Questions for the fulltime RVer's

[Dustdog29]

Hello everyone, we are going to become or are thinking about becoming fulltime rver's in a few short years. a couple questions that have come up are, as an expense how much money is needed per month on average to travel and RV?  another is side jobs and work to earn a little extra $$ while out on this journey? those are my main questions at this point. thanks for any info.

Dustin.

 

[Karl]

Dustin,
First off, welcome to the RV Forum; glad to have you here.

Regarding your question of costs: it's a little too vague to give any kind of specific answer. It pretty much depends on how 'high on the hog' you want to live. Some folks spend most or all their time in free or low cost federal, state, local, private areas, don't eat out often, spend little on entertainment, and don't move from place to place much. Other prefer to locate in high-rent rv parks where everything is provided for them, don't cook their own meals, etc. You get the picture. Cost of the rv is another consideration. Buy big and new and you'll take a big hit on depreciation but get exactly what you want (maybe). Buy older and used and the depreciation is down, but maintenance may be higher and things may not be as large or convenient as you would like. Bottom line is that you need to decide what kind of lifestyle you want to pursue, and plan accordingly. Everything in life is a compromise; you just have to decide what you absolutely need and what you can do without - then calculate costs from there.

 

[Ron]

Welcome to the RV Forum. Please look around the forum,  join in on any of the on going discussions, start new discussions, or ask questions. Thanks for joining us.

 

[Betty Brewer]

Hello everyone, we are going to become or are thinking about becoming full time rver's in a few short years. a couple questions that have come up are, as an expense how much money is needed per month on average to travel and RV? 

Hi Dustin,
My standard answer to this question is  "you will spend all you have to enjoy the RV lifestyle."  If you have the money and you want it, you will buy it.  If you don't have the money, you won't spend it.  In my experience living full time in a motorhome has not been any less than what we spent before.  All is a matter of choice.  You can live life  frugally or  you can live life extravagantly and  each of those definitions is relative to what you have. You may want to check the library for some  budgets people have  followed in the full time venture.  Much cannot be measured by money!!!

Betty

 

[Dustdog29]

thanks everyone for your warm welcome and fast response, i see what you are all saying, i can see where having everything done for you can cost a bunch. i don't want to live like that, we love eating our home cooked meals and such, what we have thought of doing is traveling the warmer area's say Arizona in the winter and staying up in Idaho where we live in the summer and really being frugal. we already own a nice new travel trailer so no expense there. i guess my biggest deal is can you get by on say $2000.00 a month? that's really where my intrest off of investments puts me at. we are really excited about this journey and i think it will all turn out great. thanks again for the response.

Dustin.

 

[Jim Dick]

Hi Dustin,

We have been full timing for 10 years. We either travel in the winter or stay at our lot in Florida. In the summer we go back to CT, where we used to live, and I have a part time job at an RV dealership. That helps pay for the toys or extras we might want during the year. It's not a lot of money but it helps. We love to travel to Arizona in the winter but since fuel has been out of sight we are spending our second winter in Florida. When we do travel in the winter we try to rent our lot, usually not a problem, which helps pay the costs of owning it plus a little extra. Life on the road is usually not any less expensive than life in a stick built home but it is MUCH more exciting!

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

I think you will find $2000/month to be a bit on the light side, but there are so many variables it is hard to say.  Many of us find we can get our average overnight costs to around $13/day, but that assumes you spend a fair amount of time in places that are free (friend's yards, Walmart parking lots, etc) or very low cost (Passport America parks, federal parks using a Golden Age 50% discount pass, etc).  Workamping can also cut your campsite costs to almost nothing and maybe put  a bit of money in your pocket as well, but that requires that you stay in one place for 3-6 months at a time.

RV maintenance costs can be a killer unless you are somewhat handy and can do routine maintenance and repairs yourself. If you have to pay RV dealers and truck service centers for all your needs, you better have deep pockets.

Insurance costs will be fairly high on a motorhome + a toad but a pick-up and a trailer are quite reasonable. The difference is mostly vehicle liability coverage on two motorized units vs only one.