Living out of a Bus Ed. 8 - 10 Tips for Saving $$ on the Road
In the last few months living FT in ol’ Rubes, we have learned to navigate the road (& always learning). Being money conscious people, we have looked for ways to save, but also want to make the most out of our experience, so we splurge when we feel it’s worth us to splurge (see post on our costs of #buslife). It’s common knowledge that eating at a restaurant is more expensive than making a homemade pot pie, but sometimes you might just really want to have a date night and have someone else prepare your food for you. :) We have also learned that in some locations, there are just more options than others to do things cheaply (Telluride is not one of them…) & it’s not always possible to fully prepare to NOT have to spend money in that location. But in this post, I try to break down the essential things like parking, dumping/filling, laundry, showering, etc. and give some (hopefully) helpful tips on how to navigate your options in a savvy manner!
These tips are more relevant to full time #vanlifers, #buslifers, or #RVlifers, but they may also be pertinent to car camping & traveling in general!
Camping / parking - this is probably the category that can make the biggest difference in your budget, but it all depends on what amenities you need on the road and what your rig is capable of doing (solar powered? generator? toilet?)
Dispersed camping: our favorite free option is dispersed camping, but it’s not always available. For ex, when we were up in Washington, it was dominated by national forest campgrounds with a fee associated, usually small, but very little dispersed camping existed. If you prefer to not pay for camping, you can park on most National Forest roads for free, but it’s more like parking on the side of a dirt road. Dispersed camping almost never has any amenities - no table, no toilet, and usually a man-made rock fire pit. We have ran into amazing dispersed camping areas & really bad ones. Some are riddled with trash and people and sometimes even trashy people. At one near Moab, there was a group of drunk guys hitting golf balls out into the fields where campers were parked. Just a warning :) Service is also pretty hit or miss; check the apps (Free Roam) for signal strength by provider! We’ve had much MORE luck with service at dispersed camping in the lower western states (Utah, Nevada, CO) - especially the high desert :D
Side tip: if you want to camp this way, learn to be okay pooping in the woods.
BLM recreation areas: this is similar to dispersed camping, but typically has additional amenities than dispersed camping. Rec areas typically have a vault toilet and a picnic space somewhere (not always). Many of the other notes are similar to the dispersed camping description above - cell signal iffy, not in all areas, but they typically have designated sites unlike dispersed camping where it’s basically WeFest and you park in a field wherever you want.
National Forest camping: a typical NF campground is ~$10-20/night, usually FCFS, and has your basic amenities (picnic table, vault toilet, fire pit). As mentioned, Montana, Washington, and Oregon were dominated by these campgrounds which we really loved! Something to keep in mind is the operating season of NF campgrounds - it’s mid-October, and we have driven past handfuls of NF campgrounds, all closed, even in southern states like New Mexico where it’s still 70F during the day. #confused When we look on their websites, it appears that it is simply “winter” now & they close down until the spring - kind of a bummer!
Public parking: also an option that many use, but less of a nature experience of course. Walmarts are commonly mentioned (which we proudly say we haven’t used yet for overnight parking! No shame, just a goal of ours), however we have stayed at Home Depots, Motel 6, parks, and side streets. Of course these are free and the perk is they almost always have cell signal as they are in the cities. We try to use this option 1/week or less, simply because it’s not much of a nature experience and you are obviously exposed. Free Campsites is the best app for finding places to park in a city!
Resources: Top 3 apps we use to find this: Free Roam, Free Campsites, The Dyrt
Drinking WATER - we do not have a water filtration installed in our sink (an improvement we are considering), so we have jugs we fill for drinking water. We recently upgraded to a 7-gallon dispenser which is MUCH nicer than individual gallons; FILLING at grocery stores is 100% the cheapest way to go. We typically keep at least ~5 gallons - fillable for $0.39/gallon at grocery stores or you can buy new gallon jugs for about $3 at gas stations…might seem minor, but it adds up!
Resources: National Park visitor center ALWAYS have free drinking water dispensers; grocery stores
Fuel stops - GasBuddy, we didn’t start using this until a month or so back, but GasBuddy is definitely helpful for finding the cheapest gas station in town! Back on the west coast (WA, OR, CA) gas prices were INSANELY variable - like within .5 miles, there would sometimes be a $0.70 difference/gallon in price! GasBuddy has been an awesome tool & we wish we started using it earlier…
Resources: GasBuddy, filling in bigger towns
Showering - we limit our paid showers to about 1-2/week, if we can find them (this has been a recent challenge with COVID and winter coming…) In the meantime, we typically rinse off in our outdoor shower, but as the air is getting cooler, that becomes a more dreadful task :0 The cheapest we have found was $2 shower at a rec center, but more commonly, showers run around $5/shower. Truck stops have been the most expensive (~$12/shower), surprisingly!
COVID alert: public restrooms, rec center, and even private campgrounds have closed down facilities in some areas which can make finding a shower a challenge! Once we hit New Mexico, this became very real.
Resources: gym memberships (many people talk about Planet Fitness), Love’s rewards card (if you buy 50 gallons or more in gas in a month, you get a free shower), private campgrounds, city rec centers. A bonus when you can get in a workout, too!
Laundry - see tips for maximizing clothes usage here :P Less is MORE! One thing we have found is that private campgrounds laundry facilities are usually much cheaper than laundromats, but are typically only for registered guests. :/ Best tip for saving money here is washing essentials in the shower with you, maximizing your usage, and having plentiful socks & underwear :D
Resources: private campgrounds laundry facilities, washing in the sink/shower
Dump/fill - do you research & know how often you typically have to make your way to the dump. With just us 2, we usually last 5-7 days before we need water. We have recently been doing more searching for dump & fill stations trying to prepare with when we’ll need water with where we’ll be. Why? Well, we have ran into some situations where it’s been a HUGE pain and dumps aren’t as plentiful, especially lately. Typically and up to this point, we have found gas stations, RV parks, public works that have dumping. But it’s not a standard in all cities. In Telluride, for example, there was essentially 1 option within a 40 mile radius which cost $15!!!! We have been finding quite a few FREE dump & fill stations up to this point, so we were not very eager to pay this. Our goal is to pay $5 or less when we dump & fill!
Resources: SandiDumps & Campendium
Bus maintenance - don’t break down or get engine work done…oh, you can’t predict that? Yeah, me neither…
Resources: find a good diesel mechanic, do you research, have a set aside budget, hope for the best…
Food - cook on your own, duh. That’s why you installed a stove, right?!?! And then indulge once in a while. We have found stocking up on food about once every 5 days has been a good cadence. We try to not stop in between that timeframe unless we are out of eggs because a girl has needs, okkkkk. We do order take-out once in a while, but try to have a special occasion or make a celebration out of it :)
Resources: Walmart - nuff said, eat meatless sometimes
Drinks - coffee is the main topic here. We only have a french press for making coffee in the bus and have recently tried to perfect the recipe. We have made amazing french press coffee & coffee that tastes like muddy dirt. We are still in trial mode, but this is the best french press instruction advice I have found thus far! We also love a good coffee shop, so about once / week we splurge :)
Resources: get a battery-powered frother to make in-house lattes, limit your coffee runs (our allowance is 1x/week)
Buy nothing in Telluride.
Peace, love, & get thrifty!
yo’ girl Jen
