! Can’t wait to see what you have in store for the next more specific $$ post. I noticed you didn’t really mention anything about if your still paying for the rv…making a monthly note. Obviously that would be in the fixed column of the budget. Was a rv payment figured into your mean average of $2500 to $3000 a month budget?
Good question which I was planning to address in the next post, but I’ll put a note on it here. We don’t have an RV payment and the budget ranges I listed above don’t include them either. These are base spend ex any RV payment.
Nina
Awesome article, Thanks!
Wonderful post Nina. Thank you for putting in so much time to write it! I’m looking forward to part II.
Here is a link to some numbers Kirk from the Escapees Forum put together after 10 years of volunteering.
http://www.adventure.1tree.net/index.php/rv-living/finances/five-years-of-expenses
You added a lot of confidence that my wife and I are planning right for our expected expenses. I had used an average between Howard’s numbers at RV Dreams and Kirks from the Escapees Forum. Then added a figure for annual inflation (2.5%) based on going full time in 2019 when we originally planned on 2023. We are spot on at around $3,007 average in future dollars and with no debt. Our form of travel will include workamping at times so we will be parked at times.
The real unknown for us has been expected health care costs. Thank you so much for all the earlier posts and forum threads on that subject. I decided we are not going to let that stop us – short of a major health issue.
Looks like you gave a very solid plan! Kirk’s numbers are one of the budget references I plan to link to in my next post. And I totally agree that health care is the biggest single unknown in all this. It’s been (by far) the biggest impact we’ve had to our fixed expenses in the 7 years we’ve been on the road, and it’s one of the most difficult to predict. I have no idea what our costs are going to be next year.
Nina
This is an excellent post, Nina. People ask us all the time what it costs to RV full time, and we’ve come up with just about the same answer as you —we figure $3500 for a comfortable and varied lifestyle that includes a mix of state and federal parks, some boon docking, occasional expensive RV resorts, and camp hosting. We travel a lot of miles every year driving from the Pacific Northwest to Florida and back, which I realize isn’t typical.
Each year we’ve also had to come up with money for unexpected expenses that we never anticipated (RV repairs, pet repairs, personal repairs. :-)) So we’ve found it’s essential to set aside funds for those things. Food is by far our biggest expense—we like good food. And wine.
We’re right around that same $3500/mo number. And like you we splurge on good food so our grocery bill is significant. It’s a core part of our life enjoyment. Cheers much for sharing.
Nina
Good article, I think the initial start up costs (besides repairs to a used unit) could be added to your article. We bugeted $10,000 and after full timing almost a year on the road now, we are fast approaching that number for: tow bar, base plate, braking system, drive shaft disconnect (our choice instead of a new toad) installations, modifications, grill, chairs, road side service, extended warranty, insurance, memberships, hoses, tools, heaters (no lpg available once) fans, tables, ladder, bikes, bike racks, etc.. It adds up fast.
We had some items from the stick and bricks but for example: but the old grill was bigger than our toad. And a new toad could bump the 10k to 40k or 60k depending.
We really like your site and your writing style. Hope to meet up someday.
Totally correct. I did include start-up costs ($5,000-$20,000) in the above post but didn’t specifically mention tow mods (for folks towing). That should certainly be included in those numbers.
When we started out we spent around $4,500 on initial start-up $$. That covered tow modifications, new sewer hose, extra water hoses, surge protector and power cords (30 to 50A cable, plus a 30A extension cable), Lynx leveling blocks, wheel covers, camping chairs and tables, outdoor grill and mat. We also spent smaller $ on various cheap plastic storage bins (for sorting our stuff in the downstairs bins). We didn’t initially buy a TPMS system, but that’s something I’d recommend for folks today and does add around another ~$500 to the total. All these start-up costs were easily covered by selling furniture and various “stuff” from our house.
We’ve never bought an RV GPS, and various other things (like LPG and electric heaters, dehumidifier, cellphone boosters, solar system etc.) we didn’t add until later down the road. All our interior stuff (kitchen equipment, bedding, clothing etc.) we already owned and just transferred from the house.
The bigger start-up cost was of course the purchase of the RV (plus taxes) and initial registration costs in CA. Thankfully we had no repairs to do on the rig (they were all covered by the seller), and we already owned our CRV (which is flat-towable with no modifications) as well as our bikes and bike rack.
