Full-Time RVing Question

[Skimombeach]

Hi All!
My hubby and I are planning on becoming full-time RVers in the future. We have a few questions. How do you afford this? With the cost of campgrounds being close to $400 a week with full hook-ups, that gets very expensive (much more than the mortgage I pay on our 5 bedroom house)! Is there a cheaper way to do this? We met someone on a recent trip who told about RV clubs where you have a home club and then pay cheaper rates at "sister" clubs. Is this true? How does it work? How do you find them? Any help you can pass along is greatly appreciated.

[C-Bears]

Our average allowance for the year is approximately $700 a month for lot rent as full timers. If we wanted we could get that down to less than $400 a month.

Our summer base CG where we stay off and on for about 4 months is $325 a month. We travel about 2 months out of each year and those months rent average anywhere from $900 to $1200. Our Florida rent is in a upscale resort for several months and it is about $1,500 a month.

So you can actually keep your monthly rent about as cheap as you want. I know fellow full timers that mix in some dry camping and use a lot of state parks and get by for an average of less than $300 a month. Ours is more because when we travel we don't dry camp and when we winter in Florida we like being within a mile of the beach.

[2gypsies1]

Are you getting that $400/week price around your area?

Full-timers travel. There are many wonderful small town areas, national forest, national parks, state parks, city and county parks that have rates WAAAAAY cheaper than what you quoted.

Of course, not all are full-hookups. But then you're self-contained so you really don't need full hookups.

We're at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta and staying 12 nights with no hookups. It's easy to do.

For future questions you might want to post on the full-timing forum. In the meantime, scan that forum for many answers to your questions.

Full-timing doesn't have to be expensive. We've done it for 16 years. 🙂

[hitchup]

I bumped up our budget to $550 a month since prices are rising everywhere. The only time we've gone over that is when we were stuck in MD. $250 a/wk plus elec.

Lately, the monthly rates have been much much less. We're paying $400 a mo for FHU's that will go to $450 a mo for Winter. They assume everyone uses portable heaters. I would have thought 3 AC's would use more than a heater.

[Monaco_Montclai]

we started out camp -hosting, saved on site fee, just to see if we could do it. and yep helped a lot,stuff like dollar store, on sale only
eat out once a month, its a dif style of life.learn how to fix stuff.i did
now its all happy-camping

[dahkota]

Wow. Our budget is $750/month.
We just spent a week on the beach in the Keys: $270.00. Yes, it was a state park, but we had a site on the beach. No sewer hookup, but we easily made due without one.

We alternate between Passport America campgrounds and public campgrounds. For the next few days, our Passport America campground is charging us $15/day. That makes up for the $38/day we paid in the Keys. There are public parks that have sewer (we stayed at a couple last week in Florida) but they don't have weekly or monthly rates. But, in high demand areas, such as Florida in the winter, the prices are very hard to beat. I think the most we have paid for a campground is around $45 per night.

An easy way to lower costs is to learn to conserve water. W/E sites are always cheaper than W/E/S sites. There are also many more available. Many people use a tote to empty their tanks so they can stay at state beach campgrounds (Florida, South Carolina, MD, NC). It would drive me crazy to only stay at full hookup sites. There are some amazing campground in state and federal parks that offer no hook ups at all.

[georgelesley]

Several years ago the DW and I fulltimed for three years. Before we started I went back through one years postings in the fulltime forum, and a few others. Obviously not reading every word of every post, but skimming the thread titles and reading in detail those that interested me.

Sounds like alot of work? Fulltiming is a huge change in lifestyle, if you are serious do it. And also read every book on the subject you can find, then "camp" in your driveway for a week, no trips into the house allowed and see how it works for you before really commiting to it.

[rockhillmanor]

Skimombeach wrote:
Hi All!
My hubby and I are planning on becoming full-time RVers in the future. We have a few questions. How do you afford this? With the cost of campgrounds being close to $400 a week with full hook-ups, that gets very expensive (much more than the mortgage I pay on our 5 bedroom house)! Is there a cheaper way to do this? We met someone on a recent trip who told about RV clubs where you have a home club and then pay cheaper rates at "sister" clubs. Is this true? How does it work? How do you find them? Any help you can pass along is greatly appreciated.

The key is to stay a longer time at each CG.

Almost all CG's have a 'daily rate', 'weekly rate' and 'monthly rate'.
The longer you stay the lower the cost is.

