If you are thinking about RVing full-time and wondering if you can afford it, this post is for you.
Ready to start planning your full-time RV budget? Download our interactive budgeting worksheet.
So How Much Does it Cost to Full-time RV?
Living and traveling full-time in a RV is of course not free, but I was surprised how affordable it can be. You actually have a lot flexibility when it comes to expenses – depending on your budget and how you like to travel.
Full-time RV Campsite Budget
Think of campsites like your mortgage or rent. Campsites are, in my opinion, where you can either spend the most money or make full-time RVing cheaper than “normal” life because there are so many options.
Depending on your budget and camping style, you can stay in RV parks, State Parks, on free Boondocking land, or utilize a RV host website. Learn more about different places to stay here.
RV Parks
RV Parks with full-hook ups (electric, water, sewer) will cost on average anywhere from $30-$50 a night. Many provide showers, which has nothing to do with the budget but sure is nice
Bonus: You are able to fill-up potable water and dump your tanks at no extra charge.
Monthly: $900-$1,500
State Park Campgrounds
State Park campground fees will vary by state and what is offered. We’ve been found State Park campgrounds with partial hook-ups (electric, usually water) anywhere from $15-25. Dump stations are hit or miss. Most State Parks with dedicated campsites that do not have hook-ups will range from $10-15 in our experience.
Monthly average with hook-ups: $600
Monthly average without hook-ups: $360
Boondocking
Boondocking is basically camping at free spots without hook-ups. Several State Forests and BLM (Bureau of Land Management) locations have free dispersed camping. Typically, you can stay in one location for a maximum of 14 days. We have also found a few state parks have free campsites. While this option is free, you do have to find and pay for dump stations.
Monthly: $0
Host Websites
There are several RV websites out there that allow you to pay an annual fee to camp at members’ locations. For example, we use Boondockers Welcome which costs us $25 a year. We are able to stay with Boondockers Welcome hosts throughout the country for no additional charge. Another website out there is called Harvest Hosts. We’ve haven’t tried this one yet, but it looks awesome!
Usually, we can spend a few nights a month at different host locations. At $25-45 a year, it pays for itself after a few nights.
Annually: $25-$45
Our Monthly Campsite Budget
We budget $200 a month for campsites, which means we are boondocking the majority of the month. As long as it’s not too hot, we usually dry camp on BLM land or at State Forests. It works great for us – we can let the dogs run free, have plenty of space to spread out, and it’s free!
Monthly Campsite Budget: $200
Full-time RV Gas Budget
Honestly, I’m not sure if there’s a way to generalize the gas budget, since gas prices, gas mileage, and the number of miles you travel varies so much. BUT I’ll do my best to help you make your own gas budget.
How much should you budget for gas
Determine your gas mileage. If you are RVing with a tow-behind car, make sure you calculate your mileage when towing.
Next, plot out your trip on Google Maps. Since we are traveling for 7 months before heading home for the holidays, we put all our stops for the next 7 months on the map to get the total mileage.
Then, find the average gas price for the area you are traveling. We used the nationwide average, since we went coast to coast.
Formula: Price per gallon/gas mileage x total miles traveled = $$
Or skip the math and use the Gas Buddy Trip Calculator.
If you are a member of Good Sam Club, I highly recommend using their Trip Planner. It works like Google maps but gives you an RV estimated drive time and a gas budget.
Don’t forget to add in gas money for your car if you plan on parking the RV and driving to do things.
Our RV Gas Budget
So again, this varies month to month depending on how far we travel, the gas prices and how much driving around we do in our tow-behind car. We typically spend between $300-$500 a month on gas.
Monthly Gas Budget: $400
RV Insurance
Since our RV is our home, we upped our RV insurance when going full-time. I recommend doing some research on providers and finding out exactly what you need. Our RV insurance plus our tow-behind car is around $145 a month.
Monthly Insurance Budget: $145
RV Maintenance and Repair Budget
If you’re planning to RV full-time, just know things break – often. This isn’t to scare you – full-time RVing is totally worth it, but just be prepared to spend $50-100 a month on repairs or maintenance. Thankfully, Luke can fix most things on our RV, so we just have to buy the parts. Depending on the condition of your RV and your handiness, you may need to adjust this number.
Remember, you’ll also be putting some miles on your RV, so oil changes and regular maintenance should be in your budget.
Worst case scenario: our RV’s transmission went out a month before we were supposed to head out on our trip. That took $2000 out of our emergency fund before we even started, but it gave us peace of mind that the transmission would be good for the trip. So, we kind of got lucky. Moral of the story: have an emergency fund that can cover your worst case scenario.
