30 Tips to Cut Your RV Travel Expenses
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our E-mail Digest or RSS Feed. We will then send you the stories that are posted each day in an e-mail digest. We use a service called Feedburner for delivery of these emails. You will receive an e-mail from Feedburner after you subscribe and you must click on that email to activate your subscription. Thanks for visiting and enjoy all the information!
RV.Net Blog Admin
The Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial kickoff to the summer travel season, with many families either hitting the road or planning to do so within the following summer months.
Try local wineries for wine tasting and tours. Pictured avbove Gehringer Brothers Estate Winery in the Okanagan Valley, British Columbia. © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved
Following are 30 tips that will help you save money while still enjoying all the fun, freedom, and flexibility that RVing has to offer:
- Buy a local newspaper when checking into a campground or RV park and check it for coupons, bargains, and savings before going out to shop for groceries.
- Don’t buy all of your groceries at supermarkets. Buy food and other necessities at thrift bakeries, discount stores, dollar stores, church and charity bazaars, flea markets, roadside fruit and veggie stands, canning plants, and u-pick orchards.
- Shop at a local farmer’s market and chat with the folks selling the fruits and veggies. Pick up something “new to you” and ask them how to prepare it—then go back to your RV and try it.
- When in a campground connect to “shore power” and use THEIR electricity, not YOUR propane, to heat your water and run your refrigerator. Water heaters in particular consume considerable amounts of propane.
- If you’re staying in a metered park and paying for the electricity, you can determine which energy source is most economical—paying for the electricity or using your propane. Multiply the kilowatt rate being charged by 20 and compare that to the price of a gallon of propane.
- When eating out, look for 2-for-1 coupons and early bird specials.
- Eat out at lunch instead of dinner.
- Eat in. Cook your family favorites in the convenience of an RV and avoid the higher costs of eating out. Better yet, cook over your campfire!
- Check the local paper for free community events including concerts in the park, lectures, plays, etc.
- Attend festivals, fairs, and parades. Tourism offices and RV magazines offer calendars of events.
-
Attend festivals, fairs, and parades. Pictured above is a guord festival near Moab, Utah. © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved
Visit the public library and check out a few movies, make some popcorn, set up the TV outside the RV and have a date night or family gathering under the stars.
- Take free tours of state capitol buildings.
- Visit churches, cathedrals, and architectural sites.
- Visit museums on their free days—most have at least one a month.
- Take a factory tour—sometimes they’ll include bonus samples.
- Try local wineries for wine tasting and tours.
- Check out cheese factories, breweries, and farms that offer tasting tours.
- Pack a picnic and spend an afternoon at a local park relaxing, eating, talking, reading, exploring, daydreaming…did I mention relaxing?
- Window shop a fancy part of town. End the afternoon with a cup of coffee, tea, or other refreshing beverage in said “fancy part of town.”
- Follow the trails of the pioneer settlers as traveled the Oregon Trail from Independence, Missouri to the Pacific Oregon.
- Discover the history and charm of America’s historic routes such as the Ohio and Erie Canalway in Ohio; Historic National Road in Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia; and Historic Route 66 in Arizona, California, Illinois, New Mexico, and Oklahoma.
- Explore Americas Scenic Byways such as the Pacific Coast Scenic Byway in Oregon, Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina and Virginia, and Natchez Trace Parkway in Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee.
- Check out the travel section of local bookstores for guidebooks on historical, cultural, and scenic travels.
- Visit the birthplace and memorial libraries of presidents such as the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston, Massachusetts and George Herbert Bush Presidential Library and Museum in College Station, Texas.
- Visit the birthplace and homes of other famous people such as Thomas Edison and Henry Ford Winter Estates in Fort Myers, Florida.
- Take up bird watching.
-
Visit the birthplace and memorial libraries of presidents. Pictured above is John F. Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston, Massachusetts © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved
Explore the public parks and gardens around the continent such as the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco and Stanley Park in Vancouver.
- Explore the beauty of the outdoors by taking a walk along a river or lake or hiking into the wilderness.
- Take advantage of regional bargains. Each area of the country has bargains you can take advantage of as you RV.
- Take a walk in nature—breathe deep, walk softly, and observe your surroundings.
Unless you have written savings goals, it is often tempting to spend money on purchases that give immediate gratification instead of long term rewards. Being skilled at managing money often requires goal setting as well as long term planning and saving.
If you have additional thoughts, we would love to hear them. Please do share!!
Worth Pondering…
If you can, you will quickly find that the greatest rate of return you will earn is on your own personal spending. Being a smart shopper is the first step to getting rich.
—Mark Cuban
You May Also Like
- Preparing Your RV for a Summer Road Trip
- Is Your RV Ready for the Road?
- Are You Ready for the Road?
- Bring your home with you this summer…on a budget
- 10 safe driving tips
If you enjoy these articles and want to read more on RV travels and lifestyle, visit my website: Vogel Talks RVing.
![[del.icio.us]](http://images.del.icio.us/static/img/delicious.small.gif){kind=small}
[...] is a great article from RV.net that outlines thirty great tips to to do just that. The best part is that they are easy to [...]
Item # 3 about shopping at farmers markets doesn’t always ring true. We often find the Framers markets are a little more expensive… HOWEVER… the fresh flavor of the fruits and vegetables is more than worth a few extra cents.
Howdy Rex,
A very good and informative article… Thank you….
Smooth roads & balmy breezes !!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for the great article and tips! One more to add…geocaching is fun and gets you out to explore places you otherwise may never go. We love to cache while RVing…2 of our favorite things. Go to geocahing.com to find out more about the sport.
