Hidden Costs of RV Living

BY LAUREN LYNASS

$160 a year on s’mores and firewood? Can you believe it?

We were shocked to find we spent that much on s’mores materials and firewood in a year. Now, we definitely aren’t saying that s’mores shouldn’t be enjoyed every once in a while, and we would even argue that s’mores are a staple of RV living. What we are saying is that we haven’t been pinching as many pennies as we would think living this minimalist lifestyle. There are many hidden costs that aren’t considered with full-time RV living, and these costs go far beyond a s’more or two.

At the beginning of every year, Sam and I take some time to set goals and evaluate the past year. We strive to set one relationship goal, one physical goal, one travel goal, and one financial goal. Our yearly evaluation led us down the rabbit hole of looking into the extra money we were spending living in our 27-foot Airstream travel trailer, “The Burrito.”

I think it’s assumed that living in a trailer, RV, skoolie, or any form of tiny home allows the luxury of saving money. The reality is this isn’t always the case. Yes, we are saving the money we would be spending for a mortgage or rent, and we don’t need to furnish a whole house, and maybe we save a few dollars on utilities, but we dug into the hidden costs of RV living and found some things that shocked us.

All in all, we ended up spending more than $2,000 in one year on hidden costs we weren’t accounting for anywhere else in our budget. Some of these, as I’m sure many of you are aware, are basically necessities when it comes to full-time RV living. Are we saying don’t live small because the savings aren’t big? Absolutely not!

What we are saying is that there are costs we can cut down on even within this list! This year, we decided to make a few cuts in this hidden cost budget—not because we want to save more money, although that’s nice too, but because cutting down on these costs is environmentally friendly and helps us give back to mother nature a bit. Some immediate changes we can make are using less propane when possible, drying more laundry outside instead of in a dryer, finding a less expensive way to manage black tank odors (we are currently researching, but open to suggestions), and using septic-tank-safe toilet paper instead of RV toilet paper.

While these things seem small, they can add up over time! We are excited to track our savings during 2022 and see what a difference some simple changes can make for our piggy bank as well as the environment.

Every year on the road gives us the opportunity to accept all we have learned in the past year and challenge ourselves to continue to grow and change into the next. While we expect a few changes to our budget, we can promise you our s’mores consumption will stay the same.

Here’s to a happy, healthy, and slightly wealthier year on the road!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lauren, Sam, and Fenton the Pup live full time in their 27-foot Airstream International Signature. They like to hitch up and explore on the weekends, and they’ve enjoyed every second of it. Find them on Instagram and YouTube @alittlebitunhitched