HOW TO AFFORD RVING
One of the most common things I hear when we’re RVing is, “IT MUST BE NICE TO TRAVEL ALL THE TIME!” While this IS true, people that say that rarely see the big picture. Let me show you how to afford RVing.
USE DISCOUNT CLUBS
If you ABSOLUTELY LOVE camping like I do, try out some discount clubs like the ones on our resources page. They will often save you money on campgrounds. Many, many campers use these clubs to save money on campground sites.
National Park Service also offers an annual pass for $80 for a year (free for veterans, and $80 lifetime price for seniors). The pass covers entrance and day use fees for a driver and passengers. Find out more info here.
You can use apps like Gas Buddy to help you find the cheapest gas prices around, and also help you plan your trip’s gas costs.
BOONDOCKING
Boondocking, AKA “dry camping,” is when you camp without hookups. You need to provide your own water and electricity to boondock, but most campers already have these features to some degree. This is a great way to afford RVing!
Many Walmart stores allow boondocking, which makes for a great way to save on the budget getting to your location. Allstays has a great app for finding safe Walmart lots. Boondockers Welcome also has some great boondocking opportunities.
Be sure to take extra bottled water and check your battery & generator if you plan to boondock for a whole trip!
STAY LONGER
If you’re trying to afford RVing, this might seem like a TERRIBLE way to save money, but a lot of parks will offer you a discount for the added days. When we went to Dauphin Island in 2017, we paid for 6 days and got the 7th free.
Also, if you consider how much LESS gas you use not towing vs. towing, you’ll save money in fuel when you stay longer in one location.
Along with staying longer, consider the weather. If it’s cold where you’re going, can you use a space heater instead of propane to heat your camper? Most times you can use the park’s electricity instead of your propane and save money that way.
If you get a free day or two for staying, why not? It DEFINITELY makes it possible to afford RVing!
CAMP DURING NON-PEAK TIMES
This doesn’t necessarily mean winter. If you can get a random weekday off, try camping during the middle of the week. This may not save you a ton of money, but it might get you that camping spot you’ve been wanting.
Camping in between Labor Day in September through Memorial Day in May, might save you money as well. Most places will have a much higher summer rate.
CAMP NEAR HOME
The closer you are to home, the less you will spend on gas. There is a GORGEOUS park less than an hour from my home that is one of our FAVORITES! It costs less gas and time to get to…the sooner we get there, the sooner we can relax!
This particular hack is one way that we can camp almost every other weekend during the summer. We stay in State Parks (there are a ton in Arkansas), and we rarely go more than 3 hours from home. When the point becomes getting away, and not some super luxurious vacation, we realized all we needed was anywhere that wasn’t home! 🙂
…lastly, and possibly MOST importantly (don’t hate me!):
GET OUT OF DEBT
While you might be saying, “GREAT, I’ll NEVER travel now!” don’t be so skeptical. Our biggest turning point was when we decided to get out of debt. I HATED that journey at first, but learned to love it. I thought debt free life was impossible and something we would NEVER achieve.
Guess what? We did it! It took us longer than we originally planned, but we had to pay cash for some repairs to the house that slowed us down a bit. It just takes planning, determination (this more than anything else), and stick-to-it-ness!
Here are some tips to get out of debt:
- Attack smallest debt owed first. You’re trying to break addictive spending habits…trust me, you need the reward of paying off the small ones first!
- Use software. I used Quicken, but other people use Excel, Quickbooks, iBank, etc. Set up reminders on your bill paying to send extra to the smallest amount owed debts first.
- Eat at home (no restaurants…EVER!), this is one of our biggest money saving activities! If you do eat out, drink water and make dessert at home!
- Take on a second job to save or pay debt. Don’t use the money for anything but debt reduction.
- Start a blog (check out my resources page for tips on blogging)! This was my fav, obviously!
- Sell some stuff…we all have things laying around that we don’t need. Let someone else have it, you don’t need it! Have a garage sale, or an online sale and put that money towards paying off debt.
- Reevaluate your life (can you live with less – downsize your home, share a car with spouse, sell your expensive car – and it’s payments – and pay cash for an older, but reasonable car). We have considered selling our house and buying a cheap, cheap fixer upper to afford more travel. The jury is still out on that one!
- Find discounts for EVERYTHING! Don’t buy anything from anywhere without first seeing if it’s on sale somewhere else or if there’s a coupon available. I won’t normally even purchase something unless it’s at least 40% off!
- Don’t buy ANYTHING that isn’t an ABSOLUTE NECESSITY!
- Learn to entertain yourself without spending money:
- take a walk
- ride a bike
- learn an instrument (purchase one at a yard sale!)
For more ideas on getting out of debt, check out Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover and DaveRamsey.com. He has lots of tips that will ruin all the fun help you get out of debt. I listened to his radio show RELIGIOUSLY when working on my debt-free journey. It helped TREMENDOUSLY! Just think of all the money you’d free up for travel if you didn’t have debt!
These are my best tips on how to afford RVing. We have simplified our lives at home so much that I don’t even have to think about it too much anymore! We save money for camping like squirrels save acorns before winter. In total honesty, we have actually let up on a lot of the practices that got us out of debt to start, but we’ve been buckling back down lately. Camping is just more important than stuff!
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