Nina
I formative as always. You nailed it when you said it is too variable in differences in approach to full timing – to provide a simple ‘Here is costs to full time.’ answer. Pointing out some of the variables that can alter a budge line item up/down, in some cases to be non existent – at least gives those looking for guidance food for thought.
Look forward to the next edition.
Oh. I did notice how you dodged the single most important line item of full time budgeting. How much to budget for micro brews along the way… :)! That remains a possible deficit item…
Best,
Smitty
HA! Beer requires a separate savings fund for those who are serious about it. Start saving now! 🙂
Nina
Well summed up…
Not being “full-timers” ourselves, but are in a category called “extended stay travelers” (one to three month trips). Being rather young to retire last year in our early 50’s, health insurance is the big monkey on our back. Yes, we do have insurance thru my union, but since O-Care ( Obama ) monthly rated have gone up 250% in the last 5-6 years, and coverage gone in the toilet. I guess it is what it is.
One thing in my traveling, I have to have a dependable vehicle & RV to travel with. That is the last think I want to worry about is a break down. Presently looking for that next RV trailer (Arctic Fox, ORV or Highland Ridge). Full times travel in a full range of RV’s from cars, vans, B’s, C’s and A’s classes. New million dollar rigs, to $1,000 cars or vans. All the power to them….I follow many on their YouTube channels the last 5 years.
I like your 4% rule, which is a good starting point to gauge ones budget spectrum.
Health care has definitely been the trickiest item for us these past 7 years, and also the biggest increase in our fixed expenses category during that timeframe. I do wish it were simpler and easier to predict (in $$) than it is now.
And yes there are SO many different RV travel options out there. We know folks traveling in everything from super-luxury RVs to super-budget vans, and their spend budgets vary from super-splurge to super-frugal. There’s no one “right” way to do it.
Nina
GREAT post – very informative and helpful. I was particularly interested in your state of domicile portion.
At some point Id love to hear about how you find work at campgrounds/state parks during the year and what you like and dislike about it.
I’ve got many posts and an entire tab dedicated to our volunteer work (workamping at state parks), so I recommend checking that out. Here’s the link:
Wheelingit – All About Volunteering
Nina
Thanks Nina – I’m slowly making my way thru your blog. Great stuff!
We budget $6k per month and usually have a hard time sticking to it. I guess you would have to put us into that ‘upper’ bracket. We track every penny (we use YNAB as our budgeting tool-Google it), but still don’t deny ourselves anything we really need or want. We moved into the rig in July 07 with a nice portfolio and then suffered through the 07-08 market collapse. We dropped about 38%. We slowed our spending down a bit, workcamped for a season (Crazy Horse Monument in the Black Hills) and within a couple of years our portfolio had returned to pre-recession levels. In fact, our portfolio today is actually just a bit larger than the day I retired. And what’s our secret? Low cost passive index funds from Vanguard.
We spend between 5 and 7 percent of our portfolio per year. That’s above the recommended 4% ‘rule’, but once we start collecting our social security in a couple of years we’ll be able to drop that withdrawal rate to between 2 and 3 percent of the portfolio. We’re in pretty good shape.
Not trying to brag here, just sharing. We are living the good life.
Vanguard are awesome. We’ve always loved their low-cost funds. And workamping for a season is the perfect way to ease the budget when you are fulltiming. Cheers much for sharing your details.
Nina
My wife and I are doing our planning as we speak. Thank you for your knowledge on RVing and we will be staying in contact with you because we have lots of questions that are unanswered at this moment. We both have very good knowledge when it comes to camping ,so that part of the plan is easy. Our budgeting needs some help though. So thanks again for your insight, and we hope to cross paths in the future as we are approximately a year and a half away from hitting the road. I do have one question right now! What is TPMS? Thanks again and travel safe! Greg&Nancy Gallinger.
How exciting!! TPMS is a Tire Pressure Monitoring System. I have written about them (and our choice of one) here:
https://www.wheelingit.us/2014/06/02/monitoring-our-ride-review-of-the-tire-safeguard-tpms/
Nina
Hi Nina,
here’s our budget from a year, 2015-2016, with family of four. about 2000-2400 a month, plus maybe about 500 a month for health & other insurance. https://intothetransporter.blogspot.com/2016/08/budget-what-budget.html
Dale
That’s an amazing budget for 4 people! And I see from your blog post that your land travel is in a travel trailer, so I bet your registration and maintenance fees are very low. Cheers for sharing.
