Deciding to go fulltime as a family... so undecided!!
dreamer15 said
12:31 PM May 19, 2015
Hi my husband and I (30 & 33) have been tossing around the idea of leaving the conventional life behind and living full time in an RV with our son who's 8. We have about a year to get our thoughts and a plan together. We have bounced back n forth between a travel trailer and a motorhome class c. We like the idea of the motorhome, being that you are apart of the house while on the road but, we want to have a full size 4x4 truck and don't like the idea of towing it on another full trailer. I like the space of a travel trailer and the idea of a nice truck to pull it and drop it when we get settled somewhere. We don't want to travel constantly because my husband has child support to pay and we have to make sure we stay employed enough to pay it and him not get in trouble and also afford the cost of on the road life.. we like the nomad gypsy life, we have traveled before but not comfortably and not at our leisure from job to job with home in tow... Our son is open to the idea if its fun and he can maintain human contact sometimes lol. I also have a daughter who is 13 but lives with her dad, she would be with us some of the time but not majority. We know we want solar power and batteries and we know a generator is needed for a back up but we don't know the full gamete of how to make it all work with an older trailer since we will only have about 6000 to spend on a trailer and maybe 10000 to spend on a truck or 10-12000 on a motorhome and have maybe 4000 left to live on while looking to make more money. I have read so many blogs and must haves and what to dos and not to dos but its just so all over the place that I need some better direction before we leave our current place of employment and free fall on our own. We are open to camp working but we would like to stay in Michigan for the summer months to be close to my daughter and our sons friend and some family and then maybe head down to Tennessee for the winter months so we are not in the RV during freezing temps, plus we like to go see new places. We don't have a nest egg we live paycheck to paycheck right now but come the end of the year we will have enough to get us started and gone but after that i'm clueless and with having our son I don't want to mess up to badly and get in a bind we cant recover from... I hate being tied to one place and not being outdoors 90 percent of the time! We love to fish and hunt we like being together outdoors and camping we live in a very small house and run a motel together so we know what its like to be close nit, but to have some freedom like RVing would be awesome. Please help us figure our a good plan if you might have the time... I've looked at 26 to 30 ft. travel trailers with bunks a queen bed and found some pretty good ones under 7000 and also F250 4x4 diesels for under 9000 but the miles are always so high that part scares us a little without having much to put into a new transmission or engine. Also a 27 - 30 ft. motorhome would be nice but I don't think its logical to tow a trailer with a full size truck on it. Thanks for any advice and I love reading all the adventures and lifestyles everyone has to share :)
jrzygrl64 said
07:41 PM May 20, 2015
Sounds like you have a lot of decisions to make. Our situation is completely different than yours and I wish I had more to say than good luck and welcome to the forum.
The only potentially helpful thing I can say is we had a Class C and towed a car for years and it worked out great, but I know it's very dependent on a lot of different factors.
Terry and Jo said
01:43 PM May 21, 2015
Amanda,
First of all, welcome to the RV Dreams' forums. You will find that this is a good source for answers to questions about both the RV's and the RV lifestyle. So, feel free to ask any question that comes to mind, and don't be afraid to ask dumb questions. The only dumb ones are those that don't get asked and one makes an expensive or time consuming mistake.
However, two things concern me with your situation, but I can't say that things still couldn't work out for you. First of all, living paycheck to paycheck is going to make it more difficult, especially if you have a need for making repairs to your RV. Obviously, if you are having to buy a used RV, in addition to the money to purchase the RV, one also needs to have a "maintenance fund" in case one needs to make repairs. If you don't have that fund in place immediately after purchasing the RV, then trying to fix one with major problems could completely strap you for available funds.
We have one couple here at RV Dreams that purchased a used RV and had an independent inspector look over the rig before they finalized the deal. Now, they are faced with expensive repairs, partly due to water damage (I think), and will have to be without their "home" for a number of weeks. In their case, I think they have family with whom they can stay while that repair is being done.
