The Cost of Living in an RV Park

The Cost of Living in an RV Park

You may be interested in a change of lifestyle to an RV park for a while or as a permanent plan. RV parks come in all different shapes and sizes, with budget flexibility that can be outright expensive to the more affordable RV parks.

Whether you stay is seasonal, a month, or a year, some research will come in handy to effectively plan a budget. With a detailed guide, i will answer the more frequently asked questions and provide an all-round presentation that ill surely gives you a comfortable time while making your decision.

Let’s do it!

Best Budget-Friendly Stays in an RV Park.

The best tactic first is to find the kind of parks that allow for monthly yearly or seasonal rates. Unless you are wealthy and looking to splurge your money, cost-effective techniques will always give you a more wholesome experience. The rates discussed in this article include amenities such as sewage and water.

If you are the exploring type of RV enthusiast who enjoys moving around the country, then a monthly rate would effectively stretch your budget, and at the same time offer enough time for in-depth exploration of each area of interest. For the more seasonal RV enthusiast, who enjoy extreme weathers or follow seasonal events, then seasonal rates will offer them the best experience while keeping it affordable all the way. However, for the cheapest rates for an RV park, a yearly rate provides the best offers and incentives.

Monthly Rates

If you were paying a daily rate at most RV parks, then the price would shoot up by about half or third of what it would cost for a monthly rate. A third or half translates to a lot of dollars if you put it in perspective, say you stay at a typical RV park which offers roughly 60$ a night for a month, while at the same time charging 700$ a month with additional electric charges of up to 100$ depending on consumption, it means the monthly payment would leave me with roughly 1000$ in my pocket. For that amount, I can take another month off and explore some more with my RV!

Seasonal Rates

The rules are that the more the number of months you stay the more the incentives and the cheaper the rates. Most RV parks will give a larger discount for seasonal RV park residents who mostly stay between three and six months. However, the electric and cable charges will often be separate from the site charges.

Yearly Rates

Compared to other rates, the yearly rates are a steal. If you are going to be around for a year or so, then a yearly rate will cut you’re otherwise Daily Park spending by more than a half. RV parks will charge you as little as 700$ on a yearly rate while charging as high as 90$ for a nightly rate. Most parks will, however, give separate bills for electricity and cable. There is an additional expectation for most RV parks where the RV park owners expect individual neatness and maintenance as per the RV park rules. Although most RV parks will take part in maintaining the larger park, individual spaces are left for the individual owners to maintain and keep with the RV park standards.

However, due to tenancy laws in different states, some RV parks do not offer yearly rates, and may also refuse to do the same due to the high demand for daily residents in their R parks. An RV park that has fully packed nights will rarely offer longer stays due to the opportunity of making huge returns from daily residents.

Parks which usually experience weeks of empty parks are more likely to offer longer residency within their parks, as it makes more financial sense rather than insisting on daily residents who do not turn up, it better to have a longterm tenant at cheaper fees but that cover up all that time the park remains empty. However, most parks will refuse longer tenancies due to a habit or attitude mostly associated with long time tenants, as due to their habitual waking up early and sleeping I late, often acquire bad attitudes towards daily residents who may be having some fun during the night when the long term residents want to catch a wink or two. This is mostly associated with year-long residents, who are mostly working and hate the disturbance. However as the year-long residents have their rights so do the daily residents, and RV campsites are known to be fun places where everyone can enjoy themselves, so long term residents have to bear with daily residents in the process of having their fun

State and National Parks

State and national parks only offer discounts to senior citizens and veterans, who get discounts on their annual park passes and campground sites. However, the maximum allowed time to park in the state and national parks is usually two weeks. Most states and national parks charge around 25-35$ a night with an option for a monthly rate at around 1000$ with discounts to half of that for veterans and senior citizens. With state and national parks, mostly electric and cable charges are separate from the park fees; however, the serenity and views they offer are worth it for every RV enthusiast, plus they offer more in terms of exploration.

In the case of state and national parks where the maximum allowed time at the par is two weeks, a more cheeky way to get a month go by is to register both your spouse and yourself as individual people thus both of you each get two weeks at the park making a comfortable month. You can use the same style if you have more eligible members within your crew and can take longer before the management discovers you.

Most people overlook just how much affordability a motorhome and staying in one area for a long time hold.The amount you will save on gas, from moving from place to place with a motorhome tagging on your car is tremendous. Also, by having a stationary place, you leave your motorhome, increases the flexibility of your exploration, as you will increase mobility with a lesser weight to tow, in turn, increase the overall experience.

Considerations for Living in an RV parking

There is a world of difference between people who are living debt-free and those with financial commitments. If you are considering life RV’ing, then a hard look at your budget will be of utmost importance. Don’t get me wrong. I always recommend to anyone and everyone to take some time off and explore the country, don’t let the tourists have a better experience in your country than yourself. However, RV parks and RV payments both will cut into your budget and adding to other financial commitments one might have such as car and house payments or loans that need servicing, then a smaller duration of RVing would be better compared to longer stays.

Price Ranges in Different Places and Different Times of the Year

This applies mostly to seasonal and yearly RV enthusiasts, whom like go out for longer periods of time. Most RV enthusiasts will go for warmer temperatures during the winter periods and cooler temperatures during the warmer periods, this means that most RV parks adjust their prices accordingly to capture maximum profits.

