This is where I will break down all my initial purchases. The initial investment for my full-time living RV journey might seem hefty to some and to others not bad at all. The majority of this was just the purchase of the truck and the RV. All in all, I feel I got a nice deal on them and the good part is if I upgrade, downgrade, or completely decided to get out of this lifestyle I can sell both the truck and RV. Probably not for what I originally paid for them. Yet I’m thinking that I would still be ahead financially from being able to lower my living costs throughout my RV journey.
RV – $18,500
Truck – $5,500
Registration – $2,900 (RV and truck)
Generator – $540
Surge Protector – $240
Mini Split – $420
Solar Panels – $787
Solar Batteries – $1,079
Solar Misc – $550
Total – $30,516
The rest of the costs are upgrades like solar and the mini-split. These items are not needed for the lifestyle if you are only looking at full hook-up sites. But we love the idea of boondocking in parks and other spots for the grand price of Free. By investing in solar it has allowed us to do this and in the future live in almost any destination with zero issues.
The worse part of the initial investment by far is the ridiculous costs associated with registering my truck and RV here in CA. I guess the state has to find its ways to nickel and dime you in any way possible.
Even if the math at the end does not play out in my favor this was still an amazing learning experience and I am 100% happy I did it. As I type this post I’m in Slab City which is a pretty famous hippy center of anarchy. It’s costing us nothing to stay the night here. This lifestyle has been nothing short of incredible so far. There have been some rough patches and things to get used to for sure. I even plan to post about the negatives in a later article.
I can’t encourage everyone enough to take action on things you have always wanted to or thought about doing. The worse that will happen is you realize it was not for you.