Outdoors, Travel News

How to Make Your RV Travel Lifestyle Budget-friendly

When compared to living in hotels when travelling, opting to drive and live in an RV is quite cost-effective. You get to cut the cost of food and utilities while at the same time get to enjoy the convenience and flexibility of moving around and spending your time. However, this doesn’t mean that using an RV is cheap either.

Other than the cost of purchasing the RV itself, you have to consider other expenses such as parking space, fuel costs and utilities like paying for electricity at an RV park. While you might want to be spontaneous with your travel time, looking for ways to cut costs might be essential to make your travel time even more adventurous. Luckily, it is as easy as making a few tweaks.

Here is how to make your RV lifestyle pocket-friendly:

Understand How Your RV Works

Most people think that just because they already know how to drive ordinary cars, they can easily drive an RV. Unlike ordinary vehicles, RVs tend to have a longer body, which increases the number of blind spots when driving. This means that you need sufficient training on how to maneuver around corners and to escape these blind spots.

Otherwise, you risk losing your entire investment to an accident or even having it break down from time to time. You also need to learn how to fix your RV when it breaks down. In comparison to hiring a technician every time, it is cheaper to do the job yourself. Furthermore, knowing your way around fixing it might be crucial if it were to break down in the middle of nowhere.

Cook Your Food

It can be counterproductive to buy an RV to save the costs of meals when travelling, and instead, end up eating out. Train yourself to cook in your RV. Find meals that are quite easy to prepare and stock your pantry with enough healthy ingredients.

If you feel uncomfortable cooking in your RV, you can simply look for parks that allow you to light campfires. Once you learn campfire cuisines, you can easily diversify your meal choices. Also, create a meal plan. You can freeze the main dishes for meals that appear in the plan more than once in a week to make cooking easier.

Practice Off-Season Travel

Some adventure spots tend to be quite expensive during the peak season. Since every other RV enthusiast is trying to get a spot during this season, parking and costs fees hike. The trick is to travel during the low season when there is lower competition.

In turn, you can enjoy fewer crowds and more space for your family. However, the downside is that low seasons aren’t the best for most families to travel. While some families have work and school commitments, some campsites will typically have poor weather during these periods. If this isn’t an issue for you, consider looking for inviting adventure locations during the low season.

Use the Fuel Efficiently

Despite there being RVs that are built with fuel efficiency in mind, these vehicles tend to consume a lot of fuel. To save yourself some fuel, only drive fast when in a hurry. Otherwise, take your time as driving at top speed tends to eat into your fuel. Make sure that you pay for fuel using credit cards that offer rewards based on your fuel purchases. These rewards can further be helpful when it comes to making your travel time even more enjoyable.

Additionally, if it’s a cost you’re unwilling to bear, you may want to consider renting an RV from a reputable company. These companies might have fleet fuel management systems that can keep your fuel usage in check. You can try this here to see how industries utilize such systems to improve their efficiency. You should also drive on energy-efficient routes and look for gas stations that offer the lowest prices. Make sure, however, that the gas stations are large enough to accommodate your RV.

Conclusion

The RV lifestyle is all fun and games until costs start to pile up. Instead of spending cash on unnecessary items, it would be easier to save some of the cash and direct it into your travel activities. Consider the tips above for a pocket-friendly time while travelling in your RV.