Support the local sports teams whether they are Little League, high school or college. With the lock out for NFL it will be a cheaper way to see a football game and see the future superstars. Don’t forget womn’s sports either.
LBJ’s Library in Austin, TX on the UT campus is free. There is another museum behind it that has dinosaur tracks, gems from Texas, firearms, etc. that pertain to Texas History.
Most universities also have a liberal arts program with band and choir concerts, plays and sometimes they will bring in big name entertainers. Some also have their own art museums or shows to showcase the students works.
Great blog. Thanks for the info. Another fun site related to this is found at http://greendockin.blogspot.com
When shopping for groceries, tell the clerk at check out time that you’re traveling and they’ll usually give you the coupon or “card” discount on the appropriate items. This worked for us on our recent 11,000 mile tour of the US.
You can also get free e-books for your computer. I use Kindle for Mac and have read many great freebees.
Great ideas you have suggested. Thanks.
We carry a large kettle used only to boil water on our campfire for washing dishes. We usually camp near a natural water source (lake, river) and, if it looks reasonably clean, 10 mins of rolling boil will sterilize it. Wash dishes in just-boiled water using insulated rubber gloves. Cover dishes in drain rack to avoid critters and ash if you wash outside. Saves propane and/or electricity.
If you play a musical instrument, another idea is to connect with a local music club and join their jam, which is usually free. Except for #11 the list offers excellent ideas. My gripe with #11 is that I am camping to enjoy the sounds of nature, not listen to your TV. Please keep the TV in the RV!
Add to #21 — Missouri on Route 66, there are Rt. 66 Museums that are free and lots of other Rt. 66 theme attractions from border to border.
Stop at Visitors Centers and pick up lots of information, brochures, maps and tips. And most of it is free.
We just returned from a trip to Napa area California. I’ll add another money saver if you tow a car, camp in a central locale and use your car or motorcycle because they get much better mpg and much easier to park and see the sights. We get 30 mpg in our car 6/7 mpg in our motorhome. We also used bicycle power a few days and went to local wineries and left the gas users at our campsite. If you don’t use to much water pay for W/E sites they are generally $3. to $5 more per night. This is not a lot but we are talking about saving money (every 10 days that’s another $30./$50. in your pocket.)
We try to use farmers markets as often as we can. Just this morning we had eggs and I had the last grocery store egg and one from our local farmers market . What a difference in taste, The green salad also lasts much longer than the grocery store purchased does, and tastes better.
It pays to proof read. Sorry I left “W/E/S cost 3/5 dollars more per night” out. We can usually last over 7 days without needing to dump.
I shop at estate and garage sales, thrift stores and pawn shops –good for browsing and getting needed items at reasonable price. Buying a sweatshirt for a bargain price on a chilly day when the forecast was sunny and warm is great fun and saves money too.
Thank you for another informative blog. Where else could I get that kind of info written in such a perfect way? I have a project that I’m just now working on, and I have been on the look out for such info.
Ur right lankan soul’ they are the world 2nd bggeist population but stil they can’t produce best cricketers, example of best cricketers from small sri lanka= murali(1st project mystery off spinner,highst wicket taker in da world,introduced the Doosra),mahela(best logical captain,and asia cup 2008 best captain award winner),TM dilshan(the world best batsman alive,t20 2009most runs nd best player award winner and introduced new batting style DILSCOOP’),finaly ajantha mendis(2nd project mystery off spinner,asia cup2008 man of da trnmt inroduced the carram ball). (0)
DfelY4 awvzthowkwtd
EltZgj , [url=http://xlmvnnngjugb.com/]xlmvnnngjugb[/url], [link=http://ajfmmbwkgxrz.com/]ajfmmbwkgxrz[/link], http://chboutqzeuzf.com/
Thank you for sharing excellent information. Your site is very cool. I’m impressed by the details that you’ve on this web site. It reveals how nicely you perceive this subject. Bookmarked this web page, will come back for extra articles.
Hey very nice website!! Man .. Excellent .. Amazing .. I will bookmark your website and take the feeds also…I am happy to find numerous useful information here in the post, we need work out more techniques in this regard, thanks for sharing. . . . . .
I am very happy to read this. This is the type of manual that needs to be given and not the accidental misinformation that’s at the other blogs. Appreciate your sharing this best doc.
Hello.This article was extremely fascinating, particularly because I was investigating for thoughts on this issue last Friday.
I was suggested this website by my cousin. I am not sure whether this post is written by him as no one else know such detailed about my difficulty. You’re amazing! Thanks!
Thanks for another excellent post. Where else could anyone get that type of info in such an ideal way of writing? I have a presentation next week, and I am on the look for such information.
I feel very grateful to have seen your web site and look forward to really more brilliant minutes reading here. Thank you again for all the details.
Stumbled into this site by chance but I’m certain glad I clicked on that link. You genuinely answered all of the questions I’ve been dying to answer for some time now. Will really occur back for more of this. Thank you so much
An impressive share, I simply given this onto a colleague who was doing a little analysis on this. And he in actual fact purchased me breakfast because I discovered it for him.. smile. So let me reword that: Thnx for the deal with! However yeah Thnkx for spending the time to debate this, I feel strongly about it and love studying more on this topic. If possible, as you change into expertise, would you mind updating your weblog with more details? It is extremely useful for me. Large thumb up for this weblog put up!
I like what you guys are up to. Such intelligent work and reporting! Keep up the excellent works guys. I’ve incorporated you guys to my blogroll. I think it will improve the value of my website.
You are a very capable person!