Anyone regret full-timing?

kyle86 wrote:

FunnyCamper wrote:
we aren't there yet but getting closer :)

when we try it, I don't think I would 'regret' trying it cause life is just full of experiences and adventures. even in the end if we decide to land somewhere and not full time longer, it wouldn't be under the 'regret' column in my life.

we are wanderers. we want to be footloose and fancy free. I crave freedom from the chains that homeowners deal with. my regret is being stuck in this house and paying for property taxes longer and all that :) :)

Nice to see someone else about to attempt the same thing!!! :) good luck to you Funnycamper!

thanks, we need some luck always :) :)

I am like Getman that I love to challenge myself to save money, we are COE and state park people so I know I can keep costs on the lower side. we have a toyhauler with genny so I can sleep in rest stops overnight if travelling etc if needed, there are a ton of ways to save money in your RV travels!

solar also has me interested and we are checking into that for our rig.

all us RV people must have a smidge of the 'retirement full time on the road' dream in us!!

RLGetman wrote:
Very good topic! Our personal experience has been full time RVing since 2011, began with a 23' tag along, then a 5th wheel and now a motor home. We both love it and are planning another 10 years provided our health holds out. We reduced our average daily RV site expenses from $29/day in 2011 to less than $5/day in 2015. We accomplish this with a combination of solar power, boondocking & volunteering with various service & club organizations that provide free/low$ full/partial hookups along our RV journey. All the info is available on the internet, we just focus on free/low$ RVing instead of expensive RV sites. It's not for everyone, but we enjoy the challenge & goal of living our dream as inexpensively as we can. Have Fun & Enjoy!

Fantastic reply and thank you! That is very impressive that you are able to live for that little amount. That sounds about exactly like we are trying to do.

FunnyCamper wrote:
we aren't there yet but getting closer :)

when we try it, I don't think I would 'regret' trying it cause life is just full of experiences and adventures. even in the end if we decide to land somewhere and not full time longer, it wouldn't be under the 'regret' column in my life.

we are wanderers. we want to be footloose and fancy free. I crave freedom from the chains that homeowners deal with. my regret is being stuck in this house and paying for property taxes longer and all that :) :)

Nice to see someone else about to attempt the same thing!!! :) good luck to you Funnycamper!

rockhillmanor wrote:

I asked the question if anyone regretted full-timing because we have never attempted doing something like this before and naturally we are a tad nervous. The consensus from this thread seems to be that there are no regrets in attempting this adventure.

Yes, most of us do not have 'regrets'. That said all of us had planned for the expenses of full timing. You need to be asking what the 'costs' of full-timing are! :C

When I say we will have to work to support the journey, I mean for food, gas, and usual necessities....

I would strongly suggest that you look at the "Full-Time Forum" of this site and look into what the - financial - part of full timing entails. They can refer you to links showing the costs.

You will be mildly surprised/shocked what the average monthly costs of full timing are. :W

Really though you need to know this information 'before' you head out. It is compiled by seasoned full timers and in my travels have found it to be spot on. And most of us have fully planned for it.

Having to work to be able to Full-Time RV is counterintuitive.

Unless you want to spend your entire time trying to find free places and boondocking. Many will say that's how they RV and like it, me I didn't retire to spend my time having to look for free remote places to stay. And RV'ing that way will put 'you' out of the element of finding work to support your RV'ing which will be a vicious circle. Just saying.

Thank you for the advice and kind words. By the way I really like your signature. I did a bunch of research in the forum and on other websites like the van camping site. I think we can do it for about $1500 per month down to about maybe $500-800 depending on what I've seen on boondocker websites. Of course he sky is the limit with the hobby especially for those financing nice rigs and traveling often. Anyway I know most people wait till retirement to try the lifestyle. We aren't really sure about what is waiting for us in retirement and that is a motivating factor even if it is just for a year to try it.

Very good topic! Our personal experience has been full time RVing since 2011, began with a 23' tag along, then a 5th wheel and now a motor home. We both love it and are planning another 10 years provided our health holds out. We reduced our average daily RV site expenses from $29/day in 2011 to less than $5/day in 2015. We accomplish this with a combination of solar power, boondocking & volunteering with various service & club organizations that provide free/low$ full/partial hookups along our RV journey. All the info is available on the internet, we just focus on free/low$ RVing instead of expensive RV sites. It's not for everyone, but we enjoy the challenge & goal of living our dream as inexpensively as we can. Have Fun & Enjoy!

we aren't there yet but getting closer :)

when we try it, I don't think I would 'regret' trying it cause life is just full of experiences and adventures. even in the end if we decide to land somewhere and not full time longer, it wouldn't be under the 'regret' column in my life.

we are wanderers. we want to be footloose and fancy free. I crave freedom from the chains that homeowners deal with. my regret is being stuck in this house and paying for property taxes longer and all that :) :)

I asked the question if anyone regretted full-timing because we have never attempted doing something like this before and naturally we are a tad nervous. The consensus from this thread seems to be that there are no regrets in attempting this adventure.

