We are undergoing the same process right now and we are probably 3 years away from full timing.  Bought a DVD recorder about 5 months ago and have been converting all of our VHS tapes to DVD.  We had tons of bulky VHS tapes of the kids growing up, at their sports events, school plays, holidays, birthday parties, etc. Got them all onto DVDs and now have over 20 years of tapes onto DVD that fit into a three binders.  Also scanned in many many photo albums and put them on DVD and saved a great deal of space.  Hooray for technology!  Of course not sure what we will do when a few years from now technology moves on and DVD has been replaced by something else.

Now if I can find that Fifth Wheeler that will expand to the size of a double wide when in a nice resort with all the hookups and then with the push of a button it shrinks to the size of a tent camper to boondock in some of the national forest campgrounds we love in the Sierra's!

Steve

Hi Steve:

DVD's will probably be around for a long time but the next generation appears to be flash drives right now.  They are small light weight and much faster to use than a DVD.  They aren't as cheap as yet but we all know how that is going with computer hardware.  The great thing is it will be easy to transfer files from a DVD to a flash drive.

Good Luck!

It's great that others are planning so far ahead like we are.  We are hoping to get to LOW next summer, 2008, in KY.  It would be neat to meet you there.  We've tossed the idea around to get the rig and truck at least one year maybe two before going on the road.  We have a place to put it about 8 miles out of town.  We'll be checking all that out this year.  I didn't think of the DVD's for our  8 mm movies.  Thanks for the idea.  We hope to meet you both on the road.

Jimdenyse

I don't remember the exact speed, but it was a slow speed and we get about 2 hours on each DVD.  You can go with the double sided DVD to get more on a disk, but we didn't like the cost and also the concern about needing a special player to use the double sided DVD. 

You are right about how time consuming it is to scan all the pictures into digital, I am glad I waited until the high resolution scanners came down to a decent price.  Still haven't finished this job, but do have most of it done. 

It is also time consuming to convert the VHS to DVD since there is no fast convert method, just play the whole VHS while recording.  But often my wife and I would end up sitting down and watching tapes while transferring since they were tapes of the kids we haven't watched in 10+ years so brought back many memories now that our daughters are in their 20's.  They were so cute then, and still are!  How nice it was when they thought the only guy for them was their dad!

Our next step is to get an IPod and start converting the music CDs, tapes and LPs to digital for the IPod.  Can't give the LPs to the girls since they have no idea as to what a record player is!  Just glad I converted my 8-tracks to tape many years ago! 

I was listening to an NPR station this afternoon and they had a youth news program on and they were talking about technology and some kid was saying if you remember Watergate that you were too old to figure out how to use an IPod!  I got news for him, I have been using a PC since the mid 80s (wow were they slow then and pre-DOS).  I don't think an IPod is beyond this old man's reach! 

Steve

-- Edited by Future Fulltimers at 20:14, 2007-02-25

We have been doing the same thing (transferring VHS to DVD).  In addition, our Christmas wish list for the past 2 years has been DVD movies to replace the VHS versions.  We put our list on Amazon.com for the kids.  This has worked well, since we are getting rid of stuff so the kids don't know what to get us anymore.  One note:  Toss the jewel case, put in binders.  You'll be amazed at the difference in storage space!

We were also talking about going to a LOW this year but we are also considering a trip to Europe.  I guess that LOW will hold off for a year.

Hi Gang,
That's our time frame too but we are doing things a little different than most. We bought our fulltime rig in December. We are getting it outfitted like we want and are downsizing as much as we can in the sticks and bricks. We plan to put the house on the market next year, move into the 5er when it sells and stay put locally while still working our fulltime jobs for another 2-3 years. This way we can be debt free and have a nice nest egg to fall back on. We will start our travels in 2012 Lord willing and all goes as planned.
We have researched as much as we can on the lifestyle and are very commited to our plans. We still will need to supplement our income since we will both be in our early 50's when we blast off so will be workcamping part if the year and traveling the rest.