Monthly RV Repair and Maintenance Budget: $100
RV “Utilities” Budget
While you may no longer have a water, sewer, or trash bill, you may need to include utilities in your budget. Since we dry camp or boondock over half of the time, we have to pay RV dump fees. When we’re dry camping, we typically have to dump the tanks every 7-8 days.
We’ve found gas stations or travel stations to be the cheapest – and sometimes free. When there isn’t one close by, we typically pay $10 to use one at an RV Park. Of course, if you’re staying at an RV park, you can dump the tanks for free.
Monthly RV Dump Fees: $30
Cell Phone + Internet RV Budget
Before we hit the road, we upgraded our cell phone plan to the Unlimited Plan with Verizon. We use our phones as hot spots for internet, so we knew we’d blow through the data in no time. For the most part, we’ve had good coverage and no issues using our hot spots to get work done. We also use our hot spots to stream Netflix – on the rare occasion we want to watch TV.
Monthly cell phone budget: $230
Full-time RV Laundry Budget
Laundry budget. This is my least favorite chore – even before full-time RVing. So now that we have to pack everything up and go to a laundromat, it’s really not my favorite. But it has to be done. Some RV parks will have washers and dryers onsite, but if you’re boondocking a lot like us, you’ll find yourself at the laundromat.
We probably do laundry 2-3 a month. If you can find a place that has the industrial size washers and dryers, then you’re in luck. You can wash about 8 loads in one machine for $8. If we’re washing clothes, bedding, towels and the dogs’ stuff, we spend about $18-20 to wash and dry it all.
Monthly Laundry Budget: $40
Propane Budget
We really weren’t sure how much to budget per month for propane. We read online that one family spend $40 a month, so that’s what we originally budgeted. Luckily, we don’t spend anywhere close to that. We refilled our propane tank about a month ago for $5, and that should last us another month or so.
We only use propane for cooking and heating the hot water tank. We don’t use our furnace – we have a little Mr. Buddy Heater
Monthly Propane Budget: $5
RV “Fun Money” Budget
This totally depends on what you want to do for entertain and fun while full-time RVing. Our fun money budget is way less on the road than at home. This for a few reasons:
- We eat out way less on the road than we did at home.
- Buying a bottle of wine from the store and drinking it outside under the stars is just as fun – if not more fun – as going out for drinks.
- We can go explore or hike for free versus paying for entertainment.
- We’re not buying little things (coffee or smoothies or delicious treats from Whole Foods) on the way to work or on the weekends just because.
We do spend fun money on is the occasional date night, fishing licenses, and drinks if we’re meeting up with someone.
We also purchased the America the Beautiful National Park pass, which I highly recommend. The pass costs $80 annually, and it gets you into all the National Parks.
Monthly Entertainment Budget: Up to you 🙂
Normal Living Expenses
Normal living expenses include food, cleaning supplies, toiletries, health insurance – all the non-specific RV items you already pay for. This varies from family to family and shouldn’t change too much from your current budget. Except there’s a lot less space to clean meaning less cleaning supplies!
Monthly Living Expenses: Varies
How Much Does it Cost to Full-time RV for Us: $1,175 a month*
*This doesn’t include the last two items: Fun Money and Normal Living Expenses.
Ready to start planning your full-time RV budget? Download our interactive budgeting spreadsheet.
Let us know what questions do you have about full-time RVing? We’ll be happy to answer them!
Hi, I'm Laura. Former Full-Time RVer with a passion for adventure. Real mom to one boy. Dog mom to two pups. Sipping on coffee or kombucha. Experiencing God's goodness wherever we are.
Hey there! Such a helpful post! 🙂 I don’t see the download link anywhere though — would love to use it!
Hi Katie! Thanks for letting me know. I made some updates to the website this week and forgot to re-enable the form. It should be all good now. 🙂 If you have any issues downloading it or questions, please let me know. -Laura
I am also having trouble downloading the worksheet. I really enjoyed this article!
Hi Jordan, I’ll email you a copy. thanks!
Hi, sorry to bug you… I also cannot figure out where the link is to download the interactive budgeting spreadsheet.
Hey, there’s a form at the bottom of the post that will let you download it. If it’s not showing up for you for some reason, let me know. Thanks!
Can you email me the budget worksheet? I have filled out the form twice and never received the download.
