This week in our RV Financials series we continue talking about budgeting for full-time RVing in our effort to answer how much does full-time RVing cost. We focus this week on budgeting for fun, which is super important to ensure we have lots of fun but not at the cost of our groceries down the line.

What do we mean by fun costs? We lump together and personal spending we do (yarn for Courtney, photo equipment for Steve, hiking gear for either) with our restaurant spending, travel costs (entrance fees etc.), alcohol spending, and gifts. Why? Becuase all of these costs are non-essential when it comes right down to it. If for some reason we had to cut spending due to an emergency or a bad market these would be the first places we would look.

Notice gifts are on this list. Many people don’t budget for gifts throughout the year and then end up overspending on their credit cards come Christmas. We have an amount we budget for the year (based on tracking our spending from previous years) and we keep track of it as we go, so there are no surprises come December.

We want to have fun just as much as the next person but we’re not willing to sacrifice our future happiness for fun now. Budgeting ensures we don’t have to.

We are budgeting $450 a month for fun costs when we hit the road again this year and travel full-time in our Airstream. What about you? How much do you budget for all your fun?

The Whole Finance Series