Over the past few years, there has been an explosion of people giving up the daily grind to live and travel in vans, RVs, and other nontraditional abodes. While traveling in an RV has been something people have been doing for decades, new sharing economy websites, better resources online, more modern vans, and a growing community that can provide support have made it easier for anyone to travel full-time in an RV.

What used to be traditionally and predominantly an activity for older, retired, or family travelers is now something people of all ages are trying to do.

“How do you travel in an RV?” is one of the questions I’m most asked.
So today, we’re going to the experts and talking full-time RV with nomads Marc and Julie from RV Love. This couple joined my blogging program a few years ago, hoping to find a way to spread the gospel of living and traveling in an RV to the wider world. (Spoiler: they did. And they just published a book with Simon & Schuster about it too!)
They’ve been driving around in their RV for nearly five years and, today, they share their wisdom about how to travel by RV:
Nomadic Matt: Tell us about yourselves! How did you get into this?
Marc and Julie: We’re Marc and Julie Bennett, full-time RVers since 2014, living, working, and traveling in our motorhome as we explore North America and the world! We met on the dating website eHarmony while both living in Colorado in 2010, married in 2011, and hit the road three years later!

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Why did you pick traveling in an RV as your way to get around?
We knew we wanted to do a lot more extended travel while we were still working. We get such little vacation time here in the USA, and we didn’t want that to limit our lives. So we started exploring different ways to bring more travel and adventure into our everyday life without Marc having to give up his job as project manager of operations, which he was able to do from home.

We considered international travel, but there were two main reasons why wasn’t a fit: the challenge of time zones, and more specifically, we wanted to travel with our dog Coda. Plus, we love to drive, so RVing was really the ideal solution for us. We love that wherever we go, we’re always home, and we’re not living out of suitcases.
We’re both passionate about driving, so it makes sense that we would choose to live and travel by RV, although we usually prefer more sporty rides when it comes to entertainment, as we both have a love for sports cars and convertibles.

What’s life like living and traveling around in an RV?

We just entered our fifth year on the road full-time as RVers, and we recently changed from a 2012 36’ gas Class A motorhome to a 1999 40’ diesel motorhome! We bucked the trend and went bigger (and older and cheaper, but much higher quality), and we’re actually doing a complete remodel of our RV this summer.

Traditionally, we spend about 80% of our time in campgrounds and about 20% dry camping, but we recently installed a big lithium battery bank and solar system on our RV, so we plan on spending a lot more time camping off the grid out in nature in the coming years. We try to spend 2-3 weeks in each location, but that varies on where we are, the weather, and what projects we have on our plates. We moved pretty fast in our first 3+ years, having visited all 50 states while still working full-time.

This year, we have so many big and exciting projects on our plates, we’re really feeling the need to slow down, catch our breath, and get caught up on our content! We tend to wing our plans a lot more than we used to, as we’re more comfortable and confident RVers now.

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An average day depends on whether you have to work or not. We love that we no longer have a commute and that the views outside our windows change every week or so. Nature is a big part of our everyday life, so it can be easier to get in more walking, hiking, biking, or kayaking. We definitely get to see more sunsets — that’s a big thing for a lot of RVers.

RV life is still life. You need to go grocery shopping, make meals, do laundry, pay bills, and do housework. Then there’s RV maintenance and repairs! There’s almost always something to do on an RV — tighten screws, replace parts, troubleshoot issues, check your tire pressure, fix whatever’s broken.

Upon arrival at a destination, it usually takes less than 30 minutes to set up. It may sound like a hassle, but if you’re staying a week or more, it becomes a small percentage of your time. And RV life can be as social as you like. We tend to mostly stay in campgrounds, so it’s not too difficult to meet new people. And we also go to RV rallies to meet up with our RVing friends, who we stay in touch with online. It can take a little time to build your RV community, but if you put yourself out there, it can happen pretty quickly!

Somewhere, perhaps through magazine articles and online photos depicting luxurious RV resorts, a picture of the RV lifestyle has emerged; a picture rimmed with dollar signs. Add to that picture the high cost of gas or diesel, and it looks like an expensive lifestyle.
Let me create an accurate picture for you. The house that has been like a stone around your neck is finally sold. All the “stuff” of many years, sold or stored. The household utilities, canceled. The extra commuter car, sold. All the old toys, sold. This leaves you with a fat wallet and ready to hit the road full-time. New friends and adventures await!

In this example, you do not run to the nearest RV lot and roll out with the first RV the salesperson shows. Six months before the house is sold, you start a campaign to find the perfect RV, just like you did when you bought the house (at least I hope so).

Related Articles : https://www.rvlivingusa.com

Choosing the right RV: There is a huge savings right from the start if you choose a used RV. There are additional savings down the road if you choose the type of RV that most suits your travel plans. Pick a motorhome for adventure, or a fifth-wheel for resting a season in one location. Always hire an independent RV inspector to check it out before you sign on the dotted line, no exceptions. This is $100 well spent.

Do your research on this. If you choose correctly, there is no need to start again with another vehicle a few years later (and pay the tax and interest again). If you pay cash, you start with a huge savings.
Housing and utilities: Chances are good that the RV you choose costs less than the house you sold. On the road, all utilities are paid by the RV park except electricity if you stay 30 days or more in one place.

That means typically no bills for electricity and no bills for garbage, water, or sewer come due. And if you decide to park on public land and enjoy nature at its finest, it is free. I have many friends that boondock (primitive parking without utilities) half the year. What a savings!

RV parks and camping: While the average price for a camping spot has gone up, you can lower your costs by joining a half-price RV club like Passport America and/or a membership park system. (Some RV clubs have members who offer travelers a place to stay.) You can also boondock on public lands or overnight at Walmart parking lots or volunteer/work where you stay in order to receive a free or low-cost RV site.

Fuel: Save money on fuel by traveling shorter distances and staying longer in one place. Take advantage of weekly and monthly rates and explore an area. You’ll enjoy it more and spend less money.
Food: Food is a controllable expense if you use your RV’s microwave oven. Eat out less.

