Travel Finance - Chickery's Travels

How to Save Money on RV Fuel Costs

Fuel is typically the greatest or second greatest expense in an RV vacation. We use several strategies to help reduce that fuel cost. This article will highlight those tips we use as well as a couple that others use to help control fuel costs when hauling a towable or driving a motorhome.

Learn our simple strategies to save at the pump. Fuel costs can ruin the best planned camping trip. Follow these tips and tricks to saving money on your RV travel whether you have a motorhome, fifth wheel, or trailer.

Slow Down

The primary tip we have to reduce fuel costs is to slow down. RV travel is about both the journey and the destination. Slow down and enjoy the scenery as you drive between locations.

Slowing down while driving will also save wear and tear on your RV. There are some studies that show if you cut your speed by 10 miles per hour, can improve fuel efficiency by up to 25%, particularly with a diesel engine. With this in mind, we rarely drive over 60 miles per hour even when on the highway. We have friends that will try to keep up with that left lane traffic, but we would rather go slow, enjoy the scenery, and keep the extra dollars in our pocket.

Preventive Maintenance

Keeping up with the preventive maintenance on your vehicle will also help with saving on fuel costs. Follow the recommended maintenance schedule for your RV and/or tow or towed vehicles. Many of them have recommended fluid change schedules. It is a good idea to follow them. Additionally, getting a fluid analysis performed on your vehicle annually will let you know if you need to implement different maintenance schedules on your fluids including engine oil, transmission fluid, and coolant. J.G. Lubricants is a company that can perform this analysis. We equate it to getting blood and urine collected during your annual medical physical. The analysis can pinpoint problems that are not yet obvious and you can correct them before they become major problems and improve your fuel economy.

Learn some tips to save on gas during your RV travels. improve fuel efficiency. Check your pressures before every trip and monitor them as you go

Maintaining the appropriate tire pressure for all of your tires will also improve fuel efficiency. Check your pressures before every trip and monitor them as you go.

A great investment is a tire pressure monitoring system. This will allow you to monitor the pressures and temperatures of the tires while you are driving. Not only does this help detect problems with the tires, it also assists in keeping the tires at the appropriate pressures saving you money in your fuel costs.

Find the Best Price

There are several Apps and discount programs you can use to save on your fuel costs. We use Gas Buddy to compare prices in the area and are able to go to a fuel station that offers the lowest price. This app is free and can save you hundreds of dollars. You can also earn points towards gas when you enter fuel prices. As an example, we were in Tucson, Arizona and the price of diesel varied by as much as 50 cents per gallon within a five-mile radius. Near Long Beach, California, using the app, we found a 46-cent difference in diesel prices in a three-mile radius. When the average price is $4 per gallon, that savings quickly adds up.

There is a new app called Get Upside that offers rebates if you get fuel at participating stations. We have used this on the East coast. As of the writing of this article, the app had participating stations in Texas, Florida, DC, Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, North Carolina, South Carolina, and New York. To participate, download the app, claim your offer for the best gas price, pay with any credit or debit card, and snap a photo of your receipt through the app. Once you receive the threshold in your account, you can get the money back through PayPal, cash, or gift cards. Some restaurants and grocery stores also participate.

If you have to use truck stops, become a Good Sam member and get the Pilot RV Plus Cards. Some of the benefits include:

$.10 off each gallon of bulk propane at Pilot Flying J,
½ off RV dumping fee at Pilot Flying J,
exclusive coupons and special deals from Pilot Flying J,
discounts of at least $.05 off every gallon of gas and $.08 off every gallon of diesel in the United States.
discounts of at least $.01 off every liter of gas and $.01 off every liter of diesel in Canada.

There is also a Pilot/Flying J app that is handy to use when driving. It allows you to see where the closest Pilot/Flying J is to your location and the amenities at the location including RV lanes, dump station, and propane.

If you have diesel there are two options on Fleet Cards (same as the over-the-road truckers use). They can really help you save tons on every fill-up using them. These have to be used in the diesel truck lanes, but we actually prefer those lanes anyway with our fifth wheel. TSD Logistics has the better savings of the two cards, but some folks have told us that there aren’t as many locations that take it. We haven’t found that to be a problem, but we do stick to interstates more often. They have a great app you can use on the go to find stations that accept it. We’ve seen savings range from $0.20 to $0.60 off per gallon. Another program is My Diesel Savings. We haven’t personally used this one, but friends of ours recommend it. The savings are typically around $0.05 to $0.15 per gallon and they don’t have an app, just a website.

External Fuel Tanks

To avoid paying the higher fuel costs associated with truck stops and Interstate gas stations, some RVers that tow with a pickup truck choose to install an external fuel tank in the bed of the truck. The extra fuel can get them between destinations. It is then possible to unhook the trailer or fifth wheel at the campsite and use an app like Gas Buddy to find the best price for fuel. This is a great way to save on fuel costs as long as you are able to make the initial investment in the cost of the external tank.

