Full-Time RVing: Preparing for Life on the Road

To minimize food expenses, we rarely ever eat out at sit down restaurants. Instead we cook almost all of our meals at home. Regularly eating at restaurants is very expensive and is an easy financial pitfall to plummet into with a life on the road. Fuel, our second largest expense, is also a big concern for us.

To combat this expense, we tend to stay in one location for as long as we can and consolidate our trips into town.

Typically we are allowed to stay at a boondocking location for 14 days. If we stay the full two weeks this drastically reduces our diesel fuel costs as opposed to constantly towing our trailer around from site to site. And when we do go into town we attempt to run all our errands at that time.

We paid off our student loans well before we even purchased our RV, and used the funds from selling our house and cars to pay cash for our truck and trailer.

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Since we have zero monthly payments to make, our financial situation is incredibly flexible and is the main reason we can live off of so little money. We highly recommend becoming debt free before hitting the road full time. To cover the rest of our expenses, we pull from savings using the funds left over from selling our house. Unfortunately, what this means is we will only be able to travel full time for so long. One day our savings account will drain too low for our comfort.

When this happens we plan to anchor down in one location for a period of time.

A lot of people think our YouTube channel and website fund our travels. But now we are loving every minute of it! So, we share our story in hopes of inspiring others to chase their dreams as well! Have you considered working seasonally for the Forest Service? You could work outdoors for the summer while keeping your camper at a Forest Service bunkhouse for close to free and commute to work from there everyday. Then go off boon docking the other half of the year.

• THE FLOWERING BRANCH.
• Deine Kinder sind Deine Schuld!: Ein Ratgeber zur Erziehung verantwortungsbewusster Eltern (German Edition).
• Life On The Road - RV Love;

My family and I boon dock in the forest I work for Rio Grande NF for a good part of the summer and I commute from wherever we are in the forest to work everyday. Just thought I would throw it out there it may be a good fit for you two. So then we wont have to spend as much time anchored down in one location before hitting the road again. Also, we are really focused on Fate Unbound right now and attempting to build our small channel and website into something that could hopefully pay partially for our travels.

Thanks for the info though Patrick!

Sounds like you guys are doing it right. Debt free is the only way to manage this kind of lifestyle. That is where we wintered and worked to build up our funds to be able to hit the road in the summer. We traveled 9 months fulltime, then back to FL and work for 3 months.

Worked 4 hours a day, then free time. Check out Sitting Bull Falls on you tube. Sounds like you two had a pretty good plan worked out for working and traveling, way to go! I think you guys did a lot of planning and it seems on right track.

1. The Wizard of Oz ABCs;
2. Caillou: The Magic of Compost: Ecology Club.
3. LIFE ON THE ROAD!

It can take time to build a following on Youtube and a blog. You guys have grown in just under a year though. Soooo it will get better. I see have Amazon store and Patron. Another way is affiliate marketing with certain products you trust or programs too. So reach out and look into those. Have you checked out our survey of 7 other full-time RVers monthly expenses? We asked a solo traveler, families of varying sizes, a retired couple, and an empty nester couple, to share their monthly RV expenses. To view the results and get a better idea of what RV life will cost you based on your family size and travel style, click here to read the post and download the PDF.

We wrote a detailed post about how much it costs for us per month to full-time RV here. This will vary greatly depending on the insurance company, your driving record, your RV and other vehicles. You can also occasionally find free places to park on BLM land.

How to Prepare for Living in an RV Full-Time

Be sure to read our Boondocking Guide for tips on finding free spots, conserving water, getting power, and everything else you need to know about free camping! This will depend on the age and type of your RV. Living full-time in an RV means you do run through propane pretty quickly. Otherwise, you can get unlimited data from your cell phone provider and use the WiFi that some RV parks provide. We also highly recommend getting a cell booster to avoid connectivity problems.

However, you can still cook from the RV often and keep the cost of food similar to what you currently pay per month. As we mentioned, we strongly believe that full-time RVing can be as expensive or inexpensive as you make it. You bring something into the RV, then something has to go. This will prevent stuff from piling up and force you to have more of a minimalist mindset.

Everything has a place in the RV, keep it that way! The last thing you want is knives falling off the counter and drawers flying open as you turn a corner.

How We Afford Full Time RVing & Traveling - Funding Life On The Road

A checklist will allow you to make sure everything is put back in its place and put back correctly before you get back on the road. Create a full pre-departure checklist with reminders and make it a habit to check it after everywhere you go. Trust us, it helps. Especially since you are traveling in a small space and are limited with where you can go.

A lack of communication can create arguments and stir up frustrations and anger, which can put stress on the relationship and on your travels! If you have multiple drivers on board and are driving long distances, it always helps to speak up, share the load, and take driving shifts.

There are a few things we recommend here: If there is an emergency and you need to evacuate the RV, do you have easy access to all of your essentials? What will you do in case of a medical emergency? What about a medical emergency without cell service? What about flooding after a storm or a severe weather warning?

All of these are things that could happen, and you want to be prepared. After all, this is your new life on the road. Be on the lookout for local weather events like flash floods, tornados, high winds, and other severe weather that can affect your travels.

You can find more information on what to do in these types of situations here. Not everything on the road will be carefree and easy.