3 Ways We Save Money on the Road Full Time

Living fulltime on the road full time is an adventure, but it is also not cheap.  It is so tempting to eat out and shop in all the cities that we visit.  This is not realistic or a smart idea for our budget.  We have to be mindful because we are not on vacation all the time.  There are many ways that we budget to keep our costs down while traveling.  Read to find out THREE ways that we budget on the road…

RV Resort Bookings

Booking resorts is one of the biggest budget issues while on the road.  (Well maybe alongside the cost of fuel!)  One way that we have saved money doing this is through Thousand Trails.  We bought a camping pass and the regions we would be traveling to for the year.  This helped us to balance the budget for some months of the year.  We discovered that it worked better for us to book stays in resorts that had a monthly rate.  This takes some planning ahead, but it is worth it especially in the busy months.  Some resorts also have a weekly rate that can make a difference to your stay.

Indigo Bluffs RV Resort // Empire, Michigan

Food

This can be so tricky.  When you go to new locations you want to try all the restaurants, coffee shops and donuts.  But we have to remind ourselves that we are not on vacation all the time.  If we want to eat out we have to budget for it.  Another way that we save on food is by shopping at Aldi and making our food at home. We found that as we went to new cities we wanted to try out the new grocery stores, some of them were very expensive and the grocery bill was too high.  Aldi is pretty consistent and helps us to stick to a budget.  Another way we shop, if there is no Aldi is Walmart pickup.  This allows us to shop online and get only what we need.  We found that when you go into Walmart you end up walking out with things you don’t need like a new shop vac or Nintendo Switch!  TRUE STORY!  We didn’t really shop at Walmart before going on the road, but we found that it is in almost every city as you travel around the country.

Homemade cookies inspired by my late aunt.

Adventure for free

There are many cities that we visit and they are packed with pricey tourist activities, and there are times we will visit some of those places.  But like I said earlier, we are not on vacation all the time and we can’t spend like we are.  We love to find local things to do that are free!  Some of our favorite places are local parks, paddle boarding spots, farmers markets, beaches, hiking trails, biking paths, or sometimes just taking a good drive.

Hiking Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Michigan

We are always open to more ways to save while traveling.  What are your favorite budget hacks while traveling?