John and I have been sitting down at the beginning of each month to write a budget and writing a plan for where we want our money to go. We have been using an Excel spreadsheet for over 15 years now and it has kept us grounded and focused on what is important to us. We may exceed our budget at times but year over year we have been able to stay within our own reasonable expectations.
We have included a sample Excel Budget followed by an explanation each budget below.

$1500.00 per month or $50.00 per day on average.
This means that there will be a park that is quite expensive so we have to find a park at a lower fee in order to cost average our nightly stays. We do this by spending a night or two of boondocking, using a Harvest Host location, or finding a weekly / monthly rate along the way. We have been successful at keeping our average cost under $1500.00 per month for the past three years now.

The interesting thing about being on the road is we rarely pay electricity, water, sewer, garbage, or cable.There are many RV locations that provide WiFi as well. We only have two bills and that is for our cell phones and what we use for internet.
Phones and Internet: We currently only use an AT&T phone plan and added a T-Mobile Tower at $50.00 per month for our internet. That has sustained us pretty well. There are other several options for WiFi and Internet out there. Since we do not work remotely we have found that this option has been fairly reliable. There have been a few areas where the reception is poor and download or upload speeds suffer. We do use the T-Mobile for TV function and YouTube so slow speeds can be a problem on occasion.

$800.00 per month
We originally tried to keep our grocery tab under $600.00 for two people, but we continued to run over every month. We finally agreed on a more reasonable amount of $800.00 per month and have consistently kept it within the budget. We will add more to the budget if we have family or friends visit.
Keep in mind, we do not dine out too often. While working we had the luxury of a consistent income but after retirement we found that dining out became one of those items we had to limit.

$150.00 per month
TP, hair products, razors, lotions, and so many others. This is an area that can be a hidden cost in a budget. We use RV toilet paper for heavens sake... and it can add up. 😂
We have found that $150.00 in its own category was helpful. And yes, John uses more shampoo and sundries than Caroline. 🧴💇‍♂️😳

We attempt to dine out once or twice a month. Our days of riding motorcycles can be longer so it is one of the times we are more likely to “dine out.” Now, dining out while in motorcycle boots and jackets does not lend itself to dance dining! Freddies, In & Out, or a local pizza joint works better when we are out on the bikes and it is nice back to the RV and have to cook after those long rides.

$600.00 per month
Try having two motorcycles along with a dually diesel truck pulling your entire home around the country. You will definitely have challenges meeting the budget. A wise person once said “When you’re rollin’ you’re spendin’!”
Our first year of travel we would often only stay 3-7 days in a location and we rode the motorcycles about 500-1000 miles in each state making it all the way to Texas! I can assure you that we did not meet the budget on this item! Our current goal is $600.00 per month and many months we have been under. However, there were way too many months that we went over because of rising fuel costs in certain locations like California. Or we just had to ride the entire coast of Maine!

$150.00 / month
As we said earlier, it is easy to land in a location and want to see all of the top visitor locations. As we have travelled more, we realize we cannot do everything and that it is okay to not do it all. There are several ideas and places to visit for each area that we land and we try to be selective based on time and desire.
One benefit that we have is that riding motorcycles gives us a different view and ability to get around. We park easier, we get on and off quicker, and often do not stay as long as one stop. I think our best memory was riding to “Mardi Gras” in New Orleans. We kept following all of the people walking towards the parades and each turn with the motorcycles brought us closer to the parade route. So close in fact, that we were allowed to park in the street along with all of the chairs and people. Policeman approved.
We also have a National Park Pass and that always comes in handy when visiting the National Parks.

This can be so individual, but as we all know, health care can be expensive. We have used the Insurance Marketplace for the past three years and have a copay of around $250.00 a month based on our income. We found that using insurance agent helped tremendously in selecting the right insurance plan for or needs without any additional fees.

We sit down at the beginning of each month and write out a plan. We try to note those items that we may not include every month: vehicle insurance, possible repairs, birthdays, and replacing clothing or shoes. This is wide open of course. There always seems to be something on the horizon: holidays, tires that need replacing, RV parts or repairs, or simply purchasing something to be enjoyed. The ideas are endless! 😃
While it does not always sound like fun, John and I have come to appreciate our monthly budget meeting. It gives us a set time to plan and know what to expect for the month.
Let us know if this helped you in any way. Thanks for reading!
Caroline (And John) ☘️

Sharing our Finances and Monthly Budget

The ABC’s of RV Living