One of the many questions people have when they first get started is, “How much does full-time RVing cost?” The answer to this question is unique to every person, couple, and family, and costs can range from hundreds to thousands a month.

We didn’t know exactly what our costs would be when we first started out, and there just isn’t much information out there regarding what families are actually spending to do this. What we did know is that our costs would vary, but we would be in much more control over those varying costs than when we lived in sticks and bricks. For example, if we want to spend less on gasoline we just have to move less often.

It took us a few months to figure out how far we could go and what we could do to keep our expenses low. I’ve always been good at budgeting and we’re good at keeping our expenses lower than our income, but for those first few months I was putting in some extra hours to cover the unexpected expenses we came across.

So how do we keep our expenses low?

We avoid campgrounds as much as possible, choosing to boondock or dry camp for free on public lands unless those options aren’t available. We don’t splurge on eating out at restaurants very often (maybe once or twice a month), and we plan our moves every two weeks based on where we want to go and how much it’ll cost to get there.

We started out with a generator we picked up for $150, but have since installed solar panels and an inverter so we only need to run it when there’s been no sun for a couple days or if we want to run our AC. We can find water to fill our fresh water tank for free just about everywhere we go (we don’t count it as a cost when we have to pay to dump our holding tanks) and we minimize our propane costs by following the warm weather as much as possible.

Here is our budget at a glance. I’ll explain each category in detail below.

• RV Insurance: $600/year ($50/month)
• Truck Insurance: $800/year ($67/month)
• Service and Parts: $125/month
• Gasoline: $500-$800/month
• Food and Household: $600/month
• Phone/Internet: $110/month
• Propane: $150/month
• Laundry: $45/month
• Pet Food and Supplies: $60/month
• Streaming Entertainment: $23/month
• Mail Service: $27/month
• Miscellaneous:$50/month

Total Monthly Budget: $1807 – $2107

RV Insurance: This number is high, and we know it. We could certainly spend half of that for full-timer’s insurance, but we have opted to increase our coverage on our personal belongings which has doubled our premium. We do shop around every 6 months when our truck’s insurance is due though.

Truck Insurance: We pay insurance every 6 months, so this is the discounted amount we pay by not doing installments.

Service and Parts: We don’t spend this much every month, but our expenses for maintenance on the RV and the truck amount to about $125/month. This includes oil changes every two to three months, tires for the truck and RV, batteries, and other expenses that randomly happen. Not everything needs to be serviced or replaced monthly or yearly, so anything we don’t spend in a given month goes into savings for those larger expenses that don’t happen as often. I also throw RV dumping costs into this category, but we’ve been lucky enough to find free dump stations near many of the places we have camped.

Gasoline: This cost can vary widely, depending on how often we move and how far we go, how far away amenities like gas and groceries are, and the price of gasoline itself. Most months the cost is closer to $500, but it has been as high as $1200 during week-long drives and prolonged cloudy weather (when we have to run the generator). We can go about 100-120 miles on a tank of gas when towing and around 250 miles when we aren’t.

Food and Household: I combine these categories because it’s a lot of work separating them on my “big box store” receipts. We spend about $450 per month on groceries and $150 on other necessities like paper supplies and personal care items.

Phone/Internet: We have one cell phone with unlimited data and up to 15GB of high-speed hotspot data (unlimited up to 600kbps after that), and one wifi hotspot with up to 15GB of high-speed and unlimited “slow” data after that. I use about 1.5GB of data a day for work so this is just the right amount of high-speed data for me (although we have considered a second hotspot or cell phone for the whole family to have high-speed data).

Propane: Also a highly variable expense, depending on the temperature outside. We’ve managed to average about $150 a month since the beginning of this year since we’ve been able to escape the below freezing temps. One 30lb tank of propane can last us anywhere from 12 hours to 10 days.

Laundry: Costs for a load of laundry vary by city and laundromat and even by machine. We’ve averaged $11-$13 for two loads once a week.

Pet Food and Supplies: Our Akita weighs around 90lbs but she surprisingly doesn’t eat much (at least by my standards). A 40lb bag of dog food costs around $50, which lasts us a month or so. Every so often she gets new treats or a new collar as well.

Streaming Entertainment: Netflix and Amazon Prime. ‘Nough said.

Mail Service: We use DakotaPost for all our mailing needs. They receive and scan all of our mailed envelopes for us (additional fees for opening and scanning contents) and forward our mail to us anywhere in the U.S. upon request.

Miscellaneous: A catch-all category for those unexpected expenses.

What are some other expenses you may have?

Campground fees: We avoid campgrounds as much as possible, but if you don’t want to dry camp as often you’ll need to add this expense to your budget. Campgrounds can cost anywhere from $10 a night to over $100 a night.

Campground membership programs: There are many of these available to help you save money on privately owned campgrounds. I strongly suggest you look into them if you plan on spending the majority of your time in campgrounds.

Park entrance fees: State and National parks and National Recreation Areas are not free to visit. If you plan on frequenting these, consider purchasing a yearly pass. We have an America the Beautiful Pass and a state parks pass for our home state.

Zoo and museum fees and memberships: We don’t visit these often so they are not budgeted for, but if we have some extra cash we’ll take the time to visit a zoo or museum nearby if the kids are interested. Many of these have reciprocal programs that can save you money as well.

Homeschool curriculum and supplies: This expense can be as much or as little as you need. There is so much free material out there and homeschooling can be free if you choose to piece together a complete program yourself. We use Sonlight for our core curriculum, and our costs run around $1800 a year for two kids.

Debt payments: Most people cannot afford to purchase an RV or tow vehicle and trailer outright, so debt payments would also be added to your monthly budget if you borrowed.

Medical Insurance and medications: Our family is covered by my employer’s group health insurance plan, so it’s not included in our monthly budget.

Tolls: We’ve been lucky enough to not come across any toll roads, but it’s something to keep in mind when figuring out your RVing budget.

Clothing and Shoes: We don’t but new clothes very often, and items that we need to replace more often like socks are included in our Food and Household category.

Saving and Giving: As a financial coach I strongly recommend you save at least 10% of your monthly income and give at least that much as well. Check out my series on Step-by-Step budgeting for more in-depth information!

RVing can be as expensive or as inexpensive as you wish it to be. How would you like to travel? Where do you want to go and what are your goals for traveling? Answering these questions and others can help you determine how much you will spend on your RVing journey.

Are there any expenses you’ve encountered that we missed here? Let us know in the comments! We’d love to hear from you!