We have been thinking about this fulltime rv lifestyle for a few months only and we pulled the trigger today. Our house is on that market and we are close to an offer so we went out today just to look AGAIN. Well we found a great deal on a 2011 Heartland Big Country and take delivery this week. The problem is we don't have a truck yet to pull it so they will store it for us till we find one.
My husband's job in the golf industry could be coming to an end in a few months or it could be a year. We wanted to be mobile in case that happens. He is thinking he can do consulting work on the road. He was telling a member at the club he is at our plan and he said that he has 10 acres with electric and septic that we could put the rv on. so instead of looking for a house to rent when this sells we may be just moving into the 5er fulltime.
Thanks to all of you on this site I have been encouraged to just go with our dream. We are pretty much scared out of our minds right now and just need some encouragement from you fulltimers that it will be ok. For gosh sakes, I have to decide what is staying and what is going and what will fit . I don't even know where to buy sheets for the bed. HELP
Any advice will be appreciated. What do we do next. Just please don't tell us we have lost our minds cause I kinda feel that way right now!!
Ckerr said
07:56 PM Aug 27, 2011
Congrats on lining up your new home!
Our only advice is to take a breath and keep moving forward, one step at a time.
Oh, and regular sheets seem to fit our queen bed just fine. I'm guessing the same will be true with the 2011 Heartland.
Waggin Tails said
08:02 PM Aug 27, 2011
Granny, you haven't lost your mind, you came to your senses. Congrats on the new life. Only advice I can give you is to follow your heart. If you're not sure, ask away on this forum. There are plenty of folks with experience who will give you a straight shootin answer.
2riker2go said
05:03 AM Aug 28, 2011
Well, if you've lost your mind, you've got lots of company! :) We went, just to LOOK, this past April, and then ended up buying the one we looked at about a month later! We sold my car yesterday, and are down to one car and our truck now. A little over a year now until our house goes on the market. We really didn't need to buy our fiver yet since we have about a year and a half at least until we will be able to hit the road, but we have no regrets.
bonnie and clyde said
03:37 PM Aug 28, 2011
Welcome and way to go--follow your dreams--most people do not
505ers said
08:32 PM Aug 28, 2011
Congratulations and best of luck! Yes the whole process of downsizing and selling stuff can be very scary and confusing. Just keep in mind what your goal is and where you want to be.
A year ago we bought the 5th wheel then sold the house and most of our stuff. We had the goal of being on the road to the RV-Dreams Rally in April and we made it happen. We now have great jobs at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and we don't miss the sticks and bricks for a minute.
All will work out for the best if you keep your goal in mind.
granny said
06:53 PM Aug 29, 2011
Thanks for all the words of encouragement. We are another step closer. We bought the 5er on Saturday and we bought an F350 diesel truck today. We take delivery on the 5er on Thursday and are trying to figure out where to store it till the house sells. We kinda did things backwards. The plan was to sell the house first then find the 5er and truck but this was such a good deal we went for it. We are anticipating an offer on the house this week, just don't know what it will be. We figure though that we could take a lower offer if we had to because we will be saving $1500-$2000 a month when we move into the 5er full time.
So now I am so excited to take this thing out on it's maiden voyage but with it being Labor day weekend I know it will be crazy out on the roads and I don't even know if we could get a reservation anywhere. I wish we could park it at the house but homeowners won't allow. I just want to plug it in and sleep in it!!! We go Thursday for the walk through and to learn everything, ha ha and I think I am going to take some stuff like dishes, glasses sheets for the bed etc just because!! My daughter is due with her 3rd child, our 7th grandbaby next week so we will go down to stay with her other 2. I won't be back till the 12th so that means the first weekend we can take this out will be in 2 weeks. That is not acceptable so we need to find someplace to go this weekend!
I don't even know where to start. I figured that each weekend that we take it out I will take more stuff and figure out what we will be using for sure. When I get back after baby we are purging the garage and hopefully will have an offer. We still aren't sure where we are going to live with the 5er once the house sells but that will work out.
any suggestions for packing the rv the first time. stuff you definitely need that you wouldn't normally think of?