Good luck with your research and planning.
Terry
The Bear II said
02:23 PM May 21, 2015
I really hate to crush anyone's dream....
Here's my two cents based upon reading several different RV forums for the past 15 years plus my own experience as an RV'er for the past 40 plus years.
On the blogs and forums where the folks indicate how much they spend, fulltime RV'ers live on $1500 to $3000+ per month with $2500 per month being the amount the majority of fulltimers indicate they spend each month.
This covers costs that include:
Health Care
Vehicle Insurance
Food
Repairs/maintenance
RV Park or Campground fees
Travel costs
Entertainment
plus miscellaneous other expenses (laundry, sundries, clothing...schooling costs)
You have the added expense of child care.
That's for a normal month with no unexpected expenses popping up.
With an older RV you can expect some items to need replacement at some point or as often as every 4-5 years. Some of these are- Tires ($800), Refrigerator ($1200) or control board ($500), Brakes ($200), Battery ($200), Air Conditioning unit ($1800)....
The folks who seem to be successful fulltime RV'ing either have a fixed income, have saved for several years, are able to work remotely but still get a paycheck or have an established business that doesn't require a fixed location.
Just wanted to share my thoughts.... I do hope you are able to realize your dream and hit the road.
Barbaraok said
07:41 PM May 21, 2015
OK, I'll be the bad old mom and try and talk some truth to dreams here. If you only have $20K to spend on rig plus living expenses until you 'find work', then don't do it. Any unit you get for that amount (10-15K) is going to require work, it will cost money to move, and any decent solar system is going to be $3-4K alone by the time you get panels, new batteries, controllers, etc. And at that age, the tires will need to be replaced - figure $1-2K for those. A diesel truck with 100K miles isn't a worry, but diesels do cost more to maintain.
What about health care for the three of you - I didn't see that mentioned. And just what type of jobs do you think are going to be out there waiting for you that will provide sufficient income ($25-$30K) that will allow the three of you a minimal quality of life in addition to child support? For winter, you need to be below Interstate 10 to hopefully be out of freezing temperatures - and even then it can get cold. And are you able to home school your child - do you have the expertise and stamina to do that?
It is a great dream, but how about staying put and putting money into your dream fund so that you are better able to handle the 'oops' that come when fulltiming - after all pulling a house down the road at 60 mph does affect them over time. And if you have experience with motel management, then look into work-camping and have things lined up before you decide to venture out.
Time and planning are your friends - life isn't over when you turn 30. I turn 70 tomorrow and it is just beginning so don't rush in where angels would fear to tread. Plan, research, investigate, save, and THEN with everything lined up go. If it was just you and your husband, I'd just shake my head and not bother, as you are young enough to recover from making the mistake of not planning, but you are talking about several children (yours, his, and yours together) and all need parents who include how to make sure they are taken care of in their planning. That's what happens when we become parents, we are no long just single agents dancing in the wind - we have to be responsible and plan with THEIR needs at the top of the list.
Barb
dreamer15 said
08:30 PM May 21, 2015
Thank you for the welcome, I hope we can attend a rally at some point! I know there are many things to think about but we can not stay living the life we are and stay happily married we are way to stressed and and our son is missing out on so much because we can never have family time running the motel 24 hours a day 7 days a week. If we can find a sound inexpensive travel trailer and a decent truck my husband will be able to make most of any repairs that come about and we have considered stayed parked at a fairgrounds in a town or an inexpensive campground and just work average jobs but still have the freedom to go if we want or need to. I can homechool my son but if we are in town most of the year he may attend school or classes through the community along with me homeschooling. I love this site it has so many helpful discussions and its helping a lot, we decided not to go with slide outs that are motorized if any at all I'm able to start buying and saving for certain items like the solar items and different things now. I look forward to reading more and learning more!