Entertainment: Park your RV where you like to play. If you enjoy the outdoors, camping in national parks or forests allows you to open your door and step out for hiking, photography and exploring.

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Clothing: Clothing is the smallest expense. The RV lifestyle is casual to the extreme. Space is limited so the quantity of clothing is limited, one item in, one item out. The budget-conscious can pick up nice jeans, shorts and shirts at used clothing stores, saving even more.
Gifts and purchases: The best use of space limits acquiring “stuff.” There is simply no place to put it! Limit gifts to inexpensive but unique items picked up in your travels.

Staying in touch: If you need a second cell phone, a prepaid cell allows you to budget your calls. You can often find a free Wi-Fi signal at an RV park, library or coffee shop. Use the built-in webcam in your computer to use Skype or Facetime to stay in contact for free.

Taxes: Choosing the full-time RV lifestyle allows you to choose the place to call home. Many RVers choose a no-income-tax state like Texas, South Dakota, Nevada, Wyoming, Alaska, Washington, or Florida. If you live on retirement income or income earned in one of these states, you do not pay state income tax on it.

Since you can adjust your spending on most of the categories above as needed, it allows you to live on any budget. If you overspend in one area, you can cut back for awhile in another. Visit RV Lifestyle Expert’s budgeting tool for more budget information and a sample worksheet.
How might you adjust your spending as needed? Suppose you have costly repairs… then stay in one place for a while, reducing your fuel costs. Or you might boondock on public lands for a few days, greatly reducing or eliminating your camping costs while doing so. If needed you could even add to your income by working at a short-term or temporary job.

Join me in the RV lifestyle! You too will find you can save a bundle living in your RV.

Thinking of moving into an RV? If so, there are nine basic things you need to know before you make the leap from standard living to motorhome or camper living. You are going to need to do a great deal of research to make sure that doing this will be beneficial to you. For some people, it is great, but this is not true for everybody.
This article will provide the type of basic information you will need to help you find out whether changing the way you live will be the right thing for you to do.

Things you should know before deciding to live full time in an RV.

You may be dreaming of living year round in a recreational vehicle, but you need to understand that doing this can change your life in many ways, not all of which may be pleasant for you.
This is why you need to do some research before you make your move.
Is Full Time RV Living the Best Choice for You? is a good resource, so you might want to take a look at it. In the meantime, below is some information that will give you an overview of this lifestyle.

RV Living guide : https://www.rvlivingusa.com

Possessions

You must decide whether your possessions or your desire to live a simpler, less burdensome life is more important. Most people who become full-timers sell their homes and all but one of their vehicles (the one that either tows their travel unit or is towed by it).
They also shed themselves of furniture, artwork, anything that takes up a lot of space (such as hobby materials, holiday decorations, boxes of family photos, libraries, magazines, newspapers or collectibles), pets, unless they are very small, bulky electronics, excess clothing (especially bulky items), duplicate household goods (such as second sets of dishes and silverware), decorator items, heavy cleaning equipment (such as full-sized vacuum cleaners), duplicate tools and recreational equipment (such as kayaks, skis and clunky sports equipment).

Some people find it difficult to make the transition all at once, so they put their belongings in storage units they can rent by the month.
Those who are lucky enough to be able to place their belongings at the homes of family members or good friends buy storage sheds. In the long run, this is less expensive than renting a unit and is often more secure.

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A one-time purchase of a shed will pay for itself in a year or so, and it can be sold later in the event people decide either to return to living in a house or sell off their belongings because they feel their new lifestyle works for them.

Storing items makes people feel more secure and gives them an “out” if they change their minds. This also allows them keep their most valued items in a way that doesn’t crowd them.

Your Coach

When you live in a limited amount of space, comfort and privacy are important.

Therefore you must make sure that the unit you use for full-time living is big enough to serve your purposes and has everything you will need to keep yourself comfortable. Otherwise, you will be miserable.
Coaches are rated for living and traveling in various types of weather. It is best to choose an all-weather unit to ensure that it will hold up to temperature differences and be comfortable no matter its location.
If you join RV Consumer Group, you will be able to access books and magazines which provide this and other important information for any specific make, model and year of motor home or camper. It costs a good bit to do this, but can save you money and problems in the long run.

Setting Up a Home Base

Many people set up home bases by

• renting campsites on a long term basis,
• purchasing a deeded RV lot or
• purchasing and developing properly zoned land.
Doing this gives them a permanent address and provides a sense of security they might not otherwise be able to have. However, having a home base is not always necessary.

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Some folks just rent as they go. I this situation, you generally pay nothing but a nightly, weekly or monthly fee. Although this sounds simple, it can get pricey because campgrounds always charge more for visitors who don’t stay for long periods of time.
On the other hand, people who choose this route can often camp inexpensively or even free in a number of places. What Is the Maximum Amount of Time Allowed for Campground Stays? and How to Live Rent Free in Your RV provide more information about this.

Children

It is probably not a good idea to full time with children because RV parks are not the safest places for them and rarely offer child-friendly amenities.

Also, too many bodies make for major discomfort, and more than two people living in even the largest unit definitely creates a problem. Children living in a coach translates to clothes, medications, special foods, special equipment and toys.

People do full time with youngsters on board, but it is not the most enjoyable way to live. Traveling is one thing, but day to day living is quite another.

Pets

Many people enjoy keeping animals with them in their coaches, but the truth is that this also can create problems.

They require special equipment, toys, medications and food. Some parks do not allow them or require residents who own them to camp in special areas and pay extra fees. There also are usually size and type requirements.

Furthermore, some pets can smell up an RV, dirty it, damage upholstery and cabinetry and leave hair, ticks and fleas everywhere. If they annoy other campers in any way or their masters do not pick up their waste matter, parks will terminate the lot rental, eject the perpetrators and will refuse to give refunds.

The most successful pet situations I have seen are those where people keep very small dogs, wash and groom them regularly and take them out only to do their business.