Can you tell we are excited. I just don't know where to start.
NorCal Dan said
09:32 PM Aug 29, 2011
Congratulations and welcome to the RV world.
Laura and Bunk said
03:04 PM Sep 1, 2011
Congratulations!!!!
You can tell your excited and with good reason. After you spend a little time in the 5er you will start to notice what you need (learned that the first trip, forgot matches for the campfire).
Once you have a couple trips under your belt you will find you still forget stuff!
Don't worry about it, just relax and enjoy the ride.
Laura
PD CFK said
07:19 PM Sep 1, 2011
Granny, about the sheets. I was worried about that also, so just took a regular queen size set out of the house to try, and they fit just fine. So glad I didn't go out and buy something else. If yours is a king, maybe you could just tuck it in or pin it, at least for the time being. Am looking forward to the Hershey rally to learn more about keeping house in our RV. Congrats on your choices and your courage to go ahead with your plans. Take care, Pat K
Dog Folks said
01:57 PM Sep 3, 2011
Congratulations and welcome to the lifestyle.
You will get through this confusing, saddening, exciting, and exhausting time. I promise. Soon, you will look back fondly at all you went through. It is the entry to the best lifestyle on earth.
Very soon, after the house goes, you will experience a huge sense of FREEDOM!
You will make mistakes. We all have, and it is part of the lifestyle. (We have done the "dumb" ones twice to be sure we have it right!!)
You will continue to learn as you travel. No one can get it 100 % right the first time.
Enjoy!!!
mktobob said
06:45 PM Sep 3, 2011
Go Granny, Go Granny, Go Granny Go! I can tell you are about 600 kinds of excited. Congratulations and have a great time!
RVRon said
07:26 AM Sep 4, 2011
mktobob wrote:
Go Granny, Go Granny, Go Granny Go! I can tell you are about 600 kinds of excited. Congratulations and have a great time!
Thanks Bob & Sue... now I have "Little Old Lady from Pasadena" going through my head!
Granny, we're excited for you starting out on your new life and adventure! Joan's sister and brother-in-law had never even camped before when they sold everything and went fulltime in their new RV. Health problems brought them in off the road after only 2 years but they quickly say it was the best 2 years of their life!
rclvnv said
12:59 PM Sep 4, 2011
We went through all of this several months ago,moved our rig to a spot in a local CG which used to be our close get away spot, for a month,hit the road did 6300 miles this summer,and are now back at the same CG, which is now "home", till we retire in June .We expected our house to take a long time to sell, it sold in three weeks. Even though the buyer bought everything in the house, we had 20 days to get out!
First piece of advice..take the huge project and divide it into individual tasks. For us,looking at the whole became overwhelming. In parts, we were able to feel we were making progress every time something got done.
Be kind to yourselves...Things will come together,but may require adjustment,re-do,or whatever,but if you move fwd, all will get done.
I know how you feel.This is very,very stressful, but the reward is ultimate freedom. Ginny and I always remaind ourselves to keep our eye on the goal. First step is to be free of the anchor of a house. Next step is to be free to go where you want to,work where you want to, or whatever. Not easy,but worth it.
granny said
07:27 PM Sep 5, 2011
Ok , so a week ago we bought the 5er, but didn't have a truck to tow it. Last Monday we bought the truck so we had something to tow it with but didn't have a place to store it till the house sells. Saturday we found a place to store it at an rv park 12 minutes from my husbands work so we stayed there in it Saturday and Sunday night and pulled it right into storage before we left.
Just joined Passport America so we can stay at some more cool local resorts.
We are so excited about this. We were pretty nervous pulling out of the dealership but I was so proud of how my husband handled the rig. In a past life he drove a milk truck for Borden dairy so he said it is coming back to him. He says the key is to always stay humble about your driving ability. We will just take it slow. The assit. manager at the rv park was awesome. Helping us with so many questions. We had a pull through spot to stay for 2 nights so that was easy and then backing into the storage spot was not too bad either.
We figure we will go out there and stay another time and then get brave and take it to another park for a few days. If that darn job would not get in the way!!
