Electronic Or Paper?

There is really a lot of great info here. I pretty much line up with 'hitchup'.

Do all direct deposit of incoming $$ and pay all bills electronically. I use credit cards for everything, mostly to negate the need of carrying much cash and writing lots of checks, but also to get the $$$ rebates (5% right now on fuel with Discover). Pay off the cards at the end of every month.

I have run into a few places that will only accept cash or a check so carry both.

I use Dropbox for pictures. I have a laptop as well as a Tablet (use it mostly for pictures but also nice to have in the truck to use as a 'computer'), I have a Nook and periodically download books from my county library back in Florida.

I pre-plan using MS Streets and Trips. That way I know the exact distance to my next CG. I write out the destination CG's name, phone number and general directions to have with me in the truck. I also take a hard look at Google Maps and use the 'view' feature to take a look at where the CG is and what the entrance looks like.

If in a popular area, I like to call ahead for reservations at least a week in advance.

I have the Millenicom.com portable MiFi and also a Wilson Sleek in my truck and their home and office kit in my 5th wheel - Millenicom runs on the Verizon network. I bought an Iphone from Walmart and use their Straight Talk for phone service. This is also on the Verizon network. So far I've had internet connectivity just about everywhere and phone more then 90% of the time. Can set the MiFi or the phone in the Sleek if that's what I need to do. The MiFi does function as a wireless router for up to 10 devices.

I have a Rand atlas and also the Rand trucker's atlas (laminated). I use that to plan because I am height challenged and it shows all the routes that a legal size semi rig can travel on. Laminated so I can use a dry erase marker to plan routes. The 'normal' atlas seems to have more detail and info so I carry both.

I run 2 GPS, 3 if you count my phone, and 4 if you count MS Streets and Trips (I have the little plug-in GPS receiver that turns my laptop into a giant full featured GPS screen). One GPS is the factory OEM unit built into my F350 and the other is a Rand. Crazy huh ? NOT. If they both agree on a route, I'm happy; if not then I need to do some research and resolve the discrepancy. And that has happened several times already. BUT they have BOTH been wrong on a few occasions - hence my written directions and viewing Google Maps the night before. I am a single so I have to have my ducks in a row when I crank the motor in the morning - no co-pilot to do research when I'm rolling down the road and things suddenly don't look right.

I keep a notebook of all my campground stays. As someone stated, it's way easier to open a notebook then to crank up a laptop to view a digital record. I absolutely love all this cool digital stuff but just because it's 'new' does not mean it's always 'better'.

I belong to Good Sams, Escapees, and also Passport America.

I have a PILE of hard copy books - The Next Exit (highly recommended), COE campground directory, National Parks, etc.

* Make sure your truck has a few 110 volt and also 12 volt outlets so you can run 'stuff' and recharge your phone in your truck.

** I'm sending you a PM.

Tim

After selling the house and going fulltime we had to transition several things. Mail delivery was first. We use our son's address and while we are on the road he packages up our mail every couple of weeks and sends it to us. We don't have much because we do everything on-line. When we pay bills on-line we always use our own Verizon MiFi internet connection and not some free connection from a CG for security purposes. We travel approximately 5,000 - 8,000 per year, sometimes visiting as many as 16 states. While on the road I run a Rand RV 7720 GPS plus another regular GPS. The Rand has all the height/width warnings for my size rig. I also keep a current Trucker's Atlas which I consult each evening for the next days route. We keep records of CG's and what we think of them on our I-phones and computers.

I keep campground maps in a 3 ring binder. If it is a place we may return to, I mark our favorite sites on the map. Everything else is all digital. I use DropBox to share documents across all of my devices. Memberships like Good Sam, KOA, etc, I scan into a PDF file and again put them in DropBox. DropBox is a free download. You can also use Google Drive

Nutinelse2do wrote:


Awesome. Totally agree! Not really sold on the GPS thing. Have my iphone and ipad for maps, and will have RM atlas.

Love our TomTom for when we are in areas with traffic, it gets traffic updates and lets us know of wrecks ahead, etc., which is very helpful when near big cities.


