Who has sold everything and started rving for life

My wife and I sold or gave away everything and hit the road 2 years ago full time in a 26' winnebago navion. My advice would be to try out the lifestyle for a few weeks before making the commitment. We did 1 month to 5 month trips for several years, before we figured out how to work from the road and cover costs. Be ready for a shock when you sell your stuff; it is worth less than you think!
Also, you need to have something to do. You mentioned work camping, which is good. Be sure you and everyone else in your family have a hobby, work, or some portable pursuit. I actually do web design and e-marketing, and my wife sells rare fabrics and buttons. those help pay the bills and keep us busy! It's not all fun and games.
Also, buy the best rv you can afford. it sucks to break down miles from service. And, consider how and where you want to live. If you like boondocking, a class A is going to limit you somewhat. But a class B might be too small, even though it goes more places. But we have seen people in all kinds of rigs. Heck, we lived for 5 months in a little 4-wheel camper on the back of a 1/2 ton pickup. we could go anywhere in that rig--desert, forest roads, off-road. But, it was like living out of a purse!
You are not crazy. We are happier than we thought we would be.

Have a 36 ft rv right now but when we sale the house was going to look for a bigger one. Me and my husband have hosted one campground and loved it. I am a bus driver and have Summers off and we usually spend it in the camper. I haven't been able to travel and would love to before I get too old, we are just going over 50.. lol I don't mind down sizing, we have stuff we haven't touched in years. I am very excited about this and can't wait to get out there and live a dream of ours.

MNGeeks61 wrote:

2oldman wrote:
If you promise to come back.

This one might be real!

Winter months are slow.

welp looks like OP has been busy...hasn't had time to come back.

I didn't see a follow-up from the OP, so my advice is to take it step wise. Travel a few days, then a few weeks, then a few months. Meanwhile see how much you can downsize and what's left. With this, and the travel, you'll knows whether a home base is better than not. Then you can get into the bigger decisions like selling the house. Keep us posted.

How can you put a price on their leaving? Surely that is worth way more than any reasonable storage fee you can think of....

Are you saying I could have charged my kids for storage for all the stuff they left behind when they started their own adult lives? Darn it! :R

We did it. Started in 2011, rented out the house, got rid of most of our stuff except what we want to take with us. Sold the house in 2015 and are still on the road full-time. No longer workcamp. Did that for about 7 years. Just doing what we want, when we want and if we want now. Staying anywhere from 1 day to a couple of months at places. Enjoying life and will keep doing this for awhile yet.

Still own 3 properties I use as layovers, basically travel 45 weeks per year, I budget roughly $3500 per month for all expenses the most expensive cost is fuel but I'm on the road most of the time.

Are you currently a RVer? If so, have you spent long periods of time in it?

Don't be like the couple that we bought our truck & trailer from. They had never so much as gone on a camping trip or rented a RV when they decided RVing fulltime was a good idea. They sold what was apparently a beautiful mountaintop home & bought new an upmarket 5er & a 3500 dually to pull it.

Well over $100,000.00 on what seemed like a good idea at the time.

Six months later, in September, they wanted OUT in the worst way. The lifestyle was not for them. Almost three months of trying to sell before we came along & bought truck & trailer for about $20,000 LESS than what the MSRP was on the trailer only. No negotiation. That is what this couple was asking. They had just committed on buying another house.

Don't be like them. Know what you are getting into.

We did it.

But why do you want to do it and what are your resources?

What is your camping experience...particularly longer term trips? Full time is a much different world and short vacations are not the same thing.

DW looked into work camping a couple times...It wasn't hard work but the two she checked out were going to work out to the equivalent of $2/hr when you looked at the hours vs benefits.

If you are just looking for something to keep you occupied but have sufficient financial resources...go for it.

If you think you are going to completely or substantially support yourself doing it...look for another option.

And as someone else mentioned: Have an exit strategy. At some point you may want or not be able to continue...what happens then.