Nina
Fantastic post Nina, and indeed a difficult subject to write on (and goodness, have many a RV-blogger tried!) – there’s just so many variables. So many want just a hard number to plan around.
One factor that we find folks often dismiss is having some padding for FUN stuff!
Yes, we visit amazing places and there’s usually plenty of free stuff to do – but sometimes to enjoy them a little money goes a long way to enhance the experience. Unlike when you might be living more stationary where you might save up for a few splurges in the year (aka ‘vacation’) – on the road there’s constant temptation. A museum, a concert, an event, an entrance fee, etc. For us we found the discretionary fun budget is more spread out year round, instead of in vacation blips.
Definitely! The “fun” budget is something I include in our “entertainment” category and that’s definitely a part of the flexible budget that’s worth planning for when you go fulltime RVing. We actually spend less on entertainment than we did when we lived in a stix and brix in CA (mostly because we go out to eat less than we did when we both worked in a corporate job), but we do spend something in this category every month. It’s year-round entertainment now 🙂
Nina
Thank you Nina. As always, your blogs are inspiring and informative.
Nina – another great post! This is the first winter that we have spent (prior two winters spent in Florida) traveling in the West, and we are finding that there are many more opportunities to manage camping costs out here, as compared to the east cost. In general, RV site costs in Florida and Georgia, are a bit more expensive than Arizona, New Mexico, Texas. We (like you and Paul) have a large RV, and have found a lot more public campgrounds and public land in the West, that we can fit in. In Florida, state park reservations can be hard to get, and many of the campgrounds primarily have smaller sites (at least this was our experience).
New RVers may want to think about including inflation expectations into their budgets. We use a rolling multi-year budget, and incorporate expected cost increases. Lower fuel prices during the last few years, has been very good for RVer budgets, but this could change. Many economists are now expecting inflation (o.k. now I am showing my geek side) to increase with the new administration.
We love your blog. Thank you for all of your hard work on the posts.
So interestingly enough we’ve not seen much of an inflation factor impact in our budget over the last 7 years. For example fuel prices have varied enormously during our time on the road (anywhere from $2.00 to $4.50 per gallon), yet our fuel numbers have not really reflected those changes simply because we adjusted how far we traveled each year. I DO think it’s good practice to add an inflation factor to any budget you look at (we do this in our long-term retirement budget planning too), but you may find the actual impact (once you’re on the road) to be less than you expect.
Nina
This is really wonderful information. Thank you so much for putting so much care and detail into it.
Where would I find more information on good domicile states?
Do you have good resources for income?
Looking forward to the rest of the series!
For domicile the three most common choices for fulltime RVers are SD, TX, and FL. They have zero income tax, low overall fees (insurance, registration etc.) and are very fulltime RV friendly (= easy to establish domicile and easy to deal with on the road). For more info check out this post (and associated links):
Home is Where you Park it…or is it?
For income info, check out these links:
Wandrly Magazine: How to Make a Living on the Road
Heath & Alyssa: 7 ways To Make Money On The Road. Their podcast is super cool too.
Interstellar Orchard – Useful Stuff
RV Dreams – Workamping
LOTS more links out there, but start with those
Nina
Good post Nina…but I’m a little skeptical about 3500 being a reasonable budget unless you either boondock/workamp a lot…or don’t go out much. I won’t say money is no object for Connie and I…but we’re plenty comfortable due to long term investing when we were younger…my guess based on talking to folks in general for the past 5 years is that we’re probably better off financially than 80% of the full timers we run into…not to brag about it but just giving you a little flavor for this post. We’ve averaged 30.46 a night since summer of 12 for about 925 a month in parking…plus another 80-100 a month from Nov to April for power at our winter site. From actual 2016 expenses…add in DirectTV, phone data plan, and MiFi data plan and that’s another 500 a month or so. 450 a month for groceries, 345 for eating out, 120 for brews at the Elks, 275 for diesel fuel (we do about 10K miles a year on our truck)…that’s already up to 2700 a month not including medical insurance and bills, misc other stuff, and any repairs on rig or truck or vehicle expenses. While we could economize on some of those…our average for 2016 was about 6700 a month (that doesn’t include our truck payment which comes directly out of our investments and is our only expenditure from investments currently). We could economize of course…eating out and too many brews at the Elks could somewhat go away if needed and we could get that probably down to 300 instead of 500 without feeling too deprived. Like you said…what you spend depends on you…and how much you got but we at least would feel pretty cramped by a 3500 a month budget.
