You own a home and have seen families traveling all over in an RV and wonder how it’s possible. Or you are just getting into independent living and wondering what is actually cheaper – owning a home or RV Travel? I’m going to break down the costs involved with RV Travel life so you can compare what between the options and see if it really is cheaper to RV travel.
Over the last 18mths, we’ve done our fair amount of travel and stationary RV life. From the west coast oceans of California, to the mountains of the west, the Gulf shores of Alabama to the palm trees of Florida. We have seen where RV life can be really expensive and where costs can really be saved.
Does that mean that RV travel life would actually be cheaper than owning a home? I’m going to break down some categories and show you ways to save money and ways you can splurge, just like with owning a home, this can all be quite variable.
Please make sure to note that I will not be including the cost of your RV and vehicles as this can vary just as much as buying a 900sqft home vs a 900 acre property. Same with filling the RV with supplies, as this too varies based on what you’re bringing with you or what you decide to purchase inside – also same as a home, it can very a lot! You can find our must-have supply list here to get you started or you can head over to the MSP Storefront to see the full list.
Is it Cheaper to Live in An RV?
Living full time in an RV traveling can be quite cost effective, similar to living in a small apartment. It can also be quite expensive, similar to living in a 6000sqft mansion. It all depends on your spending habits. A lot of this can depend on where in the country you travel, how fast you travel and how you decide to camp – state parks and boondocking vs resorts and luxury campgrounds. You can review different types of RVs and their costs and whether New or Used is best for your family.
RV vs Owning a House/Condo
The first place to start is by comparing the price of homes in your area to the price of RVing. If you live in a small city with affordable housing and lower taxes, you might not be saving much. If you live in a large city, like NYC, where home prices are through the roof, you will be saving a lot!
By researching the mortgage you would be paying (or the mortgage you already have) will quickly help determine what is more cost effective for your home type.
The other part to keep in mind is maintenance and expenses. This can be repairs, utilities, furnishings, maintenance, taxes, HOAs/Condo Fees, lawn care. These can easily add up and be missed when determining which way of living is cheaper.
Property taxes can be paid every quarter, six months, annually or with your mortgage payment. Depending on where you live, this can be a substantial amount of money. You’ll also have house insurance, some this is also included in your mortgage payment. If your mortgage is paid off, you’ll have both these fees separate and need to be included in your calculations.
In almost every location, RV living is cheaper than living in a house.
RV vs Renting a House/Apartment
Generally, it is cheaper to live in a rental than owning. There are a few extras to consider if you’re looking to compare RV living to rental living.
You will definitely have fewer overall expenses in a rental than an owned property. You won’t be paying for HOAs, lawn care or maintenance bills, as this should all be included in your rent. Some utilities can be included as well, such as water, electric, sewer and trash. If they aren’t included, they can be lower in an apartment than a house.
What makes RV life and a rental different is that paying your monthly rent is never-ending. You’re not paying off a loan to eventually have it fully owned. Even if you took out a loan for your RV you will be paying towards an end goal of having the loan paid off.
One last thing to keep in mind is what you rent. If you are renting a small apartment or out-of-city property could be very cost effective. Living in the city or in a single dwelling home could quickly add up in monthly costs. The variance is quite large.
Full Time RV Living Costs
The best place to start is to look at how you envision traveling or living in your RV. Do you see yourself moving constantly checking out the biggest sites and monuments? Staying off-grid in the middle of the boonies? Are you planning to stay in one spot for longer periods of time to explore like the locals? Each way of travel has its perks of cost savings while there are ways to make each of these more expensive too.
While I can compare some costs we’ve come across and use them as a jumping point, a lot will really depend on how you plan to travel. Really take some time to map out a picture of how you see yourself traveling.
***Also take into account, when you travel fast, you’ll need periods of being stationary to catch your breath. I’ve not met one traveller who said being go-go-go for months on end with no longer periods of stationary was beneficial for their wellbeing. Make sure to factor that in when you’re travel planning.
The most basic breakdown I can give you, many can give RV travel life a go on $4000-6000 a month. While some can do it for a lot less, some can do it for a lot more! Take this ballpark average number into consideration as you do your breakdowns.
RV Payment
While we chose to start our RV travel life with no payments and absolutely debt free, this payment can make a huge difference in your budget. Going from a $1200 rental payment to $800 RV payment, the change might not be worth it for you.
