If you have ever thought about taking on the full-time RV life, you probably have a lot of questions. You probably realized early on the huge amount of information to consider, the many decisions to make, and the tons of tasks to complete before hitting the road and getting settled in your RV home. These can seem daunting and may become the very reason that you decided earlier not to take the plunge. But never fear, I’m here to support you and so is the great RV community! The main goal is expectation management. The fact that you are reading this article means you are on the right path in trying to fully understanding the extent of the process of becoming a full time RVer. Here is a list of six top challenges to overcome before and during the process of starting your full time RV life and how I conquered them all.
1) Downsizing Over time it is truly incredible how much stuff some you can acquire. Getting rid of it and preparing your house for rent or sale can be overwhelming. Additionally, many of the things in your home have sentimental value, or maybe even the property itself possesses great value, so much so that you have trouble letting go. My husband spent his entire adult life in the same house, so we faced all of these challenges when we decided to move to an RV. We had to ask ourselves, what is the value of selling the house vs. renting? How much do we value the stuff inside the house? How you view the value of your material possessions is important, but more importantly is getting the support you need during the downsizing process. My number one piece of advice is give yourself plenty of time to accomplish this process.
Here is something that you may consider. We decided that we could afford to rent our property, which is ideal for maintaining value and income, and so we did not have to completely let go of my husband’s childhood home. Though I am not any type of financial advisor or realtor, my research led me to find that property and land assets are great sources of financial security and generally increase in value over time, so if you can hold on to them, I recommend renting over selling. Additionally, we did not want to pay for a realtor nor property manager, so we turned to Zillow and Legal Zoom to find renters and draw up our lease agreement. Because the home was older, and had a few broken appliances, we decided to do almost a complete remodel, and I regret not giving ourselves more time before listing our house for rent.
We also needed to get rid of a ton of furniture. With the help of friends and family, (Of course I highly recommend you get help from family as it is clearly the cheapest route to go!) I took pictures of all the furniture and posted on a local yard sale Facebook Group and, boy, the furniture sold like hot cakes. The hardest part was communicating with everyone to link up and deliver the furniture. You can simply have everyone meet you at a local Walmart parking lot at a predetermined time and tell them to bring cash, and they will take it off your hands. I did do one home delivery, and I charged them for that service. Bam! Task complete and I turned a profit I never thought possible. Bottom-line, give yourself plenty of time to accomplish all the tasks you need to complete, have a realistic understanding that this is a hard task and things will go wrong, and remember there will be light at the end of the tunnel; however, it will all be worth it in the end!
2) Choosing a Travel Trailer or RV– Now that you have completed one huge decision and task, you have yet another potentially daunting decision to make, what kind of trailer, RV, or camper do you want? There are so many options in RVs and travel trailers nowadays that the sky is the limit. There are extraneous factors to consider as well. For instance, what you buy has to be pulled by a vehicle of some sort.
Many full time RVers recommend not buying a new RV but instead doing a remodel to save on costs. RVs do depreciate quite a bit, so I see the benefit of remodeling a used camper if you can find an honest seller who will let you know if there is anything wrong with the RV. Keep in mind, though, that many parks do not allow RVs that are older than 10 to 15 years to camp there. Factor in the time, inexperience, hazards, and stress of a remodel, and it may not be worth it for you.
We bought new, but we did a lot of hunting first. I strongly dislike buying something and then a few weeks later finding something better. To cut down on buyer’s remorse, you could attend an RV show! Companies roll in hundreds of types and brands of RVs to one location. You can do price checks on all of them while figuring out what type and brand you like without dealership pressure. The going advice is to get 25% to 30% off the top of any new RV’s listed price; otherwise, you are being ripped off. Shopping in the off-season of winter can also help you get a good price. Another recommendation is to negotiate any upgrades to your truck that you may need with the dealership. Our dealer gave us a slider trailer hitch which can cost thousands to get and install.
