You may be in the group wondering when you will be able to retire and embark on the full time RVing adventure. The uncertain economy and the huge losses in the stock market last year forced many to rethink their retirement options.
You’re probably wondering if you’ll be able to make the full time lifestyle a reality based on your current financial condition. I have good news! It’s less expensive than you think!
The range of options available for full time RVers is expansive. If your RV is properly equipped, you can live practically free of rent and utilities. Every winter hundreds of thousands of RVers camp in the deserts of the great Southwest for free or for a minimal BLM land use fee. They use wind powered generators, solar panels and fuel powered generators to make electricity. They have to haul in their own water and visit the dump station every few weeks. Their refrigerators and stoves run on propane and they have a great view with near-perfect winter weather.
Thousands of others winter in Texas and Florida, basking in the sun, tending the BBQ in shorts and flip-flops while others shovel snow back home. Sometime in April they begin to migrate north, following the sun and enjoying good weather all year.At the other end of the spectrum are the RVers who stay in high class RV resorts with pools, golf courses, and activity directors. The rest of us live somewhere in between.
Many of us overnight at a WalMart parking lot from time to time, use reduced-fee clubs like Passport America and Happy Camper, and some are members of the Elks and use their convenient nationwide RV facilities.
Most full time RVers do not travel all the time. They usually travel to an area they want to explore and stay there from a few weeks to a few months. They use this time to get to know the local area and experience the culture in a way you can’t achieve on a tour bus. They save money by renting space for a month at a time. Most RV parks have a tiered price structure making it cheaper the longer you stay. You can sometimes save money by paying the monthly rate even though you only plan to be there three weeks.Even with the expenses of fuel and space rental this is a relatively inexpensive way to live. It is by far cheaper than living in a stick house. And, if you already own your RV free and clear, it’s the cheapest way to live comfortably and travel.
When we first started out full-timing we overestimated our expenses. It took a while to adjust our budget categories so we had a good handle on our monthly expenses. We found out that, for us, it is less expensive living as full time RVers than it was living in a stick house. We ended up having more money to enjoy more of the things we liked.
If you want to keep your toe in the waters of the workforce, you can become a work camper part of the year and travel the remainder of the year. These workers are given free RV space with utility hook-ups and sometimes wages as part of their compensation for being work campers. There is a great variety of work camper jobs available and information can be found at the workamper website.
If you’re in the group of unfortunate people who received a pink slip and are wondering how you’re going to make ends meet, you may want to consider the full-time RV lifestyle. It’s not for everyone, but it’s an option you should think about. You don’t have to be a senior citizen to become a full-time RVer. I’ve met many young people who travel and work out of their RVs, including traveling nurses, road construction crews, writers, horse traders, artists, musicians, vendors, sales people, insurance adjusters, and more.
The full-time RV lifestyle also allows you to attend family events and visit relatives and friends you didn’t get to see very often before. What do you do if you are in Washington state and you need to be in Florida on urgent family matters? We keep a set of nested suitcases in the storage compartment for such events and have used them several times. We complement our RV lifestyle by purchasing fuel using a credit card that rewards us with air miles, allowing us to save money on flights.
The full time RV lifestyle has a great deal to offer those who are willing to take the risk and try it. It does represent a radical change, going from a spacious home to a compartmentalized RV, but once you make the adjustment you may find yourself wondering why you didn’t do it sooner. So the question remains - is it right for you? If you think it is, what’s stopping you?Perhaps some of you full timers can leave a comment and share the ways you stretch your budget to enable you to enjoy this lifestyle.
See you on the road - Jim Twamley, Professor of RVing
11 comments:
I'm a single RVer and belong in the "somewhere in between" group. I detailed my expenses for 2 years in my blog, maybe it would be helpful for those thinking of going on the road.
http://lifeontheopenroad.blogspot.com/2009/01/just-how-much-do-you-spend-on-road.html
Thanks for the great post Jim. We have been full timing for the last 5 years and love it so much. I really don't see an end to our adventures. We often stay in COE Parks, State Parks, Forestry Parks and membership parks. There are so many clubs you can join for discounts & other benefits. It is much cheaper then living in a stick home and everyday is a new adventure and is like being on vacation. It is the best life for us!