BiggarView said
06:36 AM May 22, 2015
Firstly, welcome to a large group of folks that also share RV dreams. It's great that you have passion for your future adventure, but....
Previous posters have expressed caution and you should be heeding these "warnings". You are young (12 and 15 in 'adult years' as my mom used to say when I was your age) and time is on your side so don't rush this. Figure out the plan.
Your first step is get control of your finances. I say this because of your statement about living paycheck to paycheck and your reported near term 20K dollars to begin this journey suggests potential issues, that fortunately, are usually fairly easy to fix with a bit of patience. You do not need to answer with exact details of your financial situation on here but ask yourself about the nature of your current income and outgo. If you have debt of any kind, credit cards, car loans other debts etc, then I'd plan to pay them off ASAP as first step toward chasing an RV dream. With that done put the money that was used for such debt into building up an emergency fund, then fund all of your dreams (don't forget saving for later when you are fully retired). In the meantime, figure out what it will cost you to have this dream. Figure out a strategy to support it through workamping or other work suitable for the lifestyle.
Lastly, an RV is a small space and typical full timers are 2 people sharing that tiny space (but by no means carved in stone). Being able to afford the lifestyle, even on a shoestring, is one thing... small spaces can be psychologically challenging also. Know thyself and understand, not only your own trigger points, but those of your signifcant other and your children. You will inherit a whole new set of conditions compared to your current situation are you ready for that?
If you are honest with yourself you will be able to tell if you are realistic, if your plans are realistic or if you are seeing the world through the filter of rose colored glasses. Your situation is unique to you and only you can answer the tough questions as they relate to you. Knowledge is power, so ask away and bask in the warm glow of confidence that comes from dispelling fear and indecision. You may also find out that this is the not lifestyle for you or pehaps just not now, and that is okay too. Either way you come out a winner when you know more about yourself than you did before. Gook luck and let the research begin!
Brian
Second Chance said
01:59 PM May 23, 2015
Barbaraok wrote:
....
Time and planning are your friends - life isn't over when you turn 30. I turn 70 tomorrow and it is just beginning so don't rush in where angels would fear to tread. Plan, research, investigate, save, and THEN with everything lined up go. If it was just you and your husband, I'd just shake my head and not bother, as you are young enough to recover from making the mistake of not planning, but you are talking about several children (yours, his, and yours together) and all need parents who include how to make sure they are taken care of in their planning. That's what happens when we become parents, we are no long just single agents dancing in the wind - we have to be responsible and plan with THEIR needs at the top of the list.
Barb
Barb,
From your avatar photo, I wouldn't have guessed you to be over 50... and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
Amanda - Barb and several others have touched on schooling for your child. I want to make two points related to that topic: 1) moving a child from school to school has much more negative impact than you might imagine. There is lack of consistency between schools and systems along with the child feeling uprooted every time it happens (as a teacher, my wife sees this all too much); and 2) my late wife home-schooled our two children when they were young... it's a LOT of work! You have to have the aptitude and ability. In addition, it requires quite a bit of time. That's not to say there aren't families on the road doing it successfully (we read a blog by one family with 13 children from age 5 to college who seemed to be doing a very good job of it), but it's still a lot of hard work.
I don't think any of us want to rain on your parade. We just want you to go into anything with your eyes open and not get blind-sided by finances, logistics, or circumstances. Pay particular attention to the financial advice given by several posters above.
Rob
Someday said
03:08 PM May 23, 2015
If there's one thing I've learnt about folks when they are determined to do something they will, and often without consideration for the consequences or looking at the total big picture. Can it be done yes. Can it turn into a disaster - for some absolutely yes. If you say you can you will if you say you can't you won't. Nothing's impossible but if you are asking the vast majority of whether they personally would plan on doing what you are as you are right now in time, the chances are likely the majority would say no and for what to most of us on the surface seems like very logical reasons.
