Whenever someone considers living in an RV full-time, a question that always comes up is what it will cost.
The best way to figure out what it will cost you to live full time in your RV is to look at what other people have spent doing the same thing. I will share what it cost us to live this way through our first year. I will focus on the expense categories that changed when we moved to our RV.
We have just finished our first year living full-time in our RV. I’m going to share what it cost us to give you another idea of what it might cost you.
What Does It Cost
Whenever someone considers living in an RV full-time, a question that always comes up is what it will cost. Most people want to have an idea of whether they can afford this lifestyle before they make such a huge change.
People spend wildly different amounts to support their lifestyle when they live in an RV. The best way to get an idea of whether you can get what you want is to look at what other people have done. We have just finished our first year living full-time in our RV. I’m going to share what it cost us to give you another idea of what it might cost you.
Your numbers may be different than ours were many reasons. One reason is that during our first year living in our RV, we were not travelling.
Having taken advantage of an opportunity to sell our house and knowing that we wanted to live in our RV eventually, we stayed in an RV park near my wife’s work for our first year. But some of our expenses did change.
Rent/Mortgage
Before moving into our RV, we were living in a 1200-square-foot bungalow in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Our monthly mortgage payment was $1209.43. In the RV, we paid a lot rental of $850.00. We also had to pay tax on this of $42.50 so our total accommodation costs were $892.50 And we saved $316.93.
Utilities
In the house, we paid an average of $162.47 for heat, $120.65 for electricity and $128.70 for water and sewer. The total was$352.57.
We paid an average of $133.22 for electricity, $186.87 for propane. Water and sewer was included in our lot rental. The total was $320.09.
The savings was $62.48.
Phone and Internet
In the House, we paid $143.51 for cell phone services And $66.95 for Internet services. The total was $210.46.
In the RV, We intended to use the RV park WIFI for Internet access, but we found it was insufficient. We made a few changes to our cell phone plans which led to an average payment for the year of $259.59. However, We settled on a plan that costs $215.17 per month. This provides both our phone and Internet needs for $4.71 per month more.
Home and Auto Insurance
In the house they paid an average of $221.17 for home insurance And $157.52 for auto insurance.
In the RV, we spent an average of $24.63 to ensure the RV and $117.30 to ensure our vehicle. The RV insurance was low because the value of the RV is low relative to the value of the house. It also took into account that we were not driving with the travel trailer we lived in.
We also changed vehicles during that time.
Nevertheless, our home and auto insurance costs went from $378.69 to $141.93, a savings of $236.76.
Laundry
In the house, we had our own washer and Dryer so there was no cost to do laundry other than the cost Of supplies.
In the RV, we paid an average of $22.33 a month to do laundry in the RV park laundromat.
Mailbox Rental
When we lived in our house, mail was delivered directly to our home. Because we lived in a RV park, mail wasn’t delivered directly. Therefore, we had to rent a mailbox. We had an annual rental, but it averaged to $19.25 per month.
RV Repairs
The first year we spent an average of $289.29 on RV repairs. This included what we needed to get set up for the first time on our site, what we needed to be ready for winter, and anything that broke or needed to be replaced.
Detailed Table of Expenses.
This table includes details of the average monthly expenses for our first year, living full-time in our RV:
| Category | Spending(Canadian Dollars) |
|---|---|
| Food | $747.28 |
| Entertainment | $242.00 |
| Gas | $183.80 |
| Laundry | $22.33 |
| Propane | $186.87 |
| Life insurance | $228.09 |
| Rent | $892.92 |
| Electricity | $103.22 |
| Phone/Internet | $259.59 |
| Netflix | $10.49 |
| Auto insurance | $117.30 |
| RV insurance | $24.63 |
| Car maintenance | $231.25 |
| Haircuts | $80.23 |
| RV repairs | $289.29 |
| Mailbox rental | $19.25 |
| Car licenses | $23.25 |
| AMA motor club membership | $13.47 |
| Christmas | $83.95 |
| Stuff I forgot to budget | $82.06 |
| Total | $3871.87 |
These amounts are reported in Canadian dollars. During this time the Canadian dollar was worth about 75 cents US. So the average monthly expenses were about $2900 US.
Observations
Having recorded the spending amounts and completing the calculations to complete this Article, I have the following observations:
Estimating what you think it will cost for you to RV full-time, you should consider several examples of what it has cost other people. This is because the costs are really specific to the type of RVing they are doing.
For example, in this case, we were in Canada and were living in our RV, but not traveling with it. We are also dealing with a fairly tight budget, and trying to keep our costs to a minimum.
Full-time RVers are likely traveling, and maybe staying in luxury campgrounds. Their expenses will be very different from what ours were.