We’ve always been one of those thrifty full time RV families. But a hard financial year has had us getting even more creative with our money-saving strategies for RV life!
Here are some of the ways we keep expenses low while still traveling the continent:
How We Travel: Frugal Full Time RV Families
First up: how we travel. Where you stay and how much gas you use are some of the biggest expenses for full time RV families. So here are a few of our budget-saving hacks.
Monthly RV Park Stays
Daily RV park rates can be exhorbitant, and they probably make sense for weekend trips or the occasional week-long vacation. But for full time RV families, those nightly rates can really add up. Most RV parks offer monthly rates that are so much cheaper! Sometimes it’s even cheaper to stay for a month than for just two weeks, which is wild. We love using Campspot to book RV parks because the monthly discount often calculates right there for you as you book! But if a campground isn’t on Campspot, don’t hesitate to call the park to ask someone directly about the monthly rate. Pay attention to whether they make monthly guests pay for electric on top of their site! I’ve got a blog post with some affordable RV parks, too.
Travel Slower
It’s tempting to try to see it all in a short amount of time. But those of us who have been on the road for awhile have learned how much you miss when you only stay places for a few days at a time. Moving slower means a way more immersive experience in every place. Bonus points: saving on gas. This is not to say we don’t have seasons where we travel quickly (see: our Alaska trip!), but we try to balance it out with seasons where we slowly explore a region for a whole season.
Learn to Boondock
Our first year RVing, we never were off-grid for more than two days in a row. Part of that was not having the right set up, and part of it was being totally intimidated by learning how to conserve water. And yes, solar is an upfront cost. We spent $4,000 on outfitting our rig with the bare minimum in solar, but being off-grid pays for itself SO quickly. We’ve spent almost six months combined not paying for RV parks, and we have saved way more than we spent on the solar install. This is what we installed, if you’re curious.
If you’re boondocking curious, but overwhelmed with everything you need to know to get started, I’ve got you:
Boondocking 101 Guide
This 10-page guide will assist RVers in learning the basics of boondocking, or camping off-grid! We share everything we’ve learned as a family living off-grid and boondocking in our RV.
And here’s our list of booondocking essentials, including the water bladder and pump we use to get more water into the RV without moving!
Thousand Trails
We held off on purchasing a Thousand Trails membership for a long time because we didn’t want to spend thousands of dollars on a membership we weren’t sure we’d use. I also didn’t want to plan our travels only around Thousand Trails locations. BUT we finally purchased a basic camping pass for the Southwest region this year, and it paid for itself within two weeks. The basic camping pass is around $500 for a year, which is a great deal if you are spending more than a few weeks near a Thousand Trails location. Use this link and get $100 off joining. Bonus: lots of full time RV families go in and out of TT locations, and you will very likely make some friends!
Harvest Hosts
Harvest Hosts is another camping membership we use and love. I wrote a whole review of the program. You do have to spend money at each stop to support the location, so it’s not a totally free stay like Thousand Trails. But I often stay places where we can spend money on something like local dairy products that we would have needed to eat anyways.
Visit Places Off Season
Finally, another money-saving hack for full time RV families with flexibility is to visit popular destinations outside of peak season. RV parks and other outings are often significantly cheaper, and I personally enjoy shoulder seasons in many destinations even more. Bonus: crowded destinations are often much less crowded!
What We Do: Frugal Full Time RV Families
Another big expenditure for adventurous traveling families is activities and excursions. Here are some of the ways we cut costs on the amazing things we do and see.
Hike More
Hiking is gorgeous and (mostly) free. It’s a unique way to see a place, and other than some light gear and the occasional trailhead fee, it costs nothing. We really increased the amount of hiking we did this year for all of these reasons. No regrets. If you need help learning how to get kids hiking, I’ve got you!
Free or Cheap Museums
Museum visits can get pricey for a family fast. But there are lots of ways to nab free or cheap museum tickets (don’t miss our favorite museums for kids!). First, consider a museum membership with reciprocity through a program like ASTC, ACM, or AZA. Second, check museum websites for free or discounted community days. Most major museums have a day or half day a month that’s free admission. Third, check out what museum passes the local library offers. Many libraries have a limited number of free museum passes to hand out each month through a culture pass type program. If you need a local library card as you travel, check out my post with 200+ non-resident library card policies.
Library Classes
Speaking of libraries, they often offer a whole host of classes you can take for free! Check the library event calendar; we’ve taken some pretty sweet library classes with local artists this way. And seriously, don’t miss my library card post.
Homeschooler Discounts
Depending on where you are, many institutions and organizations will offer homeschoolers a discount. Generally, these will be listed as “teacher discounts,” and you’ll have to inquire about whether homeschool teachers count. But they often do! Museums can be up to 50% off, and even places like Goodwill have given me a homeschool teacher discount. It’s worth asking!
America the Beautiful Pass
The National Park Service offers an annual card that gets you into all 63 National Parks and 400+ National Park Sites for free. It’s called the America the Beautiful pass, and it’s only $80 for the year. Considering driving into many of the parks costs $30, this is a steal if you travel. Plus, families with 4th graders get a free pass!
Hobbies That Keep On Giving
This year, we really leaned into more hobbies that are either free or require an upfront purchase and then are free. For us, this looked like kayaking and drone videography, but there are all kinds of other options that offer unique ways to experience a place. These might include geocaching, fishing, mountain biking, and more.
Gifting Expensive Experiences
For the holidays this year, we leaned into special experiences as gifts instead of more “things.” Our kids got money for expensive outings they wanted to do like Lizard Camp and Legoland. If you’re looking for more RV gift ideas, I have lists for both kids and adults.
Regular Expenses: Frugal Full Time RV Families
Cook More
As tempting as it is to eat out all of the time, that cost adds up fast. We cook at home instead of eating out 99% of the time, saving restaurant experiences for places that are really unique.
Cheap(ish) Groceries
These days, even groceries aren’t cheap. So we do our best to plan ahead by shopping at Aldi when we can and stocking up. I also look ahead on our itinerary and shop in bulk before visiting a tiny town. Those rural grocery stores will leave your food budget for dead.
Washer & Dryer
When we have full hookups, we take full advantage of our washer and dryer. I debated the expense of putting them in when we were renovating, but they cost less than $500 together. Laundry is $20-30 a week, so those babies paid for themselves quickly. The ones we have are on my renovation list.
Secondhand Gear
Because we were city people without a yard, we had absolutely no outdoor gear unlike some other full time RV families. Let’s just say that we had a lot of stuff to buy to become outdoorsy people. We’ve tried to buy the gear we need secondhand when possible! Facebook marketplace, Craigslist, thrift stores, and Buy Nothing groups have all been great for this.
Downsize Storage
When we first left Brooklyn, we thought we were leaving for just the summer. I know, hilarious in retrospect. But it meant that we kept most of our belongings in a massive NYC storage unit, intending to come back quickly. When we bought the RV and decided this was a medium to long term thing, we went back home and gave away almost everything that was in storage. We now have the smallest unit you can get with just some sentimental items. Downsizing and moving our things to a lower cost of living area saved us over $100 a month in storage fees. Maybe you have someone your items could stay with to save you even more. Just saying, the less money you can give to the storage unit gods, the better.
I hope these money-saving tips for full time RV families have been helpful! If you have more hacks, please leave them in the comments!
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For more on how us full time RV families live, check out these posts:
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[…] science museum is small, but mighty! And we got in for free with our ASTC reciprocal membership, so definitely use that if you have it. There are some fun and interactive exhibits designed by ASU […]