Thank you,
I didn’t get the link but filled out the form. I enjoyed the reading – hope to be on the road in a year. 😀
One thing I would be very interested in is some form of remote work that can generate income. Do you have any ideas or suggestions? Our situation has just taken a major shift and tight now we are in the ideal situation to start camping and traveling full time. Also, since some of the suggestions you mentioned don’t have electric hookup, what is your suggestion on taking a generator? If you do recommend this, do you think a 5,500 watt would be sufficient? We have a fifth wheel so I would have to figure out a way to haul it but we do have one. Thanks for the information
Laura:
Thanks for the worksheet and these tips to help us decide if we should make the lifestyle change. Lots to think about.
You’re welcome. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out!
Your post really helped me. Making a decision to go full time is stressful to me. Research has helped. Ty so much for the budget.
Hi Laura,
Once we retire, my wife and I are planning on spending winters (at least) heading south from Chicago in an RV for maybe 3 months at a time. I’m an over-researcher according to her, but also an accountant. 🙂 I’d love to play with your budgeting worksheet. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to find the link on your website. Is there a specific page where I can find it?
Thanks,
Jim
Thanks for the excellent article
Such a helpful breakdown !!!! I’m just curious if the majority of your boon docking spots have had enough cell phone service to use the wifi for work purposes? Thank you !
It’s hit or miss, but typically, we had enough service to call and text and usually to run our hot spots for work. Occasionally, we’d have to drive to a nearby town. Some of the boondocking apps will have reviews on how good the service is, so check those out!
Great info!
Hi! I didn’t see anything about generator and electricity costs.
Thank you!
Hi, we installed solar panels so we rarely ran our generator. Any electricity costs we had were covered with campground fees, but we mostly boondocked (camped for free without hookups). Sorry, I don’t have a good answer for the extra fuel cost of running the generator.
Hey There – I’m a single guy. Gonna RV full time (never done it before) starting spring of 2020. You may have an answer to two questions – how to lodge for cheap (or free) and how to get my high energy dog some good off leash time. So I am looking for a resource that show me the BLM or National Forests that work for boon docking and dog running.
Hey, first off, congrats on starting your planning! We have a post on finding free camping spots here: 3 Tips to Find a Great RV Boondocking Spot. BLM land is great for off-leash time. National Park and State Parks not so much, but you’ll occasionally find campgrounds with little dog parks.
Dog-related post:
7 Dog Products That Make RVing with Dogs a Breeze
3 Reasons You Need to Take Your Dog on a Road Trip to Bend
Good luck with your planning!
Can you send me the budget worksheet? Never got it. Thanks. We are planning on going to the RV style full time but have a limited budget (3200) a month. So we are nervous any thing we can do to know what we are getting into will help.
Thanks
Hey, it should be coming to your inbox now. If you don’t see it, check your spam folder. Thanks!
Great article. Doing my research before diving in full-time around summer 2021 and your links to find free campsites were a huge relief. One thought was that I see my loan payment on my motor home as part a) of the mortgage, with camping fees as part b). Maybe something to insert for others to consider. Thanks again for the budget sheet.
Thanks for the great content. Is the worksheet still available?
Tried downloading the budget you are offering but never received the email.
Hi – I am really enjoying the site, but don’t see a download link for the budget. Can you help?
Thanks!
Can you share the worksheet?!
Hi, once you enter your email address in the little download form, it should email it to you. Might have to check your spam folder. 🙂
Can you share the worksheet with us?
Hi, once you enter your email address in the little download form, it should email it to you. Might have to check your spam folder. 🙂
I didn’t get the document emailed to me.
Afternoon Laura,
Completed the form for worksheet, nothing is coming please share when you able.
Regards
Budget worksheet download still not working … can you email me a copy please. Thank you
Hi, such a great blog, thank you for sharing and i cant wait to read some more. Thanks again
I would love to get your budget worksheet as well. I attempted to sign up but unfortunately never received the email.
Thanks!
Hello, is there anyone experienced out there that I could contact on the phone to have a conversation about this? I am thinking about going full time on the road but I want to talk to someone to figure out all of the details. This website is great! And I found some others. I am just not completely sure I have to funds to do this.
Could I please have a copy of your budget worksheet?
Please email me the worksheet, I am using my iPhone and don’t see any form to fill out.
Also, thanks for the article! Truly helpful
Tried using the Budget worksheet but could not find a live link to one. Your information is so helpful. Gives me the peace of mind required when deciding how to go full time in my mid 60’s, on my own with a reasonable, but by no means large budget. Great help