I'm a big proponent of you can replace money but you can never ever replace your time on this earth. Time and most importantly good health in that time are the most precious commodity any single one of us has. Everyone talks about balance, but our experience it is a lot easier said than done to achieve in life. We've been battling that one ourselves for over half a century and some.
No one knows us better than we know ourselves, so look in the mirror long and hard and ask yourself, what is the absolute worst possible outcome of a) Hitting the road now as we are or b) Putting it off for a few more years, when you might have a bit better cushion around you to ease some of the stresses. The most important things here are the answers to what is the absolute WORST possible scenario and most importantly can you live with it or yourself if it affects any of your loved ones worse?
Good luck, and be sure to let us all know what that mirror said back to you! Sadly, it's becoming increasingly harder for folks today to have patience and stay the course to build and work towards their goals and any future plans, when we live in such a "NOW" society.
SD.
PS: Barb - Hope you have a fabulous birthday my friend. Whatever you've been doing, keep on keeping on you're looking good.
Barbaraok said
04:23 PM May 23, 2015
Must admit the photo is a few years old - guess I should update it. Birthday was great - we stopped in at one of our favorite wineries in the Umpqua Valley - if you're near Sutherlin do visit Misty Oaks.
Edited: New photo of Dave & I uploaded.
-- Edited by Barbaraok on Saturday 23rd of May 2015 05:02:06 PM
Hi my husband and I (30 & 33) have been tossing around the idea of leaving the conventional life behind and living full time in an RV with our son who's 8. We have about a year to get our thoughts and a plan together. We have bounced back n forth between a travel trailer and a motorhome class c. We like the idea of the motorhome, being that you are apart of the house while on the road but, we want to have a full size 4x4 truck and don't like the idea of towing it on another full trailer. I like the space of a travel trailer and the idea of a nice truck to pull it and drop it when we get settled somewhere. We don't want to travel constantly because my husband has child support to pay and we have to make sure we stay employed enough to pay it and him not get in trouble and also afford the cost of on the road life.. we like the nomad gypsy life, we have traveled before but not comfortably and not at our leisure from job to job with home in tow... Our son is open to the idea if its fun and he can maintain human contact sometimes lol. I also have a daughter who is 13 but lives with her dad, she would be with us some of the time but not majority. We know we want solar power and batteries and we know a generator is needed for a back up but we don't know the full gamete of how to make it all work with an older trailer since we will only have about 6000 to spend on a trailer and maybe 10000 to spend on a truck or 10-12000 on a motorhome and have maybe 4000 left to live on while looking to make more money. I have read so many blogs and must haves and what to dos and not to dos but its just so all over the place that I need some better direction before we leave our current place of employment and free fall on our own. We are open to camp working but we would like to stay in Michigan for the summer months to be close to my daughter and our sons friend and some family and then maybe head down to Tennessee for the winter months so we are not in the RV during freezing temps, plus we like to go see new places. We don't have a nest egg we live paycheck to paycheck right now but come the end of the year we will have enough to get us started and gone but after that i'm clueless and with having our son I don't want to mess up to badly and get in a bind we cant recover from... I hate being tied to one place and not being outdoors 90 percent of the time! We love to fish and hunt we like being together outdoors and camping we live in a very small house and run a motel together so we know what its like to be close nit, but to have some freedom like RVing would be awesome. Please help us figure our a good plan if you might have the time... I've looked at 26 to 30 ft. travel trailers with bunks a queen bed and found some pretty good ones under 7000 and also F250 4x4 diesels for under 9000 but the miles are always so high that part scares us a little without having much to put into a new transmission or engine. Also a 27 - 30 ft. motorhome would be nice but I don't think its logical to tow a trailer with a full size truck on it. Thanks for any advice and I love reading all the adventures and lifestyles everyone has to share :)
The only potentially helpful thing I can say is we had a Class C and towed a car for years and it worked out great, but I know it's very dependent on a lot of different factors.