Have Fun & Travel Safe
Donna
Hi Jim,
Great and for us a somewhat timely posting. We, Brent and Tammy, have moved into an RV park 1/2 mile from our old stick and brick on 8/28/09 to start our fulltime lifestyle. I am a military (enlisted)retiree and certainly not rich in material things. But, we have worked out our budget and being "fugal" is the main theme.
I know that if we can do this on our budget many other could as well if they would just get over the initial apprehention of living on a tight money leash.
Feel free to contact us:
thehohmanns@gmail.com
We love your very informative blog
Hope to see you all out there
Brent and Tammy
Hey Jim. Loved the site and the idea of RV travel. I just published my book about my one year journey thru the 48 continental states in an RV. "Strapped Into An American Dream" details this extraordinary experience of places we visited and people we met along the way. What a country!
Glenn Maynard
As fulltimers for 2 years now, we say: why wait until retiring? My hubby and I are barely 40, and we've found the fulltiming lifestyle works great for us! We make a living through a combination of online endeavors and workamping, and it suits us just fine. Life is so much more exciting now!
To get an idea of what our expenses look like (and you're right, Professor, fulltiming is much less expensive than we originally thought it would be), please visit our RVing Resources Page and scroll down to "Expense Tracking." You'll see a PDF of our budget report from July. We usually post one of these every month or so.
See ya on the road!
Welcome back just noticed your back will be back following you safe trip see you on the road.
Finally full timing.
For us, we took the cost of living in a brick-n-mortar building and used that to start our budget, which then was costing us all of our $2k a month income.
After a couple few month long test runs and figuring where we could stay throughout the year we had a decent idea of cost. From there we budgetted so that our FT expenses compared to brick housing was less. Longer we were at the better we knew expenses. Now we have a half of our wee 2k a month to spend or save as we see fit. Definitely cheaper lifestyle and a hell of a lot more fun.
Thanks for posting, I really enjoyed reading your entry! My family is a full-time RV family. We travel with my husbands job, while I homeschool our three children. For over 3 years we split our time in our stick house and hotel rooms, and finally we had enough. We bought a very used, but mechanically sound motorhome this spring and embarked on a new journey. We stay at RV parks for extended periods so we get that discounted rate and it's much cheaper than a mortgage payment and utilities. I also shop thrift stores for necessities and watch sales and use coupons for groceries and other needs that we have. We always purchase the science museum and zoo memberships to we can take advantage of the reciprocal ASTC and AZA admissions and we love the free and lowcost national park and state park sites and programs.
Blessings,
Tonya
www.homeschoolblogger.com/livetheadventure2008
Jim...good article! We have been fulltimers for almost 2 years now, and would never go back to a permanent residence. We spent the first year travelling, but found that we needed something more to keep us busy, if you can believe that. We chose to do volunteer work, and have worked for both the BLM and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept. The work is minimal, but the benefits fantastic, and they LOVE having us. You can work as long or as short a time as you choose, although some jobs do ask for a minimum commitment. Doing this allows you to almost completely eliminate your major expenses, while giving you plenty of time to explore a particular area before moving on. A good place to look for these jobs is: volunteer.gov, and there are openings constantly all over the country. For anyone looking to begin the fulltiming experience but are not able to afford giving up work entirely, this is a wonderful alternative.
We have been full timing for four years and while much of what has been said is very true I would add a couple of caveats:
1. Full timing IS NOT less expensive UNLESS you are willing to change your lifestyle. If you enjoy sightseeing or eating out or going to the movies now you will probably keep doing so. Our expenses have changed from utilities, taxes, and house maintenance to fuel, campgrounds, and depreciation.
2. Most low-cost budgets we see do not consider that you have traded an appreciating (over the long-term) home for an RV and toad that will have very steep depreciation that should be considered a monthly expense. When you add a new set of batteries and tires to normal maintenance and repairs costs for the RV easily match maintaining a home.
Just a suggestion to take these into consideration when making your plans.
I like the site, but don't have any luck seeing the pics. Maybe it's because those are filtered out by the firm I'm working at.
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