Even if their website does not show these rates most will have them you just have to ask. Not advertising these monthly rates IMHO gives them the opportunity to decide if they want you there that long!:W

The last CG I stopped at "for just the night" was at the daily rate was $32.00 a night.
Which would calculate out to be $960.00 a month using the daily rate.

I really liked the CG and the area so I asked what the monthly rate was. It was $250.00 a month electric included. Sooooo I decided to sit and stay a spell there for a little while.

The key is asking what the weekly and/or monthly rate is. :C

[mockturtle]

I guess one's idea of fulltiming is unique to his/her situation. I spend twice as much on fuel as I spend on camping fees but I seldom have full hookups and often dry camp in NFS sites. OTOH, I travel a lot, spending an average of two or three nights in one place.

[tatest]

There are many places in the $300 to $400 a month range (plus electricity) and even a few in the $200-300 range, though few "recreational" RVers patronize those, populated mostly by long-term residents in the workforce. $350 a month here for a site at a lakeside "resort" and less than $300 for a "workers" RV park a short commute into a metro area of 500,000 people.

There are also many places $1500-3000 a month, with special locations (like Southern California, the Keys) or special amenities (like marinas, 72 holes of championship golf courses). Wealthier people patronize those.

It is a matter of choosing the lifestyle that fits your budget. There are people who full time on Social Security or modest pensions, supplemented sometimes with work-camping or other jobs locally. Others might be budgeting several thousands a month. Except for the cost of moving around, it should not cost more to full-time RV than it does to maintain the same lifestyle renting sticks and bricks in the same location.

If you are seeing a really big difference in cost, you may be looking at RVing in places where the cost of real estate is much higher than at your current home. For someone coming from a place where a 800 sq ft apartment is more than $1000 a week, $400 doesn't look like all that much 🙂

The membership/condo option can work to lower costs, if you use the system consistently. You will find a wide range of prices there also, for the same reasons of location and amenities. Buying a RV lot somewhere can also save you money, if you are happy with staying in one place, or you can get a good return renting it out when you are not there.

[bobsallyh]

In eleven years of fultiming we have never paid near $400 a week! Some times around $400 for a month. Shoot we only pay $290 plus power in Yuma, AZ. for a month.

[Dutch_12078]

$400/week is about $57/night. That's pretty much on the high side of campground rates in all but the most popular destination locations. Using our Passport America, Escapees, Good Sam, and KOA VKR memberships, we average around $20-25/night overall, not including free nights. For example, our full hookup site in central Florida for the month of February this winter, will be about $12/night plus electric, and our full hookup sites further south for March will be about $26/night, for an average of about $18/night for the two months.

[Jayco-noslide]

Where in the heck are you camping at $400/week. Even most private campgrounds run around $30-$40/day with full hook-ups. We will be spending the month of Feb. at Gulf St Pk in Gulf Shores, Al. for around $500 for the whole month and it has full hook-ups, a big laundry, activities and more. For a whole trip of 1 or 2 months we average around $20/day or less. But of course that's a lot of state and national parks, US army Corps of Engineers, etc which include some wonderful campgrounds. Many private campgrounds offer monthly or seasonal rates which would be $1000/month and much less. You have a lot of research to do on the internet and in campground directories.

[tonyandkaren]

They were probably talking about Thousand Trails or one of the other clubs. You can try Thousand Trails by buying a pass - http://www.thousandtrails.com/membership-info If you decide on a full membership buy a "used" membership and save a lot of money.

But first you have to decide what you want out of fulltiming. There are so many ways to do this. Some people spend months at one place then move to another, going back to the same spots year after year. Some stay for just a week before moving. Some only stay at resorts, some boondock in the desert and mountains.

Your style of fulltiming will figure into your budget and the type and size of RV that you'll need.

[darsben]

WE go to Casa grande, Az in the winter the rent is about $500.00 per month plus electric in a very nice park with lots of amenities and activities.

In the summer we are in the Thousand Islands at a site that charges $1600 for the season. May 1, - Oct 1.
As we travel we boon dock, use National park campgrounds and stay on the Texas and Louisiana beaches free of charge.

Other options would be to workkamp or volunteer in a state or national park. IN return for your time they will usually give you a site with full hook up no charge. The TONTO national forest in Arizona has had an ongoing need for volunteers in the winter. Nice campground with other workkampers so you sort of have a little community.
We avoid RV club type things because that locks you in.

If you want PM me I would be glad to answer in detail or give you our Syracuse phone number and you can talk to us.