How much money do you need to live on the road full-time?Whenever you make the decision to live full-time on the road, the issue of money is quick to present itself. As it should. We all know that money plays an integral part in all that we do, whether we like it or not. As much as I hate to admit the fact that whether or not I’ll get the live the life of my dreams depends on how much money I have or don’t have, it’s a matter of fact. Money matters and the specifics of it need to be addressed.

Budget: a mathematical confirmation of your suspicions. ~A.A. Latimer

The topic of budgets for families traveling full-time and travel expense summaries has been one of great interest for me lately. I have spent quite a bit of time combing through the budgets and expenses of others who are already out there on the road. Dare I say that after close inspection of their numbers, I feel quite a bit —- discouraged. I’m beginning to experience a slight bit of doubt as to whether or not we can actually pull this dream of ours off.

I am having an out of money experience. ~Author Unknown

Based on other’s reporting, it seems that it could cost a family of four anywhere between $2500 - $5000 per month to live on the road full-time. I realize that “mileage may vary” and that it truly depends on all the specifics. For instance, none of the people who reported their expenses live on a bus; they live in RVs of some sort. How much difference will that make? Most of them have a car payment they make monthly or pay monthly for a storage building of some kind. We won’t have either of those expenses, so how much difference will that make? The fact that they have an electricity payment each month and we plan on utilizing solar will matter how much? If we plan to do a lot Workamping jobs, how much money will that save?

We can tell our values by looking at our checkbook stubs. ~Gloria Steinem

What it all boils down to is that we need a budget. All advice I have come across highly recommends starting a budget before going on the road. Keep track of all things that you spend money on, even the small things. Go over it and analyze it and see exactly where all of your money goes. Then, and only then, will you be able to truly come up with a budget that you can live with once you are on the road.

My problem lies in reconciling my gross habits with my net income. ~Errol Flynn

Jim and I have decided to start our monthly budget and expense report. We’re going to keep a close eye on our income and what goes out each month down to the little details, like how many high-fructose corn syrup laden soft drinks our sneaky children convince us to purchase them over the course of a month. We’re going to keep up our attempts to create more income with side projects. We’re going to research the possibility of alternate sources of income to help out over the course of the next year. We’re going to start thinking of all the expenses that we will incur by living on the bus and then adding a certain percentage to that number, just to be safe. And hopefully we’ll have a pretty clear picture of how much money it will take to live on the road full-time, for us.

Empty pockets never held anyone back. Only empty heads and empty hearts can do that. ~Norman Vincent Peale