Thinking of RV life
but you're not sure how much it's going to really cost?
We've learned quite a bit over the last four years
of living RV life.
And in this video we're gonna talk a little bit
about what it costs, but also how to save money
while you're out on the road, so stay tuned.
We are Charity, Ben, Dakota, and Trinity.
We decided we didn't want to wait for a life of adventure.
So in 2017, we bought our first RV and set off
to live a life of travel in the USA.
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We've visited over 38 states in three years,
and have many more to go.
Follow along to learn all the best places to see,
RV and travel tips, and much more.
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So before we dive into today's video
about RV living costs and money saving tips,
we do wanna give a quick thank you
to all of you that are jumping in
and supporting us on Patreon.
We really appreciate your support,
which helps us keep videos like this coming to you
week in and week out.
So if you're not over on Patreon right now,
check it out at the link below.
How much does RV living really cost?
This is a really interesting question
because it's very open-ended,
and there are so many different answers,
and it all really depends upon your family size,
the type of RV that you have,
the travel style that you have.
There's really so many different things
that come in to that question.
And the best way that I can describe it
is if you do think about sticks and bricks living
for just a moment,
and you've got everybody's houses lined up
in the neighborhoods.
Well, each household from household to household,
those expenses that they have
on a month in and month out basis,
it varies so much across the board.
I remember when we were living in our sticks and bricks
and getting a little thing from the utility company
letting us know how our energy usage compared
to that of the neighbors in the neighborhood.
And it's vastly different depending upon your family size,
and just everything that it takes for you to live life out.
There are some expenses with RV life
that don't change from sticks and bricks living.
You're still gonna buy groceries.
You're still gonna most likely eat out
every once in a while.
You're still gonna have a cell phone bill.
You're still gonna need to have insurance costs,
and things like that on your vehicles, and health insurance.
You're still gonna have all of these things that you have
while your sticks and bricks living.
So we're not gonna talk about any of that
in this particular video,
because those are things that stay mostly the same
wherever you go, there you are.
And put a link above for a video
we kinda talked about that a little bit
as far as the habits and things like that
that you develop when you are living in a sticks and bricks
don't really change much when you move over to RV life,
unless that you choose to change those.
So if you've been somebody where you like to eat out a lot,
that's not gonna change
just 'cause you start living the RV life.
So those types of expenses,
we're not even gonna talk about.
We're gonna talk about some directly related expenses
as it's related to RV living.
So we've got five tips that we're gonna give you
on how you can save money,
and reduce those costs while living RV life.
But before we jump into those,
I just wanna make sure,
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Okay, perfect.
All right, let's go on.
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Tip number one.
One of the big expenses that you have
when you are living RV life is for fuel.
Now, you are living RV life 'cause you want to go places,
and you want to see things,
even if it's just taking the camper to the campground
that's a few miles down the road,
you're going to have fuel expenses that are outside
of the realm of what you would've had
before you started living RV life.
Now, how much fuel you use is kind of another topic,
and we'll talk about that a little bit later in the video.
But there's some great ways you can save on fuel.
One of the ways that we save on our fuel costs
is by signing up for the TSD Logistics card.
And what this does is it gives you a fleet discount
on diesel fuel at truck stops.
So the way that we do this is you can use an app
called Open Roads when you have signed up for the card,
and it will show you the fuel stations
in the area that accept the TSD card,
and then what the discount price is at those fuel stations.
So we always like to look for the fuel stations
that have the lowest possible price.
It shows you where those fuel stations are
within 150 mile radius of where you are currently.
So as we're traveling down the road on those travel days,
we are looking for the fuel stations
that have the best price for the next stop,
and then that is where we stop and we get fuel.
And we have saved pretty significantly.
Already this summer we have saved on average
30 cents a gallon on diesel fuel
by using this TSD Logistics card.
So we will put a link in the description below
on the TSD Logistics program and how you can get signed up
for that as well.
It is only for diesel, it doesn't work for gasoline.
But if you need gasoline, another great option
is the Good Sam card.
So the Good Sam card will give you discounts on both diesel
and gasoline at Flying J and Pilot truck stops.
We'll also put a link below with a list
of all of the different fuel stations
where you can get both gasoline and diesel
at a discount with the Good Sam card at Flying J and Pilot.
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So tip number two to save money while you're out there
on the road living RV life,
and that is to use discount memberships.
Now, we do not have every discount membership under the sun.
We've been asked many times specifically
about the Thousand Trails membership,
and that is one that we don't have.
Mainly because as business owners,
one thing that we kind of tend to look at
then in our personal lives is,
we have to be able to justify an ROI,
or return on investment for every single decision
that we make, including our purchases.
And so that is one where with our travel style,
we just have not been able to quantify
that we would have a good return for our investment
with that particular membership.
However, there are several memberships that we do have
that have gotten us discounts, that we enjoy using.
One of those memberships is the Good Sam card.
So not only can you use it for fuel discounts,
but you can save 10% at campgrounds
across the United States that are private campgrounds.
We have used it all of the time
when booking different campgrounds
that offer a Good Sam discount,
and it's definitely paid for itself
over and over again with those campground discounts.
Another membership we have is the KOA membership.
Now KOA's do tend to be a little bit higher
on the price range of campgrounds,
but what we have found and why we have this membership
is the membership's $33,
and you save 10% on all of your stays,
plus you earn points that go towards free nights of camping.
