We’re a little embarrassed to admit that we didn’t get serious about paying off debt until 2017. Up to that point we were living the standard American lifestyle of buying things on credit (including our truck & RV) and making payments. Now we’re sharing our story in hopes it will help others like us.

Background

I guess the bigger issue is how we got into this much debt to begin with! It is pretty sad when we look back at it now. When we first decided to RV full-time almost five years ago we purchased a very large Fifth Wheel (44’ Heartland Cyclone Toyhauler) and truck (Chevy 3500 HD) brand new. Instead of saving money, we essentially traded our $2,300 house payment with RV/truck payment and campground fees. We also had some credit card debt and a Parent Plus Student Load.

It wasn’t until 2 ½ years later in Dec 2016 when we watched a documentary on debt in America that we set a goal of being debt free. 

We got serious about paying off debt and in the last 2 years we have paid $139,000. We could have paid off more, but I (Julie) am a bit of a princess and didn’t want to sacrifice my standard of living too much. We still stay in our preferred type of campground, which is full hook-up with paved pads, WiFi, heated pools, and hot tubs. We still go out to eat and have fun, but we do prioritize and make sure we keep our eye on the prize.

Debt Reduction Techniques

Here is what we have done to allow us to live the life we choose while working towards our financial goals.

1. We kept working. 

We started our full-time RV journey almost 5 years ago with both of us working as full-time employees. In the last two years, we’ve transitioned to part-time and freelance work to allow us to grow our business. Click here to read more about how we earn an income on the road (and how you can too). 

2. We sold stuff. 

When we first moved out of our home 4 ½ years ago, we had 2 large storage units. After the first 2 years, we went back through our stuff and reassessed what was really important to us. We sold the items we no longer needed and now have one small storage unit.  The largest item we sold was our Harley Trike because we were just not using it often enough to continue to justify towing it around the country with us.  If you’re having trouble downsizing, see our article on The 3 Areas That Make The Biggest Impact.

3. We budget every dollar. 

This, by far, is the most important part of our financial strategy. Before starting our debt free journey two years ago, we kept a very loose budget. It was really just a list of bills to make sure we paid them on time. What we didn’t really do was track what we did with the rest of our income. This made it very easy to lose sight of how much money we were spending. Now we have a monthly budget that is geared towards our goals. It accounts for every penny of income. We use the Everydollar app to track spending. It’s not really about sacrificing; it is about prioritizing. We love the saying, “You can afford anything, just not everything.” The great thing is, you decide what is important. Want to know more about budgeting for the RV lifestyle, read our article, How Much Does It Cost to RV Full-Time?

Click here to get our FREE full-time travel budgeting worksheets. 

4. We have developed some strategies for saving money.

Along the way, we’ve found the methods that work for us to save money. For example, traveling slowly is a double saving on both campgrounds (with monthly rates) and fuel (by consuming less). We also don’t buy things on credit anymore so we don’t have to pay interest. For more ideas, see our article: 7 Ways to Save on Full-Time RV Travel.

Want to Learn More?

If you’d like to learn more about paying off debt, purchasing an RV, budgeting for the RV lifestyle, earning an income on the road, and saving money while traveling full-time, check out our book Full-Time RV Finance.

In this article we’ll share our expenses for the top three categories of campgrounds, fuel, and entertainment over an entire year of full-time RV travel. We’ll share the average monthly cost of each category and explain what occurred in the high and low months as well.

One question we hear often is, “Can you full-time RV for less than $1,500 a month?” The answer to that is maybe. I say maybe because it really depends on what your full-time travel dream is. If you want to stay at full hook up campgrounds or RV resorts, not likely. If you want to travel a lot of miles, that is going to be difficult as well.

The thing about budgets is that they are very personal. It all comes down to your wants and needs. In this article, we’ll share our expenses based on our preferences. The hope is that they simply provide food for though and help you create your own budget.

Campgrounds

Except for 2 short dry camping stints, we stayed exclusively in full hook-up (water, 50 amp electric, and sewer) campgrounds. We read reviews and try to find campgrounds or RV resorts that have good WiFi (to save on our hotspots), heated pools, and fitness rooms. 

This year we stayed in 18 different campgrounds: 11 Private, 5 Military, 1 Corps of Engineer (COE), and 1 Country Fairgrounds. We post reviews of all our stays on our YouTube channel. We also prefer to travel slowly and take advantage of monthly rates when we can. 

• Total Campground Expenses: $9,139.13
• Average Monthly Cost: $762
• Highest Monthly Cost: $1500
• This was at Fort Belvoir, VA in the Washington DC metropolitan area. While it was an expensive campground for us, it was worth it to attend our oldest son and daughter-in-law’s wedding! You can see our review of the campground here.
• Lowest Monthly Cost: $495 We spent the month of July at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, FL. You can see our review of the campground here.
• For those who don’t have the option to stay at military campgrounds, we’d like to give you an idea of the cost of campgrounds that anyone can enjoy. Our least expensive was a COE campground. They are federally managed by the Army Corps of Engineers and open to the public. We paid $13 per night at Gunter Hill Campground. On the high end of the spectrum, we stayed at the Tucson Lazy Days KOA for the entire month of December. We paid $821 for the month including our metered electricity.  

Fuel

We pull a 30’ Fifth Wheel with our Chevy 3500 HD Truck. We typically stay in place 4-6 weeks before moving which helps keep costs down, but the truck is also our only vehicle for local drives. 

• Total Diesel Expenses: $6,038.28
• Average Monthly Cost: $503
• Highest Monthly Cost: $848 This was in June when we drove from Texas to Virginia for our son’s wedding. 
• Lowest Monthly Cost: $301 This was in April. We were in San Antonio where two of our sons live. We didn’t travel much outside of the area and they often came and picked us up when we went places in the local area.

We also spent $298.28 on propane over the year. We stayed at full hook-up campgrounds in warm climates most of the year and predominantly used propane for cooking (stove top and oven) on a daily basis. A few of the summer months we didn’t have to refill our propane at all. The weather was unseasonably cold in Tucson this winter, so in December we paid $67.66 for propane to run the heater every night. 

Finally, we paid $228.54 for gas for our generator during the year. Normally we only run the generator 1-2 hours per month according to the regular maintenance schedule. However, we had to run it all day every day for a few weeks in May when we were dry camping during an unseasonably hot spring in Texas. 

Entertainment

Entertainment costs include things like museums, movies, parking, etc. Our total entertainment expenses were: $2,663.64. 

• Average Monthly Cost: $222
• Highest Monthly Cost: $695
• Lowest Monthly Cost: $62

Our highest month was in September. We were having work done on the RV and stayed in a resort in Orlando. While there we went to Disney and several other expensive tourist attractions. Our lowest month was in February. We spent some time at the beach in Florida and with the State Parks pass parked for free. Then we traveled to Texas for a conference, so we didn’t have too much additional time for entertainment. 

Total Expenses

Is this the full list of all full-time RV travel expenses? Not for us. There’s maintenance, insurance, internet hot spots, and more.

That is the real catch to full-time RV travel, there are so many other expenses that you don’t hear about from connectivity to maintenance and a million things in between.

It is possible to have a more frugal budget. For example, you can dry camp, travel less miles, find numerous discounts, and employ a multitude of money saving techniques. We share many of them in Full-Time RV Finance and help you develop a realistic budget that you can live with.

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