People who travel with multiple animals, large dogs, pigs (yes, pigs!) and horses cannot possibly hope to do well with full timing.
Think carefully before including pets in your full time RV living plans.

Communicating

Keeping in touch for personal or business matters is important, but is easily managed these days. One only needs a cell phone, a laptop with wireless capabilities and sometimes a mail forwarding service.
Mail forwarding services are inexpensive (as little as $10 per month plus postage), safe and convenient. When you use them, you automatically become a legal resident of the state where the service is located. Therefore, it is important to choose one such as Florida or Texas where fees and taxes are much less costly than places such as New York or California.

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Signing up is very easy:

1. Choose the service you wish to use.
2. Submit a formal change of address to your local Post Office.
   The Post Office then sends all of your incoming mail to the service instead of to your old address, and the service keeps it until you call to tell them where to send it.

Mail forwarding services can generally be started or stopped as needed, but each company has its own rules, so it is wise to find out what they are prior to signing up. The best and most reasonable one I know of is offered by The Good Sam Club, but you may have to join in order to access this benefit.

There is always a delay when using this method, and it costs a bit to do because you must pay postage fees in addition to the monthly cost. However, if you have no home base or do have not made arrangements with someone you trust to handle your mail for you, it is the only way you can access your mail.

Insurance

Arranging for insurance coverage is much the same for full-timers as it is for everybody else. However, people without home bases must make sure that they carry health insurance policies that will cover them completely no matter their location.

HMOs and other limited service area policies will not provide coverage unless these folks happen to be in the same area as their mail forwarding services.

For those who travel a great deal, it is a good idea to purchase emergency coverage that will not pay medical costs, but will, under the appropriate circumstances, provide regional medical referrals and oversight as well as a means of getting travelers and their vehicles back to their home bases at no cost. Good Sam Club sells one that costs around $110 per year and covers all travelers.

Auto insurance policies generally cover travel units, but not all do, so ask before you buy.

You can live by the beach, mountains, desert, and anywhere else.
Living in an RV means that you can live wherever you want to live. The United States has so many beautiful places to see and live, and because it would be hard to just pick one place, RV life allows us to live in as many as we want.

And, it’s more than just going on a vacation, which is nice too, but I love being able to bring my entire home with me. This way I’m not forgetting anything, and because my home is always with me, I still get to live comfortably.

If you want to spend your summer in the mountains and your winter near the beach, you can do that. If you want to do the opposite the following year, you can do that too.

Related Topic : https://www.rvlivingusa.com

If you want to have your front window open up to a beautiful national park, you can even do that.

By living in an RV, you can choose to live wherever you want.
You can spend more time outside.

One of the best things about RV life is that you can park your home wherever you want to. We love being able to do things outdoors, and we usually pick places that make that even easier. So, we like to park next to hiking trails, bike trails, rock climbing routes, and more.
This is great because we can usually just walk or ride our bikes to wherever we want to go, which allows us to spend a ton of time enjoying the beautiful outdoors.

One of my favorite spots we stayed in 2016 was at Pine Cove Campground (pictured below). This was pretty much just a parking lot, but it had great views and it was right on the water. It also provided several hiking trails, mountain biking trails, paddle boarding, and more. Plus, Breckenridge was just a bike ride away with all of it’s yummy food and delicious beers. It’s a great all-around spot and it was just $20 a night.

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It’s amazingly beautiful living in an RV.

You simply cannot beat the views we’ve seen out the window of our RV.
And, there have been many of them.
We’ve seen beautiful national parks right outside our window, amazing mountain ranges, desert landscapes, lake views, wild animals, and more.

Our dogs love RV life.

Okay, so I can’t be exactly 100% sure about this since my dogs can’t talk to me, but they seem pretty happy whenever they are able to explore new places (like the picture above), sniff new things, go on long hikes, and so on.

Our dogs are much more active now than they ever were before and seem pretty happy to me.

You can follow the weather.

Since we can park our home wherever we want, we can follow the weather. We like to stay in temperatures that are just perfect – somewhere around 70 degrees year round.
Following the weather is something that we truly love.

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After all, who wants to be too cold or too hot?
Thankfully, the RV life lets us just leave whenever the temperature is something that we don’t fully enjoy.

We really only have clothes for one season, so we avoid places that are cold. I pretty much wear dresses, sandals, shorts, and/or tank tops year round, which is really nice and comfortable.

Downsizing is liberating.

Living in an RV means that you’ll have to downsize. While some people dread this, getting rid of nearly all of your stuff is extremely liberating.
When we sold our house and moved into an RV, we donated and got rid of a lot of our belongings. At first it was difficult to get rid of so much, but it became easier as time went on.
These days, all we have is what we have with us. We have a small amount of everything, and we like it best this way.
We are much more mindful of what we buy, we waste hardly anything, and this is allowing us to save money as well.
Plus, when you’re RVing, you no longer have a need to buy as much stuff because the outdoors take up all of your time. Before we would waste time going to the mall, Target, and other stores- but we hardly ever do that now. Instead, we spend a lot of our time exploring new places.

No more yard work or other house work with RV living.
One of the best things about not having a normal home is that we save a lot of time when it comes to routine things that come with a normal house.

This includes dealing with monthly bills, such as electricity, water, sewer, trash, etc. Now we just pay one fee whenever we go somewhere.

We also don’t have as much maintenance and repairs to do. While RVs aren’t perfect, there’s less that goes into an RV than a house, which means that we don’t have to do things like rake leaves, mow the grass, and so on.

Food tastes better when living in an RV.
Me and Wes always talk about this, but it’s true – meals in an RV always taste better. I think it has to do with always having great views (as mentioned above) and just being happier with life in general.

RV living means you can move if you don’t like your neighbors.
I think pretty much everyone has lived next to a neighbor that they didn’t like. The great thing about RV life is that if you have a crazy neighbor or someone who you don’t get along with, then you can just move your home!

And trust me, we have done this a few times in order to get away from some not-so-friendly and/or crazy RVers.

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You can work and travel at the same time.

Yes, you can do both.