So what we do is we will stay at a KOA on occasion
when it's in an area that maybe is a little bit more remote,
off the beaten path, or it's the KOA Journeys,
which are really geared more towards just that one night,
overnight stay kind of thing anyway.
Those particular KOA's tend to be on the less expensive side
versus the higher price side
like your KOA Holidays, or your KOA Resorts.
We get the discount, we earn the free camping,
then I can use those points towards free camping
at maybe a higher priced KOA.
When we stayed in Omaha, Nebraska a few weeks ago,
we stayed at a KOA that was a KOA Holiday,
tons of stuff for the kids to do.
It was a little bit on the higher price side,
but we got one of those nights for free
by using our KOA points.
So that's a membership
we've definitely been able to quantify,
that we've gotten a good return for the investment.
There are also other memberships
like Boondockers Welcome and Harvest Hosts,
and we'll put some links for those below as well.
Those aren't memberships that we have purchased just yet.
Again, our camping style's a little bit different.
We like having hookups when possible,
we're not huge into boondocking just yet.
Not to say that at some point
that our camping style maybe won't change,
and we might find those memberships useful.
But they can definitely provide some value,
especially if you don't mind the boondocking,
or dry camping experience.
We'll put some links for those below,
'cause those are definitely a great way to save money
on your campground costs.
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So speaking of saving money on campground costs,
that brings me to tip number three.
And that is you can definitely save
on those campground costs
by looking for cheaper campground options.
We found tons of cheaper campground options this year
utilizing city parks, and county run parks, fairgrounds.
We found a great RV park in Weeping Water, Nebraska,
that was $15 a night, had electric hookup,
had a dump station and water fill right there
in the campground onsite.
And it was perfect little spot to just hang out and camp.
Beautiful cement camp spots,
just wonderful campground, super cheap.
We are actually staying at another city run campground
in Wisconsin this summer,
that we booked for $25 a night,
water and electric, dump station onsite.
So staying even at a fairgrounds is a great option
to reduce those campground expenses as well.
We talked a lot about these types of campground options
in another one of our videos
that we'll put the link up above,
to just give you some more ideas
of where to find those types of campgrounds
as you're looking to make your travel plans.
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So tip number four,
consider moochdocking or camp hosting.
We're actually moochdocking
here at a family member's house in Colorado,
and we've been here for a few weeks,
and we'll be here for a few weeks more.
But originally when we put Colorado on our travel list,
we wanted to stay here for an extended period of time
with family and friends in the area.
I had us booked at a campground
in Loveland, Colorado originally.
I got the weekly rate,
and it was going to be $1,200 for the month.
But staying here at a family member's house,
just plugged into their household power,
which is working great by the way,
thanks to the SoftStartRV,
and there'll be a link above for that video.
But saved us $1,200 in campground costs
by being able to moochdock
versus having to stay at a traditional campground.
There's also camp hosting opportunities as well.
That little campground I told you about
in Weeping Water in Nebraska,
well my uncle actually camp hosts there
the month of July every year,
so he gets his campsite free for the whole month
just by doing a few hours of work around the campground.
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So tip number five, slow down a little
and enjoy the journey.
You will spend a lot less on fuel costs
the less that you're moving around.
Plus, you can maybe take advantage of a weekly rate,
or even possibly a monthly rate at a campground,
which is usually cheaper than paying the nightly rate.
So if it's possible in your travel plans
to stay in an area for an extended period of time,
it is definitely a way that you can help
keep those costs down while that you're out there
living RV life.
So something to remember about RV living,
and how much it's really going to cost you.
It really depends upon what is your goal with RV life.
For us, it's about seeing as much
of this country as possible, and visiting all 50 states,
and hopefully quite a few national parks along the way.
And so we know those things are going to cost some money,
but that's also why that we don't spend a lot
when it comes to Christmas, or birthdays,
or things like that on just more stuff,
but we allocate those resources more as towards experiences,
and being able to go on the excursions
while we're on the road,
and being able to go and see different places,
and visit museums, or amusement parks,
or just whatever that area has to offer.
Now, your goal with RV living could be totally different.
Maybe it's just about a change of scenery
every once in a while,
and extended stays in different areas.
And so what your goals are in living RV life
is going to dictate how much it's truly going to cost you.
So if you're getting ready to set out on the road,
just sit down, do a basic budget,
and figure out kind of what those costs might look like.
I've put together a free template
that I use when I plan those trips out,
that helps me budget that whole entire trip
including campground costs, excursion costs,
all of those types of costs related directly to RV life.
You can get that for free at our website
gratefulglamper.com/planner,
and I'll put a link in the description below.
You'll just download that template
into your own Google Drive,
and then take it from there to be able to prepare
your budget for living RV life, and your travel.
So that's another very good inexpensive opgrounds.
Op, bleh, option, campground all-in-one
is now an opground.
So staying even at a ca--
Ugh.
To do with--
(dogs barking)
Good lord.
Hi.
- [Ben] Hey horse.
- She scared me.
(Ben laughing)
Hi.
How are you?
(both laughing)
Totally threw me off.
- [Ben] He's like I'm worried about you, are you gonna be--
- Don't mind me, don't mind me.
(Charity sighing)
Gotta love moochdocking at the farm.
So if you have you found this video helpful
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If you would like to see more videos
about RV organization, hacks, tips, things like that,
check that out right over here.
And if you would like to see more videos
about fun places to see,
maybe some tips on campgrounds along the way,
check out right over here.
Until next time, we'll see you on the road.