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We Went Over Budget by $2,346: Our First Month RVing Breakdown

Rving Somewhere Together

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What does it REALLY cost to live full-time in an RV? After our first full month on the road, we finally have real numbers, and they weren't exactly what we expected!

Before starting full-time RV life, we created what we thought was a realistic monthly budget of $3,489.31. Then August happened.

Our actual spending for the month came to $5,835.68, putting us $2,346.37 over budget.

In this video, we're breaking down where the money actually went, including campgrounds, food and entertainment, RV and truck maintenance, insurance, Starlink, memberships and the category that absolutely destroyed our original budget: FUEL.

We originally budgeted just $550 for diesel, but our actual fuel cost came to $2,413.88, putting us $1,863.88 over budget on fuel alone.

But that led us to an even bigger question:

Did we underestimate the cost of full-time RVing... or did we underestimate the cost of full-time TRAVELING?

August was our launch month. We traveled hard, moved frequently and experienced a LOT during our first month living on the road. So we're not ready to say that $5,800+ is simply what RV life costs us every month.

Now we're adjusting the budget, slowing things down and putting our plan to the test in September.

👉 Tell us in the comments: If you were looking at our budget, what's the ONE category you would change?

And make your prediction: What do you think we'll spend in September? We're coming back next month with the answer!

Subscribe and follow along with RVing Somewhere Together as we share the real numbers, mistakes, lessons and adventures of full-time RV life.

It’s not about the destination. It’s about the journey.

Enjoy These Amazing Creators

OURRVSUNSETS - @ourrvsunsets

PUTTERINGPUCKETTS - @putteringpucketts20

#FullTimeRV #RVLife #FullTimeRVLiving #RVBudget

20 Comments

@RvingSomewhereTogether Creator 1 month ago (edited) Pinned

We want to apologize for a couple of issues with our latest video. After uploading, we noticed some audio problems and a few spots where the video was a little blurry. Unfortunately, we didn’t catch either of those during the editing process.

We’re still pretty new at all of this, and every video seems to teach us something new! We’ve already spent a lot of time working on the audio for our next video, and we’re hoping you’ll notice a big improvement.

Thank you to everyone who continues to watch, comment, offer advice, and hang in there with us while we learn. We truly appreciate your patience and support more than you know.

We promise to keep learning, keep improving, and keep taking you along on this crazy full-time RV journey with us.

Thanks for sticking with us! ❤️

Tim & Robin
RVing Somewhere Together

@RvingSomewhereTogether Creator 1 month ago

Well… our first full month definitely didn’t go according to budget! 😂

We budgeted $3,489.31 and ended up spending $5,835.68.

Now we want to hear from YOU 👇

If you were looking at our budget, what ONE category would you change first?

And bonus points… guess what our TOTAL expenses will be for September! We’ll come back next month and see who got the closest. 😎

Thanks for coming along on this crazy journey with us! ❤️
Tim & Robin | RVing Somewhere Together

@FreshRVLivin 1 month ago

With the surplus in funds from the maintenance line, I think Robin should be able to get some more yarn!

@ThePewterPalace 1 month ago

Hi guys! Glad to see you made it to CO! The towns of Creede and Crested Butte are two places that are easy, beautiful drive day visits from there. Both very unique and wildlife in daytime!

@ourrvsunsets 1 month ago

We had such a lovely time hanging out with you guys. That restaurant was The Alpine Inn in Hill City, South Dakota. Don't feel too bad about the fuel budget. Fuel pricing is just completely ridiculous right now. Once you slow down a bit and stay longer in places that will be a huge help.

BTW Tim, I loved the open in this video, great edit!!

@henryleslievermont6004 1 month ago

Hello Tim and wife 🙂 Jason Fleury just retired , too. 👍 Have fun traveling the country. 👍👍

@jimtro4403 1 month ago (edited)

Great video! One thing everyone forgets when figuring out the money spent on their RV journey and it doesn't hit them until the end is depreciation of the unit. The depreciation of the Brinkley is approximately $1200-1600 a month for the first year of ownership. The actual cost for your first month was actually closer to $7035 and you have to add that depreciation of 15-20% for the next 11 months then after that it should decrease to 10-13%! When I got out of my Momentum I lost $50K over a 3 year period. Was it worth it, I think so because I loved that way of life.

