Realistic campground costs for our budget

We spent several weeks this summer traveling from Norfolk to Illinois via DC, NYC, the Pennsylvania Dutch country and the south shore of Lake Erie. we used several State parks with at least 30 Amp electric, PA parks, and 50% Federal campgrounds. Our costs averaged $37 a night. As soon as we passed Chicago the average dropped into the low to mid $20's.

On my trip last summer I paid anywhere from as little as $6.00 to as much as $80.00 (one night at the last available site in a "Resort" when I didn't want to drive any further).

The average with a Senior Pass, lots of national & state parks, and about an equal amount of commercial campgrounds was around $25.00 for 103 days.

Last summer we were on the road for 130 days covering over 6,000 miles. We spent nearly all the time in the 4 states bordering Lake Michigan. We are members of Harvest Hosts (free) and Passport America (50% off), a couple of free stays at resorts trying to sell us memberships, used Indian Casinos, Walmarts, Flying J, and a free parking lot near my brother in a Chicago suburb for a week (parked only, slept in his apartment). For the whole 130 days, we averaged $14.21/nite. 40 of those nites were at $0

We started out from Indiana and was in Bangor, ME July 1st for a month, NH for 1 wk, Cape Cod for 1 mo., Atlantic City for 1 mo., Myrtle Beach for 3 wks, visited Charleston, SC and Savannah, GA for about 5 days each, St. Augustine, Fl for 1 week,  Flagler Beach, Fl for 2 wks., Pompano Beach, Fl for 2 wks. and we have averaged about $25 a day in cost.  We are leaving on Dec. 7th for Sunshine Keys for 2 wks. and then on to Boyd's in Key West for 2 wks. over Christmas and New Years and then back to Sunshine Keys for 6 more wks and then back to Pompano Beach, Fl for 2 wks and then to Fort Myers Beach for a month and then Sarasota for 2 wks and then head home to Indiana to be home by Mother's Day and we will average $26 a day in cost.  This is our 2nd year full-timing and we are really enjoying it!  We plan on going out West next year and are really excited about that.  I know we have done better this year than last year on our budget, but it's a learning process.  Happy traveling everyone!

Again, I'm really enjoying all the real world input.  I'm feeling somewhat more confident of my $25 per night average over the long run, and expecting it to be a bit higher in prime locations at prime times. 

All the responses are very helpful.

The discount clubs are noce but have you considered membership campgrounds?  We are members of a campground in MN that costs us under 200 per year and that includes out RPI Prefered fees.  There are at least half a dozen places i could stay in new england for between 10 and 18 dollars per night with full hookups.  Memberships are npt for everyone, but for the small amount we pay for ours we sure do love it.

Jeff

jeffbrown said:

The discount clubs are noce but have you considered membership campgrounds?  We are members of a campground in MN that costs us under 200 per year and that includes out RPI Prefered fees.  There are at least half a dozen places i could stay in new england for between 10 and 18 dollars per night with full hookups.  Memberships are npt for everyone, but for the small amount we pay for ours we sure do love it.

Jeff

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Thanks for that suggestion Jeff - I'll check it out and add it to the "mix" as we dream.

I have been fulltiming it for 9 years. In 2006 I had a really bad year financially. I had to cut costs and campground fees were the first to go. During that entire year I spent less than $100 on campground fees and that was from less than two weeks worth of campground camping. The rest of the time I used free campgrounds, Walmart parking lots and a few nights at rest stops.

I hear some people average $30 per night. That is $11,000 for the year.

So these would be the two extremes of what it costs to live full time in an RV. You can choose any price point in between these two depending on how deep your pockets are.

Where I am right now it is 350/month for 50 amp (30 is less expensive)

One thing you might TRY (I like this one because you get to try before you do anything rash)

For just under 500 you can buy a Thousand Trails "Zone Pass" with this zone pass you can spend 2 weeks in a TT park in your zone, then move out for a week, and back for 2 more.. This is how I normally spend my winters.

If you use it full time it works out to around 50 cents a night for 30 amp full hookup (50 is more expensive)

Last 2 winters I show up at a TT park in SC, spend my two weeks for around 40/month (As I said, about 50 cents a ngiht since I can spend an average of 20 out of 30 days there) then off to a government park (11-13 dollars a night, 30 or 50 amp (the 30 is the 13, 11 is 50, and 12 is your choice) no sewer, (dump station) then back to the TT park for 2 more weeks.

Summers I do differently.

Unlike most (if not all) the other membership plans the TT zone pass is annual. No dues beyond the initial cost and no automatic renewal, You have to buy a new one next year.    IF you find you don' like it.. Don't renew.

There are 4 zones, you can "Add a zone" as well. (Buy 2 zones for a much smaller additional fee)  PM if you decide to do this please as I give you my ID and I get credit.

I also belong to another (More traditional) CG, This one you pay thousands up front and ... about that same price a year in dues.  And they dunn you for more.

I bought my membership second hand for around 500 including the first years dues and RPI Prefered which goves me access to all of the TT parks for around 18 per night.  My anual dues is 85 to the campground and 125 to RPI.  I can turn my membership back in at anytime or gift it to a family member for free.  When we found this membership we were so relieved that this was something we could actually do and walk away if it didnt work out for us.  So far it has worked out.

Jeff

I'm sure it's in the eye of the beholder, but when I've looked at reviews for the Thousand Trails camp grounds they aren't all that positive.  I'm taking it that you folks like the parks okay?  The annual approach (as opposed to big bucks for a lifetime commitment) does appeal to me.