We’ve met many amazing people while RVing. Some are retired, but others are like us and also trying different things in order to make their traveling dreams a reality. I know that thinking about making money while traveling can be a scary thing for many people, but it has really allowed us to live our dream life.

This factor is something that holds many potential full-time travelers back, but it shouldn’t! Don’t let making money on the road hold you back from living your dream, because even though it may seem big, it’s something that can usually be worked around.

Related articles on how to make money while traveling:

• How To Make Money While RVing
• 75+ Ways To Make Extra Money
• 10 Ways To Make Money Online From The Comfort of

Your Home

• Ways To Make An Extra $1,000 A Month
• My Tips On Successfully Traveling And Working At The

Same Time

To be able to live in an RV full-time, I run an online business which consists mainly of this blog- Making Sense of Cents. It is a lot of fun being able to work and travel at the same time.

At first, I thought it would be difficult. I thought internet would be hard to find, that I would be too distracted, and so on.

I’ve come to find that I’m more motivated than ever when it comes to working, and having a great view out my window each day definitely helps as well.

If I want to take a break from work and go on a hike, I can do that. If I want to go on a mountain bike ride in the morning before I start answering emails, I can do that.

The list goes on and on!

Living in an RV makes traveling and working (and living) much more enjoyable because I can bring my home everywhere I go. I don’t have to worry about forgetting something, bringing a suitcase, or anything – I just have it all with me.

Also, I’ve had a lot of you ask what I’m using for internet. I am using a Verizon MiFi Jetpack. I also have AT&T for our cell phones so that we are always covered. This may sound crazy, but every RVer we’ve met has the same set up.

Dumping Your Poop

This was the thing we dreaded the most. Yes, everybody poops, but I like that in a regular toilet it can disappear, and you never have to see it again. In an RV, you poop and then the RV poops. Before our very first black dump, we would try our best to use the bathroom anywhere else but in our Airstream. Turns out, unless something goes horribly wrong, it’s a painless process (here’s Jacob’s no-poop-on-me-dance!). You never actually make contact with your poop, and the chemical you put in the toilet turns everything into an unidentifiable green liquid.
Limited Space

This challenged how minimal we could live. Sure, we practiced living minimally in our home and then when we started moving into smaller and smaller apartments, but this took it to the next level. The closet could only hold so many clothes and the fridge could only hold so many groceries (or in my case, diet cokes). Ultimately, it was nice to see that we could make it work. Now, we’re going through another huge purge after seeing what we could live without for 3 months.
Needing Separate Quarters

The even bigger challenge was not getting constantly pissed off at each other. Since we work together, play together, and live together, there aren’t many days (or even minutes in a day) that we spend apart. It might seem nice getting to spend 24/7 with your spouse, but if you do, you’ll soon realize that alone time can be so precious! In San Diego, we had a pretty sweet setup with our giant monitors back to back, so that during work hours we couldn’t see each other. In the Airstream, we couldn’t quite figure out a good system, which led to lots of fights over lots of stupid little things.

Related Articles : https://www.rvlivingusa.com

Why Do the Cats Poop So Much?

I’m sure they are probably going a normal amount, but in a smaller space, we notice everything they do! We felt like we were constantly cleaning up after them. It’s a good thing we like them. 😉 If you have cats, here are some tips on easing them into RV life.
Cooking with Fewer Ingredients

We met a few full-timers who still cooked extravagant meals, but most people we met had to simplify their meals. We did a lot of one pot meals. They were easier to cook and required less ingredients. Eating easier meals also meant we were eating a lot of carbs when we cooked though. Alternatively, we loved having Soylent as a meal replacement on our busy days, especially when we’re driving to a new state or when we’re out all day hiking. I think having the Soylents evened out our bad eating habits and kept us at a decent health. Next time we go out on the road, we need to practice making more easy, healthy meals.

Always Changing Community

Living on the road means you get to meet a lot of interesting people! We had great conversations, shared meals and campfires, and heard so many amazing stories. We always thought we were on the adventurous side, but we were surprised to find so many people who were far more adventurous (and might I add, much older). That gives us hope knowing that age ain’t nothing but a number. On the other hand, because we were meeting so many new people, we also ran into a handful of people who were not so pleasant. Luckily, our encounters with people were mostly positive, and it was fun seeing our Airstream friends again down the road. Even with the Airstream or RV community, though, we still missed having a stable community of friends. You can potentially find people to caravan with, but that was a rare case from what we saw.

Internet Speeds

This was easily the most painful adjustment for us since we were working from the road and handling large photo and video files. Our last home in San Diego had on average 40-50 Mbps for internet speed. Now that we look back, it’s funny that we sometimes complained about that. On the road, we were seeing a lot of 0-3 Mbps from RV parks that claimed they had internet, which had us even missing the dial up days. One of Jacob’s videos took 18 hours to upload. We started getting excited when we could find consistent speeds over 4 Mbps, which is really sad since internet in the real world starts at 5! On our last month, we finally got another hotspot, which made working a little easier but nothing compared to what we had when we were grounded.

Function AND Form

Since our home was now on wheels, we couldn’t just buy things that were pretty, we had to make sure they could be packed away easily and weren’t breakable. Say goodbye to your fine china.

Flexibility

As much as you want to plan your trip, a lot can happen on the road. You have to learn to be flexible and roll with the punches. There were many places where we went mid-June and July that we had no idea was still snowed in. On the flip side, if the weather is bad, you can always move to another place and you may find new places you completely fall in love with!

Size Restrictions and Mobility

Now that we were in a big Ford F150 and Airstream, we weren’t as mobile as we were with a regular sedan. Even our Ford F150 with the hitch could not park in a single parking spot. You can forget about drive-throughs and narrow roads in a city. You also need to watch out for signs that say no trailers, trucks, etc, because sometimes those signs come out of nowhere when you’re driving (GPS doesn’t exactly exclude those roads for you). If we wanted to stop, we had to look for larger parking spots, and you definitely didn’t want to get stuck down a small road with no space to turn around.

