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Budgeting For Full-Time RVing

Don’t let this task overwhelm you. You should already have a household budget as a starting point (don’t worry if you don’t have an “official” documented budget – help is available!). This is as easy as taking your existing expenses and adding RV travel-related expenses to it. If you are selling your home, you can subtract those expenses – this part is fun! Since we have already gone through this process, and consolidated our two households into one RV, we have put together a handy list of things to think about when making your budget and included it below. If you have other tools or tips for creating a budget, please share them with us below!

FIGURING OUT VARIABLE MONTHLY EXPENSES

If you don’t know what your variable monthly expenditures are, such as home repairs, car repairs, dining out, clothing, etc., many banks and credit card companies offer tools to review your annual spending. My Chase Bank Visa offers an annual summary of my spending broken out into categories. Use those available tools to determine your average monthly spending for those items. Or, keep track of those expenses yourself by keeping receipts or reviewing your account online.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

Record all of your expenses and your income in software or an app that works best for you. REMEMBER that if you are figuring out your expenses for the future, add a percentage to allow for increases in costs due to inflation – the average inflation rate in the U.S. is 3%. There are some wonderful tools to use for creating a budget; some are listed in the right sidebar with some detail about those tools listed in the table below. We are both Microsoft Excel nerds, so we just used Excel. Greg does more detail than I do, and his spreadsheet was so detailed and automatically calculated things for us like adding interest earnings on our investments and adding for inflation. I wouldn’t go that far – look for a fun blog article on our experience with creating a budget, coming soon….

APP	FREE OR PAID	LINKS TO FINANACIAL ACCOUNTS	REPORTS & GRAPHS	CREDIT SCORES	STRENGTHS
Mint	Free	YES	YES	YES	Top Rated Free Tool; Creates spending categories for you
Quicken	Paid	YES	YES	YES	Top Rated Paid Tool; Excellent support
YNAB	Paid	YES	YES	NO	Plans every dollar in advance – Excellent security
Personal Capital	Free	YES	YES	NO	Links to investment & retirement accounts
NerdWallet	Free	YES	YES	YES	Good credit score support

CHECKLIST – I DON’T HAVE A BUDGET

CHECKLIST – ADD RV COSTS

RV COSTS DETAIL

There are many variables in costs for RV travel, and there can be vast differences depending upon how much you want to spend and how fancy you want to be. Our current RV ( a 30 ft. fifth wheel) was purchased used for $10,000. We love it and it suits our needs just fine. We have seen motor homes that are priced at over one million dollars. I recommend buying a used RV, as just like making an automobile purchase, the value of a brand new RV depreciates as soon as it is driven off the lot. Don’t spend too much on your first RV, you really can get started for a relatively low amount of money.

Some places to shop for RVs:

Local RV dealerships
rv.campingworld.com
rvtrader.com
ebay.com
craigslist.org
Magazines like Trailer Life, Motorhome

RV insurance coverage also varies widely depending on the age and model of RV that you choose. I have found that average insurance prices listed are between $1,000 and $2,000 per year.

Fuel can be estimated by the average price of fuel for the previous year (diesel was $2.60 per gallon on average in 2019) multiplied by the average number of miles driven (5,000 per year).

RV maintenance and repairs should be something you save for every month so you don’t have any unpleasant expensive surprises. The regular maintenance items typically are tires, brakes, roof repairs. If you will be doing some of the maintenance and repairs yourself you can save money in this category. The RV dealership that we purchased our fifth wheel from provided classes on basic maintenance and repairs so we were able to perform maintenance like brakes, roof repair, water pump replacement and more. Remember to include tires in your monthly savings budget, as they last 5-7 years, even if you don’t put too many miles on them they still deteriorate due to sunlight and weather (we learned this soon after purchasing our fifth wheel and had to replace them based on date codes). Likewise, if you have an extended service plan then you can subtract those expected savings on repairs. GoodSam has a great list of most common repairs and the average costs at https://www.goodsamesp.com/common-savings/ .

Campsite rental is another cost that can vary widely, depending on your length of stay and the campground amenities, and whether it’s public or private. Boondocking, which means camping far from civilization where typically there are no hookups like electricity or water and no services, won’t cost you anything. Camping without hookups is also referred to as “dry camping”; some places may allow you to stay up to 14 days. Use this option for overnight stays to save money, or even for a week or two of roughing it, if it’s allowed. You can park for free overnight at many Walmarts, Camping World, Home Depot, Pilot/Flying J truck stops, and other big box stores – just ask for permission first. This helps keep costs down while traveling to a new location.
Public campgrounds will be cheaper than private ones, and include national and state parks, Bureau of Land Management sites, Army Corps of Engineer projects. Bureau of Land Management offers “primitive” sites which do not have hookups but may have public restrooms and fire pits – these sites typically cost around $15 a night. Public campgrounds average $20 – $30 per night, and amenities vary.
Private campgrounds can run from $40 to $100 per night.

If you rent campsites by the week or the month, note that rates are considerably lower. Campgrounds give discounts of up to 50-60% for extended stays, so it pays to stay in one area for at least a couple of weeks.

Roadside Assistance – These memberships cost between $100 and $250 per year, and cover things like towing, flat tire repair, battery jumpstart service, emergency fuel delivery, plus discounts and concierge services. We have a membership with GoodSam and have been happy with it – we thought is was the best value for the services that they provide. Their plans are listed at https://www.goodsamroadside.com/.

Extended Service Plans – Costs vary widely for extended service or extended warranty plans, so this is something you will have to get a quote on, if you decide you want this coverage. The factors that will play a role in pricing include your RV’s mileage, age, make, model, and value. Extended warranty or service plans will help cover costs of mechanical or electrical failures, so if you won’t be doing repairs yourself or don’t want to be surprised by a large repair cost, you may want to consider purchasing a plan. These plans don’t cover regular maintenance, so things like tires, brake pads and oil changes will not be covered so you will still need to budget for those items. Companies that offer these plans include GoodSam and Wholesale Warranties.

Share your budgeting tips & tools with us!