I live cheap in an RV—maybe you can too

A lot of people want to live full-time in an RV and do it on a shoestring budget.

It's possible. I do it, but most people end up spending way more money than they expected.

Most people who are dreaming of living in an RV picture themselves in the scene at the top of the page. They want to run away from their problems and live a carefree life on a beach somewhere.

But they fall into the trap of the lifestyle costing way more than they expected it would.

Here's why, and how you can avoid the trap

RV dreamers start with a low-ball budget, and then they realize that the only RV they can buy on that budget will look something like the one in the picture below.

Then they decide they will raise their budget a little bit and get a nicer RV. They do this two or three more times. For every RV they consider, they realize that they can get a nicer RV for just a little bit more.

Next, they look at other parts of their budget. If they buy most of their food from the farmers' market and cook their meals at home, their food budget will be pretty low.

After a while of cooking all of their meals at home, they decide they want to eat out some. When they start eating out, they enjoy it and want to eat out a little more often. Pretty soon, they're eating out a lot.

After all, trying the local dishes in the areas you visit is one of the many joys of the RV lifestyle. This can quickly get expensive.

Traveling is a double whammy

There's so much to see in this great country. Who wants to stay in one place all the time. But when you travel a lot, your fuel bill goes through the roof.

Where the double whammy comes in is that when you're traveling and only spending a few nights in one place, unless you're boondocking, your campground fees can more than double when you compare the nightly rate to the monthly rate.

Staying in one place for at least a month will cut your campground fees in half, and your fuel expenses can go to almost zero for the month.

I usually stay in one place for two, three, and sometimes four months at a time. I cook most of my meals, and I don't go out much.

The other way I save money

I save money by doing most of the maintenance on my RV myself. I've never had a problem with the engine or transmission.

All of the things that go wrong on an RV (and there will be a ton of them) are usually on the inside of the rig. With the help of RV forums and YouTube videos, you can learn how to fix almost anything on your RV.

Boondocking can give you extra money for traveling

If you know how to boondock and have your RV set up for it, you can save a ton of money by not staying in campgrounds. This will allow you to do a lot more traveling. I do like to boondock when I'm traveling, but that's a story for another article.

Here's where I do splurge

Being an engineer, I like gadgets. There's an unlimited number of gadgets (mostly electronic) that you can add to your RV to make your life safer and more enjoyable. In a way, I could say that the money I spend on RV gadgets is not part of my RV cost of living. I could call the money I spend on these items as entertainment. They do make my RV safer and more enjoyable.

Bottom line: The title of this article is I live cheap in an RV—maybe you can too. The reason I can make RVing a low-cost lifestyle is that I'm happy not to travel much, I don't eat out a lot, and I do most of my own maintenance. Most people don't want to live this way. But if they don't live this way, they'll end up spending a lot of money living in an RV.