Hey All!
I'm so glad to see that there are others with the hope to go full-time around 2012/2013.
Our youngest will graduate from High School in spring of 2013. When she starts college that fall, we will have 3 in college at one time!! We have done alot of planning over the past years and have college tuition money for public schools put away (thru our states PACT plan) So we have  one of the main expenses of college solved for them, but there are other expenses that we are saving for and will have to handle.
So our plans are to sell the  house we live in now, get rid of most of our stuff, and either find a small patio home or rent until we get them all out of school.(around 2017)
We have talked extensively with our kids about our plans to full-time after they are done with college. We've had a fifth wheel for many years and have taken wonderful trips in it. So we are an RV family!  But my husband and I can't wait to be on our own! Just the two of us. That is our RV dream!
So with all this said, I was so pleased to see others with similar time/year in mind for going full time.
Our plan after down sizing and getting into a smaller place(2013) is to RV part time (4-6 months) while kids are still in college. We want to see the country and think hard on our home-base, and all of those important decisions. We also want to be able to spend Holidays with them and want them to be able to come back to a smaller home for the Holidays while in college. After they are done with college(2017) we plan to start full-timing.
I know that 2017 seems so far away, but it will be here before we know it. And 2013 is even closer!
So I have done extensive reading and planning already. I have gone thru our stuff, and made notes on what to keep, and what to give away.I can't wait until we can go to a full-time class and become more prepared. We go to RV shows  in our area and make lots of notes about RVs we like. I know that they will change in next several years, but we have that to look forward to.
I thought that if I mentioned 2013, that most would think I was silly planning so far in advanced! But it was good to see others with those dreams.
The ideas for storing pictures,old movies and family movies/videos was wonderful. We have tons of family pictures and 8mm tapes that need to be transfered on to something that will last longer and take up a small amount of room. I got inspired to work on our stuff after reading your ideas.
Well I've rambled on long enough! So glad to see others out there, planning far in advance like us!
Ann and Tom

We are also planning to go full time as of February of 2010....just three short years. We have also discussed our plans with our kids....our youngest will be finishing up his sophomore year in college...we will be selling our house in Massachusetts, and, although we are doing a lot of research, and attending RV shows, have pretty much decided on a fifth wheel and we are looking at the new Ford F450's (which should be heavy duty enough to pull one of the larger units we've been looking at. We may just have to have a small home base somewhere (probably Florida) for a couple of years until our youngest finishes college (or we could just have him join us in our travels for a couple of months in the summer while he's out of school......our other two kids will probably be in other parts of the country, so it will give us a good excuse to travel to different areas. We haven't really began "thinning" out the possessions yet....I'm not looking forward to it, because Deb is a pack rat...we have a 100 year old Victorian home that has 12 rooms plus the attic and the basement....it's bound to be a major project... if it were up to me, I'd simply back up a couple of dump truck and a few dumpsters and be done with it...lol.....but I know the process will be a bit more complicated than that. Well, here's to all of our dreams for future Full timing....as of right now, we have 2 years...11 months, 19 days, and 11.5 hours...but hey, who's counting...LOL. Rick and Debi Gardner, MA Future Full Timers

Rick and Debi - I (Phyllis) retire 2/1/10 - so make that 1064 days! But then again, who's counting. Leonard retires the next February or when the house is sold, whichever is first after 2/1/11. We, too, live in an older home (150 years) and lots of STUFF. Already starting to get rid of things. I find it is so freeing - knowing things will have to be stored, sold or given away in a few years. So when tempted to buy - I remember that! I need to get an attitude adjustment. I just HATE going to work since we made the decision. I know I am burned out. I work in Human Resources. This would be a great job if I didn't have to deal with people. LOL. So in the meantime, we will enjoy each small trip and plan for the future.

How lucky you are, you have five years to simplify your life. You can say, "no", to that new TV or hutch. You can get rid of the guest bed and use an air mattress for guests if you want. You can start to live simpler and be ready for the full-time lifestyle when it happens. You probably will save money, also.

There are so many good aspects to what Howard and Linda have done for us wannbees with their great website.  For the past seven months I have felt like Sandy and I were among the very few in planning so far into the future to go full-timing.  We plan to "jump on the bus" in September of 2009 -- sooner if we win a lottery prize (LOL).  Now, from the Paynes site I see there are plenty of others and some of you will reach your goal in 2012.  It is nice to have company.

I imagine that many of you have come across other blogs and web sites devoted to full-timing and you have probably noticed that only a very few have as much to offer.  Just today I started reading a blog and stopped after 3 entries as the author only wrote about the last and the next meal. 

In the past 7 months we have cleared out a lot of extra stuff from our home that has yielded well over $6,000 toward our future motorhome.  In the process we are seeing just how much more spacious and inviting a house can be when "stuff" is removed.  Those real estate experts know what they are talking about when they advise gtting rid of clutter.

We will attend LOW in August in Iowa and look forward to learning much and getting lots of first-hand advice.

