New subscriber here! We were full time for 4 1/2 years. It was on our bucket list, when the kids left home. We LOVED it also, spent more than we thought, but stayed in really nice places and did the whole tourist thing. You are making memories, it is worth it and how great you are documenting it, to look back on.
Thousand Trails, Corp of Eng CG, National Forest CG, State Parks. Make sure you have a National Park pass, you can get half off on COE, NF and NP campgrounds. We drive about 8,000 miles and spent a little over half of what you spent. We have a small, 35 ft Diesel Pusher. Get 7.5 MPG towing. You mentioned getting healthy, we did that 4 years ago, I lost 90 lbs, wife lost 78. We hike now and are really enjoying the travel. Do your research on what a healthy diet is, it is not what you are told, so look at the actual science.
Great advice!. congratulations on loosing the weight, its not easy. takes a lifestyle change, not just changing food. Hope to see you on the road, and safe travels.
@@amandasparks3897 corpslakes.erdc.dren.mil/visitors/visitors.cfm is a good place to look. It will let you find them. To reserver, you have to go to www.recreation.gov/
@@amandasparks3897 I use Trip Wizzard for trip planning. I can just change the filter to only show Corps Of Eng parks. It works well. I think the other planner products have similar abilities.
Perfection can only happen after making mistakes and analyzing how to improve. Very few people can do anything perfect the first time out. Glad you enjoyed. Power on
thousand trails will save you a bundle. Campgrounds probably are not as nice as you are used too, but we stayed on the road for six months and only spent $200 on campgroud fees
Thanks for being transparent and honest! A new follower here, just starting a RV journey with week long trips this year and longer trips next year. Not going full time yet, but thinking about it.
One thank you for following along, second congratulations on the extended RV trips. That is how we got hooked. We found we liked being in the 5th wheel more than the house.
I have a 2005 2500 Laramie Dodge Ram with a Cummings motor and get 30MPG hwy. It’s amazing that the new rams (trucks in general) get way less mpg. Sadly it is all by design. THANK YOU so much for putting this out there. Most don’t want to talk about money, the nitty gritty and the actual facts of living on the road. Like everything else in life there are pros and cons to living on the road, especially as you get older and into “retirement age”. With inflation and the cost of everything being so high, it is a MUST to take this all into consideration. Happy Trails!😊
Glad you enjoyed it. The emissions equipment on the new trucks really kills the fuel mileage, that and having a 3.73 rear end for pulling. We noticed a big price difference in food based on the areas we were in. Some places were not bad, others were very expensive. Thank you for watching
Aww!!! You guys made me cry! Not over what you spent. 😂 For the shout out. We think you’re pretty special too and we are so glad we were able to spend time with you. Great video!! Eye opening but not really surprising. Love and miss you! Can’t wait to see you again.
Good for you guys! If I’m going to travel for a year, it’s going to be to every amazing site I can see and explore. Traveling isn’t cheap unless you’re in a tent and a car
Great video. Love the honest review if your year and the sharing of your goals for next year. We just hit 1 year of full time RV Life also and we need to seriously look at the budget and making some adjustments. Thanks!
This is why I have ALWAYS lived on a budget, and always will. Try what I do, create a budget using a sped sheet like excel. I have been using it for more than twenty years.
Great info on the video guys. Thank you. I may have missed it, but what about maintenance and repairs? Keep up the good work! Thoroughly enjoyed this video and the “costume changes” ! Lol 😂
The entire year we had the rig, we did not have any maintenance to speak of. Honestly nothing broke. We did have it washed a few times. One thing that did get us was the suspension. that cost us $1200 for parts and labor. I think that was after this video though. Thank you for watching we love sharing about our travels.
Great information. Thank you for sharing. I think maybe everyone's first year is more expensive because it's like being on a honeymoon. Now you are settled in, experienced, and now have goals I think it will be easier to notice the budget. And I hope you continue to come to the huddles. We look forward to seeing you guys again. Safe travels!!
I am so happy to have found your channel. I am not full time, but I have recently discovered that my remote job can be done from the road. This opens up so many more things to us. My hubby is retiring at the end of this year and our son loves NASCAR. I don't want to take off so many days to take him to the races (I work Sat-Tues) and this way I can work from our camper, travel on the days I am already off, and only take off the day of the race (or day after if it's a night race and I can work that day). We can take him to some places I would never take off for this way.
Thank you for being honest and sharing. Don’t let the negative comments hit to hard. I agree you have been on vacation for a year. Like you stated, now you know and you can work on your budget IF YOU WANT TO. Its your life. I enjoyed this video. Thank you.
Thank you very much for sharing and being honest. You are making memories and doing what you can before age creeps up on you. Enjoy yourselves - time passes quickly :)
I was shocked at the campsite fees, but the food. I needed a shovel to pick up my jawdrop! Thanks for disclosing costs because my husband and i contemplated a 5th wheel cross country vacay.
Sure thing. It can be dome cheaper, we just wanted to have fun the first year. Plus eating ham sandwiches does not make for good youtube videos. I imagine the food would be equal to what you spend in a house.
Hope it helps out. Keep in mind, we could have been a lot more frugal. We chose to have fun the first year, really scaled back the second year. We are at about 50% of the cost form last year so far.
It almost sounded like a “confessional”…..hey! It is your life and you are allowed to have fun- and then change things up every year! Thanks for the information!
$74000 in a year COULD have been spent the same by spending every night in a $125 hotel room (Marriott brand (Fairfield, TownePlace Suites, etc) avg, $35/day in gas (normal size SUV or car 225 miles/day avg ) and $45 a day in food. And you could go to a lot of places the camper cant go. Sounds like a lot more pleasant way to spend a year on the road to me.
Nice video! My husband and I have a 45 ft motorhome pulling a Jeep. We just came back from a 6 week RV trip and spent $ 3800 on campgrounds and fuel. We went 3,000 miles on this trip. It would cost a lot less if we stayed 30 days in a campground. It depends if you are traveling a lot or staying put in a campground. Campgrounds are getting expensive but my husband is retired military so we try to stay in those campgrounds as much as we can.
Yes, moving often can get expensive. So far we have made back the money we spent on our used Thousand Trails membership. We still move every 7-10 days though. thanks for watching.
We are full-time also, wow your food bill.....I am lucky my wife loves to cook. $73 k is more than my retirement, we boondock a lot, we have a large solar set up, we can run our air on batteries. However, we chase 70 degrees and use Harvest Host. Oh by the way we grew up in Huntsville Al. I was in law enforcement there, small world.
Thank you for watching and commenting! We are still working, but hopefully will budget a lot better this year. Huntsville is great! Yes, small world indeed!
Found your channel by accident. We are part of the Switch it up crew also. Sure it was a lot of money but memories are priceless. You can always make more money but you cant buy more time.
Rving full time used to be way cheaper than paying a mortgage,property taxes ect. But with the boom from covid, not only did rvs double and triple in price, but also the insurance rates on both the rvs and cars went up. The trucks even seen a huge price hike. New and used trucks are very expensive. Also, many full hookup campgrounds used to be about half the price they charge now.
Yeah. It seems middle class can only afford to work now. God forbid they want to enjoy life a little. I don’t see how the average family can afford to RV
@@OurRoadLessTraveled I don't see how the average family or couple can afford to do it. (Full time)I mean, even the gas prices have doubled it's ridiculous.
When I retired my spouse and I looked into buying a towed RV. Most of our Neighbours have them. They tow them out to campgrounds 10 km away or they haul them to Alaska. $45,000 to $55, 000 for the unit plus you have to store it somewhere when not in use and I would need a new truck ($80,000) The last time we went on a holiday to Vancouver Island (we have family there). We flew (short trip), stayed in a very nice hotel, neither of us cooked, rented a Camry and drove all over for 9 days. $6,000. So we can do that for 10 yrs without any cost compared to an RV
yeah, but you have to trust the hotel sheets are clean, sit on someone else's toilet, and pack the right cloths. We take all our stuff with us. Not knocking your version, it just shows we are all different. Thanks for the comment and watching our stuff. We love Vancouver by the way.
I did say we stayed in a very nice hotel(s)(we did this more than once) and we never got sick. As for clothes, if we missed anything we just bought it. Cheaper than a tank full of diesel and you got something you can use again. If it was over our luggage amount we just mailed stuff home.. We do the same in Vancouver as well as the island. To each his own.
