What amazes me about life on the road is how unpredictable it is. One month can be completely different from the last, but that’s what makes it so exciting! At the same time, variety makes budgeting difficult.

I’ll detail a post later on about how I budget in general (because that’s not really Airstream life specific) but just know that these are not ALL of our expenses. Not even close. These are just the ones that are fairly Airstream specific. We still have health insurance, life insurance, entertainment, loans on the Airstream and truck, HSA contributions, children’s savings, mortgage and utilities on the house in Lehi… You get the idea.

But aside from all that, most people want to know what it’ll cost in the Airstream. The biggest differences for us are the camping fees, higher gas spending, higher groceries, laundry, and occasionally the higher eating out (only because we never really ate out before).

This month we spent 1 week at Disneyland in an RV Park, and then another week in San Diego (actually 2 – but we crossed into March). A little bit of courtesy parking, regional park in AZ, and a National Park in CA. So, pretty varied as far as camping fees go. BUT we also drove less. WAY less. So less gas money. It seems we average out between the two most months.

Here are February’s numbers:

Feb 1st: Halfway between Tuscon, AZ and Phoenix, AZ
Feb 31st: San Diego, CA

Total miles driven: 1,301
Total miles towing the Airstream: 687
Average Towing Miles per Week: 172

Camping Fees (State parks, RV campgrounds): $1029.55
# of Nights Courtesy Parked with a friend/free parking: 2
Gas: $321.59
Propane: $55.70 (way less! Hooray for an electric heater!)
Groceries: $612.45 (also includes all paper goods, and Pull Ups)
Laundry: $21.25
Dining Out: $111.81 (does not include eating out at Disneyland – that was budgeted separately)

Here’s our 3 month average for Dec 2013 – Feb 2014:

Average Miles per Month: 1997
Average Towing Miles per Month: 1194
Average Towing Miles per Week: 99.5

Camping Fees: $23.87/night
Gas: $594.22/month
Propane: $79.44/month
Groceries: $662.56/month
Laundry: $18.42/month
Dining Out: $126.07/month

Not too shabby. We originally budgeted about $40/night average, $700 for groceries, and $700 for gas. So, under on all three! This makes me very hopeful we can continue this lifestyle without too much stress. Hooray!