full time family finances Archives

How Much Does it Cost to Live in an Airstream Feb 2014

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!

How Much Does it Cost to Live in An Airstream? January Edition

How Much Does it Cost to Live in an Airstream Jan 2014 Another month gone by! Time seems to be flying. Another month means we re-evaluate the biggest questions: How much money is it going to take? Can we really make this work?

Comparatively, January was better than December. I think. We definitely spent less money on camping fees (staying with friends, boondocking, and turns out New Mexico State Parks are ridiculously cheap). However, what we saved on camping fees we spent on gas as we are still traveling too fast. It was also very cold for a bit there so we spent more on propane.

Going into February we definitely predict camping fees to go up. Moving into California, we will have a week in Disneyland at an RV Park, plus California State Parks are just expensive. We have put into motion the acquisition of a generator and that will help with recharging our batteries and giving us more flexibility on where we stay.

Enough talk. Here’s the numbers for January:

Here we go:

January 1st: South Houston, TX
January 31st: Halfway between Tuscon, AZ and Phoenix, AZ
Total miles driven: 2,443
Total miles towing the Airstream: 1,666
Average Towing Miles per Week: 416

Camping Fees (State parks, RV campgrounds): $276.70 ($15.37/night average)
# of Nights Courtesy Parked with a friend/free parking: 13
Gas: $834.19
Propane: $98.99
Groceries: $598.90
Laundry: $4.25
Dining Out: $85.83

And here are December’s just for comparison. Next month I think we’ll do a 3 month average:

December 1st: Tampa, FL
December 31st: South Houston, TX
Total miles driven: 2,247
Total miles towing the Airstream: 1,228
Average Towing Miles per Week: 277

Camping Fees (State parks, RV campgrounds): $842.45 ($31.20/night average)
# of Nights Courtesy Parked with a friend/free parking: 4
Gas: $626.88
Propane: $83.62
Groceries: $776.32
Laundry: $29.75
Dining Out: $180.58 (ouch! I didn’t think we ate out THAT much. It must’ve been the beignets in New Orleans!)

Obviously there are more expenses (clothing, entertainment, decorative upgrades, etc.) but these are the main ones. The thing is, what it costs to live on the road is highly subjective. Just as living in a house can be. How nice of an RV Park or Campground do you want (camping fees)? How far are you traveling every week (gas)? How many people in your family (groceries)? How cold is it outside (propane costs)? What do you like to do for fun (entertainment)? These costs completely vary from family to family just as they would in a brick house.

If you’d like another opinion on costs of traveling full-time, our instagram friend Kyle has a great article that breaks down various costs on his blog Where Is Kyle Now? Go check it out and let us know what you think!