Questions for Full Timers
Someday in the distant future (15-20 years) the wife and I think we want to go full time in a MH. We have a few questions for the full times out there. How often do you travel? How long do yo...
Forum Discussion
How often do you travel?
How long do you tend to stay put?
How do you get your mail?
How do you acquire a campsite for months on end?
What does a site cost per month?
What are the things you miss about having a brink and mortar house?
What advice do you have for a person thinking about becoming a full timer?
Sometimes 3x per week, sometimes 3x per month. It just depends.
Sometimes overnight, sometimes two weeks. depends. On average, we stay in one place about 4 days. Typically: last Monday we moved 240 miles, stayed two nights, moved 40 miles, stayed two nights, moved 100 miles will stay about a week then move 100 miles and stay 3-7 days.
We have a mail service that sends our mail when we request it. We request it about once per month just because it is piling up. Usually, it is junk mail and magazines though the mail service is pretty good about weeding out most of the crap. We don't have many bills and all regular bills (insurance, phones, credit cards, etc.) all bill us by email. Paper mail is a vestige of stick bound life that really is as useful to us as a land line phone.
We don't. We don't stay in one place months on end. But if we did, we would do it the same way we get nightly sites: look online and/or walk in and ask. We know where we are going from here. We know what area we want to stay in. We know what we need for that stay (services) and we base our pick on that. Sometimes we need a laundry, sometimes we need isolation, sometimes we need electricity. Our choice is based on the highest need at the time. Currently we are at a full service membership park. It is not far from a city and has a laundry and a social hour. This is the exact opposite of where we have been spending time and where we are going after we leave here. We can do our groceries, laundry, repairs, etc. before we head out again - the opposite of a vacation, really.
We don't rent by the month. Renting for a month by the day can be costly; $20/night at a national park will be $600/month. $30/night at a W/E state park would be $900/month. So we bounce between Public Parks, boondocking, Passport America parks and average about $600/month. You can find private parks as low as $180/month to as high as $1800/month. It all depends on where you go and what you want to spend.
Miss with a S&B? Nothing really. I miss unlimited hot water and electricity but usually only when we have been dry camping or boondocking a long while. But when we get into private parks, I miss the privacy and isolation and the incredible views so it is all a trade off.
Advice:
First and foremost, be friends with whom ever will be living with you. Not all married couples are friends and 250SF gets awfully small when two people don't really like each other.
Second, don't sweat the small stuff. And it almost always is small stuff. But be prepared and be open for anything.
Third, be flexible. Don't have a rigid schedule that must be followed. So far, we have been our most miserable when we knew we had to be at a certain place at a certain time. There were missed opportunities in traveling both too slow and too fast so we could keep to our schedule. So we dumped the schedule and now travel as we feel like it. It isn't a vacation, it is everyday life. It needs to be enjoyed.
Best of luck to you. My advice to you at this stage is save everything you can and don't buy needless crap. We knew, 17 years ago, that we wanted to retire early. So we saved and planned for 15 years. We were able to retire debt free with plenty of savings at 47. It really was worth the time and effort it took.
How long do you tend to stay put?
How do you get your mail?
How do you acquire a campsite for months on end?
What does a site cost per month?
What are the things you miss about having a brink and mortar house?
What advice do you have for a person thinking about becoming a full timer?
Sometimes 3x per week, sometimes 3x per month. It just depends.
Sometimes overnight, sometimes two weeks. depends. On average, we stay in one place about 4 days. Typically: last Monday we moved 240 miles, stayed two nights, moved 40 miles, stayed two nights, moved 100 miles will stay about a week then move 100 miles and stay 3-7 days.
We have a mail service that sends our mail when we request it. We request it about once per month just because it is piling up. Usually, it is junk mail and magazines though the mail service is pretty good about weeding out most of the crap. We don't have many bills and all regular bills (insurance, phones, credit cards, etc.) all bill us by email. Paper mail is a vestige of stick bound life that really is as useful to us as a land line phone.
We don't. We don't stay in one place months on end. But if we did, we would do it the same way we get nightly sites: look online and/or walk in and ask. We know where we are going from here. We know what area we want to stay in. We know what we need for that stay (services) and we base our pick on that. Sometimes we need a laundry, sometimes we need isolation, sometimes we need electricity. Our choice is based on the highest need at the time. Currently we are at a full service membership park. It is not far from a city and has a laundry and a social hour. This is the exact opposite of where we have been spending time and where we are going after we leave here. We can do our groceries, laundry, repairs, etc. before we head out again - the opposite of a vacation, really.
We don't rent by the month. Renting for a month by the day can be costly; $20/night at a national park will be $600/month. $30/night at a W/E state park would be $900/month. So we bounce between Public Parks, boondocking, Passport America parks and average about $600/month. You can find private parks as low as $180/month to as high as $1800/month. It all depends on where you go and what you want to spend.
Miss with a S&B? Nothing really. I miss unlimited hot water and electricity but usually only when we have been dry camping or boondocking a long while. But when we get into private parks, I miss the privacy and isolation and the incredible views so it is all a trade off.
Advice:
First and foremost, be friends with whom ever will be living with you. Not all married couples are friends and 250SF gets awfully small when two people don't really like each other.
Second, don't sweat the small stuff. And it almost always is small stuff. But be prepared and be open for anything.
Third, be flexible. Don't have a rigid schedule that must be followed. So far, we have been our most miserable when we knew we had to be at a certain place at a certain time. There were missed opportunities in traveling both too slow and too fast so we could keep to our schedule. So we dumped the schedule and now travel as we feel like it. It isn't a vacation, it is everyday life. It needs to be enjoyed.
Best of luck to you. My advice to you at this stage is save everything you can and don't buy needless crap. We knew, 17 years ago, that we wanted to retire early. So we saved and planned for 15 years. We were able to retire debt free with plenty of savings at 47. It really was worth the time and effort it took.