Maybe wintering out west or in southern Texas would allow us to save some money…but when we researched back in 2014 or 2015 an equivalent park in Mission Valley would only have saved us 100 bucks a month or so over what we’re paying here in Fort Myers. Fortunately…we’re well enough off so that budget isn’t our primary concern at this point…not because we’re brilliant investors but because we started saving 40 years ago…both always worked but lived on one salary and invested the rest…and because I invested my Navy retirement when it started in 1991 and my wife worked for a doctor’s professional organization with very good benefits. Mostly though…it was a case of living below what our salaries would have suggested and long term investing…compound interest is your friend.
So the big swing number that I see in what you wrote is camping costs. We workamp/boondock at least 4 months of every year which brings down those costs to around $10-$12/night on average. That’s been our norm for the past 6 years. Last year was the sole exception traveling out East, but even then we only hit $24/night. We have no TV, we travel on average only 6,000 miles per year and we don’t eat out much simply because we love to cook (when we do it’s mostly for beer tasters and a cheap lunch).
So yes, different living/traveling styles. There are many folks who would find our spend too constraining and many folks who would find it quite abundant.
Cheers for sharing your numbers. It’s always good to see different perspectives.
Nina
I love to cook as well…but then I like checking out the local brewski scene even better. About 80% of our going out during the winter is at the Elks which is cheap for both food and beer…$5.50 a pitcher and dinner for $9…but in the travel season we tend to eat at the local Elks maybe 10% and the rest at various hole in the walls. I don’t think we could get to your numbers even if we cut out the DirectTV fees and workamped…but then travel style is different for everybody…and one of the big drivers is what you can afford to spend. We’re fortunate that we can (mostly) not really budget…we could get down to JC’s 6K per month if we needed to without much strain…and if we needed to we would…but we don’t so we don’t. Our secret was to turn all of that money stuff over to a financial planning service up in the DC area when we went on the road…sure, we’re paying their annual percentage but we’re in a medium growth and income portfolio profile…we’ve averaged about 5% return since 1/1/13 and have taken out about $50K over that time frame for big ticket items like the new truck, trip to Ireland, trip to Alaska, etc.
ha ha ha and this is exactly why it seems most bloggers struggle with posts on this topic… what is crazy cheap to one is crazy expensive to another! This is true in stix and brix as it must be in the full time RV world we are working to try and figure out. I love the discussions though because it really makes you realize that the guy that says he can do it for 1k a month is for real and the people that say they cant believe it could not be done for less than 6k are just as for real and seem just as silly to those that cant imagine doing it for less than 9k a month…. You would think that with some much variability in these discussions that it would not be much help to those of us trying to figure out how we can make this work for us but then the light bulb starts to get brighter for us and we start to understand that just as in stix and brix you can make this work for you at what ever level you are comfortable with living… thanks to you for posting these discussions and thanks to all that reply it is so helpful!!!
Totally! We ran into exactly this conundrum when we were researching costs way back in 2009. We found folks who were fulltime RVing for crazy cheap and folks who said it couldn’t be done for less than {whatever number}.
There really is a lot of variation out there and the variation certainly does match income, as you would expect. Folks on a limited income typically travel more frugally (smaller rigs, more workamping/boondocking, less eating out etc.) and make it work for less, whereas folks on a more abundant income go ahead and spend more. I do think there’s a pretty distinct bottom number (It’s really hard to get below $1500/mo as a couple IMO), but I don’t think there’s necessarily any upper limit. There’s certainly no one answer and no one “right” way…
I should also add that the graph I created (in the post) showing average monthly $$ is simply my best guess based on the folks we’ve traveled with and those that have shared or published their budget (which admittedly not everyone is prepared to do). It’s possible I’m wrong and many folks spend more than they say (and since we regularly boondock/workamp it’s also possible we travel mostly with the frugal crowd!), but I honestly don’t think it’s too far off.
Nina
Exactly! 8^)
Well done sir! 8^)
Thanks JC…long time no see or talk. Haven’t seen you since the RV Dreams rally back in 12 or 14 in Tennessee IIRC.