Thanks everyone for all of your advice and encouragement. We are excited to be able to say we are RVers. Before long we will be able to help others and answer their questions.
Oh yea, still waiting to sell the house so say a prayer for us.
janni said
06:52 AM Sep 6, 2011
Congrats! What a great new chapter in your life. Enjoy!
HomeSweetRV said
06:39 PM Oct 10, 2011
Lots of good advice for you here. We just moved out of our house a month ago, full time RVing now and loving it! It is such a relief from all the bills, all the work on house and property, and all the 'stuff' that we thought we owned, which ended up owning us. We gave most of it away and donated the rest. We kept very few special items to store in the garage until we build a coachhouse upstairs or a small cabin some day. We are free from it all now, living a simple life in our RV. Wishing the same for you!
Travel Bug said
04:33 AM Oct 11, 2011
Good for you! We are in the midst of this ourselves. Both of us were laid off our jobs in June due to budget cuts. That is when we did some soul searching and decided to put our home on the market in July and full time in a 5er. That was Defcon 3.
We got an offer on our house in late August which pushed us to Defcon 2...planning how to make our lives work in a 5er, figuring out what we needed to do next. We went into full-out planning, project management mode.
In September, when the house sale was becoming more real, we went to Portland to purchase our 5er, a 2003 33' Presidential Holiday Rambler. A few days later we found a 2000, Ford F350, 7.3 liter diesel extended cab. Both vehicles are now at Camping World being stored until we arrive Oct. 22. The 5th wheel is being installed in the truck. Our orientation will be done when we get back there.
We are pretty scared too, but sooo excited. We've never towed a 5er before so this will be a whole new ball game.
Defcon 1 started last week when the shipping container was delivered in front of our house. We had two days to get our possessions we were taking to the mainland packed and loaded. Friday, the container was taken to the dock and about now our belongings are somewhere on the ocean.
Most of our large furniture was sold on craigslist and I must say we got some good prices. Everything else was put into a moving sale in our home last weekend. It's amazing how much stuff we accumulate. We sold a good portion of it, gave some away, and the rest is going to Goodwill.
Currently, we have an empty home except for our dining room table, which the buyers wanted to buy, two TVs, a desk, two desk chairs and an air mattress to sleep on. I told Bob when we move into the 5er, it will feel luxurious!
Wednesday this week my car is being shipped to Seattle and we will have to drive up from Portland to retrieve it before we head to Fallon, NV. So, a rental car is now in the equation for our last 1-1/2 weeks here.
Good luck to you in your new endeavor!
Susan and Bob
http://travelbug-susan.blogspot.com/
2000 Ford F350 7.3 diesel
2003 33' Presidential Holiday Rambler
melandu said
10:58 PM Nov 6, 2011
Granny, You are just getting started and it just gets better. You will figure it out as you go. We had never really even went camping before we decided to sell everything and hit the road. That was a year ago and its been great. We also joined Passport America and also CampClub USA they are both 50% off campgrounds and all the ones we have stayed in have been really nice. You will also learn, (if you want to workcamp) all you have to do is ask any campground that you stay in, if you like it, if they need workcampers. You would be surprised at the campgrounds that really love the volunteers and that at least saves you your Full Hookup site. Good Luck Granny and if you need any help at anytime, all Rvers are friendly and willing to help in anyway.
Mel and Gail
2011 F350 Ford 2008 Carri-Lite
tnsauerkraut said
03:58 AM Nov 7, 2011
Granny, do you have an RV park near you? YOu could stay there and if they store rv's, there's a solution to your problem. We store ours about 20 minutes from where we live and whenever we need a break, we call the rv park, they pull it out for us and we have our weekend of fun!
We have been thinking about this fulltime rv lifestyle for a few months only and we pulled the trigger today. Our house is on that market and we are close to an offer so we went out today just to look AGAIN. Well we found a great deal on a 2011 Heartland Big Country and take delivery this week. The problem is we don't have a truck yet to pull it so they will store it for us till we find one.
