Holy Cow, What a week

[CGXterra]

Well Jess and I have been focused on full-timing after I retire from the military. I'm within 6 years of retirement and just found out that the house we're renting is not going to be available to us after September. We've decided to full-time a little earlier than initially anticipated. We have a 29' V-Cross, which is not what we intend to keep for full timing and it's just Jess and I and a dog. We live near Virginia Beach, so the fulltime camping opportunities are good. We've also checked with the local military campgrounds that are offering us some good options. This is kind of "all in" approach, but we're prepared to liquidate the house and move into the trailer, but we absolutely know there will be more to it than that. We have a storage unit for things that we just can't/don't want to sell in case this doesn't work out.

We're kind of freaked out and really looking forward to it at the same time.

Any advice for the newbies would be welcome. I've comed the internet and have answers to many of our questions, but if y'all can think of some immediate type things to think about, we're all ears. 🙂

Thanks and we look forward to joining the ranks of the Full Timers.
Ed & Jess

[RoadXYZ]

CGXterra wrote:
That's exactly what we're thinking with the storage unit. We have as little as 11 months to as much as 23 months left here at which time we would have the option to move back into a S&B house, or keep on living in the RV. If we decide to move back into S&B, we still have our big ticket items and some basics so we don't have to sell the camper to get back into living in a house.

Thank you all for the awesome responses. I'm getting a lot of good advice from this message board. Ed

We sold our home in 2004, and due to not really being ready, our best option at the time was to get a 10 x 20 ft storage unit which we kept for six months, then downsized to 1/2 the storage unit size and now have downsized to a 5 x 10 ft rented storage area.

And to all of us there may be 'life stuff' which takes us off the road .. for us we didn't start full-timing until we were eligible for Medicare, so our perspective is different than you "young'ns".

We have yet to slow down enuff to put all the pics on a media, and have a few clothes, tools, outdoor fun items, etc. that we only use when back in our 'home-base' area which is anywhere from 5-12 months at a whack. This year our goal is to go thru the pictures, keep a few and give the rest away to our each of our children.

And as we are now down to thinking less than 3 years before we come off the road, glad we kept some of the things in storage. We do not look at the cost ($45/mo), and know that is reverse thinking, but to us it is worth not going out to eat a couple of times a month in order to keep the storage unit. And each year we pare down the 'stuff' more and more, so by the time we come off the road we can go into an apartment complex.

Just has to be a strictly personal choice as to whether to keep a storage unit and where .. we thought in 2010 that we would be coming off the road, but instead in 2013 are considering coming off the road in 2 or 3 years .. so that is why it has to be a strictly personal choice.

In fact we went to one '55+ apartment complex open house' and they asked if rv storage option was something they should consider adding to the complex, and we said "YES, definitely!" .. so yes, we have been looking around.

Sorry for this post being so long, but I am definitely not a woman "just a few words". Y'all have a great day!

[beyerjf]

Rapidly approaching this stage myself. Divorce. Still fulltime working(truck driver) and will be in a 34' Work and Play. Renting a 3 car garage($200 mo) for 3 antique Studebakers and minimum of other stuff, no furn. Will play this game for a while. Don't like it, no harm. Do like it, sell off the vehicles at best market prices. Relative to current overhead in house of $1100 mo with no mortgage I can make the numbers work.

[CGXterra]

That's exactly what we're thinking with the storage unit. We have as little as 11 months to as much as 23 months left here at which time we would have the option to move back into a S&B house, or keep on living in the RV. If we decide to move back into S&B, we still have our big ticket items and some basics so we don't have to sell the camper to get back into living in a house.

Thank you all for the awesome responses. I'm getting a lot of good advice from this message board.

Ed

[soos]

BarbaraOK wrote:

Ozlander wrote:


What Aunty said. A storage unit for a year is going to kill you.

Except that for some folks, that is the cost of one of their medications for a year.

Barb

Seems to me its pretty obvious that if the cost of a storage unit would mean you couldn't afford a needed medication, you probably shouldn't get a storage unit.
But all things being equal, I see no reason not to keep important stuff in storage, at least for a while, especially if you are unsure of the lifestyle and how it will work out. Many people try fulltiming for a year or so and decide it's not for them.

[BarbaraOK]

Ozlander wrote:


What Aunty said. A storage unit for a year is going to kill you.

Except that for some folks, that is the cost of one of their medications for a year.

