One of my favorite math calculations is the payoff. For a solar system if you choose to almost exclusively Boondock. In your case at approximately 14 K and the average of $45 per night wide for a campground or RV park, your payback period is 311 days. That’s why whenever I get a new RV I go get a new solar system installed. Mine was a little bit less than yours because I have less roof space and so automatically I have fewer solar panels. My payback period was 293.

Barry & Darlene you folks should be commended on how you work together through tough times and then be willing to share your trials and tribulations with the KZfaq community. You come across as some of the most honest genuine people I've found on KZfaq. I'm working towards becoming a full-time RVer. After I get some medical issues worked out and get some things sold. I really enjoyed listening to the process y'all went through to take on the endeavor. Please continue with the content you are putting together because it's helping more people than you realize. It's amazing that the two of you worked together to manage your lives after a sudden change in income. But, what I think is even more amazing is the fact that the two of you have an amazing relationship and it comes across in your videos. Don't worry about the trolls you are an amazing couple helping lots of us plan and dream the dream with ya. Thanks!!!

Our sweet spot for a stay is also typically 2 weeks, though our travel day choice is Monday (never weekends... due to unforeseen breakdowns. Repair facilities are so busy Saturdays and closed Sundays). When exploring a new area Mon-Wed is less crowded and many times discount pricing offered on tickets etc. Also high touristy areas are traveled during shoulder seasons which usually saves us money. If anyone is a senior, remember to always ASK for a senior discount if not offered up front. If you are military, almost everyone offers discounts to you. And of course, for military past and present, there are super affordable military campgrounds across the U.S. so always seek them out when planning travel.

You should look into getting Bluetooth helmets. My wife and I have Sena helmets. It’s great for talking to eachother while on the ride. As well as an added safety feature you a call out object to whoever is behind you without yelling. Makes it so much more fun.

Thanks for sharing and being transparent. I am about 6-8 months from going full time and am learning a LOT from you and your shared experiences.

Wow! Unbelievable job with your budget! You'll love Colorado. We boondocked through Colorado 2 years ago for 5 months straight, and on into Wyoming and Utah for even more boondocking, so it can be done. Great advise on solar. We did our solar ourselves and saved a ton vs paying someone else to design and build our system. We wish we would have installed our high efficiency heat pump sooner as it reduces the amount of solar we need and reduces our propane use too by providing free heat in the winter. It only cost us about $11,500 for our huge solar system, with 5,020 watts of solar, 23.5 kwh of batteries and 6,000watts of inverter power, including our EG-4 28.5 Seer-2 heat pump. Necessity is the mother of invention and building our system ourselves one step at a time as we could afford it was the only way we could have built such a big system that meets all our electrical needs. Of course, you have to love to boondock (or dry camp in inexpensive campgrounds and RV parks) to make a system like this pay for itself in a reasonable period of time. It's not just about the money it saves, but the flexibility and comfort it gives in the abundance of places and seasons you can stay, as you're not tethered to hook-ups anymore. On the subject of toilets, we use Scott 1000 sheet single ply toilet paper. It breaks down even faster than double ply "RV toilet paper" and it's affordable too. We use the Valtera Blue Power tank treatment for odor control and to keep things flowing. It costs $22/gallon at Camping World, and only takes 2.5 oz per 50 gal. tank. Since we dump our black tank about every 2 weeks, that means a gallon lasts us about 2 years. We use much less water to flush than we should, to stretch our water supply, as we boondock a lot. Nevertheless, since we started using it, about 5 yrs. ago we haven't had the dreaded poop pyramid even once, so it's gotta be doing something. Lots of great value in this video and on your website too! I'm impressed. Good luck with your future plans.

Great info Darlene and Barry! We like going to restaurants too, but it's become so expensive that we've cut back on eating out. What we do once in a whyle is share a meal together, the portions are so big that it satisfies us perfectly, haha! 😉

Hey guys sorry to hear you got laid off, enjoyed your video. I’m two months new to full time RV living, lots to learn. Keep up the great work coming and stay safe out there. Cheers!

Ok, that's impressive! Those are the kinds of numbers i think of when we talk about going full-time ❤❤

Another great informative video. Another good thing about the truck lanes is that you are able to get a better grade for fresh DEF. Yest it cost more than the 2.5 gallon boxes at discount stores.

Great video - gave a link to your channel and this video in my last video description - it was on affordability of full time rv life

Great info we are planning on going full time soon, with in 6 months the info is very helpful.

Thank you ! Very helpful ! We hope to sell our house next spring and hit the road!

Great video and content! IMO very worthwhile information to consider.

Thank you ☺️

Thank you.

