By Bob Difley

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Why be concerned with saving money? If you have it, spend it. Enjoy life. Don't stress yourself over rising prices, recessions, gyrations of fuel prices, dropping interest rates, a roller-coaster stock market, or sticking to a budget. On the other hand, you might think you have to win the lottery, write some cool social media software and sell it to Google, or receive a nice plump inheritance from your Aunt Tilly before you can enjoy the RV Lifestyle.

So first, let me make one simple point. You don't need lots of money to enjoy the RV Lifestyle. If your life focused around activities other than accumulating financial wealth, around your family, your kids, doing good for your community, then you are rich in those life experiences instead.

Think of your RVing life this way: It is often easier to save a dollar than to earn it. When you save a dollar you do not have to keep a record of it, report it, or pay taxes on it. And remember, as a freewheeling RVer, you always have choices of how, where, and when to spend your dollars. You will learn more about where you can save these dollars in the 111 Ways that make up the meat of this book.

This book was born out of my years in the RV industry, 17 years of fulltiming, seminars and classes I taught, and from the many people that I have talked with about RVing. One of the consistent questions that comes up, especially to those who are considering fulltiming, is what it costs. And my answer, in almost every case had to be, "It depends."

It depends more on who you are, what your needs are, and your interpretation of the RV Lifestyle. Whether you are a retired couple living entirely on your social security check, among the not-yet-retired that travel from job to job, or seasonal workers that RV in the off season, you will find here 111 Ways to stretch a dollar.

Many of you wouldn't want to live an RV Lifestyle in less than a 40-foot diesel pusher, staying at the finest RV resorts, and whose lifestyle doesn't include boondocking in the wilds without hookups. It's entirely your decision whether your quality of life needs include a wide screen TV, built in washer/dryer, internet satellite system, and a Ferrari towed behind your wheeled palace--or whether your RV Lifestyle is more modest.

The reality that you must face--that will determine what it will cost--is to first figure out what is important to you, what you can live with and what you can do without, whether you can substitute hikes in the woods for expensive theme parks, cooking most of your own meals instead of eating out, and boondocking often instead of shelling out for full-service campgrounds. To help you accomplish these objectives, you will have to deal with that scary concept . . .

A Budget! Oh no, Mr. Bill! (Do you remember the suffering of Saturday Night Live's Mr. Bill?) However, if you treat your budget as your friend rather than your conscience, it will offer you a clear picture of your expenses, where the money goes, and how and where to adjust the cash flow when necessary. One of the advantages of the RV Lifestyle is the ability to manipulate this cash flow, moving the dollars around to fit your current needs and circumstances. I found the following budget helpful and easy to follow.

RVers Easy Budget Plan

• Write down or enter your monthly income. If it varies, use the lower figure.
• List the categories that I use for chapters in this eBook. Add your unique categories, like mortgage and insurance payments, or break down mine into two or more additional categories.
• Divide your income up among the categories.
• If you can, add a column for savings, emergencies, or rainy days.
• No rules say you can't adjust the figures as you go along, move some dollars from one column to another, or move Traveling money to Eating Out.
• If you use your Eating Out dollars before the end of the month, you either transfer some dollars from another column or you don’t eat out for the rest of the month.
• Never transfer dollars out of any column where you know you will need that money before the end of the month, such as mandatory payments.
• Don't use your credit cards to avoid paying a bill. Use only when absolutely needed, and pay it off each month.
• If you find that you do not have enough money each month, either figure out a way to earn the difference (maybe by hosting a month to save campground fees and fuel, or reduce the amount that you have allocated to that category.
• Adhere to your plan, and don't let yourself borrow from next month--which will just put you deeper into a hole.
• If an unexpected expense hits, pull money from the discretionary columns, like Clothing, Household, and Gifts or Entertainment.

By shifting dollars, adjusting, experimenting, and changing your priorities, you will determine exactly how to divvy up the income, fine-tuning a budget that works for you, and keeps you RVing. If you can't, you will have to bite the bullet and go back to work. My guess is, though, that you will find a way to cover the shortfall, as I did and as thousands of others have done also, since the alternative--less RV time, or coming off fulltiming--was not one of the options.

Saving Money = More RV Time

This book will show you the many ways you can save money while still enjoying the RV Lifestyle, ways I've discovered in more than thirty-five years of RVing, seventeen as a fulltimer. Not all of these ideas will work for you, but they are there to consider. You all have your own individual comfort level, what you can and cannot do with or without. Even if you employ only one or two of the methods listed in this book, you will be way ahead—and you will have more than covered the cost of the book.