Great video. It’s great to see the honesty with it. Your human you made a few errors, but we all do and now you know things you can change to improve the next year. My wife and I hope to do this when the kids are out of school so this was very informative. Don’t worry about any of the negative comments there are always going to be those people. Focus on the positive comments. Thanks for the video.
Good video! Having your truck and fiver paid for is a HUGE plus. After your 1st year of full-timing, you get a better sense of where the 'money goes'. You'll do MUCH better from this point forward! Great job!
Don’t let people tell you that Thousand Trails is terrible, it’s been fine. Husband and I went full time in August 2021. Bought our TT membership early 2022. Some parks are better than others, but that’s true for any of the other RV parks or campgrounds we stay at.
So far we really enjoy thousand trails parks. You are spot on though, some are great some are a little run down, but none have been as bad as some other parks we stayed in.
I’ve always thought about a real life scenario either renting our home or selling and traveling around the country. I appreciate the info and experiences you share. It’s food for thought! Thank you
$74000 in a year COULD have been spent the same by spending every night in a $125 hotel room (Marriott brand avg), $35/day in gas (normal size SUV or car 225 miles/day avg ) and $45 a day in food. And you could go to a lot of places the camper cant go. Sounds like a lot more pleasant way to spend a year on the road to me.
@@steveludwig4200 Rving is a lifestyle. You either love it or you don't. My wife and I would much rather do what they're doing than depend on a hotel every night. Some campgrounds offer monthly rentals at a discount if you want to stay in a place for longer. We've rented a spot for 1-2 months for $300 a month. We can take the truck anywhere that we want to go. The camper can stay in it's place.
You obviously haven't considered the cost of eating 3 quality meals a day in restaurants. That will equal as much as the hotel. As for the aesthetics the hotels you cite are architecturally barren, and not even a tiny patch on being in the great outdoors. Although I am confident you won't try it. Which is a very good thing. For us.
Did your food budget include groceries in general? It's just me and my husband and our home budget is $1300 a month for Walmart and grocery stores plus $500 a month for eating out so we're $1800 a month at home where there isn't all the wonderful fun places to go like there is when we RV. I loved your honesty and straightforward attitude. This was my first time watching you. I had to laugh at the "slingshot in Custer" because that's where I'm watching you from and we decided against the slingshot, but will do it next time after riding these roads and seeing how great a slingshot would have been. This trip for us is averaging a little over $200 a day and that's about what you guys did all year. Sounds like you were in "vacation" mode this past year and we would have done that to if we got to fulltime. I'll be interested to see what "full time RV life" mode looks like this coming year. Do ya'll do Harvest Hosts? We're just getting into that and really enjoying it. We stay at Corps of Engineers and state/city/county parks when we can. Kansas, Missouri and GA have fabulous state parks. I'm a nerd so tracking and planning are as fun for me as doing in our travels. Is Alaska on your radar? We've been trying to go since 2014 and something comes up every year, so hopefully 2024 is our year. Okay, I'll quit babbling now... hope to meet you on the road. Blessings to you with your channel and your travels!
Yes it was all food. Groceries and eating out. Thank you for the kind words and taking time to watch us. We use thousand trails now. HH was too hard to work from. We are actually trying to put an Alaska caravan together for next year.
@@OurRoadLessTraveled we're hoping to finally get to AK from NC next year. Been trying to get there since 2015, but something big's happened each year that kept us from going. I've had our trip laid out since then and will be happy to share it with you if you'd like. Do you use RVTripWizard for planning? I love it. Are you leading a caravan that sticks together or doing "meet at these campgrounds every 3-5 or 6 days" kind of caravan? I've seen where lots of people want to do the looser version so they can take side trips on their own, but still have community and make new friends. Some days would be back to back running together on the way up, but then have the ability to stick together or do specific meetups at certain times and dates. Mike and I would fall in the latter group. We want to have independence to stop and explore, kayak, etc but then have the fun of meeting up and making friends. We just did a trip from western NC through Weatherford outside FT worth for a 108 degree 4:30pm wedding and then up to Caprock Canyon below Amarillo to CO Springs to Loveland CO to go up to Rocky Mtn NP thru western Nebraska to Custer/Hill City/Devils Tower/Spearfish/Deadwood and last but not least, boondocked on The Wall in the Badlands and had great weather through it all, hallelujah! Campgroundreviews.com (which is free, but also part of RVTripWizard when you buy it) was spot on with the reviews. We had great campsites. If you like out of the ordinary, go to Caprock Canyon in TX below Amarillo and camp. The official Texas Bison Herd (300-350 bison) resides there and the campground is part of their range area so they have the run of the campground too, plus you can go find them in the park and get great pix. You have to go there on purpose, LOL! Not on the way to anywhere, but beautiful. Ok, I'll quit babbling. Hope ya'll have a blessed week.
You can do it cheaper. We just jumped in and it cost us dearly. Traveled too fast, left places early, didn’t plan to well. Second year is about 1/2 the cost.
If your truck and RV were not paid for, which is the case for most, that would have easily put you over $100,000 for the year. If a person has a $1200/month mortgage, that’s still $4000 less/yr than you guys spent on RV park fees alone! $50 per day for RV parks is really not that bad. You guys could have easily been at $25-30K for the RV parks. People who think RVing is cheaper than a “sticks and bricks” really don’t understand how much it costs to park your RV in a comfortable place for just one night. People also don’t tend to truly understand fuel costs or the natural desire to eat out when you’re in a brand new town. Plus your sticks and bricks house is an appreciating asset. Yet that pickup and RV are losing more and more value every single day. FYI, Thousand Trails is a time share for RVers, do not walk, RUN away from them! If you’re moving into an RV because you think it’s a smart financially decision, you could not be more wrong! An RV is a toy that loses value as soon as you drive it off the lot, whereas your “sticks and bricks” home gains value every year. Thanks for the honest cost analysis.👍
We moved into our 5th wheel to travel and see the country not to save money. Thousand trails is anything but a time share. They dont lock you into a contract that you can get out of, its at will. We planned for this and made sure we were debt free before doing this. We also sold our house and put that money in savings for a future home. Thanks for the input and watching. Check out some of our other stuff and you will see what we are about.
Scott, good observations, but I will disagree with you on Thousand Trails. We have been Thousand Trails members for over 4 years. We winter over in Florida and don't pay anything extra! Our TT membership has paid for itself. I calculate out all of the costs with TT (including the original membership costs - we are currently averaging $19/night in the TT parks). We love our TT membership, but agree, that is not for everyone. But for full-timers, it's a great tool to save money.
@@Autobahn4537 That is true, but over the past 100 years they have continued to appreciate (when looking at 10 year trends). RV's definitely don't do that. There was only one time where RV's appreciated.
I realize that I've come across this video 5 months late. I have a question. Where did you go to find the free rig and truck? Those cost weren't included in your $73K total. Maybe I missed something. If you two are paying a monthly note for the rig and truck, your accountant would include those cost on your total expenses.
We bought the truck new in 2018, its is paid off. We paid cash for the 5th wheel in 2021. We went full time in 2022. At most we incurred a depreciation expense. I will tell you we lost almost 50% of the 5th wheel value when we traded it in on a 2024 5th wheel in January. We traded the 2018 RAM for a 2022 RAM and paid cash for the new truck as well. We did not loose that much on the trade, though.
@@waynesawyer575Ha Ha, thank you, but watch some of our other stuff. We did not plan too well. This year expenses are way down, but we really screwed things up all last year. Remote work caused us a big problem with South Dakota.
You are welcome. Just keep in mind we spend a little more to get content for TH-cam, it can really be done cheaper. Our goal this year to try and get everything as cheap as possible.
$74000 in a year COULD have been spent the same by spending every night in a $125 hotel room (Marriott brand avg), $35/day in gas (normal size SUV or car 225 miles/day avg ) and $45 a day in food. And you could go to a lot of places the camper cant go. Sounds like a lot more pleasant way to spend a year on the road to me.
@@steveludwig4200 While I appreciate your comment and opinion; you really should get to know us a little first. One, we have a dog and most hotels dont allow dogs or charge and additional fee. Usually $50 or more. Two, we both still work. Hotel internet is not fast enough to work from. Three, a lot of the money was spent in the attempt to create content and is a write off on our taxes. Four, there is no hotel on the north rim of the Grand canyon that would allow you to wake up to that view. Finally, we dont have to fight with hotel reservations and carry luggage up and down stairs or elevators. We have all our stuff with us.