Great info. When we moved from the Montana to our alliance. I brought my batteries with us but in over a 14 month period added solar panels and charge controllers. Then mis sept got the mp2 installed. So it was paid for as we went. But huge plus both right and truck paid off. And what’s fun when we stay at a place long enough where they charge electric. Score. We just don’t plug in while everyone else is paying that $120-$190 a month we don’t pay at all.

Wow! What a wealth of information to draw from. I’ve only started watching your channel in the past few weeks but have learned sooo much! My wife and I live on Orcas Island and our kids go to college in Pensacola. We’re getting ready to sell our house and hit the road for about a year (so we’ve told ourselves), taking our kids first to Florida. Do you have any recommendations for a class C RV? Thank you again for your content and we’d love to meet up with you guys sometime in the future 👍🏻

1. Camp in driveway 2. Fast diet 3. Run long extension cord...to use neighbors electricity 4. Also use their pool too lol

Great helpful tip Barry and Darlene! The website looks great too! Hugo wanted his screen time too! And no, we don’t pay attention to our sensors. They alway lie!

Late to this episode. Thank you for the insightful information. Camp sites are becoming more expensive every week. Currently parked in Texas. Look forward to hearing more money saving tips. Sorry you are currently unemployed but you will bounce back. Or keep up the good work on your channel. Thanks again. Steve

We just had our tanks cleaned by Kleen tank and switched to the recipe you’re using after seeing what the other tank treatments were doing to our tanks.

We are planning to go full time in a few months. This detail is so helpful as we plan. I downloaded your budget tool as well. We won’t be working so have to be mindful of our spend. I made note of the tank treatment. How often do you treat your tank? Thanks again!

Really great vid, very informative, you have a new subscriber

Love the channel! We have been weekend warriors for the past several years getting ready to cut the cord. Love the humble self depreciating style. Maybe we will see you out there soon. Tell us about your solar system. WE will be buying a different rig and adding solar for the second time (did it in this one) I would appreciate your perspective on what was enough.

Best wishes!

RV budget and spending videos are always interesting. However, I have seen very few videos that include setting funds aside for savings, emergency, and/or retirement. Hopefully you funded those categories while you had a double income, just in case . . . and are able to continue funding those categories. Just found your channel, and I look forward to future videos! Safe travels!

Oh my gosh I just watched your boondocking tips video and in this video I see you put the doggy bags on your Amazon store 🤣

For those fulltimers who plan to be primarily in the northern states/states with more rainy weather, what other RV energy system do you recommend, because solar is pretty useless in such climes. I wondered if they've developed a primarily rechargeable lithium battery set-up yet with or without the help of generators (which I prefer having then not having).

When you guys boondock I know you have solar for most of your power but how do you deal with having your water?

It’s funny because I was looking into that today I was thinking 🤔 paying for the year what’s confusing to me, is finding somewhere for the winter to park I’m still researching lol 😂 I’m learning a lot!! lol I need to get a generator I have the solar thanks for that ! That’s smart!

i wish i could some how save up the cash to do anything with my rv. i am stuck at home, broke. retirement just does not even pay the NEW bills. prices keep going up. but my income went down. do to taxes, utility rate increases, gasoline prices.

Hey guys We are about to go full time , and have been wanting to get a good solar package like yours right away. You said what yours cost, and thats about what I was thinking. So where did you get it done at? Thanks in advance

Hello. Mudflap is good when in areas that Open roads is not. I look at both before fueling. Also Mudflap can link a CC to, for those that don't want a card linked to a bank acct. There is another one that is new from Canada. They don't have an app yet, but if going to AK I would get it for sure. They do have discounts in the U.S. nationwidefuel.ca. I believe you have to contact them to get set up. I have their business card..somewhere... Thanks again for sharing. Safe Travels.

I signed up 3 times and still haven't received the spreadsheet... is it still available?

Great work on saving money! Just a thought for you that hit me this year. Over the years we have earned thousands of dollars each year on cash back, airline rewards, etc. Buuuuut, nothing in this life is "free". Those rewards come from somewhere in the credit card company's finances. I recently saw a report that showed that it is primarily lower income/poor folks that are paying exorbitant interest rates that are funding our points/cash back. Personally, I don't care how "free" it is to me I never want to earn those things on the backs of the poor and lower income families. As a result we've decided to stop using credit cards, no more freebies that are funded by poor folks. Will it change things for those folks, probably not if they don't change their finances, but it won't be ill begotten gains for us. By the way, if you can get to a Travel America you'll generally find lower prices than places like Loves and Pilot.

Diesel is referred to as fuel, technically gas is a type of fuel, but diesel is not gas. There is a HUGE difference.

Fulltime and never use tank treatments. Just need to flush correctly. No problems or odors, ever. $0