Wow,, what a road it has been to get to this point. I just read what I typed in my intro page on this site and man how things have changed. At that point I still like my job and was working 50 to 60 hours a week and I thought the house would sell for about $600k. Now I decided to take a step down at work and took a 58% cut in pay doing it but dropped down to 4 days and 32 to 40 hours per week with less stress. And the house sold for $540,000.
Now we have sold most of our furniture and crip crap junk and moved what we feel we just have to keep into storage and we are on our last week in this house. We have spent the last two nights in the motor home in the shop. We are supposed to sign papers next week and turn the house over on the 25th at this point. AND we ride off on a vacation on the 26th on our motorcycle LOL!!! So we will drive the rv from the shop to a storage lot and ride off.
We don't figure to fulltime for ever so we have bought another 5 acre view lot and have put a RV pad on it. Trenching for utilities will start Monday and we already put a well in. I will work until Nov. or Dec and then we will take off in the RV so until then we will stay on that piece of land and have a place to come back to when we want. May not a true sence of full time but thats what we are calling it anyway LOL.
I figure to only be gone for about 3 months then come back and work the summer of 2013 but Diane (my other half) is talking about just staying on the road and do our couple years of full time travel and then come back. I like the way she thinks but time will tell. We will be 100% dept free so maybe we will just do it.
In Feb. I had a event happen at work that made me decide screw it, nows the time for a change. And I've been at this current possition for 19 years. Something Diane has been telling me to do for years now. So in a six month period we are going from well over six digit income to less than half of that for now. Going from a deam home and a 40x50 dream shop on 5 acres to a 40ft motor home on 5 acres. But being dept free and dropping in tax brackets will hopfully make the money thing seem not so bad. And the less stress thing just might add a couple years to my life. And considering taking another cut in income if we stay on the road like Diane wants to do. Crap,, it's only 7am and I think I'm ready for a drink already!!
Terry and Jo said
08:34 PM Jun 17, 2012
Depending on what one's needs are, dropping the income considerably may be less traumatic than one thinks. It can be amazing what one finds that they don't have to have.
For a long time, I've never been one to insist that I have steak instead of hamburger, or alcohol instead of Diet Dr. Pepper. If one's decision to minimize is good, then what one will get to experience with the beauty of this country may very well make hamburger and Diet Dr. Pepper great stuff.
Good luck with all your plans and planning. Enjoy the life.
Terry
Hdrider said
12:55 PM Jun 20, 2012
I think your right. I have been lucky enough to have gone through my have all the toy's stage of life and enjoyed it very much. However I have sold off most of them now and really don't miss them knowing that we are working on a different life style. I think that trend will continue.
Hdrider said
01:33 PM Aug 4, 2012
Thought I would do a update. The motorcycle trip was a blast!!! We did cut it back from a 2 week ride to one week because the closing of the house kept getting pushed back. But everything is done now and the house is closed as of a couple weeks ago.
We have moved the RV to a park in a town by where I am still working and the work on the piece of land still drags on. Cable, phone, gas have all been ran and there is a pedistal just waiting for the power company to pull lines to. They have been our hold up. Water lines will be ran next week from the well up to the pad. We have to do a sand filter septic,,, $13,000,,, so I think because we plan to hit the road in Nov. or Dec. we might just put one of those porta potti things up there until then and worry about the septic when we come off the road. We will deal with dumping the gray water. We hope to be up on the property in about 3 weeks. We have about 2 weeks left of the month we paid for at this campground then we will move to another for a week of camping with friends then with luck to the land.
Some might say the smart thing would to be just stay in a park until we leave but I want to be on that land and clear a little more brush before we leave. Plus it will save us park fees for 4 or so months. And it's out in the woods with a great view.
This down time has given us time to really work on our budget and get evrything dialed in as far as living in the motor home goes. Getting what ever little dodads we need ect.
The cut back at work has been good. Didn't really have any problem letting go of running the place. I have not worked hourly for 20 years so that has been a change. And my work schedule is a bit different with some evening shifts that I have not worked in 20 years but I can deal with about anything for 4 more months. Even though with the pay cut I'm almost ready to say to heck with it and just go now. But I'll do the smart thing and just hold on until winter. Dropping from 50 to 60 hour weeks to 32 has really been nice.
Our plan at this point is to hit the road late Nov. or early Dec. and head south into Ca. and then over to Quartzite for the RV show and hook up with the Tiffin group. No plan at all from there except keep heading east. I guess thats it for now.
heyduke said
01:40 AM Aug 16, 2012
make a plan - work the plan... retire and have fun... oh btw it is okay to put Kahlua or baileys in your coffee when you are retired...
Hdrider said
10:50 PM Sep 15, 2012
Another update.
As of the 13th I am no longer working. So even though we started living in the MH in June and probably considered full time I really FEEL full time now.
We moved from the local RV park and are now just up the road about a hour at the 7 Feathers RV Resort for the night. Headed to Harrisburg tomorrow for the RV-Dreams get together for a week.
