What is the True Cost of Full-Time RV Living? plus a free RV budget worksheet

written by Nancy Carter of Making My Own Lane

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I knew when I first started that I had to try and figure out how much this lifestyle might cost me by creating an expense spreadsheet for myself so I could hold myself accountable for how much I was spending.  

Expenses for the first year were a big guesstimate, because I had never done anything like this before. The second year wasn't much better because I traveled differently. I added in a Jeep in a tow Dolly and I had some unexpected expenses along the way.

Understanding how much full-time RV life can cost and why is key for anyone considering this lifestyle. And your costs will be uniquely yours. And I am finding every year is a little different, depending on how far and fast I travel and how much maintenance/repair work I have that year.

I am learning to do more maintenance and repairs on my own. The more experience I gain, the more my confidence level grows in doing these things on my own.

To help you with your own estimating and budgeting I've created a budget tracker for you to download and use for free. But first let me show you my actual expense numbers for 2024 .

I didn’t include the initial start up costs on this list. This post is about the monthly/yearly overall cost. But you can check out my post about buying your first RV here, and my post about my initial buy-in on my Thousand Trails membership here.

If you are looking to start your own RV journey and aren't quite sure where to start, take what you spend on your current monthly expenses, like food, medical care and insurance, and guestimate on the rest. I was fairly accurate in my productions for my first year, so if you are a solo RVer, you can use my estimate as a guestimate.

I've divided my expenses into several categories: entertainment, everyday, which is groceries and laundry, health, medical,home, insurance, pets, transportation, utilities. Then broke it down by the month.

Entertainment

Entertainment would include my theme park annual passes. If you've been following me at all, you know that I love my theme parks. And so far, I’ve been able to spend my winters in Florida and enjoy the warmer weather.

It also includes all of my other outdoor activities such as boat rides, museums, and things that I choose to do during my travels and adventures.

My total entertainment came out to $2907 or $286 a month.

Groceries

For groceries, I spent $3,311, about $278 a month.

Laundry

Last year I spent $150 on laundry, or about $12 a month. There were a few months I saved money when there was a friend or family member who was kind enough to let me do laundry at their house.

Health

Health, like doctors and dentists appointments came to a total of $360. I’m planning on having a few large medical expenses in 2025, so I've decided to not travel as much this year. I’ll be traveling a little less, and focusing on my health a little more this year.

Home

Home - the first line item is rent. That is the cost of my Thousand Trails annual membership. That was $1,674 or $140 a month.

My other camping fees were for camping for times that I either chose not to camp in a Thousand Trails Park because I had friends who were camping someplace else or I was out of the system because there were not any Thousand Trails Encore parks near where I wanted to stay.

There were also times where I stayed on a family member's or friend's property for free!

Like the 6 weeks that I was in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, a lot of Wisconsin and Minnesota, as well as on the way back between Pennsylvania and Florida and a little bit of time in Kentucky. It worked out that there was quite a bit of time that I was out of  and unable to use the Thousand Trails system.

There were also times where I stayed on a family member's or friend's property for free!

This year the cost for additional camping sites was $2,545 or an average of $212 a month.When you add the Thousand Trails, the yearly cost is $4,219. The monthly cost is $140. Add that to the other camping cost of $212 together, it comes out to $360 a month.

Still an amazingly low amount when you consider the cost of a mortgage, rent and utilities each month. Without my Thousand Trails membership, the annual cost of camping would be over $18,000.

If you divide that by the 30 days in a month, it comes out to an average $12 a night in camping costs.

Get out and camp! Let me help you get the best deal on a Thousand Trails Camping Pass or Membership.

Insurance

Insurance - this includes my full-time RV Insurance (which is different and more expensive that part-time RV insurance), health insurance, any supplemental insurance, life insurance, my Jeep insurance and then I put AAA and Good Sam roadside assistance in there, too. This year, my insurance for everything came to $5081, so my average was $423 a month.

Pets

Pets - $178 a month. That's for food, grooming, and vet visits.

Transportation

Transportation - this is a big one. My fuel came to $4,277 total for the year, which was$356 a month. I drove at least 8,000 RV miles this year. Including my fuel for both the RV and the Jeep for a total of $356 a month in fuel.