Keeping it real, as usual. Obviously, I'm a big fan. Didn't see Stella this video. Maybe she will make a guest appearance in the future. After all, she's family and along for the ride on your adventures. I have a feeling your channel will start to take off as you get back traveling. Look how long it took Nomadic Fanatic and Campervan Kevin to get over the hump. Looking forward to your success. You deserve it. 🙏 Blessings and may St. Christopher watch over you. 👍👍
Thank you very much. Stella was there on the lower right hand side, but she got cut out of this video. She tried to bite a person on the other side of the 5th wheel. She has been in a mood since she found out she has to loose some weight.
Soaking laundry overnight removes most of the dirt. Of course, friction is what cleans the clothes. I prefer hand wash over machine wash as campgrounds washing machines are old.
Hi - Very interesting video. Sounds like it was money well spent, and gave you fabulous memories. Money comes and goes (mostly goes), so enjoy it while you can. Continued traveling happiness. Love PegEgg
Good video. I did not figure all this out and I have been on the road 2.5 years. This includes expensive tours - one 49 day tour in 2021 to the Canadian Maritime provinces, a 30 day trip to Mexico in 2022 and a 60 day tour this past summer to Canada and Alaska. When I averaged out what I spent I too was shocked. I am a solo woman and I wanted to be with groups going to those places. What I spent was way more than I thought I would be spending. My budget won’t be able to keep it up, so I hope for more State Parks and also staying longer in one spot to save on fuel. The alternative is to stay on BLM land in the desert and that is not what I want to do. It was eye opening. I appreciate your video, good to know I am not alone 😊
Geez.....love the honesty....but that is scary !!! You did not include the cost of your vehicle, the cost of your RV.....Wow. I greatly appreciate your honesty in this video. Shocking the cost of campgrounds. That blew me away.
it did us as well. We did not include the cost of the rig or the truck as it was already purchased. I will say the truck was close to 100k and the 5th wheel was almost 60k.
If you don't cook in your rv or entertain, why would you have such a large rv? You might want to consider downsizing with just a sleeping camper? Or something in between? Thanks for sharing.
Nov. 1st 2023 is our 1 year anniversary of full-time RVing. We do it a bit different than you guys. We have a plot of bare land we boondock on in the summer, then we go to southern BC in the winter. We knew before we started that we could not treat this adventure as a vacation. We plan to take a couple of "vacations" that are not one of these 2 places next year to see family. We appreciate you being honest with your expenses and what you feel you could have done differently. Excellent content, we are now subscribed. 👌
Thank you for watching and the subscription. Its always nice to hear how others are doing it. We plan to buy some land in TX and stay put a little more.
Thank you for being so honest. Ignore all the dumba%%es who’ve made stupid or mean comments. You’re good folks. I can tell. Another couple ways to think of your budget - if you want to keep it to $50k do the math as to what it’s going to take. That’s really hard based on your fixed costs. If I missed, you didn’t talk about the deprecation expense which is quite opposite of a house which historically appreciates. If you ever read this, great. Take care.
We have been full time for 3 years. We spent a similar amount completely differently. We rented our house out and that brings in $22,000 pa net. At the current interest rate we would have been better off selling but not when you factor in inflation. We don't include that income in our similar annual spend. We love off grid, and state parks, and also Harvest Hosts. Our total for the year for campgrounds was less than $5,000. Being on a permanent international holiday we spent far more on entertainment. Speedway. Drag racing, museums, Frank Lloyd Wright etal houses. Stately homes, etc. Also concerts. Wolfmother, Clapton, ZZ Top, 2cellis and others. Brilliant. We also stay in hotels from time to time if they are spectacular, like the lodges at Yellowstone and the Game Lodge in SD. By having an A class with a motorcycle on the back we spend a bit less on fuel. But we spend on going to Europe for a few weeks in the summer (Portugal and Ireland this year. Bordeaux last year) and this year we had a quality 2 week Caribbean cruise. The bonus of loving off grid and saving money at the same time. Enjoy.
Everyone seems to forget about depreciation. It’s a real cost. A brick and mortar home appreciates every day while an RV depreciates every day. No one ever built wealth living in an RV over having a home.
I was shocked at your first expenses as you were. We have been full time for 5 years now. We purchased a Thousand Trails Elite Basic and added the Trails Collection. We have more than saved the purchase price of our membership in the first couple of years. Like someone said, the campgrounds may not be as nice as private campgrounds but some are. You will see as you travel which you may not want to return to. Here’s an example of our campground costs from 04/23 through 09/23. We averaged $8 dollars a day. This includes TT & Trails Collection, some private campgrounds ⛺️, Harvest Hosts, casinos, BLM land. We spent the summer in Oregon & Washington state where the weather was great and visited our son in Las Vegas then on to California to visit family. Hope this helps. Safe travels!! 😊
Yes, we have already covered 3/4 of the TT cost. Yes, some are nicer than others. We are keeping a running list. Thank you for the suggestion and comments.
@@OurRoadLessTraveled ***That’s great. I hope my comments were helpful. I really enjoyed watching your video. I think it will help a lot of newbies during their first year of rving . Safe travels!! 😊
Congratulations on surviving the first year of full-time RVing. You said that you purchased a Thousand Trails membership. That's very good. I think that will be a big savings for you. Another savings would be to get the EFS diesel fuel card. It's similar to what the truck drivers uses for fuel savings. When you purchase your fuel you will have to go into the area where trucks fuel up. Also take your time. You guys are young. No need to be in a hugh hurry. You definitely save more money doing it that way. Anyway I look forward to seeing more of your adventures.
stay 2 wks at a time in any location. you can easily boondock doing this especially if u have solar panels and.or generator. GO to a gym or trucker gas stn and get a shower pass $7 and shower/wash hair once a week. use baby wipes to wipe down if u want on alternate days in between full showers. use laundromat once a week. so much cheaper than a sticks n brix house of rent, taxes, utilities etc. once you park your rv in your boondock spot/cheap full hookup campground spot, use your cargo bikes to go to the groc store etc. not your vehicle, good exercise and burn calories too!
we'll take it. Thanks for the sub. First year was a wake up call, second year has been much better. Matter of fact, we are releasing a video tomorrow on how we cut food cost.
Good luck with Thousand Trails. I hear from various channels getting reservations isn’t as easy as it’s presented. Look forward to hearing your experiences.
Food is drug!!! Enjoy it and have a blast!! You deserve it!!! 😆 Was there any security issues? What was you bathroom situations! Do you guys use your own rig for everything or try to use other places? Thx!!
Thank you for the comment and questions. We do not have nor have we ever had a security issue while on the road. with that said, we stay out of places that may be having issues such as larger cities. We use our rig for everything. We use the bathroom just like we did in the house and the shower.We make sure to flush and clean the black tank every dump.
Your food costs can be brought down by at least half if you work on it. Instead of eating out so much, have your new friends over for a meal. That in itself will save you half of what you want to bring your expenses down to your $50,000 annual costs.
I suggest next time doing your video inside your rv due to all the noise. There were a bunch of this video I could barely make out do to those in the background being wayyy too loud.
good on you for sharing this and the honesty and this not only will help you to curve for next years but it surely will help others to not make the same.
I'm not living the RV life but I'll swear by T Mobile home internet. It's literally plug and play. And I get 5 X what I rec'd with AT&T at the same price. They are aces in my book.
The 2 worst purchases in my life was a boat and a RV. They are not cost effective to own, just rent them. Save storage, maintenance and financing cost. Permanent living will breakdown the RV in just a few years.
Wow so cheap! Not bad! At all for the parks . Umm it was definitely the food that was most shocking. At least you enjoyed the experience. When I am camping, I cook it relaxes me.
Our Thousand trails membership experience wasn’t great. What you will find are old run down parks bought up by thousand trails with little to no upkeep and tons of full time residents in the only sections with full hook ups. However it was a steal if your looking for a place to park your home while you see an area. There ARE a few good ones but they are the exception in my opinion. I prefer a cheap state park or county park. Usually inexpensive camping while surrounded by some natural beauty.