The electrician is up on the property today finishing up so we can get up there and settle in until Nov.
Now it's time to enjoy the full time life style!!
shystywolf said
06:50 AM Sep 17, 2012
Way to go. Congrats on the upgrade to the motorhome. I am looking forward to my move as soon as I can get an RV. Good luck!
Wow,, what a road it has been to get to this point. I just read what I typed in my intro page on this site and man how things have changed. At that point I still like my job and was working 50 to 60 hours a week and I thought the house would sell for about $600k. Now I decided to take a step down at work and took a 58% cut in pay doing it but dropped down to 4 days and 32 to 40 hours per week with less stress. And the house sold for $540,000.
Now we have sold most of our furniture and crip crap junk and moved what we feel we just have to keep into storage and we are on our last week in this house. We have spent the last two nights in the motor home in the shop. We are supposed to sign papers next week and turn the house over on the 25th at this point. AND we ride off on a vacation on the 26th on our motorcycle LOL!!! So we will drive the rv from the shop to a storage lot and ride off.
We don't figure to fulltime for ever so we have bought another 5 acre view lot and have put a RV pad on it. Trenching for utilities will start Monday and we already put a well in. I will work until Nov. or Dec and then we will take off in the RV so until then we will stay on that piece of land and have a place to come back to when we want. May not a true sence of full time but thats what we are calling it anyway LOL.
I figure to only be gone for about 3 months then come back and work the summer of 2013 but Diane (my other half) is talking about just staying on the road and do our couple years of full time travel and then come back. I like the way she thinks but time will tell. We will be 100% dept free so maybe we will just do it.
In Feb. I had a event happen at work that made me decide screw it, nows the time for a change. And I've been at this current possition for 19 years. Something Diane has been telling me to do for years now. So in a six month period we are going from well over six digit income to less than half of that for now. Going from a deam home and a 40x50 dream shop on 5 acres to a 40ft motor home on 5 acres. But being dept free and dropping in tax brackets will hopfully make the money thing seem not so bad. And the less stress thing just might add a couple years to my life. And considering taking another cut in income if we stay on the road like Diane wants to do. Crap,, it's only 7am and I think I'm ready for a drink already!!
Depending on what one's needs are, dropping the income considerably may be less traumatic than one thinks. It can be amazing what one finds that they don't have to have.
For a long time, I've never been one to insist that I have steak instead of hamburger, or alcohol instead of Diet Dr. Pepper. If one's decision to minimize is good, then what one will get to experience with the beauty of this country may very well make hamburger and Diet Dr. Pepper great stuff.
Good luck with all your plans and planning. Enjoy the life.
Terry
I think your right. I have been lucky enough to have gone through my have all the toy's stage of life and enjoyed it very much. However I have sold off most of them now and really don't miss them knowing that we are working on a different life style. I think that trend will continue.
Thought I would do a update. The motorcycle trip was a blast!!! We did cut it back from a 2 week ride to one week because the closing of the house kept getting pushed back. But everything is done now and the house is closed as of a couple weeks ago.
We have moved the RV to a park in a town by where I am still working and the work on the piece of land still drags on. Cable, phone, gas have all been ran and there is a pedistal just waiting for the power company to pull lines to. They have been our hold up. Water lines will be ran next week from the well up to the pad. We have to do a sand filter septic,,, $13,000,,, so I think because we plan to hit the road in Nov. or Dec. we might just put one of those porta potti things up there until then and worry about the septic when we come off the road. We will deal with dumping the gray water. We hope to be up on the property in about 3 weeks. We have about 2 weeks left of the month we paid for at this campground then we will move to another for a week of camping with friends then with luck to the land.
Some might say the smart thing would to be just stay in a park until we leave but I want to be on that land and clear a little more brush before we leave. Plus it will save us park fees for 4 or so months. And it's out in the woods with a great view.
This down time has given us time to really work on our budget and get evrything dialed in as far as living in the motor home goes. Getting what ever little dodads we need ect.
The cut back at work has been good. Didn't really have any problem letting go of running the place. I have not worked hourly for 20 years so that has been a change. And my work schedule is a bit different with some evening shifts that I have not worked in 20 years but I can deal with about anything for 4 more months. Even though with the pay cut I'm almost ready to say to heck with it and just go now. But I'll do the smart thing and just hold on until winter. Dropping from 50 to 60 hour weeks to 32 has really been nice.
Our plan at this point is to hit the road late Nov. or early Dec. and head south into Ca. and then over to Quartzite for the RV show and hook up with the Tiffin group. No plan at all from there except keep heading east. I guess thats it for now.
Another update.
As of the 13th I am no longer working. So even though we started living in the MH in June and probably considered full time I really FEEL full time now.
We moved from the local RV park and are now just up the road about a hour at the 7 Feathers RV Resort for the night. Headed to Harrisburg tomorrow for the RV-Dreams get together for a week.
The electrician is up on the property today finishing up so we can get up there and settle in until Nov.
Now it's time to enjoy the full time life style!!