How Can I Keep Costs Down On Long Trip?

We just did an 8 week trip. For the entire trip journal check here: www.curbcrusher.com

Some of our tips: we unplugged everything at home, set AC really high (95) while gone. DH came home twice during trip but found he didn't use more than lights AC and TV since he was working most of time.
Get a National Park passport. It will save you money. Sometimes even give discounts at the gift shops or free tours at the parks.
We have a blue tote but didn't use it even while camping at Yosemite for a week. I just made sure I booked near the bathroom and we used it more than our RV.
We DID use the generator while at Yosemite and Yellowstone(no power right now). But you have a TT so that's different for you.
We did have the verizon mobile aircard. We used it up in the first week (we have a pre teen). Most of te campgrounds had wi fi even if it wasn't good so we used that as much as possible.
Groceries were actually our second biggest expense after gas. We did many crock pot meals and skillet meals. After touring parks all day no one wanted to cook up a big meal so this made it easy.

Have a great time and take lots of pictures to remember it by.

Nadine

 

Carry as much food with you as your weight and refrigerator will allow. We cook up a lot of meals at home, put them in sealed containers, and freeze them. When we are ready to leave, we load up the RV refrigerator with the frozen meals and we can have a decent meal in a matter of minutes on the road.
We also buy stuff in large quantities at Sam's Club. We draw from this inventory to stock the RV before each trip. This minimizes our stops at the local grocery stores and has saved us a lot of money and time.
If you are going to be on the road long enough, we will usually plan ahead and stay at least one night at an RV park with free laundry facilities. We also start looking for fuel at 1/2 tank which allows us to pick the place that we want to use based on price instead of being so low on fuel we have to use a more expensive station. There are websites that will give you fuel prices for any area that you may travel in the USA. We also use a Pentagon Federal Credit Union Rewards credit card which gives us 5% off of ALL gasoline purchases at the pump, 2% on groceries, and 1 1/2% on everything else. On a long trip, the fuel discount adds up to a large rebate.
Use common sense and take advantage of the internet. At some of the attractions you can buy tickets online for a discounted price compared to buying them at the attraction in person. Of course you will have to carry a printer with you to print out the ticket. We purchased a new HP small printer off of eBay for about $30, including shipping, which was less than the printer cartridges would cost.

 

plan your route ahead of time and know where you can stop for fuel ahead of time and were not to go as well. you can do all this and then some for free by using www.findfuelstops.com. they provide an overhead view and a street view so you can see if it is easy in and out plus basic info of each stop to see if it fits your criteria for the stop. Like i said its completley free and has been a huge help to me and my family while traveling.

 

Here are some tips;

1. get a Golden Age Passport, if applicable.
2. avoid club affiliated camp such as KOA, Good Sam, AAA, AARP and others. You are paying minimum 10% over for no value to you. No value-add to customers, but tons of rules & regulations.
3. stay private, owner operated camp. They care for you and understand what a "customer" is.
4. mix dry camp and private camp alternatively.
5. use state parks and BLMs.
6. minimize eat-outs.
7. slow to 65 mph, saves gas and it is safer.

 

Hi everyone,

Just want to report that we had a wonderful trip! We were able to keep expenses down in many ways, but I can see how we wasted money in other ways. So, here is an overview:

Saved Money by:
--shopping at Walmart before entering tourist towns...groceries are so much more expensive in or near the parks.
--Passport America campgrounds: membership paid for itself within a week. Too bad there weren't more options near the National Parks.
--eating in. I found that on days when we traveled, I needed to plan dinner ahead of time, as we were too tired to cook. We went out about 1/week, which wasn't too bad, but definitely an expense.
--dump tank: this did enable us to stay at several state parks we wouldn't have otherwise considered, so we were very glad to have it. It didn't pay for itself in one summer, but I'd guess that it will within another summer or two of travel.
--boondocking: tried to do this in the middle of long drives, and I'd say we spent about 7 out of 42 nights this way.