One day we were thinking about dropping off a trailer near our friend’s place in LA, but then realized that if someone parks in front of you, you can’t hitch it back and leave. So many things we had to think about that we’d never experienced before. It was an adjustment on how you drive and where you can stop, but luckily our size trailer still allowed us to camp at National Parks and it didn’t hold us back too much. It just requires a little more patience.

Shorter Showers and Working in the Dark

There are two kinds of camping in an RV. The first is full hookups where you can plug into electric, water, and sewage. The other is dry camping, or boondocking, where you rely on the tanks and batteries you have on board. During our trip, we never learned to be efficient boondockers. We tried to charge our laptops in the truck and work on them in the dark, but between our camera gear and everything else that needed to be charged up, we were constantly running out of juice. 90% of the time, we camped in RV parks with full hookups, but even then, you have a much smaller water heater than a house or apartment, so you can’t take long hot showers. I know it’s good to conserve water, but some days when you’re sticky because you were out hiking all day, you just want a shower that lasts longer than 10 minutes. Now, we were far from roughing it and we still had all the comforts from home that we needed, but it was just in smaller quantities.

All in all, this was a great test on whether RV life was for us, and we are happy to report that despite the challenges, we loved the overall experience. We’re hoping to get one of our own in the future. P.S. if you’re thinking about getting a trailer and in the market to buy a new car, don’t forget to look at tow capacities! We never imagined ourselves as truck drivers before.

When we decide to stop moving to a new city every year, we love the idea of having a home base for half the year and exploring the US the other half. Then again, who knows what life will bring!

You can live by the beach, mountains, desert, and anywhere else.
Living in an RV means that you can live wherever you want to live. The United States has so many beautiful places to see and live, and because it would be hard to just pick one place, RV life allows us to live in as many as we want.

And, it’s more than just going on a vacation, which is nice too, but I love being able to bring my entire home with me. This way I’m not forgetting anything, and because my home is always with me, I still get to live comfortably.

If you want to spend your summer in the mountains and your winter near the beach, you can do that. If you want to do the opposite the following year, you can do that too.

If you want to have your front window open up to a beautiful national park, you can even do that.

By living in an RV, you can choose to live wherever you want.
You can spend more time outside.

One of the best things about RV life is that you can park your home wherever you want to. We love being able to do things outdoors, and we usually pick places that make that even easier. So, we like to park next to hiking trails, bike trails, rock climbing routes, and more.

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This is great because we can usually just walk or ride our bikes to wherever we want to go, which allows us to spend a ton of time enjoying the beautiful outdoors.

One of my favorite spots we stayed in 2016 was at Pine Cove Campground (pictured below). This was pretty much just a parking lot, but it had great views and it was right on the water. It also provided several hiking trails, mountain biking trails, paddle boarding, and more. Plus, Breckenridge was just a bike ride away with all of it’s yummy food and delicious beers. It’s a great all-around spot and it was just $20 a night.

It’s amazingly beautiful living in an RV.

You simply cannot beat the views we’ve seen out the window of our RV.
And, there have been many of them.
We’ve seen beautiful national parks right outside our window, amazing mountain ranges, desert landscapes, lake views, wild animals, and more.

Our dogs love RV life.

Okay, so I can’t be exactly 100% sure about this since my dogs can’t talk to me, but they seem pretty happy whenever they are able to explore new places (like the picture above), sniff new things, go on long hikes, and so on.

Our dogs are much more active now than they ever were before and seem pretty happy to me.

You can follow the weather.

Since we can park our home wherever we want, we can follow the weather. We like to stay in temperatures that are just perfect – somewhere around 70 degrees year round.

Following the weather is something that we truly love.

After all, who wants to be too cold or too hot?
Thankfully, the RV life lets us just leave whenever the temperature is something that we don’t fully enjoy.

We really only have clothes for one season, so we avoid places that are cold. I pretty much wear dresses, sandals, shorts, and/or tank tops year round, which is really nice and comfortable.

Downsizing is liberating.

Living in an RV means that you’ll have to downsize. While some people dread this, getting rid of nearly all of your stuff is extremely liberating.
When we sold our house and moved into an RV, we donated and got rid of a lot of our belongings. At first it was difficult to get rid of so much, but it became easier as time went on.

These days, all we have is what we have with us. We have a small amount of everything, and we like it best this way.

We are much more mindful of what we buy, we waste hardly anything, and this is allowing us to save money as well.

Plus, when you’re RVing, you no longer have a need to buy as much stuff because the outdoors take up all of your time. Before we would waste time going to the mall, Target, and other stores- but we hardly ever do that now. Instead, we spend a lot of our time exploring new places.

The following tips were vital to my husband and I creating a stable, enjoyable life filled with constant travel. While your exact needs may differ, these suggestions should be helpful regardless of your exact plans or preferences.

1. Set a Date

Before you dive into the details of this transition, you first need to set a departure date. I know that might sound a bit overzealous. After all, how do you know how long it will take to prepare for living in a camper full-time?

The truth is, you don’t. But if you don’t give yourself a deadline then there’s no real sense of urgency, and there’s a good chance you’ll still be talking about going on the road this time next year. A departure date makes all your planning more real, and certainly more urgent. And that is a great motivator for making this dream happen.

How much time you’ll need depends on your current lifestyle. For instance, if you own a home, then you first need to decide if you’re going to sell or rent it out, or keep it. If you decide to sell, you’ll have to prepare your house for sale, which can take quite some time depending on how much there is to do.

Keep in mind that you don’t have to set a “final” departure date. It’s often easier to create milestones for yourself. For example, you might want to set a specific date to buy your camper (if you don’t already own one). You can set a date to have your domicile (legal residency) state set up, a date for having your home completely decluttered and purged – you get the idea. The point here is to commit. Set a date, and get to work so you meet it.

1. Make a To-Do List

Your first to-do list is going to be long, but it helps to write down everything that needs your attention. Your first, simple to-do list might look something like this:

• Research campers
• Research domicile residency
• Start decluttering
• Organize a garage sale
• Research how to earn a mobile income
• Research health care options
• Research where to camp
• Choose a mail service
• Cancel utilities

Every to-do list is going to vary widely because each person’s situation is unique. To start, sit down and make a list of what it will take to uproot yourself and hit the road. As you cross items off your list and learn more about transitioning to full-time RV living, your list will grow longer and more detailed.

