We’ve completed our first leg of our RV trip around America, traveling 3,000 miles from Raleigh through Florida and back to Raleigh before heading west.
The total trip has been about six weeks, and we have our first full month of travel expenses to report.
Early on, we created a monthly budget for our RV trip, and we planned to share our monthly expenses to see how much it cost to RV around America.
In short, we were 44% over our $4,454 monthly budget, spending a total of $6,394 in March 2016.
This includes a $2,233 purchase for a pair of Honda generators for off-the-grid power of the RV. If we removed this large purchase from the total, we spent a total of $4,161 in March, which is -7% below our $4,454 monthly budget.
Let’s hope we’re not incurring a random $2k purchase every month, or we might be heading home early.
Note that this breakdown of expenses for our RV trip excludes any financials related to real estate and stock investments. We’re trying to convey the day-to-day lifestyle expenses of an RV trip around America, and that other stuff muddied the waters.
Below is a table breaking down our costs to RV for the month of March 2016.
| Spending Category | Monthly Budget | March 2016 Spending | % Change from Budget | Comments |
| Auto & Fuel | $1,300 | $3,198 | 146% | Including gas, insurance, repairs + includes $2,233 purchase for generators in March. |
| Bills & Utilities | $200 | $405 | 102% | Covers 2 cell phones + hot spot + leftover bills from house |
| Business Services | $29 | $0 | -100% | UPS shipping and such |
| Entertainment | $380 | $352 | -7% | For fun activities |
| Financial | — | — | — | No investment reflected here |
| Food & Dining | $1,000 | $1,187 | 19% | Groceries, restaurants, treats |
| Gifts & Donations | $40 | $151 | 278% | Monthly church contribution |
| Health & Fitness | $100 | $48 | -52% | Doctor visit and meds. Wilson urgent care in March. |
| Home | — | — | — | No mortgages reflected here |
| Kids | — | — | — | No child care expenses. |
| Personal Care | $75 | $100 | 33% | Haircuts and other treatment |
| Services Fees & Charges | $100 | $26 | -74% | For random fees and charges, parking, tolls. |
| Shopping | $300 | $533 | 78% | Splurges and such |
| Travel & Lodging | $930 | $394 | -58% | Lower than expectations b/v of time with family in FL for healing and Easter |
| Total | $4,454 | $6,394 | 44% | Without generator purchase, -7% below monthly budget. |
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