A few months ago, we bought an RV. We’ve been living in an RV full-time, except for around five days total when we’ve gone home to restock or to get warranty work done.
Other than those days, we have been full-time RV living, traveling, and having a great time. We’ve gone to many national parks, visited friends and family, and have had a great time being location independent.
We really love RV life, which has led us to wonder whether or not we should just take the leap and do this full-time for real.
We are leaning more towards doing this full-time than not. As you will read below, the reasons we have for not doing it are insignificant – they are mainly just things we can easily find solutions for. Nothing is a big deal at all!
I guess the main thing holding us back is that we’ve never done anything like this before and it seems like such a scary thing to get rid of a “normal” home and live on the road.
Below are some of the various things we have been thinking about when it comes to whether or not we should try living in an RV full-time.
Our RV isn’t that big for full-time RV living.
We had no idea in July (when we bought our RV) that we would be thinking about living in an RV full-time. However, we are so in love with it that full-time RV living sounds like a reasonable next step for us.
Our RV is only 24 feet long, though. We have had no problem with the small amount of space yet, but I’m not sure how a whole year or longer would be in it, especially since we have two dogs.
Something we could do when we are feeling a little cramped is to get Airbnbs, which I think could really help. So, that’s one easy solution!
We would save money by living in an RV full-time.
Overall, full-time RV living would save us money because right now we are paying for our house in Colorado yet we are hardly ever there. We could save money by not having to pay our monthly rent, utility bills, and so on.
We expect that we will spend most of 2016 in our RV as well, so it would most likely be a huge waste of money if we had a house on the side.
If we decide not to have a house, we will have to look into what to do about not having an actual address and also choosing what state we will be “located in” for tax purposes.
Related article: How To Live On One Income
BUT we have a lot of stuff.
While I am all about downsizing and having a minimalist life, we do still have a lot of stuff.
My stuff won’t prevent me from living in an RV full-time, but I do need to think about where we are going to store everything.
I have over 100 large photo albums that my dad left me after he passed away (I’ll never get rid of those), furniture, and more. These are all things I don’t want to get rid of especially due to the fact that we will most likely buy another house in 2017.
We also have a car. Our RV can’t tow our car, so we would most likely need to do something with it. If we decide to be in the RV full-time then we may just decide to sell it.
Full-time RV living will be a memorable experience.
Living in an RV full-time will be the experience of a lifetime. We will be able to travel all across North America in our RV and that is something we are very excited to do.
We both love traveling and seeing new things. Being in an RV and doing that will be a crazy experience and one that we will never forget.
Related article: Beginner RV Tips – Dreaming Of A Life On The Road?
Mail will be tough when living in an RV full-time.
I run my business from our RV and that means I occasionally get checks and other important documents in the mail.
I know there are RV mail services where everything can be scanned and emailed to me, however, I will have to do something so that I can cash the checks I occasionally receive. Some companies only pay by check, so cashing them is something we will have to think about.
I can still keep up with my business while living in an RV full-time.
One thing I have learned ever since being on the road in the RV is that my income and business have not been negatively impacted by it. In the beginning, I was a little nervous about what would happen. However, I now know that everything is going to be just fine.
I actually believe that full-time RVing (well almost full-time!) has helped me. Being able to work on the road and travel at the same time is really amazing.
Also, I’ve had a lot of you ask what I’m using for internet. I am using a Verizon MiFi Jetpack.
Related page: My Latest Online Income Reports
Should we try full-time RV living? Would you try living in an RV full-time?
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I’m one of your big fan Michelle! Living in an RV full time is definitely an exciting one! I had watched some movies about a family who lives in an RV.
Thanks!
Go for it! Life is short and even if there are the odd challenging aspects of living on the road, the experiences would definitely be worth it.
Plus, if it gets a bit cramped at times, get a tent! If the weather is cooperative, it could be an awesome ‘office’.
Besides, what’s the worst thing that could happen if you change your mind? You get your gear out of storage and find another rental.
Yes, exactly!
The thought of losing the mortgage expense would be so tempting. I wanted to give you some VERY helpful advice: I do virtual assistant work for someone who’s business IS helping others know the good and bad about full-time RV life. I actually edited her last book, “How to Hit the Road-Making Your Family’s Full-Time RV Dreams A Reality!”
We have been an RV family for a long time and I’ve dreamed of the full-time life. When I edited Kimberly’s book, I learned things that I would have never thought of. She’s a great businesswoman like you and is very informative. Here is a link to the book so you can read the synopsis: http://www.amazon.com/How-Hit-Road-Familys-Full-Time-ebook/dp/B005FBSBS2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1443613771&sr=8-1&keywords=kimberly+travaglino
blessings,
Shan Walker (The How to Guru)
Thanks! I’ll check this out.
I just remembered that there is a youtube video about Kimberly that wrote the book to help those thinking of full-time. Even though they have kids and your kids have 4 legs, I think it would be very informative to you just the same. 😉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4raixJGB8kI
Nice, thanks!