My husband's job in the golf industry could be coming to an end in a few months or it could be a year. We wanted to be mobile in case that happens. He is thinking he can do consulting work on the road. He was telling a member at the club he is at our plan and he said that he has 10 acres with electric and septic that we could put the rv on. so instead of looking for a house to rent when this sells we may be just moving into the 5er fulltime.
Thanks to all of you on this site I have been encouraged to just go with our dream. We are pretty much scared out of our minds right now and just need some encouragement from you fulltimers that it will be ok. For gosh sakes, I have to decide what is staying and what is going and what will fit . I don't even know where to buy sheets for the bed. HELP
Any advice will be appreciated. What do we do next. Just please don't tell us we have lost our minds cause I kinda feel that way right now!!
Our only advice is to take a breath and keep moving forward, one step at a time.
Oh, and regular sheets seem to fit our queen bed just fine. I'm guessing the same will be true with the 2011 Heartland.
Welcome and way to go--follow your dreams--most people do not
Congratulations and best of luck! Yes the whole process of downsizing and selling stuff can be very scary and confusing. Just keep in mind what your goal is and where you want to be.
A year ago we bought the 5th wheel then sold the house and most of our stuff. We had the goal of being on the road to the RV-Dreams Rally in April and we made it happen. We now have great jobs at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and we don't miss the sticks and bricks for a minute.
All will work out for the best if you keep your goal in mind.
So now I am so excited to take this thing out on it's maiden voyage but with it being Labor day weekend I know it will be crazy out on the roads and I don't even know if we could get a reservation anywhere. I wish we could park it at the house but homeowners won't allow. I just want to plug it in and sleep in it!!! We go Thursday for the walk through and to learn everything, ha ha and I think I am going to take some stuff like dishes, glasses sheets for the bed etc just because!!
My daughter is due with her 3rd child, our 7th grandbaby next week so we will go down to stay with her other 2. I won't be back till the 12th so that means the first weekend we can take this out will be in 2 weeks. That is not acceptable so we need to find someplace to go this weekend!
I don't even know where to start. I figured that each weekend that we take it out I will take more stuff and figure out what we will be using for sure. When I get back after baby we are purging the garage and hopefully will have an offer.
We still aren't sure where we are going to live with the 5er once the house sells but that will work out.
any suggestions for packing the rv the first time. stuff you definitely need that you wouldn't normally think of?
Can you tell we are excited. I just don't know where to start.
Congratulations!!!!
You can tell your excited and with good reason. After you spend a little time in the 5er you will start to notice what you need (learned that the first trip, forgot matches for the campfire).
Once you have a couple trips under your belt you will find you still forget stuff!
Don't worry about it, just relax and enjoy the ride.
Laura
they fit just fine. So glad I didn't go out and buy something else. If yours is a king, maybe you could just tuck it in or pin
it, at least for the time being. Am looking forward to the Hershey rally to learn more about keeping house in our RV. Congrats on your choices and your courage to go ahead with your plans. Take care, Pat K
You will get through this confusing, saddening, exciting, and exhausting time. I promise. Soon, you will look back fondly at all you went through. It is the entry to the best lifestyle on earth.
Very soon, after the house goes, you will experience a huge sense of FREEDOM!
You will make mistakes. We all have, and it is part of the lifestyle. (We have done the "dumb" ones twice to be sure we have it right!!)
You will continue to learn as you travel. No one can get it 100 % right the first time.
Enjoy!!!
Go Granny, Go Granny, Go Granny Go! I can tell you are about 600 kinds of excited. Congratulations and have a great time!
Thanks Bob & Sue... now I have "Little Old Lady from Pasadena" going through my head!
Granny, we're excited for you starting out on your new life and adventure! Joan's sister and brother-in-law had never even camped before when they sold everything and went fulltime in their new RV. Health problems brought them in off the road after only 2 years but they quickly say it was the best 2 years of their life!
We went through all of this several months ago,moved our rig to a spot in a local CG which used to be our close get away spot, for a month,hit the road did 6300 miles this summer,and are now back at the same CG, which is now "home", till we retire in June .We expected our house to take a long time to sell, it sold in three weeks. Even though the buyer bought everything in the house, we had 20 days to get out!