When planning to purchase an RV, make sure to factor in the monthly payment or taking a whole lump payment out of your savings or sale of the house to pay in full. When looking at what your budget allows, does this amount of money meet your needs for a full-time style RV. A style or size that you can comfortably live in AND tow or drive comfortably. Maybe even take a moment to review if purchasing New or Used is more beneficial for your situation.
Fuel
This is always the most expensive parts of RV Travel life. From filling a truck gas fuel tank, easily filling over $100 each time to filling a diesel motorhome over $300 each time, these prices can really rock your budget. Then add on some families who choose to travel with a towed vehicle or a second vehicle. Bonus: having a second vehicle actually can be beneficial in that all your daily driving is done in something more fuel efficient and, if you’re driving a motorhome, you don’t have to pack up your site just to get groceries.
A large varying factor to consider is where you are traveling. Prices of fuel can vary by states as much as $3/gal. We’ve paid as high as $5.50/gal in California for gas and as low as $2.25/gal for gas in Texas. There are fuel savings apps and cards you can access to help save on every gallon. Along with using an app like GasBuddy to help locate the cheapest fuel near you.
While fuel prices can be the largest cost for traveling RV life, if can decrease based on how quickly you travel. If you are stationary longer, not towing, you’re overall fuel economy will increase. If you’re constantly towing, moving almost daily, your costs will rise. Dramatically.
Campground Costs
Campgrounds very much are determined by you route, your season and your level of comfort. A campground with full hook-ups; water, sewer and electric, can range from $30/night to $250/night. From a state park to luxury Disney campgrounds, the prices – and amenities – really vary.
If you’re looking to get an idea of what your campgrounds would cost, try mapping out a route to see where you’d like to stay, then run a few dates through their booking system to see what a night would cost. Remember, peak season in the south is October to May and peak season everywhere else is May to October.
If you’re looking to save some money, you can look at adding single nights as you travel by parking at a Cracker Barrel, Walmart, Bass Pro/Cabella’s, Camping World, Loves/Pilot Travel Stations and more. These places allow you to park one night overnight in the farthest part of their parking lots, for FREE. You can use an app, like Campendium to confirm if that location allows it. But it’s always best to just call the store ahead of time.
Another way to save money is to purchase a camping membership. These vary by benefits and price. While I won’t go over them all, as they do depend on where you plan to camp the most, the ones we used the most were: Thousand Trails (Elite Connections Membership), Trails Collection (Thousand Trails Add-On), and Passport America.
The other option, mostly available in the west, is Boondocking on BLM lands – Bureau of Land Management. The lands are open and available for camping to the public. There are “rules of use” such as leave it better than you found it. Many of these locations are simply a spot to stop, no hook-ups included, just one spectacular view. However, we have come across some that have patios, picnic tables, vault toilets, and 120v plug-in. Boondocking sites can be found through multi-location search apps like Campendium.
Boondocking can be as simple as a single night, much like staying at a Walmart for one night. But once you get into several nights, you need to have a way to have power, water and dump your black and grey tanks. Boondocking does take a little skill that you need to learn how to conserve your water and power usage. Also the added costs of adding solar and batteries or a generator to your list.
While RV parks will give you the best amenities, they also come with a higher cost. Many RV parks will offer full service hook-ups, laundry, pools, hot tubs, organized activities, paved camp sites, ideal locations to major destinations or sites, and some with gated access to add some security.
While there are ways to splurge, there are ways to counter balance and save to keep your costs where you want them while traveling.
If you are planning to stay three weeks or longer, look into a monthly rate at the campground. Many locations offer a big discount when staying for a month. They can, and typically do, add on electric at a metered rate for that month. If booking a month, but only needing three weeks, you have the flexibility to leave when you’re ready instead of being out by 11am sharp.
Groceries
Another big variable. (Are you seeing the trend here?). Our costs for food varied by state and by grocery store, as well as how many times we met up with friends. We do pack food with us for the driving days and exploring/hiking days. We make sure that lunch is able to be made in the RV in a pull-over location, instead of dining out. We also cook the majority of our food at home, after all, our house is always with us.
Being each state varies in prices and we aren’t bulk purchasing as much as we did in the house, our costs were pretty equal, if not only slightly more. We have learned more ways of cooking in the RV that is more like cooking at home, such as actually using the indoor stovetop and purchasing a convection oven/airfryer combo to use as our oven (some RVs come with a convection microwave or residential sized ovens, ours did not) and just being brave enough to just go for it with our ultra-tiny RV oven (Even making bread in it).