Spent more money than anticipated on:
--gas. The mileage to travel there and home had been budgeted, but we spent so many more hours driving to and from attractions than I had estimated. From our central location in Yellowstone to any attraction was about a 40-minute drive. I got pretty sick of being in constant motion.
--truck expenses: we overheated twice and had to get the truck serviced, and needed new brakes and rotors mid-trip. I don't think we over-paid for these services, but didn't budget them in.
--an iPad. I ended up getting an iPad with a data plan instead of trying to deal with an iPhone. My whole family loves it, the GPS is amazing and absolutely beats out the dashboard GPS, and it was great to have wifi via a data plan and not have to pay extra in the campgrounds. I recommend it highly, but didn't pre-budget the expense.

We certainly learned a lot about towing, traveling, and our gorgeous nation. No major mishaps, so that is good. Wonderful photos that I get to scrapbook with all winter. And already planning next summer's trip...staying local. I'm still tired from all that travel! Biggest lesson: don't try to be busy and/or driving every day. We needed 1day/week to do nothing but sit in the CG, 1day/week for laundry and groceries, and the other 5 were for driving/exploring.

-m

 

GREAT

 

Thanks so much for sharing your experience. Tips from other travelers really can make a difference. Especially you mentioning the "down time."

I would also agree staying away from the camp store. We have two kids, so we can sucked into the novelties they have to offer. One thing they really love are the light sticks. We always try to buy those ahead of time.

Thanks!

 

I think the biggest thing we learned on our "maiden voyage" in 2010 (almost four months, 16 states, 10,000 miles) was how much we underestimated how much gas we'd be using. We had accurately predicted the amount we'd use to get from cg to cg, but serious under-predicted what we'd use for sightseeing. For instance, from our campground in Cody, WY, it was 52 miles just to the maingate of Yellowstone and a total of 102 miles to Old Faithful (one-way, at that!) Take a few of those trips and you've busted the budget. We have an F250 to pull the fiver and that thing uses diesel like it comes out of a hole in the ground. I can only say it was a "learning experience". Now we're planning to take off again in May and hope to stay out six months this time (or at least until we run out of money or kill each other...lol). We're going to be a lot more savvy this year and plan to pick cg's that are lot nearer the attractions and sights. Unfortunately, we're just too big to get into a lot of state parks, etc., without having to worry about tight turns, small sites and low-hanging branches. Maybe this year, when we're a little more confident about backing up the BATmobile (BigA$$Trailer), we can try some of the parks.......

 

Some great advice here! My trips are not as long as ya'lls but I am working towards longer trips. My next big trip I hope to take about 31 days with a TT.

I usually travel with my mom and aunt so I do all the driving and setting up, etc. I found taking the tours instead of driving at places like Yellowstone and Moab (National Arches) gave me a chance to rest from all the driving. Plus it was more enjoyable for me as I did not have to figure out what was what and I found the tours very informative. Less wear and tear on the truck too. The National Park Passes are great too. The benefit of traveling with those two ladies.

In addition, a lot of times we have one place as our main destination so I try to have a layover day or two every third stop so I am not exhausted when we get to our main destination. On these stops I try to choose a place where there is something we want to see or do so my co-captains are not bored while I recoup from the driving. Our last trip was about 4,000 miles.

I agree with a lot of the other suggestions: 1/2 tank fill up is the best way to go. We cook some of our food ahead then seal-a-meal them and freeze. Then when you are tired you have a meal ready. Just need to remember to thaw it out. My co-captains sometimes forget this important step Walmart shopping for groceries should be less expensive, but somehow those two always come back with too much. What is that saying eyes bigger than... I use a PC Card for internet, already have it and find it is more reliable than a lot of the free Wi-Fi. I use the laptop to book some of our stops along the way and double check my route.

 

I know you'll be watching for fuel costs for your engine and trying to find the cheapest possible, but also try to find the cheapest propane costs as well. Where I live, propane costs fluctuate drastically depending on where you go. One place will charge $2.82/gal whereas another place will charge $4.56/gal or more. When you realize you need to refil your tank(s), just call around and find the best price. More than likely, it will be in an industrialized area that usually doesn't cater to RV's.

 

For Internet Access - Instead of a national chain air card - consider looking into Millenicom. They offer great plans - the 20G plan is less expensive than what I was paying Verizon for 5G but uses the Verizon footprint. The unlimited plan uses the Sprint footprint. It has no contract and I have heard you can put the service on hold and restart it with little additional cost.

http://millenicom.com/