We still work and most of the national, state and county parks have horrible cell/starlink access. We just need a place to park. We are either working of seeing the area. I do agree, TT are no the nicest we have stayed in, but far from the worst. Thank you for the comment.
It’s all about how much money you have and how you want to live. Full time is not just for the broke and struggling. I only hope, my life can be a full time vacation some day.
we would but most of the maintenance we do ourselves. The lithium battery we have, we bought for out TT and just moved it. Ram gave us 10 free oil changes when we bought the truck. The transmission service was free, due to being replaced a few months ago. Tires we did have to buy $1400 for the truck. Our costs have been really low.
Great if shocking information! Wow! $18,000 on RV parks. I had nooooooo idea! In the old days, was nothing like that at KOA. So interesting. Basically $49.00 a night. Things have skyrocketed! My mortgage taxes and insurance $6,800. But if you can afford it and your still working! Enjoy while you’re young enough. I’m retired and could not afford it. I love these channels but honesty, had no clue. Don’t be hard on yourselves. It was your first year, of course you are learning!!❤
I wish you would have started this video by saying if your RV and Truck are paid for. Plus, what does cost to live in an Rv full- time if you aren't traveling but living stationary in an RV.
i imagine the cost would be the same other than campground and fuel cost. We did not include the truck or the RV because thy were paid for the previous year, not in this years expenses.
@@OurRoadLessTraveled there's much to see and do, but you have to be willing to travel. We are really close to kitch-iti-kipi Big Springs. It's nicer up here in the shoulder season, less busy. Tourism has really increased over the last few years. We are preparing to head to Arizona or Texas here in a few weeks.
We bought a used Elite 120. We can stay up to 21 days in a TT park and then go to any other park for another 21 days. We can reserve out 120 days. The tails and Oncore parks we can stay up to 14 days, and hav eto leave them for 7 days. Jason and Jennifer from "No Sticks, No Bricks" gave us a great contact that handled the purchase. If you want her info let us know, we will pass it on. Just shoot us an email.
I've been trying to get my husband interested in RVing. Not much luck yet. Maybe it's none of my business, but I'm curious what kind of job you have that allows you to "work from home" if you will. Or "work from RV." And be able to travel for a year or longer. My husband is a security engineer/IT. He gets to work from home only 2 days a week.
We lived in our 5th wheel full time for 2 years and had USAA insurance. Even had to file a claim during that time, no issues. I suppose something could have changed in the last year or so.
Yes, you could do this on less if you want a more modest life style, but if you can afford the life style you have had this past year, continue with it!
We figured trucks and RVs are specific to the person. We wanted a baseline that someone else could work from. Others may not buy new or need a dually. It would skew the overall expense to add it in.
OMG! Food was a salary. LOL Love the video. How do you like or not like the East to West? My wife and I are in the market to get a trailer and I really like the East to West. It seems to be the best bang for the buck, as I can tell. Was your Insurance including the truck and trailer? Thanks
We absolutely can't say enough great things about the East to West! The quality is the best for the price you will find anywhere! We're currently at the Hershey show and have been looking at anything 'comparable' for the last 3 days and have yet to find anything even close! Their customer service is amazing and every person we've ever dealt with has bent over backwards to make sure we're happy!! From what we hear that is rare in the industry. Their team is top notch from factory to sales to service! We don't ever see ourselves owning another brand! Reach out if you have any questions. We'd love to tell you anything you want to know!
Love your videos, we will continue to watch as long as to put them up. We have 7 more years until we can go full time. Ill definitely be reaching out for advice on selling everything and the house. Because everything is being sold and hopefully between the profit from selling the house our current vehicles we can buy the 3500 dually and 5th whell outright so that we have no payments. Thats the dream anyway, lol. Stay safe!
Know that we are rooting for you and cant wait to here you have achieved your goal. You are more than welcome to reach out anytime with questions. We may not be able to tell you the right way, but we can sure tell you the wrong way.
New subscriber here! We were full time for 4 1/2 years. It was on our bucket list, when the kids left home. We LOVED it also, spent more than we thought, but stayed in really nice places and did the whole tourist thing. You are making memories, it is worth it and how great you are documenting it, to look back on.
Thanks for the sub, and we agree its worth every penny.
Thousand Trails, Corp of Eng CG, National Forest CG, State Parks. Make sure you have a National Park pass, you can get half off on COE, NF and NP campgrounds. We drive about 8,000 miles and spent a little over half of what you spent. We have a small, 35 ft Diesel Pusher. Get 7.5 MPG towing. You mentioned getting healthy, we did that 4 years ago, I lost 90 lbs, wife lost 78. We hike now and are really enjoying the travel. Do your research on what a healthy diet is, it is not what you are told, so look at the actual science.
Great advice!. congratulations on loosing the weight, its not easy. takes a lifestyle change, not just changing food. Hope to see you on the road, and safe travels.
I have a hard time finding corp of eng. Can you tell me the best way to find and get into them?
@@amandasparks3897 corpslakes.erdc.dren.mil/visitors/visitors.cfm is a good place to look. It will let you find them. To reserver, you have to go to www.recreation.gov/
@@amandasparks3897 I use Trip Wizzard for trip planning. I can just change the filter to only show Corps Of Eng parks. It works well. I think the other planner products have similar abilities.
You got that right about a healthy diet and what we are told! "They" don't want you healthy!
Perfection can only happen after making mistakes and analyzing how to improve. Very few people can do anything perfect the first time out. Glad you enjoyed. Power on
thank you. have a great weekend
thousand trails will save you a bundle. Campgrounds probably are not as nice as you are used too, but we stayed on the road for six months and only spent $200 on campgroud fees
we agree, we have already saved what we paid for it. Some places are nicer than others, true; but none have felt unsafe.
Thanks for being transparent and honest! A new follower here, just starting a RV journey with week long trips this year and longer trips next year. Not going full time yet, but thinking about it.
One thank you for following along, second congratulations on the extended RV trips. That is how we got hooked. We found we liked being in the 5th wheel more than the house.
Think long time about full time !! 😬
I have a 2005 2500 Laramie Dodge Ram with a Cummings motor and get 30MPG hwy. It’s amazing that the new rams (trucks in general) get way less mpg. Sadly it is all by design. THANK YOU so much for putting this out there. Most don’t want to talk about money, the nitty gritty and the actual facts of living on the road. Like everything else in life there are pros and cons to living on the road, especially as you get older and into “retirement age”. With inflation and the cost of everything being so high, it is a MUST to take this all into consideration. Happy Trails!😊
Glad you enjoyed it. The emissions equipment on the new trucks really kills the fuel mileage, that and having a 3.73 rear end for pulling. We noticed a big price difference in food based on the areas we were in. Some places were not bad, others were very expensive. Thank you for watching
Aww!!! You guys made me cry! Not over what you spent. 😂 For the shout out. We think you’re pretty special too and we are so glad we were able to spend time with you. Great video!! Eye opening but not really surprising. Love and miss you! Can’t wait to see you again.
Us too!! Love you guys!!
Good for you guys! If I’m going to travel for a year, it’s going to be to every amazing site I can see and explore. Traveling isn’t cheap unless you’re in a tent and a car
Congratulations. It can be less expensive, but that is not our goal. We want to see and experience things.
Great video. Love the honest review if your year and the sharing of your goals for next year. We just hit 1 year of full time RV Life also and we need to seriously look at the budget and making some adjustments. Thanks!
Thank you for watching! It was an eye opener for us!
Wow, you all just made me realize we won’t be doing that. Thank you for the honest review!!
Our pleasure! Our point is certainly not to discourage anyone from going full time, just to have a better plan/budget!
This is why I have ALWAYS lived on a budget, and always will. Try what I do, create a budget using a sped sheet like excel. I have been using it for more than twenty years.
Our first year had a budget, it was just excessive.
Great info on the video guys. Thank you. I may have missed it, but what about maintenance and repairs? Keep up the good work! Thoroughly enjoyed this video and the “costume changes” ! Lol 😂
The entire year we had the rig, we did not have any maintenance to speak of. Honestly nothing broke. We did have it washed a few times. One thing that did get us was the suspension. that cost us $1200 for parts and labor. I think that was after this video though. Thank you for watching we love sharing about our travels.