@candybonhomme5915 1 month ago (edited)

Your first month on the road always blows the budget because you're excited so you travel more. You buy things that you found out you needed and something always breaks. It will level out.

@BenZastrow-u5k 1 month ago

Mud Flap also is a good option. We have 2 gas apps open roads is the second. If we use both and watch our fill ups we can save 23-38 cents per gallon. You guys are doing good enjoy the journey.

@ARoadLessTraveledBy 1 month ago (edited)

On your final slide (budget vs actual) I think you transposed your Maintenance with your Campground fees.

@randyhoffpauir8345 1 month ago

You can't budget your fuel without knowing your fuel mileage, both towing and not towing. I did a quick estimate of your trip from Vermont to Colorado (2000 miles) if fuel is $5/gal and you budgeted $550 then you could only buy 110gal. That means your fuel mileage while towing would have had to be roughly 18mpg. If you are getting that good of fuel mileage i need to change trucks LOL. Make sure when using open roads, you check the app before going to the truck stop. Not all Love's participate. Mud Flap is also good, we have been having better luck with it lately than open roads. We have been on the road full time for 8 1/2 years now. You will quickly learn what works and what doesn't.

@cherokee180c0 1 month ago

Our fuel budget was probably the same as we spent almost about $3400 in 3 months but we drove over 7000miles. We have no intention to cut down the travel as time is a much bigger factor and we plan to optimize our go go years. However this was about $1000 over what we originally budgeted when diesel was $3.50/gallon. We took most of the increase out of restaurant eating out money as that can really destroy your budget super fast.

@ShawnGriffin-g9w 1 month ago

Thank you for sharing. In a year and a half we will retire and spend two years on the road driving from SC to Alaska and back somewhere to retire. It helps to see real numbers so I can get a baseline for our travels. I heard you say that you have a membership for Thousand trails, is that why your campground fees are so low? Do you pay for an annual membership?

@Jack-b3z2m 1 month ago

WOW YOU LIVE HIGH ON THE HOG.

@ST-hs7vz 1 month ago

Where are yall staying when yall get to tx?

@planecrash3372 1 month ago

What was your average cost per mile for fuel through the month?

@williambrown1172 1 month ago

Audio is weird!

@sharoncarr2792 1 month ago

The fuel budget has me confused!! Did you not figure your MPG before going across the country? My motorhome gets approximately 7-8 mpg towing and I estimate $6 gallon (gas).. so if I’m going 1400 miles I know that’s 200 gallon x $6 = $1200 budget .. I mean your $550 for diesel with your rig just going across the country was way off.. realistically you need to know your mpg and then estimate the cost per gallon on the higher end .. then knowing your travel route will give you your miles.. I keep a running tally in my phone in notes and figure our mpg with every fill up.. beating luck to you guys

@davet7663 1 month ago

If you consider the depreciation on your truck and RV you’re way over budget!

@ThePewterPalace 1 month ago

Re Budgets... 3.5 yrs into full timing we strongly recommend that you create separate budget lines for each of the following: groceries, "dine out" and " recreation". This way you get a far truer picture of day to day groceries (we do also include all paper goods, household cleaning peoducts in groceries). There will be places you are camped where little to no restaurants (or worth going to) or other very unique times you may want to splurge on a dining experience. Even the coffee and muffin at a rest stop counts as a 'dine out" since it is not food prepared at home. This way you can know true grocery costs better. Also for "recreation" this is where we put any expenses for things like paid tours, canoe/kayak rental, flight tours, movies, concerts, local events, tram rides, fishing trips, amusement or other type parks, museum entry fees, etc. Again, this helps you budget true $$ figures knowing some months could be very high, others nil. We have found the more we segment out our budget the easier it is to plan for the coming year of travel. ALSO technically camping at a TT park is not free. We all pay an annual maintenance fee and for some folks you have a monthly contract payment. We don't owe on our contract but I take our annual maintenance fee and break that down over 12 months. That way it is budgeted under "camping fees" column since it essentially is just that. At the end of a month, and year, we can know how many TT nights we had, divided by the monthly camping fee to know what each of our TT nights cost us. Hope this helps you and others in some way.