ThePewterPalace Our Love Affair with Avions

Its time for our annual recap of our most common budget categories. We know some of you love number crunching so here goes! We hope this article provides some insights into monthly expenses and offers some tips on how to RV travel in a budget conscious way.

FIRST….SOME NUMBERS TO PUT THINGS INTO PERSPECTIVE! WE KNOW SOME OF YOU LOVE FACTS & FIGURES SO HERE IT GOES!!

	2025
TOTAL MILES ON TRUCK	105,452 ODOMETER	THIS IS TOTAL ON OUR TRUCK (2011 GMC 2500 HD, 4WD, 6L, 6 SPEED DENALI)
TOTAL MILES IN ’25	13,267	MILEAGE PUT ON TRUCK INCLUDES TOWING AND AROUND TOWN/DAY TRIPS
TOTAL GAS CONSUMPTION	1,522 GALLONS	THIS INCLUDES ALL GALLONS (TOWING & AROUND TOWN)
OVERALL MPG	8.71 AVERAGE MPG	TOWING & NON-TOWING
TOTAL HR’S DRIVING	460.22	INCL’S TOWING & AROUND TOWN DRIVING

A Word to the Wise! RV life is NOT as cheap a way to live as you (or others) may think

HERE ARE THE STATS SPECIFICALLY FOR OUR “TOWING TRIPS” WITH OUR 1987, AVION 32 FOOT TRAVEL TRAILER (32S MODEL) IN TOW.

SHE WEIGHS APROX 10,120 LB AXEL WEIGHT (CAT SCALE, 10/01/2025)

We began in TX, headed north to AR, MO, KS, NE, SD, ND, east to WI, IA, IL, IN, OH, north to NY, VT, CT, RI, south to NJ, PA, VA, SC, GA, FL.

TOTAL MILES TOWING THE RV	8,681 MILES
AVERAGE MILES PER GALLON WHEN TOWING (GAS)	7.977 MPG
TOTAL HOURS DRIVING WHILE TOWING (IN THE SEAT!)	307 HOURS ( EQUALS + 7.675 WEEKS)
TOTAL TRUCK “AROUND TOWN & DAY TRIPPING MILES (NO TRAILER)	4586 MILES
ESSENTIALLY WE SPENT 1/3 OUR TIME AROUND TOWN/DAY TRIPS	WE SPEND 2/3 OF THE YEAR TOWING
TOTAL # OF TRAVEL DAYS/TOWING	50 TRAVEL DAYS, AVE. 173.6 MILES PER TRAVEL DAY (AVE 3.5 HRS)

WE DID DO OUR PRE-LAUNCH PLANNING for full time RV living!

Back in late 2022 into early 2023 we created our initial “projected” monthly and annual budgets for full time RVing. We anticipated, at that time, our monthly all inclusive budget would be between $3000-$3500. This was based on REAL numbers that we already knew we had ( Insurances=Life, Vision, Medical, Auto, and RV plus RX, phones, and 2 years of averaging our grocery bills, etc. ). Additionally monthly dollar figures that were being provided online by fellow full time RVers who we found that had very similar travel styles, interests and other common expense traits that we did and expected.

WOW…has that $3k-3500 figure gone out the window! As most if not all of you are experiencing the “cost of living” in the USA has skyrocketed. This has affected all of us whether you are in a home, apartment or living life on the road.

Here are some brief notes from this past year on our monthly average expenses. But first….it helps you to see how/what we include in these common budget categories:

1. We do not include things like insurances, RV or Truck repairs as those will vary considerably based on your type of rig, age of vehicle and RV and state of domicile. We domicile out of South Dakota, our truck is a 2011 (and we had to pump a lot of repair costs into it over 2025) and our travel trailer is a 1987 and we do 85% of any repairs ourselves and have very little repair expenses with it.
2. Our “groceries” will also include things like shampoo, dish detergent, laundry soap, paper goods for kitchen and bath, garbage bags, etc. Basically what goes into the shopping cart at the grocery store is budgeted under “groceries”.
3. Our “Recreation” budget includes tickets to museums, paid tours, entrance to special attractions, movie night out
4. Our “Dine-Out” budget includes literally everything food wise purchased not within our grocery budget. This ‘dine out” includes everything from a cup of coffee at a gas station to a candy bar while on a travel day- to a meal at a fast food joint to nice sit down restaurant and it may include alcohol (1-2 drinks each) at those nicer dining places, breweries, etc.
5. Our “camping fees” budget includes an automatic $57 monthly expense (based on our invoice for 2025) which has been spread out over the 12 months. This is our annual “maintenance dues” fee we pay to retain our lifetime Thousand Trails (used) membership package we bought out right in 2021 for only $3K. We recouped our initial $3k investment by Sept. 2023 by using over 100 camping nights at TT parks sufficient to cover that total cost. If this sounds confusing to you, drop us an email and we can explain more fully. Other “camping fees” include national parks, county, state and municipal parks, private campgrounds, harvest host stays where we purchased or donated $ to their cause/museum, .etc. as a thank you. We DO have a NPS LIfe-time Senior All Access Pass (link to that article below) which allows us to save 50% off camping fees at NPS/COE/BLM/USFS campgrounds. This saves a ton of $$! We honestly rarely stay at full service private RV resorts, and in 2025 they only accounted for about 40 nights out of 365 nights. Half of these 40 nights were while attending an organized vintage trailer rally, the other 20 nights were in NY and VT while visiting family and friends.
6. “Gas Expenses” we do fill up with high test, Non-Ethanol gasoline whenever possible as we have found our gas truck runs much better on it with better mileage per gallon when towing. That gas is more expensive than regular gas.