3) Choosing your Towing Vehicle – If you do not buy a Class A, B, or C, and you do not already own a truck, you are going to need a towing vehicle of some sort, most likely a truck. Obviously you want to get a tone that has the capacity to pull the weight of your trailer. Keep in mind that if you are on the edge of your weight capacity, anything you put inside the camper could cause the weight capacities to be exceeded. One of the heaviest weights can be the water you put in the trailor’s tank for dry camping. Upgrading to a diesel may be your best bet because the truck has more tow capacity, and they last longer. The downside for a diesel truck is the expense of diesel fuel. We bought a used diesel truck after I tried all the different models and brands. Many people have brand loyalty. There is nothing wrong with that, but I simply chose the one that drove the easiest and smoothest. There are many other things to consider when buying a truck such as the capacity to pull your camper easily and smoothly, comfort for the long haul, spacial issues when it comes to parking, etc.
4) Finding a flexible job– Congratulations you are now all in with fulltime RV life at this point in your journey, but now you have many potential bills! My husband and I are both working age and not fully nomadic but move with the job. I spent the first three years with the Army, and now we travel with my husband’s job. What if you want to be truly nomadic and move around as you please but need funding? You are going to need to get a telecommunication job or online job. If you are not already in a position that has the potential to telecommute then you may need to switch jobs or maybe simply ask your boss if there are any available within the current company that employs you. It is amazing what can happen if you just simply ask!
If nothing is available within your current company, know that it’s going to take some grit and determination to start a new job or build your own business. I have taken to blogging as a form of income and it comes with its challenges. I’m slowly seeing an income roll in after a few months, but I do not recommend it has your only initial form of income; that would not be reasonable to bank on. I have found it is unrealistic to think you can start making $200 to $300 dollars in your first month like many bloggers propose in many blog posts. Not to mention, blogging is not easy and there are several initial costs to get started. I highly recommend finding a steadier job before giving up your current job.
If you want to start RVing immediately, you can become a stationary RVer right off and stay with your current job until you figure out what job you can get that travels or can support you traveling more often than not. If you are paying rent on an apartment or house, why not go ahead and purchase an RV which is going to be yours at the end of payments instead of giving it all away to someone else? This was our number one reason for taking to the RV life and we wish we had done it earlier. We could have had a lot of our RV paid off by now if we had known to go ahead and invest in an RV; over the four years we rented, we gave away $48,000 in rent! You can buy a nice RV for that amount! Just think about it!
5) Understanding and managing RV life expenses– There are some new expenses which come with full time RV life in addition to the cost of the RV and/or truck itself. You still have to pay a water and electric bill as well as insurance, and, yes, you have to pay rent on where it is parked, but I can almost guarantee that it is less than your current rent. Additionally, many places offer water, electricity, sewage, garbage and rent in a monthly bundle deal. They may even throw in free Wi-Fi, pool access, and laundry if you shop around. Note: there is also no pet fee if you are having to pay one now; it’s your house now so you get that freedom. Almost all parks allow dogs. The unexpected expense could be propane if your RV operates off of that, and this ranges in the $24 to $30 refill for a standard tank, You typically refill them two to three times during the winter due to more use. Again it is still cheaper depending on where you live. I have thrown a lots of numbers at you so let me wrap this up for you on an itemized table of what I currently pay, so you clearly understand RV cost of living and if it is truly cheaper for you or not.
Expense Monthly Amount
RV Payment $588
Truck Payment $687
RV Insurance $168
Truck Insurance $36
Rent (Includes water, electricity, sewage) $450
Propane $26
Total: $1,955
Factor in healthcare, cellphone bill, gas, and food for the month, and you are looking at another thousand dollars, but you have all the essentials covered for roughly $3,000. Our RV and truck are on the upper end of expensive too; otherwise, monthly expenses could be a lot lower for us, and the insurance cheaper as well. Buying used and remodeling can be a great way to cut these costs significantly or simply buying a smaller, less expensive trailer and vehicle. This gives you a ball-park cost of living, and we live well with our 42 feet of space. Our cost of living may look about the same for you, way too much or way too low, but I think a $36,000 annual income for a married couple is fairly frugal living, but I feel like I’m living like a queen! If you are starting free and clear or working in that direction, this is the point of RV lifestyle. Freedom! Hopefully now you have a better understanding of what it is going to take to live this life and feel more comfortable about starting the process.
There are several other hurdles to overcome that are unique to RV life such as choosing a state of residence, taxes, healthcare, mailing address, choosing where to travel to and dealing with leaving home and loneliness. I will address these in “Steps to Overcoming the Top 10 Challenges of Full-Time RV Life: Part Two”
