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  Of course not sure what we will do when a few years from now technology moves on and DVD has been replaced by something else.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 All,
My wife and I are doing about the same things to get ready for fulltiming around the same time frames. I too am retired Air Force and working my second career. We will both retire somewhere between 2010 and 2012. I can hardly wait, we may even get set up with our fulltime rig beforehand and live out of it while still working for a year or so. 

I have been converting VHS movies from since 1984 to DVD with great success. I have also begun to convert my photos to digital, longer and more difficult process. We have also begun to get rid of items we know we will not be taking with us.

Jim, we have been considering attending a LOW class, which one are you attending? We are closer to the one in Kentucky, just don't know which dates we can take off.

Steve, at what speed (ep, sp, slp....) did you record your digital movies and how many DVDs did it take?

Well maybe we will all be on the road together at about the same times and our paths will cross. Hey let's all get together at Howard and Linda's place for some slow cooked ribs..
......................... Doncat

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!

Planing ahead and looking around is fun.  We were lurkers on several forums before joining.  This forum is one of the friendliest and practical you will find.  If you haven't already found it you can view the Escapees forum and get a world of advice from long time fulltimers.  Looking around and studying different rigs is great to get you thinking about what you like and what you don't like and why.  We have seen many really nice rigs but we still like ours the best.  Why? because it fits us.  The same for how you choose to implement and live the lifestyle.  The more you read the forums the more you understand how so many unique people can enjoy fulltiming.

2012 will come very fast believe it or not so have fun getting there.

Larry and Jacki

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

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.

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 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

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. 

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?

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!

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

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 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.