Budget

One of the most common questions that we are asked is,

“How Much does it cost?” Budgeting for a trip like this is a very individualized task. There are so many variables that I don’t think I could give an exact cost, but I will give an explanation of what it is like for us.

·	Tow Vehicle - 2007 Dodge Ram 3500 dually- $37,000

·	Salem Toy hauler 5th wheel - $31,000

·	Storage Trailer for the small amount of personal items we kept - $3000

(We did not get a storage unit because we did not know how long we would travel. $200 a month for a unit adds up quick. Buying a storage trailer at least gives us something for our money. The problem is that the insurance company will not insure contents of this trailer. We have hope that everything will be fine when we settle down. Once again, though, we have not been able to place too much value in material things. Moth and rust destroy, thieves break in a steal. Our vision is for eternity. That trust is a choice. Sometimes I have to remind myself of that when I think about what is in that trailer and that if it is all gone or ruined when we return that it is ok and I will be ok.)

·	Generator - We already had a Honda generator that cost us $1700

·	Insurance - Allstate wouldn’t insure a camper that we live in full time, so we had to change to Progressive. It costs about $2000 a year for two vehicles, camper and contents.

·	Cell Phone - four phones and MIFI wireless internet ($60) and unlimited texting costs $270 a month.

Fuel - Doesn’t really cost much more than someone that has a day to day job they have to drive to. Our truck gets average 10mpg towing. The van is about the same towing our flatbed. We do not drive everyday, or every week! Sometimes we stay at a campground for a day and sometimes for four months. If we are on traveling farther distances, we obviously spend more for gas. Right now we are settled down for a few months, so gas is not an issue. I think it all evens out and for us does not cost us much more than when we had our house and were very involved in our community.

Camp Fees - When we first began this trip, an average campground was $12 - $15 a night for at least water and electric. Arriving in Florida was shocking as we experienced camp fees of $20 - $30 per night. In the Keys it was horrendous, we paid $60 a night for four nights on Key Largo! But, we had a great time and it was worth it. We have found that areas that are not high tourist areas are much less expensive. Once out of rural areas, we expect to pay between $25 and $40 a night and around $70 a night at popular destinations. When we are at those campgrounds, we don’t stay long. Of course, there are free or very inexpensive campgrounds across the nation. We have stayed at a few of those. Some have been wonderful like in Marysville, KS, while others were terrible as in Laurel, MT. National Forest is free, but Shae needs to have cell and internet signal to work. Many times there is neither in the National Forest. Also, to run the generator can cost between $5 and $10 a day in gas. Then, we have to pay to dump our sewer at a gas station which is about $5. Occasionally truck stops & rest areas have free dump stations. Yellowstone area was $60 a night in the off season. We couldn’t stay on the park because of cell phone signal. Shae is 50% disabled with the VA, so he got an Access Pass which gives us 50% off National Campgrounds, and free into the parks. It has saved us so much money. Before we knew we could get this, my mother bought us a National Parks Pass for Christmas. That saved a lot of money. Army Corp of Engineer campgrounds are quite inexpensive and can be very nice and typically more private than state or private campgrounds. There are many times we stay with family. There is no camp fee, but we always try to give them money to pay for electric and are very generous with groceries and we buy for them if we eat out. So, staying with family has not proven to save us money, but that is fine with us. When we do volunteer work, we stay for free with full hook ups. But, once again, if we did 30 hours of pay work, we would make a good bit of money. It is not financially advantageous for us to do volunteer work, we could make a lot of money if we actually worked those hours, but that is not why we volunteer. We do it to help and make a difference. We do it to be a blessing and not get selfish. We do it because we love God and people.

Camping Clubs - We are members of Good Sam and Passport America. Both have saved us money every year. We have the Woodalls Camping Directory, and Guide to Free Campgrounds, East and West, and The Mountain Directory that tells us about mountain passes and their specific problems, elevation, switchbacks, and other pertinent information. Click here for links to purchase each of these books.

Food - Definitely costs more. I used to buy food in bulk through a food co-op. I have to buy smaller quantities now. Beef used to cost us $2.50 a pound for steaks and hamburger from our neighbor, who would have half a cow slaughtered for us every six months. Fresh milk was $2 a gallon and eggs came from our own chickens. I had heirloom veggies and our own berries and fruit trees. We miss all of these things terribly. To go from such healthy eating to buying so much from the store has been a difficult transition. One good thing is that we can buy food that is in season in the area we are in. Fresh apples in Georgia, strawberries in Florida, greens and corn in Missouri. I used to grind our own grain and make homemade bread. Doing this in the camper is proving quite hard. It is something I am trying to work back into.

Extra Camper Expenses - Drop ins for the sewer tank vary in price. We use one every four days. Water hoses have to be replaced every now and then. The vents on the floors break constantly from all of the jumping and running taking place. I think we have had to buy at least 10. We use more paper plates than before, since we don’t have a dishwasher.

Sewer Portable Tanks - $200. A lot of campgrounds we stay at do not have full hookups. We purchased a portable sewer tank on wheels. When our camper sewer tank is full, he dumps it into the sewer tank on wheels and then pulls it to the dump station. We stayed at a campground in Apache Junction, AZ that didn’t have sewer or electric and still cost us $20 a night. Cody pulled the sewer tank with his bike back and forth to the dump station. At one point a car was coming at him from both directions. He had to pull into the grass which put a hole in the tank. Needless to say, we had to buy another one. Lesson: do not pull sewer with your bike.

Outdoor grills - I bought a $30 two burner electric stove. It works great when it is too hot out to cook inside the camper. I can just plug it in instead of messing with the outdoor propane grills we bought. There have even been times where we have no propane and I totally cook on the electric stove outside. It is not fun, but we manage. The gas grills were $20 and $60 for each. One is for pots and the other is a grill.

·	Sightseeing varies. Museums sometimes are cheaper to buy a season pass for a family than individual passes. We spend up to $200 a month on this and then other months we try to only go to the free museums to make up for the expense.

·	Eating out - We do not eat out much at all. Picnic lunches and snacks are the way to go for us. There is a blanket in our van that we use to eat and rest on at a park we pass by or in a parking lot.

Laundry - For the first 9 months we used laundromats. It cost between $20 and $24 a week. We usually have to do a load a day to keep up with our big family. I would go to the laundromat every four or five days. Just before we had sweet baby, we decided to get the rv washer/dryer combo. It cost us $1000 but is well worth it.

Mail - My mother gets our mail then forwards it to us. We have her address as our home address. We vote from in that district and pay taxes for there. Our driver’s licenses and vehicle tags are from there. We try to be generous with her and give her the money for shipment but also extra for her time. Depending on our finances, we try to give her at least $10 a month for her. There are many mail forwarding services out there that will do it for you for $10 a month or more plus cost of shipping. I do not feel like it is a burden for my mother, or I would do something else.

·	I am sure I am forgetting many items, so I will add more as I think about it. Please email me with any questions or additions to my list at smith@smittysinfo.com