Living on the road fulltime in a RV can be as cheap or expensive as you make it.  Everyone has different needs, wants and budget constraints, so the cost of living fulltime can vary heavily from person to person.  In this article I am going to discuss ways that we save money as a family of 7 traveling North America in our RV.

Firsts things first, there are 2 very basic needs for living in a RV:  You need someplace to park it, and then you’ll need fuel to get it there.

Let’s get rolling by talking about fuel. Fuel prices vary greatly from region to region, state to state, and saving money on fuel can be touch sometimes.

• We use the Gas Buddy App on our phones to search an area, and find the lowest prices. It isn’t always cost effective to drive all over town to save a few cents a gallon, but where we are currently, the price of diesel varies from $2.81 to $3.24.  So as you can see, it’s definitely worth it to drive across town to save $.43 a gallon to fill up!
• Gas station reward/loyalty cards – Do you ever notice going to fill up, and the first question on the pump is for you to enter your reward card or alternate ID? Most gas stations around the country fall under some major oil companies umbrella; IE Shell, Philips 66, Tesoro, 76, etc., and they all have some sort of reward program or loyalty card.  I don’t expect you to grab a card at every station you go to, but I do suggest getting one for each chain.  Then go online and register it with your phone number so when you’re getting fuel, you don’t have to dig out that card, just punch in your 10 digit number.  In fact, some grocery stores have gas stations, and when you reach a certain threshold per month, you save per gallon.  An example is the Fred Meyer card on the west coast.  When you spend $100 in the store(or at the pump) you qualify for at least .03 off per gallon.
• We are Costco members, and gas there is usually .10 cheaper a gallon than anywhere else in the area, but unfortunately Costco rarely has diesel.

So now that you’re driving along, you need someplace to park for a night, week or month. Finding someplace to park your RV can be as costly as you want it to be; from boondocking in the desert to staying at Disney’s Fort Wilderness.  Our goal when traveling is to spend as little as possible on RV parks and campgrounds.

• We are members of Thousand Trails, a campground membership club. We pay yearly dues of about $800 and we can spend the entire year (up to 3 weeks in a park at a time) in the system for no additional cost.  We have about 180 parks in our plan and we try to take advantage of it whenever possible.  If you interested in information on Thousand Trails, reach out to our friend Eric @ eric_benson@equitylifestyle.com and tell him that the Fummins Family sent you.
• Discount clubs – There are many of these out there, and they can pay for themselves very quickly if used correctly.
  • Passport America – This $44 a year membership is the self-proclaimed 50% off camping club. Although we are not currently members, this membership has worked out well for us in the past.  But do not run out and buy a membership after reading this, but do download their app, and take a look at their campground map. If you want to use one of their parks, wait until the night before to sign up, or sign up at the campground.  The membership runs 12 months from when you signed up, so milk it for the full year.
  • RPI (Resort Parks International) – This membership costs us $120 a year for the premium membership, and is an add on because are members of Thousand Trails. They have hundreds and hundreds of affiliated resorts that fall under their umbrella in one way or another.  We used this program heavily while crossing the lower states going west to east, and up the east coast.  This one has a many levels and different policies, but we have spent as little as $10 a night for some great spots.
  • If you plan to be in an area for a little while, look into weekly or monthly rates.  Many times, this can save you a lot of loot in the process!

As a family of 7 with 4 growing boys, we consume a lot of food! Groceries can vary heavily from state to state as well, so in order to not break the bank, we try to get as thrifty as possible with grocery shopping.

• I mentioned above we are Costco members, and we take full advantage of that as much as we can. Anyone that shops at Costco or Sam’s Club knows, it isn’t cheap to shop there, but buying in bulk has its benefits!
• Plan ahead, especially when heading into more remote locations. When we were traveling into Canada for our trip to Alaska, we knew that some items wouldn’t be allowed across the border.  So we stocked up on alternatives.  Then once in Canada, the grocery prices were definitely higher, so we bought sparingly knowing when we would be crossing back into Alaska.  The same would go for heading out into the desert to boondock, there isn’t a Walmart out in Quartzsite, and the couple small stores there definitely work the whole supply and demand mentality, so you’ll pay much more for groceries.
• Reward/Loyalty cards. Now these seem to be more of a thing in the past, but just this week we had to get one for a local store to get the advertised prices.  We typically try to do the same thing with these as we do with the gas cards, and after signing up, use your phone number so when you’re standing there waiting to pay, you just punch it in, and you get the discounted prices(or rewards points toward fuel!)
• Get to know the different chains. Many of our traveling friends really like Aldi, and some other chains out there that you may not have heard of.  When you pull into a new area, check with your neighbors, or maybe the workcampers that helped get your checked into your new park.

Fun stuff! Who doesn’t like to have fun?  We certainly do!  Because we are a large family, going out and doing things can get expensive pretty fast.  We have found some ways to save money while out exploring areas.

• Find free things to do! If you don’t follow us, you wouldn’t know that we travel with our paddle boards.  We are always looking for lakes to go paddling in, this is something that usually doesn’t cost us anything, and in some rare instances its cost us a small fee for park entry.
• Buy a National Parks pass. The America the Beautiful pass is only $80 a year, and will get you and your car load into almost all national parks (there are a few exceptions).
• Reciprocal memberships – That’s a funny word isn’t it? But these have saved us hundreds of dollars (maybe thousands) during our travels.  Let me explain how this works.  You join a museum that is in this affiliate program, and it allows you access for free (or discounted rates) into any other facility in their system.  There are reciprocal programs for museums (everything from children’s museums to science centers), zoos, aquariums and much more.  We have found that if you search around, there are museums that are included into multiple reciprocal programs.  We are members of the Kern County Museum that includes memberships into:
  • Association of Science & Technology Centers (ASTC)
  • Association of Children’s Musuems (ACM)
  • North American Reciprocal Museum Association (NARM)
  • Time Travelers

By now, your head is spinning, and you don’t know how to keep up with everything we just went over.  Don’t worry, you can book mark this post, and come back as often as you want to.  If you have any questions for more specific information, please don’t hesitate to ask.  You can shoot an email to fumminsfamily@gmail.com.