Yes, most of us do not have 'regrets'. That said all of us had planned for the expenses of full timing. You need to be asking what the 'costs' of full-timing are! :C

When I say we will have to work to support the journey, I mean for food, gas, and usual necessities....

I would strongly suggest that you look at the "Full-Time Forum" of this site and look into what the - financial - part of full timing entails. They can refer you to links showing the costs.

You will be mildly surprised/shocked what the average monthly costs of full timing are. :W

Really though you need to know this information 'before' you head out. It is compiled by seasoned full timers and in my travels have found it to be spot on. And most of us have fully planned for it.

Having to work to be able to Full-Time RV is counterintuitive.

Unless you want to spend your entire time trying to find free places and boondocking. Many will say that's how they RV and like it, me I didn't retire to spend my time having to look for free remote places to stay. And RV'ing that way will put 'you' out of the element of finding work to support your RV'ing which will be a vicious circle. Just saying.

FlatBroke wrote:

kyle86 wrote:
That's awesome!! Great replies!! :)

We are nearing departure time and I am still nervous about doing it. We are going to rent out our home while we are gone. A relative has already agreed to look after the place. We have no pets or kids. We will have to find some work to fund the journey. That said we have about 5k cash and 2 credit cards with no debt.

Good luck to you! You got bigger ones than me. I couldn't leave knowing I had to find a job to fund the life with only 5k cash. But heck life's short give it a whirl.

Thanks! I think I may have given the impression that we are blindly jumping in. I don't only have 5k cash, I have more but they are currently in asset form (second vehicle, tools, equipment, firearms, furniture, etc and a couple of mutual funds) I want to use those for emergency only though. Our goal is to be self sufficient so we don't have to sell off those things. Lastly we have a very sizeable chunk in home equity should we decide to sell instead of rent and a sizeable amount of credit available to us.

I calculate we are able to pay all our bills, auto insurance, loans, etc with just the rent $ from our home leaving a couple hundred leftover each month to save for emergency repairs. I've already sold half our stuff and spent 16k on a truck and trailer. I'm proud to have them both paid for in cash. When I say we will have to work to support the journey, I mean for food, gas, and usual necessities. We are still getting a few of the kinks worked out though but should be set by the beginning of the year.

Without trying to come across as feeling sorry for outselves, we both have college degrees and have spent the past 5 years struggling to find decent paying jobs in our area. We have been very fortunate thus far and been thrifty and wise with our money. We both have worked very hard and I am gifted with good hands on skills. Our goal is to get out there and see what the country has to offer us. The end goal is to gain meaningful employment and eventually get out of the RV. We are not at this time intending to do it forever. Right now we intend to full-time maybe 1-2 years while we relax, spend more time with eachother, and search for meaningful careers. At the least we want to enjoy ourselves and at least attempt to explore opportunities away from home while we are still young, healthy, and without children.

I asked the question if anyone regretted full-timing because we have never attempted doing something like this before and naturally we are a tad nervous. The consensus from this thread seems to be that there are no regrets in attempting this adventure. At the least we will have lifetime memories of trying an alternative lifestyle. Also seeing the country and getting some fresh air from the mundane/routine s&b life is appealing!

Sorry for the long winded post, I just wanted to further explain the situation. Yall are an amazing and supportive group of people!! Thanks again for the support and inspirational posts!

We bought our first RV in 1999 with the idea of trying fulltiming. Spent the winter traveling, came home, had an auction, sold the house. Been on the road fulltime since summer 2000 with no plans to stop. We visit more friends and family now than we did with a S&B. Also--when any of our scattered families had medical problems we were able to be there to help and stayed in our own 'house'.

DICK

kyle86 wrote:
That's awesome!! Great replies!! :)

We are nearing departure time and I am still nervous about doing it. We are going to rent out our home while we are gone. A relative has already agreed to look after the place. We have no pets or kids. We will have to find some work to fund the journey. That said we have about 5k cash and 2 credit cards with no debt.

Good luck to you! You got bigger ones than me. I couldn't leave knowing I had to find a job to fund the life with only 5k cash. But heck life's short give it a whirl.