On Location

When you get to your location, get out and walk or use bikes when practical. We were staying at an RV park in Tucson that had over 600 spots. Several people drive to the pool or up to the restaurant instead of walking or riding a bike. We walk. By doing this, we get to meet people and it saves fuel.

Learn some simple tips to save on gas when traveling in your RV or camper. When you get to your location, get out and walk or use bikes when practical.

Some RV parks offer shuttles to attractions or are near public transportation. Take advantage of these. Not only will it save you on fuel, but it will also save you on parking costs.

Learn More Money Saving Tips

There are probably 100 other ways to save fuel, but these are some of the tips we use. We also wrote a book titled Full-Time RV Finance to help you find ways to save money and get control of your finances while traveling full-time. Learn the process we used to pay off $137,000 in only 2 years!

Learn how to pay off debt, earn an income, and save money all while traveling full-time.

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Learn how to save on gas during RV travel. These simple strategies can be used by all campers whether you have a motorhome, fifth wheel, travel trailer or even a pop up camper. They also apply to both diesel and gas engines, and your tow vehicle.

8:30 am by Julie Chickery

Roadmap to Financial Freedom: Accountability Report November/December 2018

This report will close out two full years of working towards debt freedom. We’re still not quite there, but are getting very close. It is funny because the closer we get, the slower times seems to move! For that reason, we plan to provide our updates semi-annually in 2019. This is our year end financial accountability report covering November and December 2018.

This a monthly blog post on our journey to financial freedom. Mostly for accountability and also for encouragement to others on the same journey as us. This first post will cover April 2018. I think the main point I want to make first is that we are not bragging by blogging about this. In fact, we are ashamed of the debt we accumulated and find it embarrassing to admit. We are sharing our story to keep ourselves accountable and hope that it may help someone else.

We write this accountability report about our finances to help keep us on track and also to provide encouragement for others on the same journey as us. I think the main point we want to make first is that we are not bragging by blogging about this. In fact, we are ashamed of the debt we accumulated and find it embarrassing to admit. We are sharing our story to keep ourselves accountable and hope that it may help someone else.

Debt

We are continuing our journey to becoming debt free and have $19,805 to go. Over November and December, we were able to pay off $8,940 of our remaining debt. This brings our grand total paid to $139,142 since we started tracking last year! All of this remaining debt is our Heartland Cyclone.

Click here to see the steps we took to pay off $139,000 of debt in 2 years.

Net Worth

December ended with our net worth down up just barely from October. While we were able to reduce our liabilities quite a bit, we lost some of our total assets due to the recent drop off of the stock market. All of our investment accounts were down for this period. However, we understand that losses are part of the game, which is why you have to be in it for the long-term.

Here is the breakdown of our net worth.

Assets	$240,262
Liabilities	$19,805
Net Worth	$220,457

Notable Expenses

We did not have any huge unexpected expenses. We had some additional expenses that we were able to plan for in the budget.

First, we traveled a little farther than normal, going from Texas to Arizona. Then we flew out to the Washington DC area for our daughter-in-law’s graduation from Shenandoah with a Master’s Degree in Physician Assistant Studies. We’re so proud of her!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BrbtJKKH6DS/

Notable Income

Our primary revenue streams include military pensions for both of us, Sean’s research consulting hours, and Julie’s freelance writing. In addition, our business, Chickery’s Travels continues to grow.

Click here to see how we earn an income while traveling full-time (and you can too).

Chickery’s Travels consists of multiple revenue streams. We have book sales (from 2 books we’ve authored), as well as ad revenue from our website and YouTube channel. We also have public speaking contracts with several RV shows throughout 2019. This is very exciting since we both enjoy speaking and teaching.

We are definitely learning that building a business from the ground up is not easy. We work many more hours for ourselves than we ever did working regular jobs or even during our time in the military. We are just starting to see some rewards after more than a year of hard effort. Initially it was tough not to get discouraged, but stuck with it and are happy with the growth .

Our Roadmap

The main thing that has helped us with our finances is keeping a budget. We use YNAB (You Need A Budget) for our monthly budgeting along with the Every Dollar app to track our daily purchases. Seeing where the money goes is definitely eye-opening and when you assign it at the beginning of the month, staying within the budget is much easier.

Click here to download our free budget worksheets and then here to see our itemized budget.

Future Plans and Projections

We write these accountability reports to make sure we stay on track with our goals. It has really made a difference in our purchases over the past year. We often think twice before making a frivolous or large purchase. Do we really want to show a decrease in net worth for this thing? Do we really want have to publish that we made poor decisions? This blog (and you) really helps!

Although there will be times like this when we have an overall decrease in our net worth, we feel it was expected at some point since the stock market cannot rise every month forever. Our spending, however, continues to be on track and we hope this inspires others to join us on a debt free journey.

Thanks for following along with us this year. We hope you’ll join us in 2019 when we plan to finally be debt free!

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We share our tips for getting out of debt in our monthly Personal Financial Accountability report. Includes lessons learned and ideas for saving money.

8:30 am by Julie Chickery

How We Paid $139,000 of Debt in 2 Years While Full-Time RVing

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.