I get about nine gallons a mile on my RV, and I get about 30 gallons a mile on my Jeep.

It's nice to have that jeep so that I don't have to have to drive the RV everywhere. 

The first year I did not have a Jeep. I had to take the RV every place I went. The grocery store, activities, and parks. I did not have a tow vehicle at all. I was more cautious and careful about the gas usage. I check Google maps when deciding where to go to ensure I would be able to park my rig. 

I couldn't go everywhere I wanted, because with a 27 foot RV, you have to be careful about where you will fit, and it's kind of a pain to pack up your home every time you go anywhere.

Repairs and Maintenance

There is no way to avoid repairs. Just like in a sticks and bricks house, things break. Add to that bumpy roads and additional wear and tear on your RV. It’s not an if you will have repairs, but a when.

I really got hit hard on repairs this year.

In the beginning of the year I had all the seals on my RV redone. I felt that would be a good thing to do to help avoid leaks and water damage in the future. It was something that was listed to do on my original inspection report before I bought my RV. So I did that this year. Click here to watch a video on RV maintenance.

Would I have done the extra maintenance knowing what future repairs Daisy was going to need? Yes, it had to be done and it was important that it was done to avoid even more expensive repairs in the future.

However, when I started to travel North, within two days I ended up in a diesel shop in Georgia for 4 days while they fixed my high-speed oil pump. Cha-ching.

I had another big expense in October. Not quite as big, but still substantial, when I had a coolant leak. 

My overall repairs and maintenance for 2024 were $6655, or $555 a month. I had budgeted $250 a month, so you can see it's super important to have an emergency fund or an emergency credit card with nothing on it so that when when you run into unexpected situations (and you will), you have a way to pay for them.

I prefer using an emergency credit card, and just pay it back at the end of the month so Idon't have to worry about having cash with me or having money in a certain account. It’s important to have access to an emergency fund. Not to discourage you, I would recommend at least $10,000.

Whether it's for repairs, hotel rooms, or Air BNBs, $10,000 is a good starting point for an emergency fund. To leave the house and go full-time in an RV without any emergency fund would be frightening, because you just never know what's going to happen.

Knowing that you have the money to cover these emergencies provides a peace of mind for not having to go into debt to pay these unavoidable costs.

Utilities

Lastly, utilities - my phone, my internet,electricity cost (which was 0 this year), propane, and water. My total utilities for the year came to $2902 or $240 a month.

The total for the year came to $34,844 a month. That includes the $6,000 in repairs. I can't uninclude it, because I paid for it. But, if I take that out, it puts my actual living expenses at about $28,000 a year.

How does this compare to your yearly expenses?

Your expenses will vary based on where you decide to stay, how far and fast you plan on traveling, the activities you choose to do, and the type of RV you decide to live in.

I own an older RV. I don't have any payments on it.

When you own an older RV, and even newer RVs, you know that there's going to be things that you have to fix. For me, I would rather have a paid off vehicle with no payments and possibly have to put a little bit more into the repairs than to have to make payments on an RV.

My goal was to keep this lifestyle debt-free. There are always tradeoffs. I live in an older, smaller RV, which is actually perfect for traveling. I can fit into many sites that larger RVs cannot fit.

I’ve downsized what I own to all fit in a 200 square foot area, including my newly acquired storage unit, so I can travel lighter.

I can choose city living or remote living. Take-out food or cooking over a campfire. Spending lots of time with friends and family, or moving around to remote locations and spending time alone.

The choice is mine, and my question is, “Why can’t I have it all?” The beauty of this RV life is that I have the choice to choose what I want my life to look like at any given time.

I hope you found this post helpful to learn how to keep track of your own expenses and guestimate how much money you would need to start your own RV life.

Thanks for reading, and please let me know what you found to be the most surprising expense cost.

Hi there! I'm Nancy.

In 2023, I ditched my heels for hiking boots, sold my house, and decided to travel the US full time in my 2005 Lazy Daze Class C RV.

I love to share the places I travel to and what it's like to live in an RV full-time.

If you have ever thought about hitting the road and traveling in an RV, either in your free time or full time, you are in the right place!

Follow along for weekly blog posts about my adventures as I travel the US with my two dogs, Rufus and Willie, and my cat, Katie.