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1. Simplify

You will need to take daily steps to simplify your life and declutter your home. What you choose to get rid of will depend on your plans. For example, is your goal to travel for a year and then settle back down in a home somewhere? Do you want to put some things in storage in case living on the road doesn’t work out, or would you rather jump in with both feet and only keep what you’re taking with you in your RV?

Only you know the answers to these questions, so think carefully about what you want as you go through the process of decluttering. This level of decluttering can be draining and emotionally intense, especially if you decide to get rid of everything. However, it can also be incredibly liberating to pare down your things to the minimum.

• Schedule Time Daily for Decluttering and Simplifying. Even an hour a day will, day after day, make a big difference.
• Focus on One Small Area at a Time. For example, one drawer, one shelf, or one wall of your closet. Keeping your focus on one small area at a time will help prevent you from feeling overwhelmed. Small areas also make it easier to see progress, which is important for staying motivated.
• Make a Decision. Every time you pick something up, whether it’s a piece of china or a piece of paper, make a decision about it: keep, donate, or pitch. Don’t lay it down to think about later. Always make a decision.
• Take a Picture of Your Donation Pile Before You Take It to the Thrift Store. This is another great way to remind yourself that you are making progress.
• Have a Giveaway Party. Make decluttering fun by hosting a giveaway party. Invite neighbors, friends, family, and colleagues over to take what they like. Mark giveaway items with a green sticker. Use red stickers to mark the items that you’ve decided to keep.
• Consider Renting a Storage Unit. Storage units are expensive, but they can help ease the pressure of the decluttering process, especially if you have a lot of family items you just can’t get rid of. Many full-timers start off renting a storage unit and, over months or years, return to it in the middle of their travels and slowly empty it out. Once you get on the road, you might find that your attachment to these things lessens over time.

Books like “The Joy of Less” can also help guide you through the process of simplifying and decluttering.

1. Outline Your Necessities

You’re going to wrestle with what you’ll need to take with you on the road. I promise that you will need far less than you think you do. And no matter how well you plan and analyze the things you take, you’re probably going to make mistakes; that’s part of the process.

Clothing

How much clothing you take will depend on where you expect to travel. Most full-time RVers follow the weather, meaning they head north or west during the summer, and south during the winter. Constantly living in a mild climate means you will need few thick and heavy clothes.
For example, my wardrobe had to fit in a tiny closet. When we hit the road, I took:

• Five t-shirts
• Two pairs of jeans
• Two pairs of shorts
• One pair of pajamas
• Two button-up denim shirts
• One sweatshirt
• One wool sweater
• One long-sleeved thermal
• One raincoat
• One denim jacket
And that’s it. As scanty as that might seem, I found that I didn’t need more clothing than this. You might be able to get by with a small wardrobe or, if you have the space, you might want to take more with you.

The trick to putting together a workable RV wardrobe is to choose clothes that all look good together (so you can easily mix and match), and to choose clothes that you can easily layer if the need arises. Chances are, you only wear 20% (or less) of the clothes you have in your closet. Choose the pieces that you wear the most, and purge the rest.

Kitchen Tools and Dishes

Take a look at the tools you use most in your kitchen. Which of these items can’t you live without? Which will you have room for in your camper? You might be surprised at what you find you need (and what you don’t) when you start living in your RV. For example, I foolishly brought along our blender when we left, assuming I’d continue to make smoothies as I did at home. I didn’t use it once and ended up donating it a couple months later.

On the flip side, we bought a Crock-Pot a month into our trip because our camper didn’t have an oven, and we ended up using it three to four nights a week. We could plug it in outside and let it simmer all day. It was, surprisingly, one of our most useful kitchen tools, even though we’d rarely used one at home.

We met a full-time couple in Texas who brought along their bread machine, and used it daily. For them, freshly baked bread was a necessity, and their bread machine was worth the space. Another full-timer relied entirely on his InstaPot pressure cooker for fast, hot meals. So, your choices on what to take will be as individual as you are!

Remember, pulling a camper means it’s going to shake constantly when you’re driving. This shaking is equivalent to a constant, 3.4-magnitude earthquake. We took two glass plates and two glass bowls, for reheating food in the microwave, and we protected these with dish towels when we moved to a new spot. All of our other dishes were enameled steel “camp plates,” which we loved.

On the other hand, we met plenty of full-timers who had only glass dishes and cups, because this felt more like home for them. They packed them all up every time they moved and felt it was worth the effort.

Decorations

Campers have few spots for knickknacks and decorations, but RVs can also be notoriously sterile looking. You’re going to want to take some things to make your little home cozy and inviting. For example, use rugs to add color and soften up your space. Plants can also add life and vibrancy to your home, and help purify the air. I had two hanging plants in our minuscule camper, and they made the RV feel cozy.

We hated not having any art on the walls, so we ended up decoupaging small printouts of our favorite pieces right on the walls. You can also use 3M Command Strips to hang up prints or photos or invest in a digital picture frame. Remember, though, the shaking that a camper goes through while traveling can be intense, especially on bad roads. Quakehold is useful for securing things (like artwork and small plants) so they stay put.

You’ll also want to think about your outdoor space. Most full-timers spend a lot of time outside, and the “patio” is often the first thing to set up when you move to a new spot. Will you want a hammock? Folding chairs? A grill? Solar patio lights? A lightweight outdoor rug? We spent far more time on our patio than we did inside, and the outdoor furniture and decorations we had were worth the effort to take down and put up each time we moved.

1. Join RVing Clubs

There are several organizations that will help make living in an RV full-time easier. In addition to the great discounts on campgrounds, these clubs give you access to a wealth of valuable, insider information from people who are already living on the road. We learned a lot from forums before we left, so it’s well worth the investment to join a few months before your departure date.