First piece of advice..take the huge project and divide it into individual tasks. For us,looking at the whole became overwhelming. In parts, we were able to feel we were making progress every time something got done.
Be kind to yourselves...Things will come together,but may require adjustment,re-do,or whatever,but if you move fwd, all will get done.
I know how you feel.This is very,very stressful, but the reward is ultimate freedom. Ginny and I always remaind ourselves to keep our eye on the goal. First step is to be free of the anchor of a house. Next step is to be free to go where you want to,work where you want to, or whatever. Not easy,but worth it.
Ok , so a week ago we bought the 5er, but didn't have a truck to tow it. Last Monday we bought the truck so we had something to tow it with but didn't have a place to store it till the house sells. Saturday we found a place to store it at an rv park 12 minutes from my husbands work so we stayed there in it Saturday and Sunday night and pulled it right into storage before we left.
Just joined Passport America so we can stay at some more cool local resorts.
We are so excited about this. We were pretty nervous pulling out of the dealership but I was so proud of how my husband handled the rig. In a past life he drove a milk truck for Borden dairy so he said it is coming back to him. He says the key is to always stay humble about your driving ability. We will just take it slow. The assit. manager at the rv park was awesome. Helping us with so many questions. We had a pull through spot to stay for 2 nights so that was easy and then backing into the storage spot was not too bad either.
We figure we will go out there and stay another time and then get brave and take it to another park for a few days. If that darn job would not get in the way!!
Thanks everyone for all of your advice and encouragement. We are excited to be able to say we are RVers. Before long we will be able to help others and answer their questions.
Oh yea, still waiting to sell the house so say a prayer for us.
We just moved out of our house a month ago, full time RVing now and loving it!
It is such a relief from all the bills, all the work on house and property, and all the 'stuff' that we thought we owned, which ended up owning us.
We gave most of it away and donated the rest.
We kept very few special items to store in the garage until we build a coachhouse upstairs or a small cabin some day.
We are free from it all now, living a simple life in our RV.
Wishing the same for you!
Good for you! We are in the midst of this ourselves. Both of us were laid off our jobs in June due to budget cuts. That is when we did some soul searching and decided to put our home on the market in July and full time in a 5er. That was Defcon 3.
We got an offer on our house in late August which pushed us to Defcon 2...planning how to make our lives work in a 5er, figuring out what we needed to do next. We went into full-out planning, project management mode.
In September, when the house sale was becoming more real, we went to Portland to purchase our 5er, a 2003 33' Presidential Holiday Rambler. A few days later we found a 2000, Ford F350, 7.3 liter diesel extended cab. Both vehicles are now at Camping World being stored until we arrive Oct. 22. The 5th wheel is being installed in the truck. Our orientation will be done when we get back there.
We are pretty scared too, but sooo excited. We've never towed a 5er before so this will be a whole new ball game.
Defcon 1 started last week when the shipping container was delivered in front of our house. We had two days to get our possessions we were taking to the mainland packed and loaded. Friday, the container was taken to the dock and about now our belongings are somewhere on the ocean.
Most of our large furniture was sold on craigslist and I must say we got some good prices. Everything else was put into a moving sale in our home last weekend. It's amazing how much stuff we accumulate. We sold a good portion of it, gave some away, and the rest is going to Goodwill.
Currently, we have an empty home except for our dining room table, which the buyers wanted to buy, two TVs, a desk, two desk chairs and an air mattress to sleep on. I told Bob when we move into the 5er, it will feel luxurious!
Wednesday this week my car is being shipped to Seattle and we will have to drive up from Portland to retrieve it before we head to Fallon, NV. So, a rental car is now in the equation for our last 1-1/2 weeks here.
Good luck to you in your new endeavor!
Susan and Bob
http://travelbug-susan.blogspot.com/
2000 Ford F350 7.3 diesel
2003 33' Presidential Holiday Rambler
Good Luck Granny and if you need any help at anytime, all Rvers are friendly and willing to help in anyway.
Mel and Gail
2011 F350 Ford
2008 Carri-Lite