We are fully off grid and that keeps our cost of living minimal. She’s become really amazing at making instant friends with people from all over. We have to work as a team when we are on the road, and she is a part of our decisions and day-to-day living. Because we boondock 99% of the time, we don’t have an external power source to plug our RV into to be able to run our air conditioning unit, (which doesn’t work too well anyway.) That’s not the case with a van or motorhome. Dustin and Jen say: Dustin would say yes! YES. Which is the best RV for full time family living? If you want a giant new rig, only want to stay at RV resorts with all the amenities and move around once a week, it may not be less expensive than your life in a sticks & bricks. Welcome! We don’t have to worry about hitching up! My husband has a F-150 that hauls ours completely fine and could probably go a little larger in size too but if we ever switched to a 40+ FT he would need an F-250 for sure! We have found incredible hidden gems, ones we never would have sought out, had our dog not made us think outside the box. Kirs & Dev say: Yes! Waited until it made sense, kids were … Then, start getting rid of all your stuff. Mandy says: Anything you do for the first time is a little nerve racking. Dustin & Jen say: I wish I had known what the expenses were going to be. I wanted to know all of the must-haves, ways to save space and maximize that space too. If family or friends do not have either a 30amp/50amp plug you can always purchase a converter to plug in your RV. If you fit and there’s no restrictions, you can park on their property. We would consider other options, if we weren’t full time. Have Plans and Do Your Research. The Simple Life Guide To RV Living: The Road to Freedom and the Mobile Lifestyle Revolution by Gary Collins is the follow-up to the author's first DIY self-help guide Going off the Grid. We love to stay out in wide open spaces, surrounded by nature rather than side by side other RV’s in an RV park. We are always in new places, discovering new things! Dustin and Jen say: RV living can be exactly what you need it to be, with options ranging from a small camper-van to luxury motorcoaches—it’s customizable to your lifestyle. Can't wait to go from a weekend RV warrior to a full time traveller. Lindsay says: We park in Dan’s parents’ driveway all the time and my mom’s neighborhood allows it on the street for a few days as well. April says: I have a Keystone Montana 3295RK (2005) I love this type because Keystone makes quality RV’s. No one wants to spend their entire vacation cleaning, so don’t track the … Do you want to tow a car? Megan and Brandon say: I don’t think there’s any secret thing you need to know before doing it. Our total monthly expenses are equivalent to the rent of a two bedroom apartment, in both of the places we are from. Having a fire or something happening to us while we are out and the dogs being stuck inside is my biggest fear so I take every precaution. Lindsay says: How sustainable it is! We GUTTED our RV and spent 8 months repairing and rebuilding. I grew up working on construction projects with my Dad, so everything we did I had some experience in. Many RV parks and campgrounds offer free WiFi when you stay with them. Where can I park my RV long term? ), and loaded only "basics" into the RV. Lindsay says: We have a dedicated hotspot with unlimited data from AT&T, and use our cell phones from Verizon as a backup. Some RVing friends of ours did this in both … What type of home on wheels you have is personal preference, so I can only speak for us and our opinions. Benefits are that it’s only 25 feet long, making it super easy to navigate and park. It’s one thing to live on the road full time, but how do you manage to earn an income? Researching everything was life-saving! So many people were like “just boondock everywhere! We can’t volunteer at church anymore or do certain hobbies, such as Brazilian Jui Jitsu in Dan’s case. Choose a rig and go from there. We love it for this season of our life! C.J.’s family lives in a suburban area outside of Dallas and we are only allowed to street park there between Thanksgiving and New Years Day. Like you, we want to maximize our wellness, relationships,work and finances; while maintaining a light life so we can travel and share our lives with others. We have everything we need in our camper. However, my job depends on phone reception and internet connection. You don’t want to be driving when it’s too windy or you could tip your rig and crash. All in all, if we are in areas with cell phone reception, our internet is covered! The Basics of RV Living: This portion contains all you need to know for life on the road. We can fit almost anywhere, including parking downtown in busy cities! Instagram is a great place like this (check out the accounts of our contributors above) as there are thousands of accounts all about that #RVLife. Can I live in an RV full time? Having another vehicle to explore the area in can be incredibly helpful. Featuring The Original Planner for RVers 2019!!! Where can I park my RV to live? If it is just a quick visit I think parking it in the driveway may be doable but for longer visits we will most likely leave it parked at the RV campground and drive our vehicle to physically stay in their home. It’s light and it only has one slide out. But it’s definitely a process to transition into the lifestyle. Meet Three Women RVers Who Call the Road Their Home . Many RV parks and campgrounds offer free WiFi when you stay with them. Being only 21’ long we are just a little bigger than a normal parking space, PLUS we won’t miss out on any beautiful roads because of ‘length restrictions.’ Our little rig also has a full bathroom, kitchen, dining area, sofa, and full size bed! We painted the outside, turned a closet into bunk beds for the kids, removed a dinette and replaced it with bar-style seating, then removed the passenger seat and turned it into a sectional style couch. If you’re wanting to travel and see as many places as you can, you’ll spend more money and you’ll need an RV that accommodates that well. I haven’t found anything just yet that I wish I knew but that may change one day. Why? Even though we have yet to test it out my Toyota Sienna minivan is actually fully equipped to haul travel trailers smaller in size! luxury RVs. utilities and now we dont even pay $1,000. I like to think we were the perfect team on this project. We learned pretty much everything from Youtube, blogs, and trial and error. (PS: Check out some great gifts for RV lovers here!). At the start, you may have lots of questions. We’re total beginners (and we’re assuming if you’re reading this you likely are, too), so we started at the basics. I, Jen, do extensive research and read Google reviews, and utilize other websites to make sure we are going to a safe area. Lots of cities are very dog-friendly, which is great. Our jobs put us on the road, so before having our van, we often spent money staying in hotels. I sewed curtains and seat cushions. Here we share our tips and stories for better relationships, stronger marriages, and, ways to find romance and adventure as a couple. This was our first RV so it was a different learning curve. This is our first motorhome and we have been very pleased with the model, layout, power and layout for our renovated house of wheels. We rebuilt the cabover sleeping bunk and rear wall completely. Nathalie and Louis say: We have a 1969 Airstream Globetrotter. For us being easily navigable was our first priority, second priority was a good amount of space. The tendency is to bring too much. There’s something for everyone, even the glampers! Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window), Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window). I now prefer driving the motorhome because of the amazing view from behind the wheel. (so small….but not too small…haha) Think about your NEEDS, what does your life require you to bring? I like to think we were the perfect team on this project. Everything was custom built to maximize our space and have storage in every spot possible. Ours is also equipped with an aluminum frame so it’s all weather which is nice as well. Know that no two full-timers have the same journey. Ashley H. says: So far the RV parks are all equipped with wifi but if we ever choose to boondock we will want to invest in something to help us with internet. What do you wish you’d known before embarking on the RVing lifestyle? May we suggest some information to help you explore the transition and basics of RV living for yourself? They make the travel even more fun for us and we love having them tag along. Etc! Is this an affordable lifestyle? The entire thing including all cabinets has been repainted + new vinyl flooring installed. May 17, 2020 - Explore ExtraHyperActive's board "Travel Trailers/Simple Living", followed by 1078 people on Pinterest. We typically don’t have problems staying connecting, but there have definitely been times where we were unable to stay at a certain spot because of the lack of signal – we find this to be common in National Parks. Ashley H says: It really depends on what type of RV you have to figure out what vehicle you need. at a certain spot because of the lack of signal – we find this to be common in National Parks. Louis is a carpenter, so we were fortunate to have the tools and knowledge to build our tiny home. Our closet is about two feet wide- and we have to share it between us. We are Chris & Jen and we are passionate about living abundantly & lightly! We mainly camp in Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. We’ve been primarily in the Southwest since living full- time, and had no idea that we were looking at $700+ a month on the low end PLUS the payment for our 5th wheel. We did research on the cost of RV parks—but only for certain regions. But overall, we’ve never had any issues! Ashley H says: We choose to stay at RV parks that have several amenities for our kids. because they feel so cramped, and it just wouldn’t work for our lifestyle. In fact, we just had an excellent illustration of this when we unpacked our van, over the space of half a day, into a one bedroom apartment, about 600 square feet in size. Regularly review what you took last time - if you haven't used it in a few trips - leave it at home. But once you get an idea of your goals (traveling vs downsizing and saving money vs) and you get a budget together, you can then determine what RV is a good fit for those goals and the travel style that’s a good fit as well. There are many questions, such