If you’re worried about your stuff, outside of memories, I’m sure you could sell it all and then just pay for storage of your memories in a climate controlled storage unit. The cost of that is significantly cheaper than rent.
However, if you have lot of inherited furniture as well, then perhaps a tiny studio apartment would make more sense if it was too much to fit in a storage unit. If it was near loved ones, they could check on it for you when you were too far away for too long.
Also, UPS rents out mail boxes. Unlike a PO Box, you can receive UPS and FedEx packages at a UPS box. Also, they let you know when you do have mail. They might even have forwarding services. It’s much more pricey than a PO Box but it’s cheaper than an apartment!
Whatever you do, if you feel you can’t keep the dogs any longer, reach out to someone who can take them. So long as they avoid a kill-shelter and move into a loving home, they’ll be ok. But if you plan on keeping your dogs regardless, then glad to hear. 🙂
I’m not the type of person to get rid of my dogs. They are my children 🙂
Glad to hear! Too many people adopt pets without thinking of the far future and why you can’t just dump them at the drop of a hat.
Haha I’m definitely not that person! I hope my blog post didn’t make you think that I was thinking about that.
If anyone could pull it off successfully and filled with happiness, it seems like you could! I can always sense the excitement and joy when I see your Instagram posts. I’m not sure I could personally live like that mostly because I can’t envision leaving the classroom right now. But man, would that be a cool way to spend a summer!
Thanks 🙂
Hey, why not? You only live once! And if you got sick of it, you could always just settle down somewhere! I say go for it before you have kids (if you plan to). Everything gets harder once you have little ones. Live it up!
Yes, exactly!
Just stumbled across your blog via Flipboard. We started the full-time RV lifestyle six months ago, and our only regret is that we didn’t start sooner.
VERY simple solutions exist for each of your concerns. For example, you could scan each photo into a digital format and display each picture in a digital photo frame, rather than store them away for intermittent viewing. In addition, most savings and loans offer “shared banking” whereby u can deposit / withdraw fee free from any other savings and loan within the ‘shared banking’ network.
Check deposits can also be done via many banks mobile apps – just take a photo of the check. Easy peasy.
Most other snail mail functions can be converted to digital. Vehicle Insurance, mobile phone, satellite tv, Heath coverage, etc can be paid via credit card, debit cards or direct bill pay via a bank.
We domicled through south Dakota due to no state income tax and lower vehicle insurance and registration costs. Plus, obtaining a SD drivers licence required only one night stay in the state.
If we can help answer and additional concerns you might have, drop us a note. One and a half million people in the USA live full-time in their rvs. Time to Mike it one more!
Hello!
Yes, everything I said in the post has an easy solution, as I said in the post. I’m grateful for that! I don’t plan on scanning the photos though as one of the nice thing about the photo albums is that my father put them together 🙂
South Dakota is the state we have been looking at. Great to hear that you chose it as well!
Michelle,
What’s the dilemma? Sounds like you’ve given it a trial run and it’s working out ok. Sell the stuff. If you decide to settle down, it can always be replaced. As for the photo albums and other irreplaceables, leave them with a trusted family member and use their address as your place of residence. Have them mail the important stuff, once a month, to an upcoming destination where you can pick up at the local post office. Leave your car there too. If that’s not an option, upgrade to an RV that you can tow it behind. I say go for it.
Haha as I said above, there is no dilemma 🙂 It’s just making the change that we are thinking about.
It sounds like you really want to do it, Michelle! And I’m sure there are ways to work through the negatives you’ve listed about. Didn’t you say the dogs have their own separate area? 🙂
Thanks Kate!
I’ve heard that South Dakota is very friendly to folks who live mobile. My parents do the RV thing and they are now based out of SD. It was easy to become a resident and they have a mail forwarding service based from there. The state income tax rate is low too I believe.
What about having kids? I think it would be really hard if to have kids while living a mobile RV life. If you are planning on having kids, then maybe just live on the road for a few years until it’s time to “settle down” again?
Hello!
Yes, South Dakota is what we are thinking about.
As I said in the post, we would only be doing it full-time for around one year, so children wouldn’t be a problem 🙂
Thanks Millie!
Aww why don’t you like traveling?
Thanks!
Seems that your initial run living in an RV is working out very well. Living in an RV full time sounds pretty amazing from all the travel opportunities you will have. Feeling cramped is an issue but as you stated, you can use Airbnb to get some “house” time.
If you guys end up having kids, you may need to have a bigger RV to be living full time in an RV.
Thanks!
Since you aren’t able to tow your car, how will you get around when you want to hop into the big city or grab lunch in town? That’s the biggest thing I would be worried about, other than that its a great idea!
We haven’t had a problem without it yet. There’s Uber, we have bikes, a moped, and we can walk 🙂