If you are looking for a summer adventure on the shores of Lake Michigan, the cost of monthly residency will be roughly 900$ a month with a reduced price for 615$ if you commit to staying for five months or more. If you are thinking about staying around fort Meyers, Florida or key west during the winter, then the expected price range will be between 2000$-3000$ a month, while around bay view in San Diego California, then the price range will be roughly 1500$ a month between September and May. If you are ready to go inland, then most parks will charge between 4000$ and 700$ a month all round the year with extra discounts for residents staying longer than a month. The variable charges for different places mean we cannot ascertain a certain price for all RV parks, and so it will be important to check for specific charges for each RV park in their sites.

Always book I advance if you are planning to stay at a popular destination, as most RV parks work in a first-come, first-serve basis and give priority to seasonal guests who stay longer.

Escapees and Thousand Trails Membership

Escapees are one of the oldest and maybe the largest RV membership organization all over the world. They provide their members with a support network independent of their RV types or style and help members share their knowledge travel and exploration, providing a supportive community for members. On the other hand thousand trails is a network of RV resorts and campgrounds in North America and has over 80 locations in 22 states. They provide resort-style amenities combined with fun-filled activities for their members all year round.

Escapees members have to pay a 36$ fee every year for their membership, which allows them to enjoy escapees members bonuses from different areas across the country. Between Florida and Washington states there are around 18diffrent escapees parks, where escapee members will get anywhere between 15-50% discounts at partner RV parks. For long term members, escapee co-op parks provide the best discounts if you are an escapee member. For example, escapee members get a 360$ per month charge

at any of the Alabama rainbow parks for a long term stay, and in the case you are interested in a lifetime purchase, an escapee member will snag a spot for life at roughly 12000$ at their pah-rump Nevada spot. However, a disappointing thing about the escapee group is the less number of parks they have around the country; however, if you find one, you will be amazed at the reasonability of their prices.

For the thousand trails membership fee, the charges require a one-time 6000$ investment on the new elite package, with a 580$ a year membership fee. Thousand trails membership also offers a 500$ a year zone camping packages, where you can utilize a number of campgrounds at one area of the country. The thousand trail membership although seemingly expensive compared to the escapees’ membership, their package is designed for those who are often camping and on their RV as the prices are significantly low if you look at it from day to day basis in comparison to other offers. Also once you buy in, your stay at thousand trails parks will be free as long as you are within your monthly dues. Outside the initial buying in cost to thousand trails, the expense for saying at their parks is roughly 800$ for 90-180 nights which translates to roughly 4.50$-8.00$ a night!

A thousand trails also allow for members to sell their membership once their caping days come to an end, which allows for recouping some of the initial buy-in cost if needed

Extra Necessities For a Perfect RV Experience

For a great RV experience, there are some of the basic things that will prove useful for your day-to-day RV experience

Food

either you are planning to eat at restaurants or fast food joints, or maybe you plan to cook your own meals, which to me Is always cheaper and more fulfilling, then you will have to budget adequately for food. Depending on the number of mouths you have to feed, you will have to budget effectively so as to save enough. Restaurants may prove expensive for a huge number of people and cooking may be more advantageous, whereas, for a lone camper, restaurants and fast food joints may reduce the hassle, as compared to cooking. It all depends on the circumstance and budget allocation for the RV adventure.

Propane

Most RV’s come with propane, water heater, furnace stove and the fridge. The cost of running the propane gas for an RV on average is around 25$ a month.

Cellphones

Cellphones are a necessity for an RV enthusiast, due to the movements around the country; everyone needs a way to stay connected to the rest of the world, or at least the family or loved ones. Cell phones come in handy and adding cell phone expenditure will be an added advantage, as they can run up the cost from around 40$-300$a month dependent on the duration and frequency of use.

Internet

In the increasingly globalized world, the internet has become just as important as the phone, and if you are a career person, then you will need the internet close, to keep updated on all social media avenues such as inked I or emails. Most RV parks will charge the internet separate from the park charges, so it will be essential to budget for internet separately when planning for an RV trip. Most cable companies will hook up direct internet to your RV and charge you on a monthly basis. Some RV parks will offer free cable as part of the RV park charges while others will charge separately for the cable. It will be important to confirm cable charges with each RV park before paying.

Laundry

You will definitely change clothes and in turn, need to do some laundry. Some RV’s come with a washer and drier while others don’t. If you are part of the latter, then you will need to spend a bit of money for each laundry wash, which runs at roughly 4$ for the RV park laundry, and maybe a bit cheaper at other laundry arts outside the RV park area.

Electric

Most parks will provide free electric, as part of the park charges for shorter spans of time while they will install a meter on the power pedestal, which they will use to read your meter and charge you for the electric consumption every, month.

Entertainment

Whether you are in an RV park due to work or leisure, don’t expect to stay in the RV on a daily basis without some form of entertainment aside from cable, as things are bound to get restless. It is therefore important to ensure you at least budget for some entertainment. There are plenty of places that are free entry and provide for entertainment needs, while there are other places paid for which are worth the money when it comes to fun. You may go to a dance club or have a fun day at the zoo, it all depends on availability and preference.

Conclusion.

The cost of living in an RV coupled with the freedom of movement that comes with makes it quite an affordable way of living for the more adventurous souls. Also compared to the cost of buying a home or an apartment, it is the more affordable of the two. The best way t enjoy the overall RV experience is to go to places you love and ensure you are aware of the more cheaper parks to stretch your budget.

The overall cost of living in an RV from personal experience is around 400$-1300$ a month on all my living expenses with the park fees attached. I, however, have an escapee membership which comes in handy for all the discounts I can get. Every case, however, is quite different, and what I may spend may be totally different from what you will end up spending, but it would be a good idea to use it as a benchmark for your budget.

Apart from that, get your RV and have some great adventures, and be sure to share your experiences as you may stumble on something we don’t know!

Have fun!