Great information. Thank you for sharing. I think maybe everyone's first year is more expensive because it's like being on a honeymoon. Now you are settled in, experienced, and now have goals I think it will be easier to notice the budget. And I hope you continue to come to the huddles. We look forward to seeing you guys again. Safe travels!!
Yes! It is like a second honeymoon!! Love that analogy. Look forward to seeing yall again too!! Safe travels!
Sounds fun! People judge too much. You have seen so much and made some memories. Next year will probably be less. Happy travels!
thank you and yes, it will be cheaper.
I am so happy to have found your channel. I am not full time, but I have recently discovered that my remote job can be done from the road. This opens up so many more things to us. My hubby is retiring at the end of this year and our son loves NASCAR. I don't want to take off so many days to take him to the races (I work Sat-Tues) and this way I can work from our camper, travel on the days I am already off, and only take off the day of the race (or day after if it's a night race and I can work that day). We can take him to some places I would never take off for this way.
We are glad you found us too. We did a whole video on internet connectivity for working remotely. Have fun at the races and safe travels.
Thank you for being honest and sharing. Don’t let the negative comments hit to hard. I agree you have been on vacation for a year. Like you stated, now you know and you can work on your budget IF YOU WANT TO. Its your life. I enjoyed this video. Thank you.
Thanks for watching and the comment.
Thank you very much for sharing and being honest. You are making memories and doing what you can before age creeps up on you. Enjoy yourselves - time passes quickly :)
You are very welcome, and thank you for watching.
I was not remotely prepared for your final expenses…WOAH!!!! Glad you are having fun and getting to know this beautiful country
we are trying to go a little cheaper this year.
I was shocked at the campsite fees, but the food. I needed a shovel to pick up my jawdrop! Thanks for disclosing costs because my husband and i contemplated a 5th wheel cross country vacay.
Sure thing. It can be dome cheaper, we just wanted to have fun the first year. Plus eating ham sandwiches does not make for good youtube videos. I imagine the food would be equal to what you spend in a house.
Food and gas the past couple years have really went up, eating out is a complete pit.
Thank you for the numbers. It's a guideline that I didn't have before. The adventure is the goal...best wishes,
Hope it helps out. Keep in mind, we could have been a lot more frugal. We chose to have fun the first year, really scaled back the second year. We are at about 50% of the cost form last year so far.
It almost sounded like a “confessional”…..hey! It is your life and you are allowed to have fun- and then change things up every year! Thanks for the information!
We were shocked at the food prices. We have changed a few things this year
Well, I guess we can cross RVing full time off our bucket list. 🤣
I can be done cheaper, thats our goal for this year.
$74000 in a year COULD have been spent the same by spending every night in a $125 hotel room (Marriott brand (Fairfield, TownePlace Suites, etc) avg, $35/day in gas (normal size SUV or car 225 miles/day avg ) and $45 a day in food. And you could go to a lot of places the camper cant go. Sounds like a lot more pleasant way to spend a year on the road to me.
Brilliant sir!
Nice video! My husband and I have a 45 ft motorhome pulling a Jeep. We just came back from a 6 week RV trip and spent $ 3800 on campgrounds and fuel. We went 3,000 miles on this trip. It would cost a lot less if we stayed 30 days in a campground. It depends if you are traveling a lot or staying put in a campground. Campgrounds are getting expensive but my husband is retired military so we try to stay in those campgrounds as much as we can.
Yes, moving often can get expensive. So far we have made back the money we spent on our used Thousand Trails membership. We still move every 7-10 days though. thanks for watching.
It would depend on what you consider a campground? RV parks are not camping in my opinion.
@@ralphp3057 i can see that.
I really enjoyed this reality check. Keep rolling and enjoy yourself. Thanks for such an informative video
Thank you for watching. Its is embarrassing to be sure, but hopefully someone gets something out of it.
We are full-time also, wow your food bill.....I am lucky my wife loves to cook. $73 k is more than my retirement, we boondock a lot, we have a large solar set up, we can run our air on batteries. However, we chase 70 degrees and use Harvest Host. Oh by the way we grew up in Huntsville Al. I was in law enforcement there, small world.
Thank you for watching and commenting! We are still working, but hopefully will budget a lot better this year. Huntsville is great! Yes, small world indeed!
Found your channel by accident. We are part of the Switch it up crew also. Sure it was a lot of money but memories are priceless. You can always make more money but you cant buy more time.
Very well said and we agree.
Rving full time used to be way cheaper than paying a mortgage,property taxes ect. But with the boom from covid, not only did rvs double and triple in price, but also the insurance rates on both the rvs and cars went up. The trucks even seen a huge price hike. New and used trucks are very expensive. Also, many full hookup campgrounds used to be about half the price they charge now.
Yeah. It seems middle class can only afford to work now. God forbid they want to enjoy life a little. I don’t see how the average family can afford to RV
@@OurRoadLessTraveled I don't see how the average family or couple can afford to do it. (Full time)I mean, even the gas prices have doubled it's ridiculous.
Your food expense was $70.51 per day. WOW that is $23.50 per meal 3 times per day, every day.
yeah, a lot of eating out will do that. Thanks for watching and the comment.
When I retired my spouse and I looked into buying a towed RV. Most of our Neighbours have them. They tow them out to campgrounds 10 km away or they haul them to Alaska. $45,000 to $55, 000 for the unit plus you have to store it somewhere when not in use and I would need a new truck ($80,000) The last time we went on a holiday to Vancouver Island (we have family there). We flew (short trip), stayed in a very nice hotel, neither of us cooked, rented a Camry and drove all over for 9 days. $6,000. So we can do that for 10 yrs without any cost compared to an RV
yeah, but you have to trust the hotel sheets are clean, sit on someone else's toilet, and pack the right cloths. We take all our stuff with us. Not knocking your version, it just shows we are all different. Thanks for the comment and watching our stuff. We love Vancouver by the way.
I did say we stayed in a very nice hotel(s)(we did this more than once) and we never got sick. As for clothes, if we missed anything we just bought it. Cheaper than a tank full of diesel and you got something you can use again. If it was over our luggage amount we just mailed stuff home.. We do the same in Vancouver as well as the island. To each his own.
agreed. we appreciate you taking hte time to watch and offer up a different system of travel.
Great video. It’s great to see the honesty with it. Your human you made a few errors, but we all do and now you know things you can change to improve the next year. My wife and I hope to do this when the kids are out of school so this was very informative. Don’t worry about any of the negative comments there are always going to be those people. Focus on the positive comments. Thanks for the video.
thank you for watch and the uplifting comment. have a great day.
What an eye opener. You brought up points I never considered. Thanks for the info.
Glad it was helpful!
Good video! Having your truck and fiver paid for is a HUGE plus. After your 1st year of full-timing, you get a better sense of where the 'money goes'. You'll do MUCH better from this point forward! Great job!
Thank you for the comment and reassurance
Don’t let people tell you that Thousand Trails is terrible, it’s been fine. Husband and I went full time in August 2021. Bought our TT membership early 2022. Some parks are better than others, but that’s true for any of the other RV parks or campgrounds we stay at.
So far we really enjoy thousand trails parks. You are spot on though, some are great some are a little run down, but none have been as bad as some other parks we stayed in.
I’ve always thought about a real life scenario either renting our home or selling and traveling around the country. I appreciate the info and experiences you share. It’s food for thought! Thank you
Sure thing. Glad you found it helpful.
$74000 in a year COULD have been spent the same by spending every night in a $125 hotel room (Marriott brand avg), $35/day in gas (normal size SUV or car 225 miles/day avg ) and $45 a day in food. And you could go to a lot of places the camper cant go. Sounds like a lot more pleasant way to spend a year on the road to me.
@@steveludwig4200 Rving is a lifestyle. You either love it or you don't. My wife and I would much rather do what they're doing than depend on a hotel every night. Some campgrounds offer monthly rentals at a discount if you want to stay in a place for longer. We've rented a spot for 1-2 months for $300 a month. We can take the truck anywhere that we want to go. The camper can stay in it's place.
@@97minitaco Good for you.
You obviously haven't considered the cost of eating 3 quality meals a day in restaurants. That will equal as much as the hotel.
As for the aesthetics the hotels you cite are architecturally barren, and not even a tiny patch on being in the great outdoors.
Although I am confident you won't try it. Which is a very good thing. For us.
