Average cost of full time RVer

Nazpaz, just curious. You said $420 a month for electricity?

On edit, I went back and reread the post. I got it now! Whew! :S

Just a quick follow up on our camping expenses...

Over six months on the road from May to November we stayed primarily at Thousand Trails with a few stays at RPI campgrounds plus several COEs. Our average campground cost was around $260/month ($8-$9 a night). If you include the annual TT membership fee the average rises to around $12 a night (around $370 a month).

For the winter we're doing one month stays, mostly in the Houston area to be close to family. Our winter costs are actually higher than our summer costs. With electricity around $420 a month.

We've done no boondocking at all. For us, roughing it means having only 30 amp electric and/or no sewer hookup.

Aside from using TT, RPI, and COE campgrounds I think the primary reason for our being able to keep costs low has to do with our planning our trip. Some fulltimers really enjoy just following their nose and picking a place to stay when they are ready to land for the night. I, on the other hand, enjoy planning ahead. In fact, for me, that's part of the fun of fulltiming. I may be the most scheduled fulltimer in the world! Right now I'm working on our 2014 adventure and have already started making reservations. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but one thing is sure: planning out a trip in advance saves a lot of money. Last year we paid zero "drive up" camping fees.

I linked it already, but again, here's a link to our blog entries related to expenses.

You might look into volunteering in a state or federal parks. Stay a month or two and move on. There is little to no work involved, you stay in the best campground around no private park is even close, in most you get FHU free and lots of time to explore. We have volunteered in New Mexico our favorite, Georgia, Texas, so far. Never had a bad experience and you give something back and stay active. Give it a try.

I might add one more thing if i can. We did the full-time thing on a sailboat in the Caribbean for several years before coming back home to the states. Out there most of our time was spent on the hook (what RV-ers call boondocking)still it was not cheap. Now-a-days we have the S&B but limit our travels to certain regions of the country. i.e we may make a southern loop along the gulf coast and florida or up the eastern seaboard but we come back home between the two routes to rest up, stock up, SAVE up. We found that while out on the ocean after a few years we stopped seeing the beauty of the place because we were in it all the time. Now our little time at home lets us renew our love for travel and we see much more of the beauty. We are Long-timers instead of Full-timers but we still can see just as much and the time at home replenishes the kitty to go back out. Many times we are ready to head back out before the kitty is but by breaking the trips up we get a better feel for what we are spending.

I know that doesn't help in planning a budget but it might give you another way to look at your travels.

The full time RV costs are high but you can offset some of the expense by opening a stock trading account and stopping by some company headquarters during your travels. You can trade the stock with a WIFI connection no matter where you are and each stock trade is recorded for your own accounting. Any tax attorney or tax accountant can set it up so that you can maximize your legally allowed deductions. If you are good at trading stock, it can provide a nice source of income.

I always refer people to RV-Dreams.com. There is a wealth of information there.

Also, do a google search for RV blogs budget full time, or something like that. There are many blogs out there written by full timers on a budget. Often they list their annual expenses. You or I might not agree with their priorities or lifestyles, but they cover a range of options, and pretty soon you will get an idea of what is possible. Most blogs are only active for a few years at most, but they remain out there for you to read. Maybe some posters could mention some appropriate ones. Some that I have read, without links: (Just google them)

Tioga and George
Travel with Andy Baird
RV-dreams
rvroadtrip.us
RV boondocking the good life
myoldrv.com
interstellarorchard
travels with kevin and ruth

And there are plenty more. I would advise figuring out how to get to the beginning of a blog and working forward from there. Unfortunately the blogging websites make that a difficult process. But you can do it.

The question asked by the OP, is a good one but highly individualized as many of the above posts have mentioned. I don't know of any full timers that have over budgeted the costs, but have sure met many that have under budgeted.

So much depends on the style, the reason, etc. why a person is RVing. My wife and I did the "full time" routine for about 2 1/2 years in the Class A we had at that time, and found we didn't like doing it. We were in Florida, on the Gulf coast the morning we reached the decision to buy a stick house again. The part of Rving we so love is the travel, moving down the road, seeing new scenery, but we found the longer we were full timing it, the less miles a year we actually traveled. The last year on the road, we only racked up about 5,200 miles on the Moho. Since moving back to a stick house, we have been running between 15,000 to 20,000 miles a year on our RVs. So we are happy again, and spend about 125 to 150 nights a year sleeping in our RVs, while traveling.

The definition of what is a full timer is all over the board, it seems. Some full timers spend 365 nights a year in their RVs and it is their only residence. Others will own a stick house of some sort, perhaps a mobile home, private property with buildings, and they too consider themselves to be full timers. So while anyone can consider themselves to be a full timer, sometimes it is not easy to figure out where they fit into the full timer routine, in each of our opinions. Almost like the question of how far is up?

