Average cost of full time RVer

[branden]

Hello, my name is Steve. I am planning to become a full time RVer and would like to ask a question about cost. On the average per year what is the cost using a class A RV diesel? I would like the estimate to include camp ground and other expenses. You can probably tell I am new at this. I will retire in 2015 and we plan to travel the USA for about a year or so. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[msmith1199]

BarbaraOK wrote:

branden wrote:
Hello, my name is Steve. I am planning to become a full time RVer and would like to ask a question about cost. On the average per year what is the cost using a class A RV diesel? I would like the estimate to include camp ground and other expenses. You can probably tell I am new at this. I will retire in 2015 and we plan to travel the USA for about a year or so. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

If only going for a year, why bother? I'm being serious, you can't possibly see all of the country in a year. We are in year #8 and still have lots to see and do. If only going for a year, that indicates that you are keeping the house - which means you are trying to do an extended vacation which usually leads to long hours on interstates and seeing very little. Not the way to fulltime. If you aren't willing to commit at least 3 years, just pick a few places you want to visit, fly there, rent a car, stay in a medium priced hotel, see the sights, fly back home, and save money.

Barb

Really? :h

[Sprink-Fitter]

StephJohn2010 wrote:

Sprink-Fitter wrote:

StephJohn2010 wrote:
We like full hookups, staying a month, eating healthy, and 3 or 4 (out of 5) star type private rv parks: (monthly figures)
$700 to $850 for site rent
$700 to $900 for eating out and eating at home
$200 for RV gas
$200 for misc
$133 for full coverage insurance
$100 for toad gas
$83 for maintenance

Off the top of my head...

What do you eat that you spend $700 a month eating out or at home?

Most of it is going out to eat. We are suckers for the non-franchise/mom&pop type little restaurants (we'd like to start one of our own so we consider it research LOL). And since we are in a new area every month, there is always a 'new one' to try out. We eat out too much and it will cost $15 to $30 each time. I'd say we eat out once or twice every couple days. We eat out WAY MORE Rving than we ever did in the stix & brix. Also in that figure is all the different types of craft beer available in each new area, so that will also bump up the food budget.

My "eating at home" comment in my original post should have been listed as "groceries"

That makes sense now, we own a BBQ vending trailer where we sell slow smoked brisket, pulled pork, ribs, pastrami and other things so when we travel we are always eating at BBQ joints to check other flavors and see what is out there to add to our menu.

[2gypsies1]

Having full-timed for 16+ years we have not found the cost to be as high as some of you state. It all depends on how expensive you want it to be. There are many, many ways to live comfortably.

We don't sit in RV parks at $30-$50+ per night. We move around and staying in public parks or boondocking are always our first choices. If you're 62+ get the Senior Discount card for public parks. You'll only pay 1/2/night and free admission. Volunteer for those very special national parks. You'll get a full hookup site free. We love doing that. Especially in the western states there are some beautiful spots to boondock for free.

Food - no different from a S&B house either by cooking your own or eating out.
Entertainment - if you're used to paying big bucks for a theater or concert ticket then you'll probably do the same while traveling. There are many free things to take advantage of and that's what we typically do. We love just being outdoors - hiking, walking, siteseeing.

You can do as much or as little as you want while full-timing.

We know many who can do it on $20 - 30,000/year. It's all up to the individual. I would advise anyone considering full-timing to have your RV and vehicle paid for along with any extra bills. Go into it debt-free.

[StephJohn2010]

Sprink-Fitter wrote:

StephJohn2010 wrote:
We like full hookups, staying a month, eating healthy, and 3 or 4 (out of 5) star type private rv parks: (monthly figures)
$700 to $850 for site rent
$700 to $900 for eating out and eating at home
$200 for RV gas
$200 for misc
$133 for full coverage insurance
$100 for toad gas
$83 for maintenance

Off the top of my head...

What do you eat that you spend $700 a month eating out or at home?

Most of it is going out to eat. We are suckers for the non-franchise/mom&pop type little restaurants (we'd like to start one of our own so we consider it research LOL). And since we are in a new area every month, there is always a 'new one' to try out. We eat out too much and it will cost $15 to $30 each time. I'd say we eat out once or twice every couple days. We eat out WAY MORE Rving than we ever did in the stix & brix. Also in that figure is all the different types of craft beer available in each new area, so that will also bump up the food budget.

My "eating at home" comment in my original post should have been listed as "groceries"

[nazpaz]

At first when I decided to post our expenses in my blog I included breakdowns of all our expenses. Upon reflection I decided to keep the camping related expenses available for public consumption but to just lump everything else together.

For one thing, what we spend on medical expenses, etc. really isn't anyone else's business. For another, that information isn't helpful to anyone because what we spend on medical concerns is meaningless to other people's budgeting concerns.

It's the camping related expenses that people want to know. As a fulltimer you'll likely eat out about the same amount you did while living in a stix and brix. The same is true of entertainment, clothing, haircuts, charitable giving, and taxes. What you spend on these items before going fulltime will likely be what you'll spend afterwards, but either way, our expenses on these items won't tell you much.

So, I'm glad to share our fulltime related expenses and hope they help others in their planning.

[Executive45]

joe b. wrote:
If a person can afford it, like $4 Dennis, (you will never hear the end of that smart Axxx comment)

A gallon of diesel fuel in California.....:B:B.....Dennis

[Sprink-Fitter]

StephJohn2010 wrote:
We like full hookups, staying a month, eating healthy, and 3 or 4 (out of 5) star type private rv parks: (monthly figures)
$700 to $850 for site rent
$700 to $900 for eating out and eating at home
$200 for RV gas
$200 for misc
$133 for full coverage insurance
$100 for toad gas
$83 for maintenance

Off the top of my head...

What do you eat that you spend $700 a month eating out or at home?

[BarbaraOK]

branden wrote:
Hello, my name is Steve. I am planning to become a full time RVer and would like to ask a question about cost. On the average per year what is the cost using a class A RV diesel? I would like the estimate to include camp ground and other expenses. You can probably tell I am new at this. I will retire in 2015 and we plan to travel the USA for about a year or so. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

If only going for a year, why bother? I'm being serious, you can't possibly see all of the country in a year. We are in year #8 and still have lots to see and do. If only going for a year, that indicates that you are keeping the house - which means you are trying to do an extended vacation which usually leads to long hours on interstates and seeing very little. Not the way to fulltime. If you aren't willing to commit at least 3 years, just pick a few places you want to visit, fly there, rent a car, stay in a medium priced hotel, see the sights, fly back home, and save money.

Barb

[Dutch_12078]

We have fulltimer friends that seem to be getting along nicely on a $1000/month SS check, and another that complains about going over his $4000/month budget too often. On the other hand, we do just fine midway in between them, maintaining both our RV life style and our small base cottage in upstate NY.

[nazpaz]

qtla9111 wrote:
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

That would be just a tad high wouldn't it. :E

I could have worded the sentence better.

[qtla9111]

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

[nazpaz]

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.

[nbargolf]

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.

[Luna_C]

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.