Full time RV living

[97Powerstroke]

Just curious, I'm 35, have a fifth wheel and my wife and I are already thinking about retiring (yes I know it's a long time away...) but we are thinking about RV'ing full time when we do.

My question to all those with more "life experience" is what does everyone do with your stuff? How many have sold your homes or just downsized?

[Marks]

We will eliminate all of our stuff and sell the house. For us it seems silly to continue making payments on a house we don't use. If we absolutely need a place with a foundation to land in for a while we will go where the kids are.

[speedcat]

I have thought about that quite a bit. We are still about 10yr out but already planning. I can not get comfy with the thought of not having a home base. Guess we will be part timers to begin with. What happens when age or health issues take you off of the road and you have already sold the home?

[Marks]

In the beginning, there was fear. This was followed by reality. I'm wasting money if I keep the house. I had kids so they can provide a place to go. If I need to come off the road, it will be to a trailer park and we will stay in the fiver.

[OL Creeker]

We sold our home, sold lots of our stuff, put some in storage. Now we're going to go through our storage unit, thin the herd, move the rest to Tucson, our "home" base.

[danno2u]

I read a couple of books written by full-timers to get some ideas of what we were in for. I studied the lifestyle for about a year. After 30 years in the military, selling the home and being "houseless" didn't bother us at all. When the time comes, we'll easily find another house and settle down.

For now, the open road is still calling! We gave away almost all of our stuff. We keep a single storage shed (20x10 about 3/4 full) with those antiques & mementos that we just didn't want to part with. Our kids & Goodwill took the rest.

My opinion is the only good way to full-time is to do it whole-heartedly! Sell the house & get rid of the clutter. Don't think of yourself as homeless ... just between homes for a few years.

Our mail goes to our daughter in Chicago. I do almost everything online and minimize snail mail so we don't get much mail anyway. Our legal residence remains in Texas (Dr license, other residency stuff) at a family member's address. We still winter over in Texas so I can honestly say we spend more time there than anywhere else.

We've got about 21 months under our belt. We're on our second RV. We've covered the east coast from Florida to Nova Scotia and the west coast from N California to Vancouver. We're headed back to do cool things with the grandkids this summer in the mountains. Some full-timers are really just seasonal campers, spending the winters at a particular place and the summers at another. We go where the weather calls our name and see cool stuff like the cherry blossoms in DC or the Iowa State Fair. We stay at one place for a few days to a week, then move on.

We're healthy and that helps. I recommend doing the RV thing while you are as young as possible. We're in our late 50s. I don't know if we could do this as easily in our late 70s. My goal is 5 years then re-appraise. In the meantime, we're looking for where we might finally settle!

There's no one right way to do this. We meet full-timers everywhere we go and most do it differently. If you have any specific worries or questions, fire away!

[danno2u]

Two of the books I read were:
RV Living in the 21st Century by Peggi McDonald
Complete Guide to Full-time RVing by Moeller

Amazon sells both. These gave me some insight into the life style as well as some technical knowledge of systems in an RV. When we bought our RV and moved into it, it was all or nothing -- our first RV & first experience towing a 5ver. Luckily we didn't hate it! Most folks prefer to try the lifestyle by camping a little in an RV then gradually make the decision to full time.

[Whatdidigetmyselfinto]

Becoming a full timer sounds interesting were still several years away from even thinking about. I wonder what's better, a fiver or a class A? I guess personal preference plays a big role? Thoughts?

[jwedell]

We know a couple who sold their house and full time in a pickup camper. She is NOT a happy camper. When the time comes please choose wisely.

[SKnight]

I'm loving the thought, but I keep coming back to being a 3/4 timer when I retire. What I'd like to do, if feasible, sell the home I have, buy a bit of property (Not speculating how much, couple of acres to whatever I can afford.) and build a large barn on it, something that can house the rig I have at the time. Fix the interior of the barn up like a house, but skip the extra bedrooms, etc. That way, I can have a minimal foot print home base, that can house the rig, yet still have all my stuff in a living style environment.

By all my stuff, the things I simply don't want to part with, namely my tools, family mementos, etc. I hope to have a small shop too, exercise my hot rod itch some.

I'm 42, and that's the working plan. Travel six months, home two. Travel seven, home one. It seems like it would give me plenty of options. The plan is to retire around 60, here's hoping I make it!