• Escapees RV Club: We joined Escapees and found it to be well worth the $40 annual membership fee. You get great discounts at over 1,000 campgrounds (up to 50% off), a top-notch forum board, a job board exclusively for RVers, and access to their mail service. We used their mail service exclusively and never once had a problem. You can find more information about using a mail service here.

• Good Sam Club: With Good Sam, you get 10% off at over 2,100 campgrounds. Another huge perk is their gas discount; at Pilot or Flying J gas stations, you get five to eight cents off per gallon. That alone can quickly pay for the $27 annual membership fee. You also get up to 30% off at CampingWorld, and many other perks.
• Passport America: With Passport America, you can save up to 50% at nearly 1,900 campgrounds in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. The annual fee is $44.
• Harvest Hosts: We didn’t know about Harvest Hosts when we were on the road, but I sure wish we did. Harvest Hosts put you in touch with farms, attractions, and wineries that will allow you to stay on their land for free, for one night, as long as you’re self-contained. This means they don’t provide hookups or restrooms. On the upside, you get a unique, beautiful, quiet place to camp, for free. The annual membership fee is $44.

Before you join any club, pay close attention to the fine print. Many campgrounds won’t give club discounts on weekends or holidays. And, you should look at which campgrounds are part of each club’s network. Randomly pick some that are on routes that you would like to travel.

Are these places that you would realistically want to stay? What amenities do they offer? (Don’t dismiss how much you’ll appreciate any campground having a washer and dryer on the premises!)

These are four of the most popular RV clubs, but there are dozens, if not a hundred or more, out there. You can find a comprehensive list of RV clubs here.

As most of you know, our lives took a turn for the smaller a year and a half ago. We left our apartments, drove halfway across the country and moved into our new home: an RV. From that point on, we’ve been full time RV living, and nineteen feet of less-than luxurious living space has been all ours.

To see this blog post in video-format, watch below! It’s way more entertaining than reading it!

But we aren’t alone in this downsizing movement. RVs are becoming popular again, and YouTube is flooded with people living and working right from their mobile homes.

However, many of these YouTubers tend to gloss over some of the big negatives of living in a home the size of most people’s back porches.
Do you want to know the truth about what it means to live in an RV? We aren’t holding anything back, so read on to learn what we think are the ten biggest challenges of living together in a tiny space.

1. Every bit of space needs to have multiple purposes.

Throughout our RV we have one table, and it has to work for a ton of different purposes, which means that coffee and laptops and groceries are usually on the table at the same time, among other random items, which gets old fast.

In other words, our office is our kitchen table, dining room table, where we relax, is our kitchen, and is our flat space where we put everything that doesn’t have an obvious home.

Every day that passes where we haven’t fried a computer by spilling coffee on it is certainly a success worth celebrating.
Part of the reason our table is so cluttered is the fact that we both make an income online… so office equipment is a must.

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1. Minimal natural light.

Our RV is extremely dark, even in the middle of the day. Not only does it contain tiny windows, but we also keep it in an rv garage to protect it from bad weather conditions.
Seasonal Affective Disorder is a really big challenge in our lives (we don’t actually have this… but you know how it is), and we had to buy extra high-quality lights just to make ourselves feel alive! The good news is these lights don’t take much power (we’re off grid and rely on solar power, so power isn’t always in abundance) so we can keep them on without guilt.

1. Cooking is a challenge.

Minimal counter top space means that meals need to be simple because there just isn’t room to make anything else. For that reason, we are big fans of the one pot meals!
We spend a lot of time foraging for wild food and doing food-related projects such as canning… so it’s really challenging not have a space to work.

1. Scant storage space.

Our closet is about two feet wide- and we have to share it between us. Worst of all, Jesse’s bulky menswear takes up over 75% of that closet space! It’s not a girl’s dream come true, I can tell you that.
I really don’t have much space to store my winter wardrobe! Clothing items end up all over the trailer when they’re not in use.

1. Sleep interruptions.

If you find yourself restless and awake in the middle of the night you’re kind of out of luck, as there isn’t enough space in an RV to hang out respectfully while someone else is resting.
Sometimes one of us will take a trip into town to try to get to work some work done, but that puts us at the mercy of outside internet service, which tends to be unreliable.

1. No privacy!

Get ready for your partner to know about all your daily habits…even in the bathroom. I think we can all use our imaginations here.

1. No place to put all our possessions.

No basement, no large closets and no real garage space means we often are limited in where we can store our homestead tools.
Though it’s tempting to build extra outbuildings to store critical belongings, we are waiting until we have our house setup so that we only have to do the hard work of laying a foundation once rather than a different time for each building.

We do have a tiny cabin attached to the end of our RV garage which gives us some extra storage space, but this was primarily built to keep our RV warm in winter… not for space to put our things.

1. All that dirt.

The amount of filth we track in his incredible, especially since it gets concentrated in such a tiny space. This means we usually sweep our RV twice a day.

We also use a wall mounted shot vac to keep our floors clean when we have our generator running.

1. General wear and tear.

Things in RVs aren’t necessarily designed for 24/7 use and tend to be fragile and expensive to replace.
After one year of living we are finding ourselves fixing tons of things throughout the RV, from fans to our water systems and even the seat cushions underneath our table!

1. Messy charging station.

We already have no space to live, but we still have to keep the laptops charged, camera batteries, cell phones and other electrical accessories. We have a swamp of cords under our kitchen table which wouldn’t normally be a huge deal, but it really encroaches on our already tiny space!

Thinking of moving into an RV? If so, there are nine basic things you need to know before you make the leap from standard living to motorhome or camper living. You are going to need to do a great deal of research to make sure that doing this will be beneficial to you. For some people, it is great, but this is not true for everybody.

This article will provide the type of basic information you will need to help you find out whether changing the way you live will be the right thing for you to do.

Things you should know before deciding to live full time in an RV.

Research RV Living Before You Try It

You may be dreaming of living year round in a recreational vehicle, but you need to understand that doing this can change your life in many ways, not all of which may be pleasant for you.

