Note: This is a blog post from 2011 that I dusted off and updated because it answers questions I still get asked today.
I received an e-mail from a reader a while back who is in the planning stages before going fulltime, asking about the annual costs of fulltime RVing. This is probably the most frequent question I get, and as I tell everybody who asks, it can cost as much as one has to spend, or as little as they choose to. Because the one constant in the fulltime RV lifestyle is that one size does not fit all.
We know RVers who are fulltiming on $1,000 a month, and we knew one couple who got off the road because they could not make it on the $5,000 a month they had budgeted. It all depends on your lifestyle, on what you enjoy doing, and on what you may be willing to do without, to make ends meet. If you have an RV that is paid off, if you can do much of your own maintenance, if you take advantage of monthly RV park rates, if you enjoy simple (read inexpensive) activities like hiking, bicycling, and relaxing under your RV’s awning, you can get by on a lot less money than somebody who is making payments on an RV and tow car, plays golf once a week, and likes to be on the go all the time.
Isn’t it great that this lifestyle can be molded to fit each of us? We know many RVers who thrive on social functions. They live for happy hour gatherings, love going out to dinner in groups, and are always part of a crowd. Terry and I, and many others we know, do better in smaller groups and cherish quiet times with just the two of us. We’ve met a few solitary RVers who shun social functions altogether and are happiest when left completely alone.
We would get hitch itch if we sat in any one place for more than a couple of weeks, and after a month, I’d be climbing the walls and reading roadmaps like some people do paperback novels. On the other hand, we have many RVing friends who settle down in a comfortable RV park someplace for the winter, whose wheels won’t roll again until spring.
Twice we stayed at The Great Outdoors in Titusville, Florida. It is a premier gated RV resort that has every amenity from an eighteen-hole golf course to a nature center, stocked fishing lakes, four tennis courts, a restaurant, cocktail lounge, hair and nail salon, fitness center, and a church, to name just a few. You can rent a lot there by the day, week, or month, or even buy your own lot or finished home. This is a beautiful place, and the price is reflected in all that it has to offer.
While Terry and I appreciated that there is so much available on-site if we chose to take advantage of it, it’s really not our style, and we couldn’t see ourselves settling down there. We love the Titusville area, and The Great Outdoors is the perfect base to explore everything around there, but we seldom use any more than the occasional hot tub at a campground or RV park, so we’d never get the benefit of an upscale place like that. But we know many, many people who love it here, and for them, it’s a perfect fit.
This extends to the RVs people live and travel in themselves. Some folks thought our 40-foot long diesel pusher, with its two slides, was overkill. But we know people in 42 and even 45 footers, and many folks who have as many as four slides! Of course, we also know fulltimers who are quite happy in much smaller rigs. We once met a couple who were fulltiming quite happily in a ten foot long Casita travel trailer!
I think it’s wonderful that we have so many different types of people, and so many options available that they can tailor to their needs. This old world would sure be a boring place if we all had the same kind of RVs and spent all of our time doing the same things as everybody else, wouldn’t it?
Be sure to enter our latest Free Drawing. This week’s prize is an audiobook of Gone The Next, the first book in my friend Ben Rehder’s Roy Ballard mystery series. Ben is another of my favorite authors, and if you aren’t a fan yet, you will be after reading any of his books. To enter, click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening.
Thought For The Day – Is it possible that the last 30 days were just a bad April Fool’s joke that went on way too long?