as how a whole family can fit in an RV, how do the kids attend school when living in an RV, and more. Efficiency I tell you! Here are our top picks for the best small … Simplicity. Order Your Copy Now! How to Make Your Own Yurt For Cheap and Simple RV Living. Currently, we are homeschooling her. Living in an RV is a freaking blast! We’re constantly having to be aware of our budget and being careful not to overspend while in new and exciting locations. It’s something anyone can do! That can be really tough on our four-year old, whose #1 priority in life is having friends to play with. Driving your rig, especially for the first time can be one of those challenges, too. How much does it cost to RV full time? Also, we often opt out of staying in a hotel on the road. However, if you’re living in it full-time your trailer you’re going to have a LOT of extra weight. When needed, if our signal isn’t strong enough or we have to upload a large amount of files, we take the jeep out to the nearest establishment with WiFi and work from there for a few hours. Nashville rent is around $1,500-2,500 for one bedroom. We get one life to live and I say we live it. We also love that on travel days, we have access to our kitchen and bathroom…actually, our whole house. They withstand strong winds and are easy to make and disassemble. We feel that it handles our 34 foot trailer well, and never worry about losing control. WE HAVE TOUCHED EVERY INCH OF THIS THING. I know living in an RV will present its challenges and expenses but in our case it’s substantially less and does save us quite a bit of money. CJ & Gwen say: Being web designers, having internet connection is incredibly important. The Globetrotter model was created for traveling the world, even in places with rough road conditions. Lindsay says: Anywhere and everywhere. If we’re staying for longer periods, we just pay to store the RV somewhere and it’s not usually over $100 a month. Fortunately, there are tons of awesome couples and families already living the RV life that we can learn from. Does living in an RV full time cost as much as living in a traditional home? As for considerations of living in a smaller space with children: Ashley F. says: I did a ton of research so I wanted to create a space for the kids that allowed my husband and I to still have our privacy and be able to keep them content in their own room as well. RV living can be really tough when it’s super rainy, windy, or during other extreme weather. The end results for each family are very diverse. Yurts have been around for thousands of years. We gutted the kitchen and bathroom and put in new counters, faucets and backsplashes. Each of our cell phones gets 75GB of streaming data (think watching Hulu or Netflix) and 20GB of Hotspot data (we use for work computers). National parks, however, aren’t and most do not allow dogs on trails. We try to get them out of the RV as much as possible so they don’t feel too cooped up. There are going to be difficulties with this unconventional way of living, but that’s ok. Brittany says: Expect to always be in someone’s way! But overall, we’ve never had any issues! In fact, we’ve found that the road has opened up so many opportunities for us that we may have never found otherwise. Other than furniture, virtu… The cash up front is an investment, but it has paid for itself multiple times over. Like most people, we had car payments, medical bills, student loans, etc. We also love the fact that we don’t have to pull over to grab snacks! We recently got a WeBoost to improve the strength and speed of our cellular data and we couldn’t be more happy with it. It’s allowed us to help her gain the confidence to walk up to kids she doesn’t know and tell them her name and ask them to play. We can usually bring them along on our adventures since we love to hike and walk around downtown and sit on patios. If not, you won’t be able to plug in. The only things still there from the original design are the cabinets (with a fresh coat of paint), the toilet & shower, and the cab. We stayed in Vegas for the month of January and it was SO COLD! And perhaps most important of all, wow does one get WiFi? The RV lifestyle is so cheap and affordable!”. We like to mix it up and it really depends on the destination and what it offers. We purchased a RAM 2500 that came with a tow package for our 5th wheel (it’s considered a ¾ ton). initial shock of being so high off the ground, how wide and long a 35′ motorhome is and how to operate it, it really isn’t difficult to drive. That was years ago. Written in clear simple language with lots of humor thrown in. Terms of Service and Disclosures . Ash and Mars say: We have a four-year-old daughter, Everly. For example, boondocking (dry camping on free land) is a great way to save money if that’s one of your goals. Although this has been a huge obstacle for us, it’s also brought us so much closer as a family. So many questions! Nathalie and Louis say: This lifestyle is absolutely affordable! Mandy says: We have a JetPack from Verizon. How to Plan a RV Trip Where does a person even start when thinking about living in an RV? There may be more research needed. Just know what you want up-front, do your research, and know what you are committing to. 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