George & Sandy Stoltz and two Petit Bassets

We just found a wonderful website that will tell you how many days you have till you get on the road.  That's for all of you that's waiting for 2010+

http://www.karenware.com/powertools/ptcount2.asp

I put in March 15, 2012
so we have 1836 days  23 hours  55 min and counting.  ( its 3/5/07 11:27pm)  est

Ok, so I'm crazy.  I'm also needing an attitude change, just can't wait to get on the road and working is just become boring.

To all those waiting for the time to pass, hang in there!! 

Denyse

We are fulltimers now after years of planning and financial changes, a.k.a. life changes.  We built and maintain a small cabin as a homebase.  That was the largest change that made us completely debt free.  We bought a truck and a 5er along the way while we had a better income.  The5er is a basic model, but I have maintained it well.  I have also made many, many modifications to make it do what we want it to do.  Some on this website are frettting over getting that perfect truck/camper combo....and I'm not sure there is such a thing.

I recommend buying what you can afford and use now, and have it all paid off when you start fulltiming.  The popular notion that a truck/camper will last only X years is not true.  I have a 1997 truck, and a 2000 5er that I may keep a long, long time.  Having modest equipment keeps my options open for change.  I don't have my money or expecations holding me hostage.  Sure, I look and drool over the new, fancier models, but I just keep modifying and repairing (when necessary) what I already own.  It keeps my small amount of nest egg right where it belongs...in the nest.

Cheers,

Gerard

Oh My Gosh! I can not wait to show these postings to my husband! He thinks I am way too far ahead of myself with the thinking and planning for a 2012 jump-off date. We can not move as fast as we want but our thoughts are always on downsizing, get financially secure and fixing up the place for resale. I hold a small art class at my home and I fill up a large table with 'stuff' for the ladies to take home. It has been fun to see them delighted to get some of the goodies I do not want to keep. I have found myself going from bookcases to 3 ring binders. Meaning that I am clearing out lots of books but keeping a binder for: RV info, one for family history, one for my fiber art info, etc. I will have some books - I have way too many, but I am mentally sorting them into keepers and give aways. I am hoping the 3 kids will want some of the larger items but if not we will sell them. This has been the best budgeting tool I have ever come across. I just am not interested in more stuff and it is hard to get excited about my friends making a fuss over getting more and more stuff. Oh well we all have our priorities. They think I am a little more than crazy thinking about living in an RV.

I know what you mean about not wanting to buy stuff.  I have started giving some of my collectibles for gifts.  I know I am giving them to a person that really appreciates it and it helps on my budget.  We are looking to fulltime sometime in 2012 or 2013.  The sooner the better. 

Back in March I wrote that we will be fulltiming in 2011. Things have changed. A young man aged 48 had heart attack and died on the job here two weeks ago. Exactly one week later we had a supervisor die of cancer. Made us think. Life is so uncertain. We now plan on leaving this work world 2/1/09, two years before our previous plans. We are already scaling down and getting rid of stuff. We have contacted our financial planner and will meet with him mid May. Leonard, who works for State of NJ, has met with personnel at the prison where we works. They tell him he needs to meet with personnel in Trenton (State Capital) one year before anticipated retirement date. Seems it takes NJ one full year to process retirement papers. Jeez, and why does this surprise me? State bureaucracy at work. I feel SOOOOOO much better. Less than two years I can handle. Four years seemed forever. Phyllis

Wow, there sure are a lot of folks looking to go fulltime around the 2012 time frame. Maybe we should start a "prospective" fulltimer's class of 2012..   Let's see where could we have the first rally?

Looks like us baby boombers are all on the same trail, huh?  We made our decicsion to fulltime in 2000, target 2007 - NOW!!!!!    Well, we made a plan and have worked our plan for 7 years (which is pretty much the time frame you folks are talking about).  We have had to thin out stuff from 2 homes, sell off a few prized vehicles, donate, sale, and otherwise just plain get rid of alot of stuff!  The most sentimental possessions were divided out to the kids and grandkids at Christmas time, when everyone was in town.  Tough, but such a relief.  We have an appointment tomorrow with a very promising buyer for the condo, which will put us in position to purchase the MH.  Looks like we will live here in town for a few months in the MH until I retire in September.  That will give us some time to get aquainted with the new rig before we hit the road - thats a good thing! 
Although we are not quite there yet, my advice to all of you future wannabees:
make a plan, study your plan, work your plan, and keep your plan right in front of you everyday.  If you want it, you can have it!
See ya on the road soon,
Carol & Art

I started a thread at the Escapees forum on this very topic:  Fulltimers Class of 2012.  Please add to the thread over there too!