Making sure you have all of the most useful RV kitchen accessories and a good camper grill will help you save money as you will eat out less and just maybe enjoy cooking more.
Entertainment
While some Rv’ers just enjoy getting out there and living in nature, some want to explore all the must-see locations like theme parks, attractions, museums, etc. There are ways to do this and save a little, like looking into City-Pass, Groupon and Military Discounts (if that applies). You can also pre-plan what you are going to spend money on and where you’re going to save.
If you plan to see at least two National Parks or Monuments, purchasing a National Parks pass is a must. You will save just from two visits alone, if you are a family. We visited just a handful of National Parks and it saved us a lot. The pass is good for one year and can keep being renewed.
You can also balance out your paid entertainment with trips to the beach, hikes you can find for free locally using the AllTrails App or simply exploring the nearby towns and cities.
We also spent a lot of time doing free activities such as exploring the national parks in addition to playing at the beach.
Dining Out
As a foodie family, this is always one of our biggest expenses. Why? Because we want to try it all! We want to live that Diners, Drive-Ins & Dive’s life. And who doesn’t? That said, we always planned ahead during our travels where we knew we just had to try something. We knew the diners or restaurants we had to eat at. We also knew the attractions that didn’t allow in outside foods, so we would have to plan for dining out.
That said, when we could, we would bring packed foods with us, if the RV wasn’t nearby. We would try to keep switching it up so we didn’t get bored with the food we brought. We knew that the longer we stayed away from home, the more tempting it would be to dine out. We planned our timing accordingly and planned for “whoopsies” when we got extra hungry or saw that treat we just had to try.
The best thing you can do to control this aspect of your budget is to plan, plan plan! Just plan!
It is definitely easier to keep this cost down if you have good food from the grocery store that you want to eat. Utilizing instant pot meals is a great way to avoid eating out because you have a dinner waiting for you at home or a quick “I forgot to make something, ready in 20mins” dinner.
Souvenirs
As a family, we tend to collect a sticker, for our cooler, and a magnet from every cool place we’ve gone. Whether it was a city, like Roswell, NM, or a destination like Disney, we pick a sticker and a magnet. No questions asked. Beyond that, the odd time the kids will choose a tee or a hat. But for the most, part, our souvenirs are just the magnet and sticker. We have been doing this for years, long before RV travel.
If you know you’re planning to go somewhere you want a souvenir, add it into your budget. Plan for it. Knowing this cost can vary depending on how you shop and how you travel, you’ll need to add this accordingly into your budget. This is definitely an addition vs house life, as you are frequently going somewhere new.
RV Maintenance
If you are traveling fast, you will need a much bigger budget. The more you home bounces down the road, the higher the chances are of something going wrong or breaking. There will be some maintenance work you can do on your own, but there will still be supply costs to factor in.
Before you hit the road, have a RV repair slush fund of at least 12 months (so at least $1200). Then plan to keep adding $100 each month to this. This will ensure you have enough to keep up with every caulking, lubrication, greasing, tire change and bigger repairs. You also may want to look at adding an extended warranty to your RV for those bigger issues that can come up.
Depending on the type of RV you decided to purchase, it was vary in the types and costs of repairs. Class A motorhomes can have some of the highest costs for repair whereas a travel trailer will have some of the lowest costs.
Keep up on your maintenance, it’s a lot, but it should keep some of those repairs at bay. Plan to pay for the maintenance products and put away extra for those repairs you don’t expect. Nonetheless, RV repair and maintenance can be a lot less than a home, but it can mean your home is unavailable until the repair is completed, especially true for motorhomes. Plan in your budget for alternate lodging should you have major work needing to be done.
Utilities
This area of the budget is probably the most drastic in difference from a home or rental to RV travel life. Unless you plan to be stationary and book a month site, where electricity could be billed separate, your utilities will be zero. That means, no water, no lawn care fees, no HOA, no nothing.
Some extras you may have is fuel for your generator and propane for your RV propane tanks. Propane fills are around $15/20lb tank but can be variable depending where you are getting them filled.
One area you will need to consider is your cell phone and internet. While these don’t really change from home to the road, your options for home internet might. Make sure the internet you decide to go with has coverage in the areas you plan to travel. Some RV’ers decide to have redundancy with their internet providers, ensuring they have coverage from all the major companies across the country.