Enjoy your blogg great post. I use amazon prime visa reward get my points at amazon and free two shipping that is great when you travel. Keep up the nice work
Grat job! This type of post is why I so frequently send new/potential RVers to your site.
Thanks so much for all you give to this great community. I am a boondocking newbie. Reading your Boondocking I for Newbies, I am trying to use the resources you list and really struggling to get useful results. I have a few (5-6) questions that are too long for a comment box. Can I email you?
Thanks.
We have not work camped and have averaged spending almost $5000/month since we started fulltiming in our motorhome since 2009.
Love your blog!
Nina, good article! I am always amazed that the mystery that seems to accompany “the costs of living on the road” vs. “living in a sticks & brick house or apartment.” Glad you could shed some light on this for prospective full-timers and most-timers. 🙂
I counted 15 solar panels on your Beast -what’s the significance in technology and price since 2010?
Technology has certainly gotten better and pricing has decreased. I’ve got all the details on our solar setup in the solar section of the blog, so I recommend reading further there: https://www.wheelingit.us/category/solar-power-2/
Nina
Great article and right on IMO…I think what you have written is not only true for full time rving but living in general…the key words here are what you wrote in the beginning… that you are providing a formula not necessarily the details….and it will be different for everyone depending on what is important to them…and we always budget for travel, food, wine and fun….:)
Nina, as you said budgets are going to be a highly personal thing while RVing. If I decided to full time RV and have a blog, then I will tell exactly how much I paid for everything.
For the merchandise budget I allocated $30,000, which includes such things such as solar power, computer and internet related gear including two brand new laptops, new photography gear (have Nikon cameras, but want digital). Currently up to $28,000 on my list, but still have things to add to the list. The budget for the merchandise could even be low.
For the year 1 monthly budget I hope to cut it down to $1,900 per month average as Marvin is in Arizona for the solar power installation so I would not be going to Florida and therefore the campground and gas will decrease accordingly. Before that my campground and gas expenses were 32.7% of the budget. I had done the year one destinations before Nina wrote about the solar power upgrade, but obviously will have to make an adjustment.
Neil, some of us who hope to full time RV aren’t rich. My motorhome (really high school boys basketball buddy but does have a MH) friend likes to camp at a spot that is $47 per night with full hook ups. He has no solar, but likes to provide AC during the summer for his dog. Meanwhile I could camp nearby that same campground at a dry camping spot for $14/night with potable water access, dump station, and even includes two showers per day so the gray tank wouldn’t be filling up so fast. Yes, I plan on having solar power. That is a difference of $1,000/month right there if both of us were full timers already. How much is the MiFi as we currently pay less than $160 for DirecTV and the cell phone plan? Our food budget is considerably less than yours as well, but we do currently stock up on food when it is on sell (20+ – 33% off) to fill up the deep freezer (one thing that I will miss if we full time RV) and pantry. So as Nina says there is a lot of flexibility in how people want to spend their money. There is no such thing as one correct way to RV. There are very many different styles so everyone can choose which one fits their own personal style. Personally I intend to live off less than half the income for the first two years and then splurge in year three in Alaska provided that we full time RV. I don’t want to touch the wife’s 403B plan until legally required to do so. This way I have compound interest working for me rather against me. We are using Cash Is King method for finances and have zero credit cards currently (we use the debit card). One other point at our bank we have zero fees on the checking and saving accounts. I use gasbuddy.com for gas prices and have a spreadsheet to help me determine whether or not it pays to go to the far gas stations for the cheaper prices.
Your plan looks totally do-able. Your 30K merchandise start-up budget should be ample to cover everything you need, and in fact you should even be able to put some of that aside for the future unexpected expenses & upgrades (something I would recommend). Your monthly budget is certainly on the frugal side, but totally possible if you focus on keeping your camping & gas costs in check.
I’ll be going into specifics which should hopefully help answer your other questions in my next post.
Nina
I hope this does not come off as complaining. Finding places to boondock has been a major obstacle to our travels. I have been reading through Boondocking for Newbies Part I – Finding Where to Go. I am not having much success using the BLM or National Forest websites for the top down planning process you describe. I am hoping you can give me some guidance.