[MeepMeep]

We sold the house right after we bought our first 5er. But the DW wasn't quite ready to let loose altogether, so we rented a condo in order to have a home base. After two years, we're giving up the lease and hitting the road full time. Selling the house helped us get rid of a lot of stuff. What was left furnished the condo and we just finished selling all of that. We got ourselves a climate controlled 10x25 to hold the "memories" and everything the 5er wouldn't hold. Going to be wintering in Jacksonville so we'll be swapping out our wardrobes in the fall when we get back. The funds that we have left by giving up the brick n mortar will let us travel far and wide till we're too old to handle it anymore....which we pray is a long way into the future

One important thing to remember - you both need to be on the same page, because no matter how big your camper is, we've found that there are NO secrets in an RV

[jwedell]

Can we go with you guys, PLEASE..........

[speedcat]

The other RV couple we typically travel with are looking at something like this Esperanza Homes » Move-In Ready Homes see phase 1 and 2 RV lots/carriage house listings

[Cajun Po-Boy]

We're about 20yrs out from retiring...we see ourselves "most timing" in a class a MH and someplace like...The Great Outdoors RV & Golf Resort community in Titusville, FL would be inviting to have a home base in great year round FL weather

[whiteyh1]

We have two thirds Of an acre. We rent out the house on half the lot . On the other half we have a pole barn with full hook ups. We go south in the Winter(AR-NV) And come home (Vancouver wa) late spring to plant the Garden. Getting Rid Of household possesions was Kind Of hard, but with the barn we have w/d dining room table dressers fridge And freezer And i built 3Huge pantrys for storage. We will be adding a Rv/carport next to the barn. This year. The past 3years we have had relatives pickup And sende our Mail but will be checking on Mail forwarding outfit this year.


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[speedcat]

Originally Posted by Cajun Po-Boy

We're about 20yrs out from retiring...we see ourselves "most timing" in a class a MH and someplace like...The Great Outdoors RV & Golf Resort community in Titusville, FL would be inviting to have a home base in great year round FL weather

SOLD!! That looks like my kind of place. Was just by there two weeks ago and should have stopped by...

[Cajun Po-Boy]

Originally Posted by speedcat

SOLD!! That looks like my kind of place. Was just by there two weeks ago and should have stopped by...

Trying to get a long weekend setup over the summer if DW and kids approve at GO to check it out & be a home base for visiting NASA and beaches.
Mostly retirees but when it's hot, kids & us may have the pool to ourselves!

[BamaBob]

Originally Posted by Whatdidigetmyselfinto

Becoming a full timer sounds interesting were still several years away from even thinking about. I wonder what's better, a fiver or a class A? I guess personal preference plays a big role? Thoughts?

Yeah. Fulltiming appeals to me as well but DW - 6 Actual as I call her - is not so hot on the idea. Like SKnight, no way will she sell the house either - too full of memories of 35 years of wedded bliss + 2 kids

So I guess we will do the 1/2 - 3/4 timer thing.

As for rigs, Whatdidigetmyselfinto, you will get a lot of different opinions (well, DUH! )

My thoughts are a 5er will give you more living space - especially those 40' rigs - they have more room in them than our first apartment!

Motorhomes - Class A's - are the ultimate in setup bliss. You drive to where you want to be, push a button and the auto-levelers kick in and you.are.done.
Swivel the captain's chair around, turn on the TV, pop a cold one and there you are! Not as much floor space as a big 5er but probably more than enough for a couple.

Were it my choice, I would probably go with a Motorhome for a couple of reasons:

1. Ease of setup and no hassels with hitches, jacks, levelers, et al means you can extend RVing far into the "Golden Years" - as long as you can still safely pilot the rig, you can RV.
2. Assuming your idea of Fulltiming or whatever is to see and tour as much of North America as you can, your TOAD will get a LOT better gas milage than the truck that pulls a 5er). With a Class A you park the rig, unhook the TOAD and sightsee the area. (This is my #1 reason for a Class A)

[jwedell]

Been there done it.
Class a or c is nice but you must tow a car.
5th wheel is roomy but the big ones need a dually. Drive that every day,,it loves diesel fuel
We went down to a 25 footer with a 1/2 ton dodge pickup.
Pop ups are great if you want a divorce.
Get a pickup camper and be in jail for murder

[Cajun Po-Boy]

Originally Posted by jwedell

Been there done it.
Class a or c is nice but you must tow a car.
5th wheel is roomy but the big ones need a dually. Drive that every day,,it loves diesel fuel
We went down to a 25 footer with a 1/2 ton dodge pickup.
Pop ups are great if you want a divorce.
Get a pickup camper and be in jail for murder

LOL