Did your food budget include groceries in general? It's just me and my husband and our home budget is $1300 a month for Walmart and grocery stores plus $500 a month for eating out so we're $1800 a month at home where there isn't all the wonderful fun places to go like there is when we RV. I loved your honesty and straightforward attitude. This was my first time watching you. I had to laugh at the "slingshot in Custer" because that's where I'm watching you from and we decided against the slingshot, but will do it next time after riding these roads and seeing how great a slingshot would have been. This trip for us is averaging a little over $200 a day and that's about what you guys did all year. Sounds like you were in "vacation" mode this past year and we would have done that to if we got to fulltime. I'll be interested to see what "full time RV life" mode looks like this coming year.
Do ya'll do Harvest Hosts? We're just getting into that and really enjoying it. We stay at Corps of Engineers and state/city/county parks when we can. Kansas, Missouri and GA have fabulous state parks.
I'm a nerd so tracking and planning are as fun for me as doing in our travels.
Is Alaska on your radar? We've been trying to go since 2014 and something comes up every year, so hopefully 2024 is our year.
Okay, I'll quit babbling now... hope to meet you on the road. Blessings to you with your channel and your travels!
Yes it was all food. Groceries and eating out. Thank you for the kind words and taking time to watch us. We use thousand trails now. HH was too hard to work from. We are actually trying to put an Alaska caravan together for next year.
@@OurRoadLessTraveled we're hoping to finally get to AK from NC next year. Been trying to get there since 2015, but something big's happened each year that kept us from going. I've had our trip laid out since then and will be happy to share it with you if you'd like. Do you use RVTripWizard for planning? I love it. Are you leading a caravan that sticks together or doing "meet at these campgrounds every 3-5 or 6 days" kind of caravan? I've seen where lots of people want to do the looser version so they can take side trips on their own, but still have community and make new friends. Some days would be back to back running together on the way up, but then have the ability to stick together or do specific meetups at certain times and dates. Mike and I would fall in the latter group. We want to have independence to stop and explore, kayak, etc but then have the fun of meeting up and making friends.
We just did a trip from western NC through Weatherford outside FT worth for a 108 degree 4:30pm wedding and then up to Caprock Canyon below Amarillo to CO Springs to Loveland CO to go up to Rocky Mtn NP thru western Nebraska to Custer/Hill City/Devils Tower/Spearfish/Deadwood and last but not least, boondocked on The Wall in the Badlands and had great weather through it all, hallelujah! Campgroundreviews.com (which is free, but also part of RVTripWizard when you buy it) was spot on with the reviews. We had great campsites. If you like out of the ordinary, go to Caprock Canyon in TX below Amarillo and camp. The official Texas Bison Herd (300-350 bison) resides there and the campground is part of their range area so they have the run of the campground too, plus you can go find them in the park and get great pix. You have to go there on purpose, LOL! Not on the way to anywhere, but beautiful. Ok, I'll quit babbling. Hope ya'll have a blessed week.
Good info…nice to see you guys can smile and laugh about the cost.
Thank you for the comment. Some of it is screwed because we hav eto do things to film for TH-cam content.
Great video. Great to see fellow Alabamians. Keep it up. WDE!!
WDE brother!!!. I do miss them tigers and tailgating. Thanks for the comment and have a great day.
YIKES!! Guess we'll scratch that whole idea of going full time.
You can do it cheaper. We just jumped in and it cost us dearly. Traveled too fast, left places early, didn’t plan to well. Second year is about 1/2 the cost.
I loved this! Thanks for the honesty!!!
Sure thing, Thanks for watching.
Thanks for the honorable mention. We miss you guys
You bet, we miss hanging out with you guys as well.
If your truck and RV were not paid for, which is the case for most, that would have easily put you over $100,000 for the year. If a person has a $1200/month mortgage, that’s still $4000 less/yr than you guys spent on RV park fees alone! $50 per day for RV parks is really not that bad. You guys could have easily been at $25-30K for the RV parks. People who think RVing is cheaper than a “sticks and bricks” really don’t understand how much it costs to park your RV in a comfortable place for just one night. People also don’t tend to truly understand fuel costs or the natural desire to eat out when you’re in a brand new town. Plus your sticks and bricks house is an appreciating asset. Yet that pickup and RV are losing more and more value every single day. FYI, Thousand Trails is a time share for RVers, do not walk, RUN away from them! If you’re moving into an RV because you think it’s a smart financially decision, you could not be more wrong! An RV is a toy that loses value as soon as you drive it off the lot, whereas your “sticks and bricks” home gains value every year. Thanks for the honest cost analysis.👍
We moved into our 5th wheel to travel and see the country not to save money. Thousand trails is anything but a time share. They dont lock you into a contract that you can get out of, its at will. We planned for this and made sure we were debt free before doing this. We also sold our house and put that money in savings for a future home. Thanks for the input and watching. Check out some of our other stuff and you will see what we are about.
Scott, good observations, but I will disagree with you on Thousand Trails. We have been Thousand Trails members for over 4 years. We winter over in Florida and don't pay anything extra! Our TT membership has paid for itself. I calculate out all of the costs with TT (including the original membership costs - we are currently averaging $19/night in the TT parks). We love our TT membership, but agree, that is not for everyone. But for full-timers, it's a great tool to save money.
@@AWOLlcdrpeterson much better explanation than what I came up with.
Houses do not always appreciate every year!
@@Autobahn4537 That is true, but over the past 100 years they have continued to appreciate (when looking at 10 year trends). RV's definitely don't do that. There was only one time where RV's appreciated.
I realize that I've come across this video 5 months late. I have a question. Where did you go to find the free rig and truck? Those cost weren't included in your $73K total. Maybe I missed something. If you two are paying a monthly note for the rig and truck, your accountant would include those cost on your total expenses.
We bought the truck new in 2018, its is paid off. We paid cash for the 5th wheel in 2021. We went full time in 2022. At most we incurred a depreciation expense. I will tell you we lost almost 50% of the 5th wheel value when we traded it in on a 2024 5th wheel in January. We traded the 2018 RAM for a 2022 RAM and paid cash for the new truck as well. We did not loose that much on the trade, though.
Thank you for your immediate response. I hope that all the other RV'ers planned as well as you two.
@@waynesawyer575Ha Ha, thank you, but watch some of our other stuff. We did not plan too well. This year expenses are way down, but we really screwed things up all last year. Remote work caused us a big problem with South Dakota.
Thank you for the honest review. Helps newbies to really know how much things really cost.
You are welcome. Just keep in mind we spend a little more to get content for TH-cam, it can really be done cheaper. Our goal this year to try and get everything as cheap as possible.
$74000 in a year COULD have been spent the same by spending every night in a $125 hotel room (Marriott brand avg), $35/day in gas (normal size SUV or car 225 miles/day avg ) and $45 a day in food. And you could go to a lot of places the camper cant go. Sounds like a lot more pleasant way to spend a year on the road to me.
@@steveludwig4200 While I appreciate your comment and opinion; you really should get to know us a little first. One, we have a dog and most hotels dont allow dogs or charge and additional fee. Usually $50 or more. Two, we both still work. Hotel internet is not fast enough to work from. Three, a lot of the money was spent in the attempt to create content and is a write off on our taxes. Four, there is no hotel on the north rim of the Grand canyon that would allow you to wake up to that view. Finally, we dont have to fight with hotel reservations and carry luggage up and down stairs or elevators. We have all our stuff with us.
@@OurRoadLessTraveled Fair enough. I understand the dog and wish I could travel with my buddy too.
Keeping it real, as usual. Obviously, I'm a big fan. Didn't see Stella this video. Maybe she will make a guest appearance in the future. After all, she's family and along for the ride on your adventures. I have a feeling your channel will start to take off as you get back traveling. Look how long it took Nomadic Fanatic and Campervan Kevin to get over the hump. Looking forward to your success. You deserve it. 🙏 Blessings and may St. Christopher watch over you. 👍👍
Thank you very much. Stella was there on the lower right hand side, but she got cut out of this video. She tried to bite a person on the other side of the 5th wheel. She has been in a mood since she found out she has to loose some weight.
Hey Stella, I can relate to that mood because I have to lose some weight too.@@OurRoadLessTraveled
@@goodcitizen1611 😂
Happy to hear you enjoyed our San Antonio Rodeo - ya’ll come back any time !!!!!!