Amanda,
First of all, welcome to the RV Dreams' forums. You will find that this is a good source for answers to questions about both the RV's and the RV lifestyle. So, feel free to ask any question that comes to mind, and don't be afraid to ask dumb questions. The only dumb ones are those that don't get asked and one makes an expensive or time consuming mistake.
However, two things concern me with your situation, but I can't say that things still couldn't work out for you. First of all, living paycheck to paycheck is going to make it more difficult, especially if you have a need for making repairs to your RV. Obviously, if you are having to buy a used RV, in addition to the money to purchase the RV, one also needs to have a "maintenance fund" in case one needs to make repairs. If you don't have that fund in place immediately after purchasing the RV, then trying to fix one with major problems could completely strap you for available funds.
We have one couple here at RV Dreams that purchased a used RV and had an independent inspector look over the rig before they finalized the deal. Now, they are faced with expensive repairs, partly due to water damage (I think), and will have to be without their "home" for a number of weeks. In their case, I think they have family with whom they can stay while that repair is being done.
Good luck with your research and planning.
Terry
Here's my two cents based upon reading several different RV forums for the past 15 years plus my own experience as an RV'er for the past 40 plus years.
On the blogs and forums where the folks indicate how much they spend, fulltime RV'ers live on $1500 to $3000+ per month with $2500 per month being the amount the majority of fulltimers indicate they spend each month.
This covers costs that include:
Health Care
Vehicle Insurance
Food
Repairs/maintenance
RV Park or Campground fees
Travel costs
Entertainment
plus miscellaneous other expenses (laundry, sundries, clothing...schooling costs)
You have the added expense of child care.
That's for a normal month with no unexpected expenses popping up.
With an older RV you can expect some items to need replacement at some point or as often as every 4-5 years. Some of these are- Tires ($800), Refrigerator ($1200) or control board ($500), Brakes ($200), Battery ($200), Air Conditioning unit ($1800)....
The folks who seem to be successful fulltime RV'ing either have a fixed income, have saved for several years, are able to work remotely but still get a paycheck or have an established business that doesn't require a fixed location.
Just wanted to share my thoughts.... I do hope you are able to realize your dream and hit the road.
What about health care for the three of you - I didn't see that mentioned. And just what type of jobs do you think are going to be out there waiting for you that will provide sufficient income ($25-$30K) that will allow the three of you a minimal quality of life in addition to child support? For winter, you need to be below Interstate 10 to hopefully be out of freezing temperatures - and even then it can get cold. And are you able to home school your child - do you have the expertise and stamina to do that?
It is a great dream, but how about staying put and putting money into your dream fund so that you are better able to handle the 'oops' that come when fulltiming - after all pulling a house down the road at 60 mph does affect them over time. And if you have experience with motel management, then look into work-camping and have things lined up before you decide to venture out.
Time and planning are your friends - life isn't over when you turn 30. I turn 70 tomorrow and it is just beginning so don't rush in where angels would fear to tread. Plan, research, investigate, save, and THEN with everything lined up go. If it was just you and your husband, I'd just shake my head and not bother, as you are young enough to recover from making the mistake of not planning, but you are talking about several children (yours, his, and yours together) and all need parents who include how to make sure they are taken care of in their planning. That's what happens when we become parents, we are no long just single agents dancing in the wind - we have to be responsible and plan with THEIR needs at the top of the list.
Barb
Firstly, welcome to a large group of folks that also share RV dreams. It's great that you have passion for your future adventure, but....
Previous posters have expressed caution and you should be heeding these "warnings". You are young (12 and 15 in 'adult years' as my mom used to say when I was your age) and time is on your side so don't rush this. Figure out the plan.