I can access the maps on the BLM Navigator and zoom in without any problem. I do not see any way to remove layers as you describe. There are 7 different map “views” such as street or topography, but nothing underlying that can be altered. So I am not sure if the shaded areas (several different shades of green and a flesh tone) are BLM land, or something else. Is there a particular browser required? I am using Firefox and Chrome.
I am actually having a harder time with the National Forest website. Following your link, I can pick a specific forest of interest. Then it seems I may not be navigating correctly after that.
Viewing the Stanislaus map in the center window, I can click “highway legal” and many if not all of the roads are highlighted in yellow. I am wondering if that indicates Dispersed camping is permitted?
When I pick any MVUM maps for any of the Forests (in California) I get a B&W map. If there is any indication on those maps of dispersed camping, it is impossible to tell in B&W. I am doing this on my computer. Is it necessary to get the phone app in order to have a color map like what you show in the post?
I am hoping it is just my lack of familiarity with the web sites that is the root of my problem.
Any help or suggestions you can offer will be appreciated.
Thank you.
Bruce Hall
So, this is a good question and there’s some good reasons why you’re having trouble!
BLM JUST upgraded their website last year and they REMOVED all of the wonderful links and maps they used to have on there!! For example there is no longer ANY information on LTVA camping, nor any information on MANY of the free or low-cost campgrounds we’ve used over the years. Plus that interactive map with all the clickable layers I used to use and which I linked to in that blog post? Completely gone!! I honestly have no idea why they decided to remove all this valuable info from their site, and I’ve yet to update all my old blog posts to reflect this massive change (I’ve got SO many broken links right now). You can still get map info if you physically walk into a BLM office and ask for it, but I no longer know how to find these maps online. Wish it weren’t so.
For MVUM maps there will *usually* be an indication of which roads allow camping, but it depends on the individual map. For many of the maps we physically own (I typically pick them up at the Forest Service office when we travel through) the roads are indicated by a series of dots along the side. Look at the map key and hopefully you’ll see it there. I haven’t used the App much myself, but I do think you get a color map there, so that may help.
Nina
Nina,
Thank you for taking the time to respond. Your answer assures me that I have not lost all my senses. It’s good to know my brain is not the problem.
Too bad their “upgrade” has so diminished the site’s usefulness.
Bruce
Yeah I’m really, really disappointed. The old BLM website was a bear of a thing to navigate, but had so much useful info once you figured out where to find it. The new BLM website looks sleek and snazzy, but has literally zero useful info. I keep hoping they will “flesh it out” with some of the old stuff, but I’m starting to think this will never happen. It’s such a bummer.
Nina
Perhaps their strategy for improving the site navigation was to simply remove any reason for someone to have to navigate it in the first place. Voila! Problem solved!
For detailed National Forest campsite info check out forestcamping.com where Fred and Suzi Dow have catalogued virtually all of the US National Forests and National Grasslands campgrounds and have detailed info on the campgrounds that are suited to RVs. The info on their website is free. If you want to have the same info for reference when internet is not available there is a very reasonable charge for downloading their regional guides, We have found their info to be extremely helpful for both long range planning as well as last minute searches. We love National Forest camping but many of the older campgrounds are not suitable for our 37 foot DP. Having their downloaded info has saved us a lot of frustration.
Karen & Dick Herman
Yup I’ve used their site for years and list it regularly in my posts about how to find inexpensive and green campgrounds around the US. It’s a great resource.
Nina
Bruce Hall,
Take this for what it is worth – free information. This is how I use Nina’s blog (and other RV websites plus books):
1. Read the blog (book) post in its entirety in detail and take notes on things that I find useful. I even form hyperlinks at this time for my link file (over 250+ hyperlinks now, not all from Nina’s blog either).
2. Read the comment section next as sometimes there are several good suggestions in there, take notes on that, and form hyperlinks if people provided links.
3. Then either while forming the hyperlinks or after, I look at each website that I formed hyperlinks for. This way I can tell if I find the website useful for my purposes or not. Yes, I have junked some that I did form hyperlinks for.
In this particular case on boondocking I am wondering if you read down to the part where it says Other Resources/Internet Sites and went to the links. Freecampsites.net is a great website and used it in my year one planning. Please read in detail as to how many days that you can stay at the particular campsite, cost of campground since most aren’t free that I’ve opened up, and if RV length mentioned make sure that you can camp there. Usually there is good information on how to get to the campsite in question as well.