Summary
While the total RV travel costs can vary greatly depending on where you travel to how you prefer to spend your time, the overall costs can easily be less than the cost of owning a home.
There are costs you can factor that you would have in a home or in RV life, such as insurance, gas, internet and cell phones. There are also factors that are very dependent on how you choose to do it. Whether you have a monthly RV and vehicle payment, have a mortgage payment, choose to do all your dining out, visit every fancy RV campground and tourist attraction or live off grid as much as possible.
This life can vary. This is why is extra important to decide how you plan to travel before you make the jump.
Monthly Cost of RV Living
How much you can save by living in an RV really depends on your lifestyle living in an RV. There are two different ways you can live in your RV – full-time stationary and full-time travel. We’ll cover the basics this week then go more in-depth next week in our final installment.
Full-Time Stationary
Full-time stationary RV living means that you live in your RV but in just one place. You don’t travel from campground to campground. You park your RV in a long-term RV park and leave it there. People may choose to live stationary in their RV due to work or school requirements or simply because they enjoy it.
Living in an RV park long-term is a great way to decrease your livings costs to save money. RV parks often offer discounts for long-term stays. The largest discounts come if you stay for at least a month as I mentioned above.
Your fuel costs will also be significantly less because you won’t be driving your RV anywhere.
Full-Time Travel
The alternative to stationary RV living is full-time travel. If you utilize discounts for staying for a week or month at a time, this can be just as cost-effective as stationary RV living.
If you travel you can also take advantage of free overnight parking areas, boondocking and cheaper campgrounds like in the state and national parks. This is a great way to see the country without spending a lot of money.
How to Set Up a Cost Comparison
Since there are so many variables in determining which lifestyle is more cost effective, the best thing to do is to set up a cost comparison specific to your situation. This considers your payments currently compared to your estimated RV living expenses.
You can easily make this comparison sheet in Google Sheets or Excel. However, I have already done the work for you by creating a free printable! Just add in your email in the form above or below and I’ll send you one right to your email. Otherwise, you’ll want to track your estimated expenses by name and then a column for both RV living and your current in your home or rental.
If you haven’t already, create a start up costs lists, if you don’t already own an RV. This would include items like linens, kitchen supplies, RV supplies, camping gear, solar/generator, etc. This will need to be part of your cost analysis, but you can move items from your home into your RV if you plan to sell or end your rental contract.
Is It Really Cheaper to RV Travel?
Living in an RV mean living with a lot less things. RV living is akin to tiny house living. There is less room for everything – for clothes, toys, tools, food, supplies, etc. This can save you a lot of money, whether through less purchases or by selling what you currently have to downsize.
Living in a smaller space also mean less home improvement projects and less time cleaning. Which means it can cost you as little or as much as you like. Completely depending on you and the lifestyle you choose.
If your goal is to save money, you can do that. By sticking to a budget and paying off most or all of your debts, choosing low-key travel or stationary life. Saving money is possible.
If your goal is, as the millennials say YOLO, then you can purchase million-dollar RVs and travel in the lap of luxury. Luxury RV life is possible.
Of course there is a medium in there, a balanced budget while still having fun. This lifestyle can meet just about any of your financial goals.
By getting rid of your mortgage or halting that monthly rental payment and selling all your stuff, you cut down on your expenses and start your foot off with the most cost effective way to live.
The most important factor in cutting down your living expenses is not having a large payment on your RV and finding an affordable place to stay each night.
Final Thoughts
There are a lot of factors to consider while you decide which method of living is best for you and your family. We have definitely found it extremely cost-effective both by boondocking during our travels, dining at home and maximizing our Thousand Trails membership.
By starting with your cost comparison to your personal situation and how you plan to travel, you can answer this question. Really take a good hard look at how you plan to join the RV life. Break down those questions of how you plan to travel, where, how often and in what.
Take some time and go back through our other articles to see if new or used is best for you and the types of RVs and their price points and benefits and setbacks. Each of these will help with your decisions moving forward.
Next week, we go more in depth between stationary and travel RV and the benefits of each.
What we loved most about our time doing full-time travel was exploring this amazing country all while our home came along with us. There are just so many beautiful places to see and boondocking spots to explore! (can you tell what we loved to do?)
What do you enjoy about RV life? If you haven’t done it, what intrigues you the most? You know I love chatting in the comments, let me know down below.
Till Next Time,
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