One thing that come to mind is how do you cover your living costs while full time RVing. You see, I am in a situation that I’m a Canadian citizen and I wish to RV for a good part of the year in the USA and I am unable to work there legally.
I do have an online income but as of yet, it may still not be enough to completely remove the need for income. So, my question to you is what is the best method of accomplishing this task?
This also brings to mind, what will living expenses look like while full time RVing? I do realize that there are some costs that just don’t go away. Here’s a few that come to mind:
- Food and miscellaneous – I believe that the costs that I currently have of around $1,500 per month and this is for a family of five. This would include occasional eating out as well.
- Health insurance – for myself, I would be looking at around $300 but for others it could be as high as $500 per month for health insurance.
- Vehicle and RV insurance – I’m guess here, but I believe if I allocate $150 per month, that should cover those costs.
- When things go wrong – I would automatically allocate around $300 to $500 per month that would go into a fund that would cover when things really go wrong. Water damage on the RV, or a transmission goes. That sort of thing. If after one year, a year’s slush is accumulated, then this monthly expense could be reduced.
- Communications – Because we do most of our business online, then I would need to ensure that we have Internet access in the RV. With the lowering costs of mobile internet sticks and technology like that, this expense can be between $50 to $100 per month. Nice thing is, with a Magic Jack device, there is no second expense for mobile phones! Yay!
- Life Insurance – This one doesn’t go away. We still need to have sort of life insurance until we become rich. I currently allocate $400 per month to this, but am considering reducing it to around $200 per month.
That’s the costs that I can put my thumb on. I do know that there are other expenses, like liquid fuel for travelling, heating and cooking. Also the cost of renting a space when I would stay at an RV camp ground. I believe that there are ways to dramatically reduce even these costs, but here’s where am asking you, the reader, how do I judge these costs and what are the best ways to reduce them to a mimimum without scarificing the whole experience of full time RVing?
Please leave me your comments below!
I’m a journalist on deadline for a feature in a retirement magazine on choosing a home base. I’m a former full-timer myself seekiing to profile present full-timers. I need brief bio and a his-res photo. Glad to mention your website. Can do ASAP? Thanks
We’ve been living in an RV for the past year and have kept track of all our RV-related expenses. We thought others might find the information useful, so we published our personal costs of fulltime RVing (our monthly budgets & expenses) and money-saving tips in each category on our blog. Cheers!
Christy, thank you for sharing your great article! I’m glad to offer you the link to it as it really benefits this community.
Frank
We don’t want to full time R.V. I want to have an online income so I can go when & where I want. I am on S.S. and have a retirement check that is good for being at home but not the expence of traveling . SO I need a legit on line program.
Can someone help e-mail me at
nilrod1 hotmail com
10/20/2012