Have a database for things like RV parks, repairs, etc. Use an app (MileageKeeper) on the iPhone for keeping track of mileage for motorhome. Have an app (MyMedical) on the iPad which has all of our medical information. Lots and lots of apps out there, really don't need paper. We do a blog where I record any thoughts we have as we travel.

Barb

Two items mentioned here;
As someone told me and I found out from experience. Credit cards will not bill you for any balance under 50 cents. So if you are paying ahead of the closing date you can safely leave off the change if under 50 cents. The credit card company will take you down to a zero balance.

Paper maps are nice to see the surrounding country, GPS units get you from point A to point B; but you may be within a short detour off your route to visit an interesting place. With GPS you may never see it on the screen and miss it. I love Delormes Gazetteer series. If the boon dock road doesn't show on these maps then you do not want to be on it.

For example you could miss the Grand Canyon if you relied on GPS to get you down I40. It would not show up on the routing. Sure you could plan it at home but once on the road not a chance of seeing the Canyon on the unit.

missourijan wrote:
d that the only ones that are not electronic capable is the medical profession. Dr's, dentists, hospitals, etc., do not (for the most part) do electronic billing.

Boy I hate that. I found out the hard way the USPS, in many cases, will not forward medical bills. Says so on the envelope. Ain't that grand?

We mostly use electronic to pay bills and track expenses. In the 8 years we've been fulltime we found that the only ones that are not electronic capable is the medical profession. Dr's, dentists, hospitals, etc., do not (for the most part) do electronic billing. We rarely get ANY mail, so only have it sent about 3 times a year. I pay attention and will call the ins co to see how much I may owe on a medical bill, then contact the provider for an acct number so I can make payment.
When we travel we have a route we plan to go and an idea of where we want to stop. I usually use a paper atlas and the Next Exit paper guide. It's too frustrating to me to try to see what's 80 miles ahead on the smart phone. We have a cheap Tom Tom gps and use it very little. They aren't perfect.
Our contacts are in our phone but we have a little address book for backup.

I rely on that fact that anything electronic can and probably will get screwed up when you need it most(see Target, Home Depot and iCloud to mention a few). So we use both but rely on paper.

Nutinelse2do wrote:
How about an emergency back up of contacts written down somewhere?

They're written down in my smartphone. Wouldn't leave home sans GPS. Do as little as possible on paper.

We've been traveling almost 10 years as fulltimers. I'm finding my memory is fading as we criss-cross over the same roads occasionally. So we use a combination of hard copy and electronic.

All Campgrounds are listed in a hardback Journal that sits in one of our dining chairs. But our routes change constantly because our projects change. Also, road construction or potholes change which route we may want to take. Hard copy means I only need to pull out one book rather than open the laptop to see which RV Parks we want to avoid or when we did such and such project.

But all bills are electronically paid through Bank Account or by CC. So everything is paperless. Storing paper in a file box just grows and grows and we don't have room in tiny spaces. I check CC's almost daily to make sure only our purchases are showing up in pending to prevent CC fraud. Then I will pay as soon as I'm allowed rather than waiting for a larger bill at the end of the billing period. Bank, Utilities and CC's still notify us via email when monthly statements are available or when they are charging CC. I reconcile the multiple checking and savings accounts via Quicken. I do it manually every month, but some people do it electronically.

All income is Direct Deposit. Anything that we have on installment is transferred automatically and taken out by Bank or CU. Annual RV insurance is paid by CC, so we get more points or $'s back.

We just paid off our RV Lot and F450 last month via electronic manual debits out of our bank account. Was so easy to do from the comfort of my recliner.

Even an occasional rebate or overpayment check is deposited via Smartphone on a Bank app. No need to use Snail Mail for anything except sending Birthday cards to Grandchildren.

Side note: I also keep all passwords in a spiral notebook. Had done this for years before going fulltime. Some sites are requiring new passwords and I rarely use the same password for all of our accounts. So that's too many passwords to save in my memory bank.