It is on our travel list again this year. We freaking loved it and San Antonio. Y'all have a great city.
Great info!! We subscribed!! Happy travels❤Linda & Zack
Thank you and safe travels
Hey...at least you had fun. Love the honesty. Thanks for the video
Sure thing. Thanks for watching
Soaking laundry overnight removes most of the dirt. Of course, friction is what cleans the clothes. I prefer hand wash over machine wash as campgrounds washing machines are old.
Very true. We just buy cheap cloths and plan on replacing them.
Hi - Very interesting video. Sounds like it was money well spent, and gave you fabulous memories. Money comes and goes (mostly goes), so enjoy it while you can. Continued traveling happiness. Love PegEgg
thank you for the kind words. have a great day.
Good video. I did not figure all this out and I have been on the road 2.5 years. This includes expensive tours - one 49 day tour in 2021 to the Canadian Maritime provinces, a 30 day trip to Mexico in 2022 and a 60 day tour this past summer to Canada and Alaska. When I averaged out what I spent I too was shocked. I am a solo woman and I wanted to be with groups going to those places. What I spent was way more than I thought I would be spending. My budget won’t be able to keep it up, so I hope for more State Parks and also staying longer in one spot to save on fuel. The alternative is to stay on BLM land in the desert and that is not what I want to do. It was eye opening. I appreciate your video, good to know I am not alone 😊
Thank you for watching and commenting! Sounds like you've had an amazing time! Hope you have a great next year and safe travels!
Geez.....love the honesty....but that is scary !!! You did not include the cost of your vehicle, the cost of your RV.....Wow. I greatly appreciate your honesty in this video. Shocking the cost of campgrounds. That blew me away.
it did us as well. We did not include the cost of the rig or the truck as it was already purchased. I will say the truck was close to 100k and the 5th wheel was almost 60k.
If you don't cook in your rv or entertain, why would you have such a large rv? You might want to consider downsizing with just a sleeping camper? Or something in between? Thanks for sharing.
the answer to your question is in our other videos. Thank you for watching this one.
Nov. 1st 2023 is our 1 year anniversary of full-time RVing. We do it a bit different than you guys. We have a plot of bare land we boondock on in the summer, then we go to southern BC in the winter. We knew before we started that we could not treat this adventure as a vacation. We plan to take a couple of "vacations" that are not one of these 2 places next year to see family. We appreciate you being honest with your expenses and what you feel you could have done differently. Excellent content, we are now subscribed. 👌
Thank you for watching and the subscription. Its always nice to hear how others are doing it. We plan to buy some land in TX and stay put a little more.
Thanks, y’all…and War Eagle!
Bob & Cindy
War Eagle y’all. Merry Christmas
Love the transparency and advice. 👍
Thanks for watching! We are exactly what you see! 🥰😂
Thank you for being so honest. Ignore all the dumba%%es who’ve made stupid or mean comments. You’re good folks. I can tell. Another couple ways to think of your budget - if you want to keep it to $50k do the math as to what it’s going to take. That’s really hard based on your fixed costs. If I missed, you didn’t talk about the deprecation expense which is quite opposite of a house which historically appreciates. If you ever read this, great. Take care.
Thank you for the kind words and suggestions.
Good information. Glad to stumble upon your channel. Also - War Eagle!
War Eagle. Very glad you liked it.
We have been full time for 3 years. We spent a similar amount completely differently.
We rented our house out and that brings in $22,000 pa net. At the current interest rate we would have been better off selling but not when you factor in inflation. We don't include that income in our similar annual spend.
We love off grid, and state parks, and also Harvest Hosts. Our total for the year for campgrounds was less than $5,000.
Being on a permanent international holiday we spent far more on entertainment. Speedway. Drag racing, museums, Frank Lloyd Wright etal houses. Stately homes, etc. Also concerts. Wolfmother, Clapton, ZZ Top, 2cellis and others. Brilliant.
We also stay in hotels from time to time if they are spectacular, like the lodges at Yellowstone and the Game Lodge in SD.
By having an A class with a motorcycle on the back we spend a bit less on fuel.
But we spend on going to Europe for a few weeks in the summer (Portugal and Ireland this year. Bordeaux last year) and this year we had a quality 2 week Caribbean cruise.
The bonus of loving off grid and saving money at the same time.
Enjoy.
nice. its great to see all the different ways people tackle living full time in an RV.
Everyone seems to forget about depreciation. It’s a real cost. A brick and mortar home appreciates every day while an RV depreciates every day. No one ever built wealth living in an RV over having a home.
very true, we cover that in our latest video.
The way the world is going shelter is more important than wealth sheesh.
very interesting thank you for sharing!
it was eye opening for sure. we have scaled back this year.
I was shocked at your first expenses as you were. We have been full time for 5 years now. We purchased a Thousand Trails Elite Basic and added the Trails Collection. We have more than saved the purchase price of our membership in the first couple of years. Like someone said, the campgrounds may not be as nice as private campgrounds but some are. You will see as you travel which you may not want to return to. Here’s an example of our campground costs from 04/23 through 09/23. We averaged $8 dollars a day. This includes TT & Trails Collection, some private campgrounds ⛺️, Harvest Hosts, casinos, BLM land. We spent the summer in Oregon & Washington state where the weather was great and visited our son in Las Vegas then on to California to visit family. Hope this helps. Safe travels!! 😊
Yes, we have already covered 3/4 of the TT cost. Yes, some are nicer than others. We are keeping a running list. Thank you for the suggestion and comments.
@@OurRoadLessTraveled ***That’s great. I hope my comments were helpful. I really enjoyed watching your video. I think it will help a lot of newbies during their first year of rving . Safe travels!! 😊
very helpful. thank you
Congratulations on surviving the first year of full-time RVing. You said that you purchased a Thousand Trails membership. That's very good. I think that will be a big savings for you. Another savings would be to get the EFS diesel fuel card. It's similar to what the truck drivers uses for fuel savings. When you purchase your fuel you will have to go into the area where trucks fuel up. Also take your time. You guys are young. No need to be in a hugh hurry. You definitely save more money doing it that way. Anyway I look forward to seeing more of your adventures.
we have used Open Roads even before we went full time, and yes it is a big savings. thanks for the comments.
@OurRoadLessTraveled
That's right, you did say open roads, sorry, my goof.
@@michelleh2921 keep passing that info along, it has saved us a bunch. Honestly its a reminder to use it.
stay 2 wks at a time in any location. you can easily boondock doing this especially if u have solar panels and.or generator. GO to a gym or trucker gas stn and get a shower pass $7 and shower/wash hair once a week. use baby wipes to wipe down if u want on alternate days in between full showers. use laundromat once a week. so much cheaper than a sticks n brix house of rent, taxes, utilities etc. once you park your rv in your boondock spot/cheap full hookup campground spot, use your cargo bikes to go to the groc store etc. not your vehicle, good exercise and burn calories too!
Great ideas but we are self contained in our 5th wheel including shower. We still work so power and internet are very important. Thanks for watching
ya internet is very important, agreed. @@OurRoadLessTraveled
Thank you for sharing this information.
Glad it was helpful!
Sooo… you gave us a cost to VACATION for a year…
I’m subscribing, just cuz y’all were honest about clueless travel… and what NOT to do!
we'll take it. Thanks for the sub. First year was a wake up call, second year has been much better. Matter of fact, we are releasing a video tomorrow on how we cut food cost.
Greetings from northern Alabama (Huntsville suburb)! Keep it up!
Thanks! Will do!
Good luck with Thousand Trails. I hear from various channels getting reservations isn’t as easy as it’s presented. Look forward to hearing your experiences.
So far we have not had a problem. There is a process and I thing some skip the training then complain
Food is drug!!! Enjoy it and have a blast!! You deserve it!!! 😆
Was there any security issues?
What was you bathroom situations!
Do you guys use your own rig for everything or try to use other places?
Thx!!
Thank you for the comment and questions. We do not have nor have we ever had a security issue while on the road. with that said, we stay out of places that may be having issues such as larger cities. We use our rig for everything. We use the bathroom just like we did in the house and the shower.We make sure to flush and clean the black tank every dump.
@@OurRoadLessTraveled very wise and very smart!! Thank you!!
Liked!
Subscribed!
All!
😁
@@Jgjginkg244 Thank you so much!