This is why you need to do some research before you make your move.
Is Full Time RV Living the Best Choice for You? is a good resource, so you might want to take a look at it. In the meantime, below is some information that will give you an overview of this lifestyle.

Possessions

You must decide whether your possessions or your desire to live a simpler, less burdensome life is more important. Most people who become full-timers sell their homes and all but one of their vehicles (the one that either tows their travel unit or is towed by it).

They also shed themselves of furniture, artwork, anything that takes up a lot of space (such as hobby materials, holiday decorations, boxes of family photos, libraries, magazines, newspapers or collectibles), pets, unless they are very small, bulky electronics, excess clothing (especially bulky items), duplicate household goods (such as second sets of dishes and silverware), decorator items, heavy cleaning equipment (such as full-sized vacuum cleaners), duplicate tools and recreational equipment (such as kayaks, skis and clunky sports equipment).

Some people find it difficult to make the transition all at once, so they put their belongings in storage units they can rent by the month.
Those who are lucky enough to be able to place their belongings at the homes of family members or good friends buy storage sheds. In the long run, this is less expensive than renting a unit and is often more secure.

A one-time purchase of a shed will pay for itself in a year or so, and it can be sold later in the event people decide either to return to living in a house or sell off their belongings because they feel their new lifestyle works for them.

Storing items makes people feel more secure and gives them an “out” if they change their minds. This also allows them keep their most valued items in a way that doesn’t crowd them.

Your Coach

When you live in a limited amount of space, comfort and privacy are important.

Therefore you must make sure that the unit you use for full-time living is big enough to serve your purposes and has everything you will need to keep yourself comfortable. Otherwise, you will be miserable.
Coaches are rated for living and traveling in various types of weather. It is best to choose an all-weather unit to ensure that it will hold up to temperature differences and be comfortable no matter its location.
If you join RV Consumer Group, you will be able to access books and magazines which provide this and other important information for any specific make, model and year of motor home or camper. It costs a good bit to do this, but can save you money and problems in the long run.

Setting Up a Home Base

Many people set up home bases by

• renting campsites on a long term basis,
• purchasing a deeded RV lot or
• purchasing and developing properly zoned land.
Doing this gives them a permanent address and provides a sense of security they might not otherwise be able to have. However, having a home base is not always necessary.

Some folks just rent as they go. I this situation, you generally pay nothing but a nightly, weekly or monthly fee. Although this sounds simple, it can get pricey because campgrounds always charge more for visitors who don’t stay for long periods of time.

On the other hand, people who choose this route can often camp inexpensively or even free in a number of places. What Is the Maximum Amount of Time Allowed for Campground Stays? and How to Live Rent Free in Your RV provide more information about this.

Most RV parks are geared to adults, so children don’t normally do well in them. | Source

Children

It is probably not a good idea to full time with children because RV parks are not the safest places for them and rarely offer child-friendly amenities.

Also, too many bodies make for major discomfort, and more than two people living in even the largest unit definitely creates a problem. Children living in a coach translates to clothes, medications, special foods, special equipment and toys.

People do full time with youngsters on board, but it is not the most enjoyable way to live. Traveling is one thing, but day to day living is quite another.

Pets

Many people enjoy keeping animals with them in their coaches, but the truth is that this also can create problems.

They require special equipment, toys, medications and food. Some parks do not allow them or require residents who own them to camp in special areas and pay extra fees. There also are usually size and type requirements.

Furthermore, some pets can smell up an RV, dirty it, damage upholstery and cabinetry and leave hair, ticks and fleas everywhere. If they annoy other campers in any way or their masters do not pick up their waste matter, parks will terminate the lot rental, eject the perpetrators and will refuse to give refunds.

The most successful pet situations I have seen are those where people keep very small dogs, wash and groom them regularly and take them out only to do their business.

People who travel with multiple animals, large dogs, pigs (yes, pigs!) and horses cannot possibly hope to do well with full timing.
Think carefully before including pets in your full time RV living plans.

Communicating

Keeping in touch for personal or business matters is important, but is easily managed these days. One only needs a cell phone, a laptop with wireless capabilities and sometimes a mail forwarding service.
Mail forwarding services are inexpensive (as little as $10 per month plus postage), safe and convenient. When you use them, you automatically become a legal resident of the state where the service is located. Therefore, it is important to choose one such as Florida or Texas where fees and taxes are much less costly than places such as New York or California.

Signing up is very easy:

1. Choose the service you wish to use.
2. Submit a formal change of address to your local Post Office.

The Post Office then sends all of your incoming mail to the service instead of to your old address, and the service keeps it until you call to tell them where to send it.

Mail forwarding services can generally be started or stopped as needed, but each company has its own rules, so it is wise to find out what they are prior to signing up. The best and most reasonable one I know of is offered by The Good Sam Club, but you may have to join in order to access this benefit.

There is always a delay when using this method, and it costs a bit to do because you must pay postage fees in addition to the monthly cost. However, if you have no home base or do have not made arrangements with someone you trust to handle your mail for you, it is the only way you can access your mail.

Insurance

Arranging for insurance coverage is much the same for full-timers as it is for everybody else. However, people without home bases must make sure that they carry health insurance policies that will cover them completely no matter their location.

HMOs and other limited service area policies will not provide coverage unless these folks happen to be in the same area as their mail forwarding services.

For those who travel a great deal, it is a good idea to purchase emergency coverage that will not pay medical costs, but will, under the appropriate circumstances, provide regional medical referrals and oversight as well as a means of getting travelers and their vehicles back to their home bases at no cost. Good Sam Club sells one that costs around $110 per year and covers all travelers.

Auto insurance policies generally cover travel units, but not all do, so ask before you buy.

Making a Major Lifestyle Change Can Be Difficult

Not everybody adapts well to living in a travel unit because, just as with anything else, this lifestyle has both good and bad points. Why People Stop Living Full Time in RVs shows you the flip side of this lifestyle.

Once you learn the 9 things you need to know about RV living, you will have the information you need so that you can make an informed decision.