We are not full timers, we are weekenders and vacationers.  We have 3 local members only parks that we enjoy 8 to 10 weekends per year.  Our membership allows us to stay at these parks that we would normally be denied access to.  We also use the membership when we travel if the parks fit in our destination plans.  We have stayed at around 10 different parks in the south and north wests and they have all been clean with nice pools and friendly staff, and ussually 10 bucks a night with full hookups.

It isnt for everyone, but it can be done affordably.  Most of the local parks we use with our membership are around 500 per year just for the dues.

Jeff

We are full timers and don't boondock. Our yearly average is less than $10 per night - including electricity.
Unless we are in transit we stay at least a month in one place. We use Passport America as often as possible when in transit.
We don't use the campground memberships because they make you move to another campground every 14 days or so.

As mentioned above New England (NH in our case) is pricey and our monthly costs there are over $600 per month. In addition to the basic fees many/most campgrounds  nickle and dime you to death with $5 charges for friends and family to visit for a couple of hours and extra charges for two ACs. As I recall our last 6 week visit there cost us over $1100.

Four years into fulltiming our lifetime average cost per night is $17.82.  For the last 365 nights it is $7.58. 

We have a Thousand Trails membership which we "bought" for the cost of the transfer fees.  Those costs are included in the above numbers.  On that membership we pay roughly $550 annually which gives us 50 nights "free" and then we pay $5 per night after 50 nights.  We park in friends' farmyards a lot in the summer and we use Walmart lots when we are moving around.  We use casinos when we are on the west coast.  The reason our last year's cost per night is so low is that within the last 12 months we sold a Canadian membership campground that we had held for 2 years.  We found we weren't using it as much as we had thought we would so we sold it.

At the end of our first year of full-timing our average cost was somewhere close to $25 per night.  We bought the TT membership and that temporarily increased our cost per night but over time it has lowered the cost substantially.  The TT parks aren't fancy but most of them are pretty decent places to say.  They are usually off the beaten trail so they're quiet and big enough that you don't feel like you're living next to your neighbour's sewer hose.

For budget purposes for someone starting out I think $25 per night would be a perfectly achievable number but you can definitely drive the cost a lot lower than that over time.  We started out with Passport America but soon dropped it because we found we weren't using it and when we wanted to use it the campgrounds often wouldn't honor it. 

freds123 said:

We started out from Indiana and was in Bangor, ME July 1st for a month, NH for 1 wk, Cape Cod for 1 mo., Atlantic City for 1 mo., Myrtle Beach for 3 wks, visited Charleston, SC and Savannah, GA for about 5 days each, St. Augustine, Fl for 1 week,  Flagler Beach, Fl for 2 wks., Pompano Beach, Fl for 2 wks. and we have averaged about $25 a day in cost.  We are leaving on Dec. 7th for Sunshine Keys for 2 wks. and then on to Boyd's in Key West for 2 wks. over Christmas and New Years and then back to Sunshine Keys for 6 more wks and then back to Pompano Beach, Fl for 2 wks and then to Fort Myers Beach for a month and then Sarasota for 2 wks and then head home to Indiana to be home by Mother's Day and we will average $26 a day in cost.  This is our 2nd year full-timing and we are really enjoying it!  We plan on going out West next year and are really excited about that.  I know we have done better this year than last year on our budget, but it's a learning process.  Happy traveling everyone!

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If you get some time, I would love details on where you're stayed/are staying in each of these places.  It sounds like a great trip.  We love Boyd's, in KW but it is by no means budget.  We stayed there 5 or 6 years in a row, I'm ready to go back.  Have a wonderful trip!!!

JoAnn

We generally travel Southeast and Midwest part of the US (FL/AL/GA/MS/KY/IN/OH/NC/SC). We never boondock and rarely use state parks or COE as we prefer full hookups. When traveling between destinations we use Passport America if where we plan to stay is a PA park. When we stop we normally stay for a month in one spot, at least. We tend to stay in smaller campgrounds with fewer amenities and that cater to longer stays - many of our neighbors are typically construction workers, traveling nurses on assignment, etc. In 279 nights out this year our average nightly cost has been $23.87.

odie1234 said:

We generally travel Southeast and Midwest part of the US (FL/AL/GA/MS/KY/IN/OH/NC/SC). We never boondock and rarely use state parks or COE as we prefer full hookups. When traveling between destinations we use Passport America if where we plan to stay is a PA park. When we stop we normally stay for a month in one spot, at least. We tend to stay in smaller campgrounds with fewer amenities and that cater to longer stays - many of our neighbors are typically construction workers, traveling nurses on assignment, etc. In 279 nights out this year our average nightly cost has been $23.87.

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Would love to see your favorite list, $23.87 avg is very nice.  Mind sharing your list?

My simple answer on budgeting with any RV experience is this....You will spend everything you have .
Betty

Our summer trip of 156 nights averaged $25.80. Included some Passport America and some free boondock.

Utah, Oregon, Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois (Chicago) and places in between.

Next summer may be the Maritime Provinces and East Coast which I expect will be $10 higher.

geodrake said:

If you can get by without hook-ups National Parks, National Historic sites, National Forests, etc. can be the key.  With a disabled or senior pass these sites and many others can be in the $7.50 range.

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That is our plan for the longer trips. We stay at the non-hook up sites a few days then do a CG for a day or two to do laundry and refresh the tanks. Then it's back to State Parks with no hook ups. This brings the average $/night down to match our intended budget.

We can "boondock" for about 3 days before we need to flush and fill. We also do the Walmart thing, but only once in a while and only when we have to due to schedule, park availability, ect.