Your first step is get control of your finances. I say this because of your statement about living paycheck to paycheck and your reported near term 20K dollars to begin this journey suggests potential issues, that fortunately, are usually fairly easy to fix with a bit of patience. You do not need to answer with exact details of your financial situation on here but ask yourself about the nature of your current income and outgo. If you have debt of any kind, credit cards, car loans other debts etc, then I'd plan to pay them off ASAP as first step toward chasing an RV dream. With that done put the money that was used for such debt into building up an emergency fund, then fund all of your dreams (don't forget saving for later when you are fully retired). In the meantime, figure out what it will cost you to have this dream. Figure out a strategy to support it through workamping or other work suitable for the lifestyle.
Lastly, an RV is a small space and typical full timers are 2 people sharing that tiny space (but by no means carved in stone). Being able to afford the lifestyle, even on a shoestring, is one thing... small spaces can be psychologically challenging also. Know thyself and understand, not only your own trigger points, but those of your signifcant other and your children. You will inherit a whole new set of conditions compared to your current situation are you ready for that?
If you are honest with yourself you will be able to tell if you are realistic, if your plans are realistic or if you are seeing the world through the filter of rose colored glasses. Your situation is unique to you and only you can answer the tough questions as they relate to you. Knowledge is power, so ask away and bask in the warm glow of confidence that comes from dispelling fear and indecision. You may also find out that this is the not lifestyle for you or pehaps just not now, and that is okay too. Either way you come out a winner when you know more about yourself than you did before. Gook luck and let the research begin!
Brian
Barb,
From your avatar photo, I wouldn't have guessed you to be over 50... and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
Amanda - Barb and several others have touched on schooling for your child. I want to make two points related to that topic: 1) moving a child from school to school has much more negative impact than you might imagine. There is lack of consistency between schools and systems along with the child feeling uprooted every time it happens (as a teacher, my wife sees this all too much); and 2) my late wife home-schooled our two children when they were young... it's a LOT of work! You have to have the aptitude and ability. In addition, it requires quite a bit of time. That's not to say there aren't families on the road doing it successfully (we read a blog by one family with 13 children from age 5 to college who seemed to be doing a very good job of it), but it's still a lot of hard work.
I don't think any of us want to rain on your parade. We just want you to go into anything with your eyes open and not get blind-sided by finances, logistics, or circumstances. Pay particular attention to the financial advice given by several posters above.
Rob
If there's one thing I've learnt about folks when they are determined to do something they will, and often without consideration for the consequences or looking at the total big picture. Can it be done yes. Can it turn into a disaster - for some absolutely yes. If you say you can you will if you say you can't you won't. Nothing's impossible but if you are asking the vast majority of whether they personally would plan on doing what you are as you are right now in time, the chances are likely the majority would say no and for what to most of us on the surface seems like very logical reasons.
I'm a big proponent of you can replace money but you can never ever replace your time on this earth. Time and most importantly good health in that time are the most precious commodity any single one of us has. Everyone talks about balance, but our experience it is a lot easier said than done to achieve in life. We've been battling that one ourselves for over half a century and some.
No one knows us better than we know ourselves, so look in the mirror long and hard and ask yourself, what is the absolute worst possible outcome of a) Hitting the road now as we are or b) Putting it off for a few more years, when you might have a bit better cushion around you to ease some of the stresses. The most important things here are the answers to what is the absolute WORST possible scenario and most importantly can you live with it or yourself if it affects any of your loved ones worse?
Good luck, and be sure to let us all know what that mirror said back to you! Sadly, it's becoming increasingly harder for folks today to have patience and stay the course to build and work towards their goals and any future plans, when we live in such a "NOW" society.
SD.
PS: Barb - Hope you have a fabulous birthday my friend. Whatever you've been doing, keep on keeping on you're looking good.
Must admit the photo is a few years old - guess I should update it. Birthday was great - we stopped in at one of our favorite wineries in the Umpqua Valley - if you're near Sutherlin do visit Misty Oaks.
Edited: New photo of Dave & I uploaded.
-- Edited by Barbaraok on Saturday 23rd of May 2015 05:02:06 PM