IT'S LIKE CHEATING - How We Afford the RV Life

Comments · 525

• DA

  @davidekorenrud7762 · 2 years ago · pinned

  Hi Hanks, I've been full-time RV'r for 6 years now. Only stayed at Walmart 3 times, once when I broke down in Kansas and one time in Wyoming where my tow car was broken into.  One time in Oregon was uneventful.  I  use allstays, elks and moose lodges, compendium and I stay at a lot of casinos. I  have paid $109. per night at a KOA in west Yellowstone and $20 per night with full hookups in Mississippi. I never make reservations and have always found a place to stay. It was a little scary one night in Connecticut when I had no place to go when I saw a billboard for a casino. I had to backtrack about 12 miles but I found my spot for the night. As you know, full-timeing is not the easiest lifestyle but it is the one I have chosen as well as you and many of my friends and others.  Thanks for the good Info and you just keep doing you.

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• PR

  @privaterodeo4653 · 2 years ago

  We called a KOA near Rapid City, South Dakota about dumping and they wanted $40 just to dump and fill fresh tank.  NO THANKS!!!.    Found a Love's and did it for $10.  Any if you are a member of RV Complete it's only $5 to dump at any Love's and you get $0.13 off per gallon of gas

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• DA

  @DannyNomad · 2 years ago

  I boondock in one spot for two weeks at a time. Regarding electric, I have 1000w of solar and a generator as back-up. I can run pretty much what I want. For water: 40 gallon lasts me the whole two weeks. I take showers sparingly and always a navy shower: wet for a few seconds, turn the water off to lather up, water back on for thirty seconds to rinse. A shower takes less than a gallon of water. I use no water for dishes. A few sprays of hydrogen peroxide from a bottle, wipe the dish out with a paper towel. The rest of my water is for drinking. Grey only has a few gallon of shower water at the end. Since I'm boondocking, I use the natural facilities as much as possible, but I can always fill up the black tank if the weather is nasty.

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• ST

  @StreamingNomad · 2 years ago

  I am guessing I spent about $700 to be able to boondock for free, and do so &apos;breaking even&apos; comfort and electrical wise - my RV came with 300w of solar on the roof, and I paid for another 300w of ground panels, and a backup gas/propane generator, all bought during a black friday sale.<br><br>To transition that to boondocking in comfort, it&apos;s closer to $17,000 - 1000w of solar on the roof, a second mppt for 800w of ground panels, the Victron 3000 series converter/inverter and 600Ah of Lithium - if it&apos;s a bright sunny day, I can run the AC, woooo! &nbsp;and even in full cloud-over days, the roof solar still brings in about 200-300w which helps on those days.<br><br>The final cost item for boondocking that&apos;s been a game changer is a three-stage filter for my water intake that includes a 12v pump so I can draw water pre-filter from streams or springs, cattle tanks, etc.

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• LA

  @larryallen7370 · 2 years ago

  I agree on the Army Corps campgrounds. &nbsp;I applied for a National Park Lifetime Card (I&apos;m over 62 and it is available free for veterans) and get a 50% discount. &nbsp;We stayed in Georgia. &nbsp;We also like to stay in state, county, and city parks, many offer discounts based on age and the National park pass. &nbsp;Overall, we&apos;ve been satisfied with these parks. &nbsp;They are usually in great locations, are beautiful, have power and water hookups, and are less expensive compared to private campgrounds. &nbsp;As far as free dump stations, we&apos;ve found many in rest areas. &nbsp;We really like your videos and appreciate all the work in producing them. &nbsp;Safe travels and hopefully our paths will cross.

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• JE

  @jerrytalley802 · 2 years ago

  I’m over 62, and National parks with full hook ups is $14/ night, dump station near Oregon Inlet NC, right near the beach, same views as the multi million dollar homes up the road.

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• PH

  @philc.9280 · 2 years ago

  In the beginning of this video, you assume those that have money don&apos;t need to listen. &nbsp;We are recently retired and saved a ton, but we still shop at some thrift stores, use apps to save gas and occasionally use dollar stores. Thats how you stay wealthy! Great tips btw.

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• FR

  @frederickbarber1063 · 2 years ago

  You prompted me to go into RV Trip Wizard and search for 4*+ city and county parks along routes we routinely travel. Found several priced $15-25/night and “favorited” them for future reference. <br><br>Driving back from Salt Lake to Dallas over the past few days we enjoyed Boulder County Fairgrounds in Longmont, CO ($20 electric only) and a real gem - Frazier Park in Ulysses, KS ($15 FHU in a pretty little city park). &nbsp;Frazier Park also has a golf course with beer and soft drinks in the clubhouse and free coffee and popcorn all day. <br><br>Contrast this with a recent Harvest Host stay in Tularosa, NM that charged $40 for an electric hookup! I would be OK with $10-$15 for electric at an HH, on top of my wine purchase, but I thought $40 was highway robbery.

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• KA

  @karensevern328 · 2 years ago

  We are retired on social security only so a budget is a must. We boon dock when at all possible. We have a little solar 380 watt panels total and we have a back up generator 450 w duel fuel. We live in a Micro Minnie 2108 FLX. &nbsp;We have lived out here for over 19 months. We are not on vacation so we are living where the weather is good moving to higher elevations and further north in summers and south in winter. We do not use air conditioning and we’ve removed our rv commode and replaced it with a Trelino composting toilet. We now have 2 grey tanks cleaning &amp; using the black tank as grey water storage. &nbsp;We use campendium to find free camping and free dump stations. Most Maverick and Speedway gas stations and travel centers have them. We’ve learned a lot and love our life and freedom. We find beautiful places and take many amazing pictures. Oh and don’t forget the national park pass gets you into parks for free and if you’re 62 you only pay for the lifetime senior pass for one of you and you get all of you in free.

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• DA

  @datacenterdude · 1 year ago

  Went to Bucees to get cheap gas… spent $200 in the store. &nbsp;It’s a slippery slope

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• JO

  @johntaglia9378 · 2 years ago

  You may want to look into the ELKS, they are throughout the country &amp; usually have parking areas where you can park for free or for a few dollars.

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• SR

  @SRAllen-o5t · 9 months ago

  I&apos;m in the process of starting the F/T RV life. I&apos;m 63 yrs old with a loving pup ready to downsize &amp; travel. Thanks for your information and advice. I&apos;ve been researching this subject for about a year, and any help is needed and appreciated! I look forward to more videos! Thanks!

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