The advice to try it first, to me, is very good advice. Too many people jump into full timing, before they know if it is for them or not. If they have a good exit strategy, then normally not too big a problem, but we have met folks that sold their homes, bought an expensive motorhome on the credit and took off down the road, only to find they couldn't afford the life style, or just didn't like it. Some of those we met were stuck in some campground and couldn't afford to travel, some hadn't moved their diesel pushers in years, etc.

Try to figure out your style of travel in an RV, moving weekly, or staying monthly or moving twice a year. If a person can afford it, like $4 Dennis, (you will never hear the end of that smart Axxx comment) then your choice really doesn't matter so long as the purchaser likes it. But if you are only going to move twice a year from the north to the south, then why spend upwards of half a million dollars for a big DP, when for $100,000 will get a very nice large 5th wheel and tow vehicle. (I hate to see beautiful DPs just setting, grass growing between the tires, etc. when they could be out running the highways, which IMHO, is what they are designed to do)

I guess you need to add in the cost of food, but only if you never eat at home. Entertainment, only if you never go out at home. Restaurants, only if you never eat out at home. Laundry, only if you never do your laundry at home....:h

These costs are the same whether you're at home or on the road. Your biggest expenses will be CG fees and fuel. Using PA, GS or even Thousand Trails will save you hundreds if not a thousand or more. Be frugal when you need to..there are many campgrounds we've found that average less than $30/night full hookups. COE parks are not to be overlooked. We have started looking at full week sites where in the past we traveled every 4-5 days. We stay off the interstates and utilize parks that are not KOAs. We've found many gems simply by scouting out the area while doing the touristy stuff....

Correct...may be expensive, but cheap in the long run.....Dennis

Average diesel for a Class A for a year - take the number of miles you expect to drive X 1.25 divide that by 8 mpg - times $4.50 per gallon.

A 'Four Corners' Trip across the country is likely 13,000 miles shortest route - say 16,250 miles on the MH - 2,030 gallons of fuel adds up to $9,135 for fuel. Add $2-5,000 for maintenance needs.

If you average 350 miles per driving day - which is 7 hours at a 50 mph average - you will spend 47 days driving. That leaves 318 days to see the country. You will need 36 days for laundry, shopping, other maintenance tasks. 282 free days. On that basis you might be able to make about 47-48 stops for a week each.

Camping costs - commercial campgrounds - daily fee average $40 if you are not looking for top resort locations and getting weekly rates - $14,600. If you want full services - Raise that by 25% - 50-75% if you want to visit resort type RV parks.

You can lower the camping costs with discounts such as Good Sams, Passport America - or the very best - if you are over age 62 - stay at federal campgrounds for half price or a deep discount. But many will not have 50Amp hookups, relatively few will have sewer hookups. Two of you in a MH should be able to go a week between visits to the dump station if you are moderately conservative with water usage.

However, size of your rig might be an issue. A big 40 footer isn't going to fit into a lot of federal parks or state parks in many places.

Food - while you can eat cheap while stopped in a CG - most folks retirement age don't want to skimp too much. Count your food costs to be 10-15% higher than they are today.

Additional costs - entertainment - a satellite dish program will cost about the same as what you have at home. Internet might be more costly with less bandwidth/ capacity and speed. Some places neither internet nor cell phone will be available.

Phone - I assume you both have cell phones and that won't change.

Laundry - something we don't consider as a cost - but if you don't get a washer/dryer in the rig - it will add a couple twenties to your monthly costs.

Big question - are you keeping the house/ home?

If you sell out, your base camping costs with internet and satellite TV will likely be at or below your current housing costs. But if you keep the house - your camping costs are all additional.

Since you are talking about a one year tour - I assume you are keeping the house, but not renting it out.

Another issue - medical costs/ coverage. Make sure your policies cover you far from home. Not even considering the changes happening in that area - a lot of folks don't have policies which provide coast to coast coverage.

Sounds really expensive doesn't it?

But the number of ways to lower the costs is huge:

Take three years - and the $9,000 in fuel drops to something closer to $3,500 per year - because you will be able to stay where you find something interesting for longer. You won't have to rush to 'finish'. You might find you want to go to Alaska one summer.

Plan to spend two weeks at a weekly rate if you can in one location - but always ask about the cost of electricity. Some places include electricity in weekly rates - some bill you by the KWH. Almost all RV monthly rates are for separately billed electricity.

Don't visit big cities unless you really, really want to. Costs are higher. Rediscover rural / small town America.

Visit the 'big' tourist attraction areas on the shoulder seasons - before or after the prime season.

There are literally thousands of couples and singles crossing this country every year living on less than $30,000 and having a great time. It can be done even cheaper with some planning and cash conservation.

Don't get me wrong - money makes it easier and a strong financial reserve gives you less worry. Being debt free is the greatest freedom you can have.

However such a trip is the adventure of a life-time - and you don't want to wait too long before you start.

From your question - I assume you don't currently have a DP MH - so that is the first task - find out if you really like living in a MH on the road. If you don't have RV experience - I would suggest a rental for one or two weeks.

Yes, expensive - but cheap in the long run.