With the price of fuel skyrocketing, our travel budget is also skyrocketing. We’ve been brainstorming some ways to fight those skyrocketing costs while still being able to afford this amazing travel lifestyle. Here are some of our best tips to make your dollar stretch as far as possible on the road.
Combine Trips
One of our first decisions was to try and combine trips to save gas. We use google maps to mark all the places that we want to see. As we are planning our sightseeing days, we are doing our best to consciously combine travel into one day where we may have previously spread it over several days. While we are out we also check with Gas Buddy to make sure we are keeping our tank fueled with the cheapest gas in the area. We also combine our shopping trips on those days to prevent any go backs.
Eat In More Often
We love to eat out! Exploring a new little town and supporting the local economy by trying new restaurants and bakeries is a favorite part of our travel. We’ve made a conscious decision to limit our eating out, only order water to drink, and make more food at home. I’ve written out a few of my favorite recipes in my blog- go check them out! Our egg bake is a great way to get a week’s worth of breakfast for 2 people for under $10! My Chicken Soup recipe seems to never end! And my Chili recipe is a family favorite that also stretches the value of my dollars.
We also regularly pack our lunches. We find this healthier option to be a great cost saving way to fight the higher prices of food. We enjoy sandwiches, salads and lots of snacks as we explore the great outdoors! This is especially convenient on "moving days" when we have the camper attached to our truck and it's a little harder to get in and out of places.
Cut Out Alcohol
We were challenged recently to the 75 Hard health initiative. This includes cutting out alcohol for 75 days. This challenge couldn’t have come at a better time and is a great way for us to say a few bucks while working on our health.
Take Advantage of the Weekly Rate
If you like a great RV Resort like we do, be sure to check out the weekly rates (monthly is usually amazing!) We find that between our Good Sam Discount and the weekly rate discount, we can usually camp at a nice resort for a week for the price of 5 or 6 nights. And always shop around. If you’re looking for a specific location, you can usually find some less expensive camping and more expensive camping. For us, it’s usually just a place to park the camper while we explore so we are ok with something not quite as fancy.
Take Advantage of State Parks and COE Camping
We find that State Parks are almost always cheaper and give you more room to spread out. We typically don’t have full hookups at a State Park but we trade off having to haul our tanks to the dump station with saving hundreds on a week’s stay. We were recently in Moab and the resorts are upwards of $100 per night. The State Park up the road is $45 per night. Multiply that times the 9 nights that we camped in Moab and we saved $495!
Boondock Occasionally
Boondocking is a great way to lower the overall costs of your travel budget. If you typically spend $50 per night but boondock just once per week, you bring your average cost down to $42.85 per night. I love to track our nightly spending through my RV Wizard program and then add in those free nights to see my average per night get lower!
Cut Your Subscriptions
As of 2020, the average consumer spends $87.19 on streaming services. We figure that there is only so much tv that we can watch at a time and so we try and rotate our streaming services. We also get quite a few services for free through our credit card offers and through our Verizon cell phone account. Once every 3-6 months we take a look at our subscriptions and switch them out so we can catch up on whatever popular shows are out there. By doing this, we save over $50 per month compared to the average consumer!
Take Advantage of Credit Card Points
We have always taken advantage of the offers that our credit cards give us. Before our RV lifestyle, we would travel internationally and used our Delta AMEX points to fly to Italy, Australia, as well as travel domestically. Recently we have used our points to fly our oldest kid to Alaska and another kid out to see us on the road as we travel. All of this for only the cost of the taxes! We love airline points! If you're interested in taking advantage of airline points, you can apply for an American Express Card with this link. We can both get rewarded if you're approved! http://refer.amex.us/KELLYMeSB6?xl=cp19
While our middle kid was visiting us on the road, we also used our Marriott points for a stay in Las Vegas. Again- for FREE!! In the past we have used our Marriott points for international hotels as well as free stays all across the US! You can earn 3 Free Night Awards with the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card or 1 Free Night Award with the Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card. I can be rewarded too if you apply here and are approved for a card. Learn More.
With gas prices being as outrageous as they are right now, I love that Discover gives me 5% cash back for my purchases at the pump! Wth my Discover Card points, I can redeem for cash on my statement or gift cards! When I redeem for gift cards I can usually get an extra 5-10% bonus value! I can even choose e-gift gards so that I don't have to print anything or wait on a gift card to come in the mail. Here is a link to apply and get started earning those points! https://refer.discover.com/s/JONATHAN5081184
Sign Up For Rewards Memberships
Between fast food, grocery and gas station apps, we are now living in a digital age that rewards us for signing up and using membership programs. Even though we are on the road, if we are at a grocery store, we alawys as the cashier or a nearby patron to scan their rewards cards in order to get the discount. We've signed up for local and national gas station memberships in order to get the couple cents per gallon off at the pump. And if we do decide to run through a fast food joint, we use their app in order to get discounted or free food.
Work While You Travel
One of the best ways to combat inflation is to add to your income. Working while you travel is a passion of ours and there are lots of ways to see the world while working. We used to travel park time while working our full time jobs. With an inflated economy, more people are looking for side hustles to supplement their income. One popular way in the RV community is workcamping. With workcamping, you might be able to work part time or full time, get a free camping spot, and still have time to explore a new to you area.
For us, working while we travel means that we manage some rental property remotely, we are Amazon affiliate bloggers which means we earn commission if anyone purchases from Amazon using our links to our RV Essentials and Jonathan is a Certified RV Tech and Solar Specialist. Owning property is a great way to stay diversified in our investments. Our blog and website are a lot of fun and allow us to share our passions while we write about our memories. And Jonathan’s job as an RV Tech is a great way to help the people we meet as we travel as well as earn money to combat the rising costs of our journey.
We hope that some of our tips for combating inflation are helpful to you and would love to hear some of your ideas as well!
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