Hello My name is Josh Wilkes. My family and I are wanting to make the transition from apartment living to RV living. Currently I'm a waiter at Chili's Bar and Grill, and my wife is a 7 months pregnant stay-at-home mother to our 3 1/2 year old daughter. We do are best to make a smallish 2 bedroom apartment home for our daughter, but we would love to get something that we are not putting money towards to have nothing to show for it. Unfortunately it is everything we can do to just pay the bill, and now we will have another child to feed, cloth, and shelter here in just a little bit. We have truly been blessed over the years and now that we have our family we've always wanted we are looking to try something new, exciting, and a little bit terrifying. RV living lol. We've started to do research on how to run and maintain an RV and what size we would be looking for, but the main hurdle is actually paying for one. We will of course have taxes coming in soon, but it won't be enough to cover the costs of getting a good RV and other things that come with full time RV living. We would try for an actual house, with a yard and everything,but our credit isn't good enough to get a loan and we would still have a mortgage to pay. If we have an RV then we would own it out right and be able to spend a lot more money towards our RV maintenance, improvements, and our children. We love spending time together and we truly believe that this kind of lifestyle will suit us best. I ask that anybody reading this give advise please, I would love to be able to do this for my family, sooner than later. Thank you for reading this and have a great day/night.

YOU are fooling yourself if you think RV Living FULL TIME is cheaper then APT. renting.RV loan, registration, HOME OWNERS insurance, CG Site fees, electric (most long term have metered electric), propane etc.RVs Depreciate in value. Then there is the SIZE2 bedroom apt.......vs roughly 240Sq FT TOTAL Then CG (RV Park) living long term.......not ideal for raising kidsSorry ...Harsh but having Full Timed (and loved it which still was) it is NOT like living in a apt or small house especially with new born & toddler.

Owning an rv is not going to give you "something to show for it" - you will put a lot of money in keeping it running/getting it going and you are NOT going to get all that back. In addition, if your credit is bad, you aren't going to be able to get an RV that doesn't need a lot of work. Are you going to continue working at Chili's? Or do you expect your go fund me campaign to pay the bills on an ongoing basis? Where are you going to park this RV if you do continue to work? You won't be able to afford to travel on itinerant jobs if you're barely making it now with a steady job. It's not cheaper to live in an RV - unless you find ways to live off the generosity of others (living for free on someone's property, plugging into someone's electrical for free, begging folks to fund the cost of your RV, and so on).I suggest you spend your efforts finding a job that will support your family and save the RV living for when you can actually afford it...Sorry I sound harsh, but I think it's pretty tacky to post asking other folks to pay for your RV.

If you don't have good enough credit to buy real estate, you're not going to have good enough credit for an RV loan, especially a Class A in any sort of decent shape. It doesn't sound like you have a lot of cash left over each month to do repairs.If you want to go ahead with moving to an RV, you'll do a lot better in a Class C or a Travel Trailer if you have the truck to tow it.Have you checked what it will cost you to park your RV in an RV park all winter. They will probably charge you separately for the electricity because you'll be running the hot water heater, furnace and electric heaters. And check the price of propane in addition to the cost of getting a larger propane tank delivered and plumbed in. What are the winter temps going to be all winter where you're at - how are you going to keep everything from freezing.Unless you're in warm climates, it's going to be a lot more expensive to live in than you think.Good luck,Bill

You're a father now. Do the right thing and get some schooling and get a good job. Provide for your family.

Another thing that you may not understand, Josh, is that owning an RV is like owning a car, in the sense that it doesn't give you "something to show for it" - it depreciates. You'd be throwing money away, and whether your own or money you have begged from other people, it's not a good scenario. Stick with the apartment, try to find another job - a better one or a second part-time one, apply for food stamps, and try to save a little bit each month from that second job to help yourselves, in time, move to a more comfortable place. Nothing wrong with renting.