Thanks for sharing.
sure thing.
Your food costs can be brought down by at least half if you work on it. Instead of eating out so much, have your new friends over for a meal. That in itself will save you half of what you want to bring your expenses down to your $50,000 annual costs.
We are working on it. Thank you for watching and commenting.
Very interesting. You didn’t list any repairs so that must have been a really good year.
The suspension was the big thing and I had to re caulk a couple places on the roof
I suggest next time doing your video inside your rv due to all the noise. There were a bunch of this video I could barely make out do to those in the background being wayyy too loud.
We agree. The clips that are clear are from the upgraded mics. Thanks for watching and the comments
Hey we are from Athens, AL. Glad to see some neighbors on here. We are looking to full time next next year.
Hey there! 👋🏻 Congratulations! 🥳
Did you include the cost depreation of you truck and rv? Massive additional costs.
No, we did not go into that level of detail. But the RV lost 50% of its value in the 1.5 years we owned it. Truck was no where near that bad.
Rather than thousand trails, you guys should try harvest host and Boondockers welcome.
Those are too far off our path and we need electricity. We still work and need internet. thanks for the suggestion.
good on you for sharing this and the honesty and this not only will help you to curve for next years but it surely will help others to not make the same.
Thank you for the comment and support.
You both are such a lovely and fun couple. My wife would be bitching about everything. LOL. GOD BLESS YOU BOTH!
thank you and we really do appreciate it. Living full time has to be couple decision. One cant pull the other along. again, thank you for watching.
1000 Trails in Conroe TX is GREAT! thanks for the post
That’s great! We’re going to be there in December!
I'm not living the RV life but I'll swear by T Mobile home internet. It's literally plug and play. And I get 5 X what I rec'd with AT&T at the same price. They are aces in my book.
We love TMobile home internet too!
The food would get me too. So many new things to try!
I think y’all did great! It’s about the experience and it sounds like it was a fantastic year!
It really was! Thank you for watching and commenting!
Hold on. $73,750 and did that include the payment on the truck and camper? Or if you paid cash, what was the cost?
That did not include the truck or RV. We paid cash for both before we started
The 2 worst purchases in my life was a boat and a RV. They are not cost effective to own, just rent them. Save storage, maintenance and financing cost. Permanent living will breakdown the RV in just a few years.
we are going on two years in this one, and knock on wood, no issues. Thanks for the comment and watching our stuff.
Wow so cheap! Not bad! At all for the parks . Umm it was definitely the food that was most shocking. At least you enjoyed the experience. When I am camping, I cook it relaxes me.
Thank you for the comment
Our Thousand trails membership experience wasn’t great. What you will find are old run down parks bought up by thousand trails with little to no upkeep and tons of full time residents in the only sections with full hook ups. However it was a steal if your looking for a place to park your home while you see an area. There ARE a few good ones but they are the exception in my opinion. I prefer a cheap state park or county park. Usually inexpensive camping while surrounded by some natural beauty.
We still work and most of the national, state and county parks have horrible cell/starlink access. We just need a place to park. We are either working of seeing the area. I do agree, TT are no the nicest we have stayed in, but far from the worst. Thank you for the comment.
It’s all about how much money you have and how you want to live. Full time is not just for the broke and struggling. I only hope, my life can be a full time vacation some day.
thanks for the comment and watching the video.
How about including maintenance costs,tires,oil changes,batteries,etc ???
we would but most of the maintenance we do ourselves. The lithium battery we have, we bought for out TT and just moved it. Ram gave us 10 free oil changes when we bought the truck. The transmission service was free, due to being replaced a few months ago. Tires we did have to buy $1400 for the truck. Our costs have been really low.
Great if shocking information! Wow! $18,000 on RV parks. I had nooooooo idea! In the old days, was nothing like that at KOA. So interesting. Basically $49.00 a night. Things have skyrocketed! My mortgage taxes and insurance $6,800. But if you can afford it and your still working! Enjoy while you’re young enough. I’m retired and could not afford it. I love these channels but honesty, had no clue.
Don’t be hard on yourselves. It was your first year, of course you are learning!!❤
Thank you for the comment. It was eye opening. We are changing some things to get the cost down. It’s still a lot of money even if we cut it in half.
I wish you would have started this video by saying if your RV and Truck are paid for.
Plus, what does cost to live in an Rv full- time if you aren't traveling but living stationary in an RV.
i imagine the cost would be the same other than campground and fuel cost. We did not include the truck or the RV because thy were paid for the previous year, not in this years expenses.
😮 , WE DEFINITELY CANNOT AFFORD THAT, IT'S MORE THAN HAVING A STICKS & BRICKS HOME
We splurged. our costs are way down this year. over 75% on camping fees alone.
Very informative
Travel safe 🥂
Thank you. are you in the UP of MI? name is why I ask.
@@OurRoadLessTraveled yes we are. Born here but grew up in the suburbs of Chicago.
@@yooperdog we were just in Sault Ste. Marie, loved it up there.
@@OurRoadLessTraveled there's much to see and do, but you have to be willing to travel. We are really close to kitch-iti-kipi Big Springs. It's nicer up here in the shoulder season, less busy. Tourism has really increased over the last few years.
We are preparing to head to Arizona or Texas here in a few weeks.
What type of Thousand Trails membership did you purchase? Great information; thank you.
We bought a used Elite 120. We can stay up to 21 days in a TT park and then go to any other park for another 21 days. We can reserve out 120 days. The tails and Oncore parks we can stay up to 14 days, and hav eto leave them for 7 days. Jason and Jennifer from "No Sticks, No Bricks" gave us a great contact that handled the purchase. If you want her info let us know, we will pass it on. Just shoot us an email.
Good trial run
it was a blast. thanks for the comment.
I've been trying to get my husband interested in RVing. Not much luck yet.
Maybe it's none of my business, but I'm curious what kind of job you have that allows you to "work from home" if you will. Or "work from RV." And be able to travel for a year or longer.
My husband is a security engineer/IT. He gets to work from home only 2 days a week.
I am a network engineer, Maria sells campground advertising. th-cam.com/video/TdyGuae-eKk/w-d-xo.html
Thank you. I just watched 2 videos they did about that.
Correction, 2 videos "ya'll" did
We lived in our 5th wheel full time for 2 years and had USAA insurance. Even had to file a claim during that time, no issues. I suppose something could have changed in the last year or so.
We tried USAA but as soon as the found out we were living in it full time, they would not cover it.
Yes, you could do this on less if you want a more modest life style, but if you can afford the life style you have had this past year, continue with it!
we agree. we do need to cut back a little though.
Eye opening. I'm too old now, but it was a dream years ago.
Never too old. rent one for a week and give it a shot.
Well its cheaper than hotels since you own the camper and truck. But that cost should be included as up front cost.
We figured trucks and RVs are specific to the person. We wanted a baseline that someone else could work from. Others may not buy new or need a dually. It would skew the overall expense to add it in.
OMG! Food was a salary. LOL Love the video. How do you like or not like the East to West? My wife and I are in the market to get a trailer and I really like the East to West. It seems to be the best bang for the buck, as I can tell. Was your Insurance including the truck and trailer?
Thanks
We absolutely can't say enough great things about the East to West! The quality is the best for the price you will find anywhere! We're currently at the Hershey show and have been looking at anything 'comparable' for the last 3 days and have yet to find anything even close! Their customer service is amazing and every person we've ever dealt with has bent over backwards to make sure we're happy!! From what we hear that is rare in the industry. Their team is top notch from factory to sales to service! We don't ever see ourselves owning another brand! Reach out if you have any questions. We'd love to tell you anything you want to know!
I spend more than that per year ALONE in Boston… however I think there’s room for improvement in the food budget category 😊
agreed, thanks for watching.
Love your videos, we will continue to watch as long as to put them up. We have 7 more years until we can go full time. Ill definitely be reaching out for advice on selling everything and the house. Because everything is being sold and hopefully between the profit from selling the house our current vehicles we can buy the 3500 dually and 5th whell outright so that we have no payments. Thats the dream anyway, lol. Stay safe!
Know that we are rooting for you and cant wait to here you have achieved your goal. You are more than welcome to reach out anytime with questions. We may not be able to tell you the right way, but we can sure tell you the wrong way.
7 more yrs the world will b falling apart
@@phyliciajones9696 hang in there!!