MONTHLY AVERAGES FOR COMMON RV LIFE BUDGET CATAGORIES:

(2 SENIOR ADULTS, and one 18LB SMALL DOG)

GROCERIES	$890
GASOLINE	$417
DINE OUT	$267
OVERNIGHT CAMPING FEES	$475
LP (STOVETOP, FURNACE, HOT WATER)	$28
RECREATION ACTIVITIES	$47
PET FOODS & SUPPLIES, VET BILLS	$68
2 CELL PHONES/VERIZON (cell phones only, w/ unlimited data and hot spot)	$148

AVERAGE MONTHLY TOTAL OF JUST THESE “VERY BASIC” EXPENSE CATEGORIES	$2,340

Again the above DOES NOT factor in many of our budget categories that may be more unique to us. We feel we live very modestly. We do not go out partying, or to fancy restaurants. We buy our clothing typically at thrift stores. We do not eat expensive cuts of meats or seafoods, we look for sales, and besides our RV we do not have any other hobbies that could cost us money like golfing fees, boats, crafts, hiking equipment, beauty shop visits, manicure care, etc.

OUR 2025 LIFESTYLE YEAR also included staying essentially for $5 per night in January, February, March at Thousand Trail Campgrounds in Texas and then Camp Hosting in the months of Oct, Nov and Dec where our site and electrical was free and we were in one place with minimal costs for gas for travel. ONLY 40 nights were spent at full service, private campgrounds where fees average $55-120 per night. These factors significantly can contribute to less cost per day/year for an RV lifestyle. If you are someone who only stays at private campgrounds & higher end RV resorts, does a lot of travel 12 months of the year (increased gas/diesel consumption than us) or has monthly payments on a vehicle or RV (we are debt free), and loves to visit pubs and dine out at moderate to higher end sit down restaurants your budget figures are going to look very, very different from ours does now!

For more information on our specific travel style, destinations, length of trips we have done, visit our “travel log” page!

BUT WHAT WAS YOUR AVERAGE DAILY COSTS WHEN FACTORING IN ALL OF YOUR EXPENSES ?? (This would include our insurances, our Starlink, truck & RV repairs, camping supplies, laundry, office supplies, personal purchases, RX costs, medical check ups, gifts, etc.

We concluded 2025 with an AVERAGE DAILY EXPENSE OF $117.35 as a couple. In other words: $58.68 per person/per day.

This gives you at least a good foundational amount on how to begin your budgeting forecast IF you plan for about 7 months of RV travel.

If you would like a copy of our “budget template” to help you plan even extended trips versus full time RV life– just drop us an email using our “contact us” page. We are happy to send you a working sample excel sheet and/or in PDF form to give you more detailed ideas on ALL that you truly need to budget for.

OUR BIGGEST TIP!

If you do not already track every receipt into a budget spreadsheet….start now!

Know where your money is going! Here is a great article!

We did track our grocery expenses for 2 years before we headed out on the road. Most of our other expenses like rent, utilities, insurances, medical costs we knew would either continue or convert into similar RV related costs. An example of this was our apartment rent would convert to our camping fees and gas travel expenses. Our apartment utility costs would convert to our LP usage, any metered electricity (which we did have when staying in AZ on a monthly basis) and laundromat costs and travel day snacks, dine outs. So you can see how we rationalized those conversion of expenses.

WHAT MAKES RV LIFE BUDGETS DIFFERENT THAN “STICKS N’ BRICKS”?

The real beauty of living an RV travel life is YOU have FAR more control over monthly living expenses. YOU can choose to camp host and stay free, or camp on BLM land for free, boondock/mooch dock, cut back or expand on gas usage based on budget constraints. WE BALANCE OUT EXPENSIVE MONTHS WITH LESS EXPENSIVE MONTHS. You travel with your own kitchen so you do not have to eat out every meal when traveling- restaurants are outrageously expense these days! You do not pay property taxes, school taxes. You can choose the level (and therefore daily rate) of the type of campground you stay at. If you can afford high end with tons of amenities- great! If you are more modest like us in our budget, then you can find beautiful campgrounds for much less– especially west of the Mississippi River. Looking into seasonal or annual sites can save you even more $$. BTW- camping in New England and along the Eastern seaboard and West coast are your most expensive places to RV….so take them in small doses if budgets are a consideration.

Links to articles we have previously published regarding budgeting, cost-saving tips for any length of RV travel:

Annual Passes (includes NPS Access Passes, State and special annual passes)

2024 Budget Recap: Includes 12 Cost-Saving tips for RV camping/travel

Camping Club Memberships may be a good fit for you! ….. or may not!

We sincerely hope that this article has provided more answers than questions! LET US KNOW! Truly, we are happy to go into more details on full time travel life if you wish to reach out to us.

Next year, 2026, we will be cutting back even more on our travel budgets because we have opted to do camp hosting for 3 months (Jan/Feb/Mar) and work camping for NPS for 2 months (Apr/May) and only travel the months of June through September/October. We are doing this so we can rebuild some savings taken for unexpected major truck repairs in 2024-2025 and save up for a hopeful Disney World Fort Wilderness stay in 2027!

Wishing you all the best in 2026 and we would love to meet up along the road or around a campfire somewhere on our travels!