Yes, I was very aware of the BLM website going down when I was doing research on the Alaskan Dalton Highway LOL (my timeline 11 days instead of 2 or 4)!!! It came back in a few days for me.
Nina, I am hoping to set aside some money from the selling of our home and trying to stick close to my financial goals for how much the travel trailer, tow vehicle, and merchandise will cost. Only a real estate agent will tell me if I have that as a realistic number goal wise. I hope to contact a real estate agent next year to see how much the house could sell for after paying the Michigan real estate transfer fee and real estate commission plus how long it will take to sell the house. If I am realistic on that amount, then and only then will I travel down to Indiana to see how much the dream travel trailer will cost or otherwise the Northwood Arctic Fox will have to be it based on what I have seen so far. About the upgrades – most of the things that you would consider an upgrade will be on the travel trailer or merchandise wish list already. Plus you like Mr. Buddy while I will see how the goose down sleeping bags do as those only weighs 8 pounds for the two of them. Plus some of the merchandise that we have is getting old and needs replacing (want to purchase new after getting the travel trailer). There were other things included in the merchandise start up costs such as GPS, maps, kitchen, tools, furniture, sewer/water related products, bathroom, spare parts, cleaning stuff, etc. The solar power was low since I want to have more solar power and another battery or two than originally budgeted for.
This is a new plan for us looking forward to it. We have a thousand Trails membership that has been in the family for years as a result very very low yearly cost. camping cost will be very low.
Thousand Trails can be a great discount program if you have a pass that works across all zones and the parks are in the areas you want to visit. They’ve never worked for us, but I know several travelers who’ve used and enjoyed the system for many years. It can save a ton of camping $$.
Nina
Awesome blog post. We get asked all the time what Full Time RVing costs and never know what to tell people because our situation is not the norm. We’ll be sharing this!
Do you make money blogging like this? Is this a significant portion of your income? My partner (as well as our two cats and new baby) are looking to make the jump into full-time RVing within the year and this could be a potential income for us.
Thanks for all your great insights!
I make some money blogging, but it’s not a significant portion of our income. I could probably make more if I were more aggressive with product promotion/partnerships and advertising, but it’s simply not my style nor is it the style of the type of writing/blogging I do. I’m very picky about the types of products I promote and work hard to keep my blog honest and relatable. It’s primarily about RV travel and sharing that love of travel online. Everything else is a bonus 🙂
That said, it is possible to make income doing this, but it takes some serious work.
To make money blogging you need a very significant traffic flow, first and foremost. Plus you need to partner with advertisers and such. It’s possible, but I would certainly not rely on this as your main source of income in the beginning of your travels. It can take years to build up the traffic levels & SEO on your blog so you can create the types of partnerships you need to make a living. So my advice is to have a plan to make money elsewhere, especially in the beginning. As time goes on and you create enough valuable content to build your blog traffic, you can start to rely on some income from it, but be prepared for some growing pains to get there.
Hope that helps!
Nina
I just love reading about your experiences. This question is for Paul assuming he does most the wrenching? Paul, when do you decide to take your rig in for “fix-it’s” compared to do it yourself. Some basic things I have tackled have been very stressful (trying to save a buck) yet rewarding when accomplished. And what is your tool box situation? Huge weight factor as I have a huge roll around at home but only certain tools make it in my rig. (30′ class A HURRICANE) I keep basic stuff such as small cord less drill/driver/impact to help turn stubborn screws and bolts that I cant break loose due to health, it also has adaptors for sockets which I carry a small assortment, then the plumbing and electrical stuff. I keep some extra wire and connectors, stripers, tape etc. plumbing is easy with connectors and pliers? but I find I want to have so much more from “the big box” at home. Also carry rainy season stuff to help prevent those leaks I found this year. frightful to say the least when you find a leak in your roof. My RV tool box is approx.. 8″x20″x8″ yet weighs a ton. Try to keep something in it to fix anything. Best tool is a good bright flashlight that has a beam or if extended has a wide light like a small lantern
What’s in yours and how do you keep the weight down and choose from self fix or pros?
I hate paying the expensive cost of fix it’s …..
Bill
Fantastic breakdown of what this looks like. I’ve always found bits and pieces of this type of info around the web, but you put it all in one spot! Nice work.
I put together a big list of ideas on how to make money from the road here:
https://bestsummerlife.com/101-ideas-to-make-money-rving-full-time/