I do not propose in this book to tell you what to do or how to live your life, but rather to offer you options and alternatives. You are the one that must decide on whether the money-saving tip will work for you or whether it won't. If you're unsure, try it. Sometimes it may be just a process of breaking a habit that, once broken, you wonder why you kept at it as long as you did. Dr. Stephanie Burns, an expert in the field, says that it takes as little as two to three weeks to break an old, undesirable habit and adopt a new, more positive one, and to just "Do whatever it takes to do the task for the first few weeks."  As you work your way through these ideas, you will formulate new habits that fit and work for you, and that will become your personal RV Lifestyle, one that you chose, and that allows you to live it the way you want to—more RVing , less work.

Once you establish your own lifestyle blueprint, you will feel confident that you can control your RV lifestyle expenses and adapt and alter them at will to meet changes in income, desires, family needs, or any other of the events and situations that make up a rich, active, and exciting life. You will learn how and where to earn or save the money that it takes to live out your plan.

Once you accept the inevitability of change, you may decide that you don't have to wait until you have all the money and income producing investments that your current lifestyle requires to begin your RV adventures. Maybe you don't have to wait until that distant retirement pension comes due and you can start now. It's your decision.

• Close your eyes and describe what your dream RV Lifestyle would look like?
• In what type of environment or habitat do you want to wake up in the morning?
• Do you want to make your own decisions on what you will do and where you will go today?

Once you decide these questions, than I hope that this book helps you to fulfill your dream.

Lifestyle Changes

Deep inside, we know that we could make some positive changes in the way we live our lives. But acknowledging that is often as far as the idea evolves. Let's face it. Most of us, until we retire or semi-retire and take up the RV lifestyle, live relatively stressful lives—jobs, raising kids, paying the bills, saving for retirement.

We know we should stop smoking, drink less alcohol, exercise, eat healthier foods, relax more, not work so hard, handle stress better, not shout at our kids, be more loving to our spouse—the list is depressingly endless.  And of course the difficulty is trying to make these changes or correct bad habits while the stresses of our daily lives and jobs continue unabated.

Unfortunately, as long as we continue the same stressful lifestyle, we will continue to be stressed and continue to avoid making those changes--or worse, fail at the efforts we make. I thoroughly commiserate with you. I know how hard it was for me to quit smoking (a two pack a day habit!). It’s difficult to decide to choose--not be forced or coerced--to eat more vegetables and fruit rather than fatty meat and sugar laden pastries, and to crawl out of a warm and cozy bed on a chilly morning to take that important first step out the door to exercise.

Unfortunately, I don't have any magic pills, or lists of "Seven Simple Rules" that will make these lifestyle changes for you automatically, painlessly, and easily. What I can tell you is (1) You will find it easier to make healthful changes to your life if you first reduce your stresses, and (2) Once you begin making changes successfully, your quality of life will improve. You will find that you are enjoying an active lifestyle, and that your former diet or bad habits don’t hold the allure they used to, and you will wonder why you didn’t kick yourself in the butt and effect these changes a long time ago. That’s where the healthy and vigorous RV Lifestyle will pitch in and help you out.

The RV Lifestyle

Many of us choose to live fulltime in our rigs, moving either on a whim or as the weather changes. Sometimes we become motivated by a sudden impulse to smell salty sea air, hear waves crashing on a deserted beach, or see a formation of pelicans skimming above the waves. Or maybe it's to see a snow-capped peak bathed in the warm glow of a setting sun, to hear the babble of a mountain stream tumbling over its rocky bed, or watch deer grazing contentedly at the edge of a wildflower covered meadow.

What it really comes down to is deciding for yourself just what you would like to do with your newfound freedom and mobility. The ease of changing your mind, your campsite, the view out your dinette window, the duration of your stay, whether to read a book or take a hike, track wildlife, hang up a hummingbird feeder, or pay a surprise visit to your grandkids--it's all up to you.

I hope that this book will help you in establishing a new life plan, a plan full of options and choices. Seldom is there ever just one way to do things. With this book, you can devise, revise, and customize. If the money gets tight, or gas prices spike, or inflation pumps up prices--this book will show you ways and ideas to cut back on costs, trim the expenses, until conditions return to normal--if there is a normal. And when you're flush, you may decide to ease off, eat out more often, travel to some distant out-of-the-way park, or invest in a new rig. After all, the decision will be yours.

The rest of this 111 WAYS eBook is divided up into chapters by subject, listing the actual tips and information that will help bring your RV Lifestyle to reality. You can go directly to the chapter that interests you most.

The chapter titles are:

• CAMPING
• TRAVELING
• FOOT & MEAL PREPARATION
• EATING OUT
• ENTERTAINMENT
• HEALTH & FITNESS
• REPAIRS & MAINTENANCE
• COMMUNICATIONS
• CLOTHING, HOUSEHOLD, & GIFTS

Happy Travels.