We are engaged, like many of you, planning for a jump-off around that date.  Our girls graduate from high school in June of 2011.  We will sell the house at that time, and move into our fulltimer rig.  I will work for another 3 years, then we'll hit the road. 

Like many of you, we are thinking about NOT buying stuff now, and are strategically maintaining our house for the 2011/2012 sale.  Don't want to dump much more into it if we can avoid it.

We are still debating the fifth-wheel vs motorhome idea, and have started attending shows and plant tours.  We'll attend our first RV rally early next year, then the LOW conference in 2009.  It is fun to plan, but I'm ready right now!  I'll have to pace myself just to get to the target date.  Hopefully nothing will mess up the plan!

Well, we went to the Pomona FMCA rally in February, and had a good time.  It was a great opportunity to also look at motorhomes.  We think we have found a brand/floorplan we would be happy in.  Now we'll monitor things with each new model year.  We are still planning for a 2012 move into the RV.  We'll keep using our current Class C motorhome until then.  I spend WAY too much time pouring over all the RV websites and forums, which makes 2012 seem forever away.

Please go over to the Escapees website and look for the Class of 2012 thread and make a post.  Let's all stay in touch until we meet on the road.  We will have a Class of 2012 rally, perhaps in Quartzsite in early 2012.  See you then!

Roy

Having posted on this thread a little over a year ago, things have changed. A few weeks after posting that we will full time in 2011, I went to work one morning. A mechanic, age 48, clocked in at 5:55 am. At 6:15 he died of a heart attack on the produciton floor. We decided that night - we will not wait until 2011, the planned date is 2/1/2009. We have sold lots of stuff in the last year. Tomorrow we meet with the realtor and sign the papers to put house on market. Should it sell soon, we have friends who have moved and still own another home while doing repairs. They asked us to move our fifth wheel there and sort of keep an eye on things. They have full hook ups as they lived in their travel trailer after the house burned last year. It is in our neighborhood and a good solution for all of us. They will get some extra funds and we will still be close to our jobs. Good luck to all. Phyllis

Isn't is positively amazing how "just one split second," whatever happens in that second, changes everything...

The beauty comes to those who see it and then make a change!

Best of everything!

I've been following this thread for awhile now, and personally, I can't imagine planning to go full-timing for 4, 5, or 6 years. I think we would have gone "crazy" by that time. (OK, some people think we went crazy anyway.)

No matter what you plan, it's probably going to change by the time you are ready to go. RVs change, so what is out there now, will be out-of-date in 5 years. Prices of everything are changing, so how can you plan a budget that many years in advance?

I'm not saying that you should not plan to go full-timing, but I think that many people plan too much. It is impossible to foresee all the things that "might" happen in the future. We have had some unexpected things happen and some very large unexpected expenses come up, but in one way or another, have worked our way through them.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I feel you shouldn't try to plan out every detail. Things change. Be flexible, open minded, and try to go with the flow. Most important of all, don't wait a minute longer than is absolutely necessary. As RV Dude said, one split second can change your life forever. You never know what tomorrow will bring, much less 5 years down the road.

Now remember, this is just my opinion. Everyone has different opinions about the subject. 

Isn't that great?

Jim

I had to start planning, my depression was getting the best of me.  I had a change in life that took the wind out of me and nothing to live for and no goals.  When my hubby decided that full timing would be ok, I was elated, now I have something to look forward to.  If it doesn't happen, so be it, but it's helping to cope with things NOW.  I wanted to go fulltime after hubby retired from the military in 1996, but he didn't think that was a good idea.  I'm happy that I have something to look forward to, it's the first time in my life I have a goal. 

It's all in how you look at things in life.  If something happens to one of us before 2012, then it's not to be and I will deal with it and figure something else out.

I am the eternal pessimist....in another 5 years recreational driving with a gas/diesel guzzler may be prohibited... However, My hat is off to all of you that do have plans involving full-timing. Plans of anything in the future are what get us up in the morning and motivate us to do something, anything, that will advance us toward the fulfillment of our plans. I like a good plan, I also love spontaneity. Just do it! Be Happy, but don't fret.

You know what Roz if that is the case then we will all be restricted to some CG living next door to each other and telling stories of how things use to be. Wont that be better than stuck off somewhere with no one to talk to and no memories. Hey bring it on. Joe and Sherri

My view is that if fuel prices continue upwards then people will make do with smaller and more fuel efficient RVs.  Right now we can have it all so people do not compromise on size. 
I am in a 40 foot diesel pusher motorhome and don't like paying around $4/gallon.