Looking to start class A family living | Good Sam Community

Effy
Explorer II
Oct 21, 2016
Working at Chili's and a wife who stays at home offers you the opportunity to move to a locale that may be easier on your wallet. I would echo the statements here. You don't need an RV which is smaller and possibly more expensive and depreciates and will take a lot of work. What you do need is another job and some continued education - maybe a trade school or something. Take the time you would spend on working on an RV - more than you think - and get another job, possibly one that offers good benefits and take the money you have for an RV and get some more education. I appreciate your creative thinking but with a wife and child and another on the way, now is not the time to throw caution to the wind. Understanding you want the American dream of a house with a yard etc, but there is nothing wrong with apartment living. Maintenance being someone else's problem is a huge trade off. Don't think of it as throwing money away, think of it as a time to provide a roof until you establish a better foundation and then buy a house. Get your financials and credit in order first. Without those, an RV only offers an expensive way to try and escape your current situation. Unfortunately it will be out of the frying pan and into the fire. Nothing is free. Work hard and establish yourself. I started in an apartment, could hardly pay the bills with my job working in debt collections, was handed more eviction notices than you can count, borrowed money, etc. But I worked hard. Very hard. Saved money and paid for my own school, showed myself in any job I had and 20 years later I have a very comfortable life, built a brand new beach house, investments, money in the bank and own an RV for sheer pleasure of it. If I had tried to run from my problems in an RV, I would probably still be living in it. It's all about choices.
BulldawgFan
Explorer
Oct 21, 2016
Millenials. The something for nothing generation.
malexander
Explorer
Oct 21, 2016
I go to Branson 2 or 3, sometimes 4, times a year.
Branson has gotten very expensive.

Someone asked about the climate where OP's from.
Well, the campground we stay in closes for the winter, at the first sight of snow. That says something about the climate. lol.
Scottiemom
Nomad
Oct 21, 2016
You've been given really great advice, Josh, by people who have/use/and live in RV's. Your RV must sit somewhere and with a family, you would have to have services. That would mean in a campground and you are going to pay rent there much as you would in an apartment. . . and maybe just as much. Then you will have other expenses like utilities, etc., as others have mentioned.

Getting an RV is not going to simplify your life; it will make it more difficult.

Maybe take some night classes to earn some marketable skills and upgrade your job to where you might have something in the future. When we were starting out, I worked full time till I retired and had two kids, working while I was pregnant. I'm not sympathetic to pregnant moms who sit back while the family begs for money. There are things she could do from home.

Dale
gbopp
Explorer
Oct 21, 2016
Welcome to the forum and congrats on your (soon) second child.
I have to agree with the previous posts. It's not really a good idea to give up your apartment for a RV.

How cold does it get where you live? Most RV's are not set up for cold weather use and will take a lot of propane/electricity to keep warm.

Good luck with whatever you chose. And, don't hesitate to ask questions on the forum. You will get an answer but, maybe not the answer you wanted to hear.
dtucker3usa
Explorer
Oct 21, 2016
Don't do it. As others have said this is not something you want to do if you are just scraping by. A rv will cost you and with maintenance, insurance, cg fees, etc. it will eat you alive. We bought an older rv (1997 Damon Intruder 352) and we have put more into it than what we paid for it. (heater replacement, water heater replacement, generator, suspension,fluid changes, etc.) You get the idea. We love the floor plan by the way. The one thing I haven't needed to change.
smacdiesel
Explorer
Oct 21, 2016
I think that buying an RV is a financial mistake for most young families. It costs a lot of money to own and operate an RV, stay in an apartment, I have a family and I get cabin fever if we stay in the rig more than 5 days.
96Bounder30E
Explorer II
Oct 21, 2016
Old-Biscuit wrote:

But what is wrong with telling them this is not a Go Fund Me Project.

He's been told now!
J-Rooster
Explorer
Oct 21, 2016
Josh, let me be the first to welcome you to RV.Net! Good Luck in your RV adventurers!
Old-Biscuit
Explorer III
Oct 21, 2016
96Bounder30E wrote:
Watching

OK good.

But what is wrong with telling them this is not a Go Fund Me Project.

Guess better to tell Josh get another job or 2 like LOTS of folks do when young and starting out