$100K in Full-Time RV First Year Costs

Written By Lana Knedlik

How much does it cost to live full time in an RV? We started full-time RVing without any sort of budget a year ago. We were SHOCKED – shocked, I tell you — to learn just how much full-time RVing costs. As "newbie" full-time RVers, we go over the REAL annual cost of full-time RVing in this video.

Remarkably, the total cost was close to $100,000!

And, these expenses and costs don't even include the cost of buying our RV!

In this video, we detail our first year expenses as full-timers as a family of two (with five dogs).  We break the costs down by:

  • Campground / RV park costs and fees

  • One-time RV supplies (for mods and other things to make the RV our own)

  • RV supplies (those that we will purchase repeatedly)

  • RV gas

  • Towed vehicle gas

  • Towed vehicle costs / maintenance

  • Insurance (RV, towed vehicle,

  • Telephone & internet

  • Memberships (e.g., America’s Mailbox, Harvest Hosts)

  • Groceries / breweries / restaurants (food and beer)

  • Moving expenses

  • Storage expenses

  • Entertainment

  • Healthcare

  • Pet care

  • Class C Broads (our Youtube and website expense)

  • Miscellaneous (charitable giving, gifts, hobbies, accounting fees, hair cuts, etc.)

We know that living costs vary greatly from RVer to RVer. We know that couples and families will have wildly different expenses.   We also know that folks can full-time RV for a lot cheaper than we do.   Among other things, the cost will vary depending upon:

  • Preferred type of camping (e.g., private campgrounds vs. state parks)

  • Whether you are willing to camp host

  • Boondocking frequency

  • Length of stay (daily, weekly, monthly)

  • Miles driven

  • Family size

  • Type of RV (e.g. our RV is “all electric” and does not use propane)

  • Overall lifestyle

This last factor is probably the most variable.  We didn’t start RVing to save money.  Instead, we wanted to travel to visit family, explore fun locations, and experience life!  We trying to make reasonable decisions about our expenditures, but if there is a “bucket list” item we want to do or a place to stop on our route, we spend the money.  For example, we love checking out the local craft brewery, and in this past year, we visited 93 craft breweries!

The bottom line is that at least for us, RVing isn’t cheap.

Cheers!

 

Lana Knedlik
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