Even if traveling makes your life more rich, just the opposite can be said for your bank account. While RV trips are certainly cheaper in comparison to flying to exotic locations and staying in hotels, they are still rather costly. The good news, however, is that there are a variety of ways you can save money while traveling in an RV. Once you’ve found an RV to rent through a resource like Outdoorsy.com, you’ll be ready to put these money saving tips into action.

Here are the top strategies for saving money on your RV trip:

Travel During Shoulder Season

The first money saving tip is to travel during what is called ‘shoulder season.’ Shoulder season is simply the time of year where there are the fewest number of travelers or tourists but when the weather is still suitable for traveling. This means that prices are lower for just about everything. Plus, you’ll have less of a crowd when you arrive at your destination. So in that regard, it’s a win-win.

There are specifically two shoulder seasons in the year: April through early June and then September through October. Off season is during the winter, and peak season is during the summer. While you may experience a little rain during shoulder season, you shouldn’t have to deal with snow or incredibly cold weather or anything like that. Even if it’s not in the middle of summer, the lower cost of travel and fewer travelers definitely makes it worth it.

Take Your Time Shopping For Fuel

If there’s one expense that all RV owners and renters dread, it’s the cost of fuel, which can reach into the hundreds or even thousands of dollars in a single road trip. And even the smaller sized motorhomes are still hardly fuel efficient. This is why you should definitely take your time to shop for fuel on your motorhome trip versus stopping into the first gas station that you visit. Considering that some RVs can hold over a hundred and fifty gallons of fuel, a station that offers only one to two cents less a gallon for fuel will still save you a lot of money.

The most efficient way to shop for fuel will be with an app such as GasBuddy that will show you all the stations and their fuel prices in the surrounding area.

Join An RV Club

There are a large number of RV discount memberships and clubs that you can join, and joining these clubs will be well worth it to safe on money. Certain clubs or memberships will either grant you access or discounts to several RV parks across the country, RV insurance, emergency towing services, the ability to park at certain golf courses and resorts for free, or a combination of those things. Most of the clubs are also inexpensive and cost less than fifty dollars a year to join.

Who Says You Have To Stay At An RV Park?

Last but not least, who exactly says you must spend overnight at an RV park? RV parks can cost anywhere from $15 to $50 or so a night, with the more expensive parks usually having better space and superior amenities. That being said, staying at a park is most certainly not required for traveling in an RV. Instead, you can park at a private camping area, at the parking lot to a grocery store such as Wal-Mart, off the side of a road (where legal), and so on.

RV travelers call this ‘boondocking,’ and it’s certainly a more inexpensive way to travel. There are also certain RV camps as well that will allow you to park and stay for a period of time either for free or for a very cheap fee, so those options would certainly be worth exploring too. The one negative aspect of boondocking is you won’t have access to utilities and water, so be careful that you conserve what you have.

Saving Money On Your RV Trip

While an RV road trip is going to be costly no matter how you slice it, the tips you have learned in this article can still help you to save a significant amount of money. In the end, saving money on RV trips really comes down to the simple concept of being responsible for your finances and not spending money you don’t have.