Barb

[Ozlander]

AuntSmurf wrote:
I gotta side on soos' side on this one. We stored stuff at my parents' when we went ft. But Dad passed 2 yrs ago, and we have recently had to put Mom in a nursing home. So, we got rid of what we could. BUT we still have stuff that, for one reason or another, we want but don't have room for in our trailer. Our kids are both in small apartments, so storing stuff with them is not an option. We rent a small (5X10) storage unit. Everything we have CAN be packed into the trailer when moving, but it is not practical for "living". Only YOU can decide if what you want to keep is worth the price of a storage unit. Storing furniture for possible future use is most likely not a good idea. If you feel you can replace it later, get rid of it. BUT, if it holds sentimental value or you think it is "irreplacable", hang on to it. It's easier to get rid of something later that you find you can actually do without than it is to discover a few months down the road that you really should have kept it!

What Aunty said. A storage unit for a year is going to kill you.

[AuntSmurf]

I gotta side on soos' side on this one. We stored stuff at my parents' when we went ft. But Dad passed 2 yrs ago, and we have recently had to put Mom in a nursing home. So, we got rid of what we could. BUT we still have stuff that, for one reason or another, we want but don't have room for in our trailer. Our kids are both in small apartments, so storing stuff with them is not an option. We rent a small (5X10) storage unit. Everything we have CAN be packed into the trailer when moving, but it is not practical for "living". Only YOU can decide if what you want to keep is worth the price of a storage unit. Storing furniture for possible future use is most likely not a good idea. If you feel you can replace it later, get rid of it. BUT, if it holds sentimental value or you think it is "irreplacable", hang on to it. It's easier to get rid of something later that you find you can actually do without than it is to discover a few months down the road that you really should have kept it!

[soos]

On the opposite side of the storage thought-
we have been full timing for 4 years. we still pay for a large storage unit, We also have artwork and paintings etc that we don't want to part with. Plus my husbsnd builds furniture and has all the specialty tools to do that. we really didn't want to sell off all the furniture he built and the tools he'll need to build more.
To each his own, but to us, $2000 a year for climate controlled storage is worth it.

[CincyGus]

Agree with the elimination of the storage idea, if at all possible. If you have some pictures and things you can't bear to sell or give away, see if you can't find a family member or good friend willing to store it for you. Storage is just added costs and most people find that almost everything they put in storage after being there for a few years is not something they want back or is damaged (mice/water/mold), musty smelling from being closed up for so long.

Unless it's irreplaceable because of coming from someone special to you, consider having a garage sale or having someone keep it and/or use it until you want it back. Will be much cheaper and you have the ability to save that money and go shopping for new items if the situation changes down the road.

[MScampers]

Can I comment on the storage unit subject?

I think the main consideration when trying to decide what to get rid of and what to pay to store is to determine how much you will pay over time for the storage vs the value of what you are storing. If you are storing sentimental items only most likely when you come back to the storage unit you will wonder why you paid to store things you should have gotten rid of to begin with.

Furniture doesn't cost all that much to replace and you would be starting over. The cost of storage could be banked for new furniture and "stuff". JMHO.

[CGXterra]

Thanks for the dialogue all. 🙂

Our plan is to use the surplus housing allowance to really get the V-Cross paid down and before I retire trade it in for one of those monster 5th wheels and a bigger T/V and then hit the road. We're kind of wanting to keep the basics in storage in case this whole thing flops and we end up working again.

Some tough decisions ahead. We found where we're going to live after we leave here today. We went to a campground that got good reviews and talked to a couple of guys that were hanging out in front of a 5th wheel. The guy in the 5th wheel had been there for 4 years and the other guy had been there on and off for 18! That sounds like some good vouching. They said it stays nice and quiet and the owner doesn't put up with silliness or people making a mess around their trailer.

We're both pretty excited to try this out.
Ed

[drillagent]

CGXterra, please let us know how this works out. Especially how the housing allowance works. We have 3 1/2 years left before we retire and had contemplated moving out of on post housing and into our FW for our final year. I figured what was left over from the housing allowance would go towards paying off the FW. However, it looks as though we're going to have to retire right after our Son's senior year, and we're not sure we want to take away his own room during that important time.

Our retirment plan is that we own a house at our HOR that we're currently renting out. We also have a storage space there. We'll keep the majority of our household goods in storage. That will be our fall back position if the full time thing doesn't work out. We may downsize once we figure out we like it.

Please keep in touch and let us know how it works out. Keep the faith, Brother.

[hitchup]

We were lucky and started fulltiming long before we expected to be able to at retirement. We were also lucky that one of our sons had a heated/cooled basement room to store most of our boxes. He also got use of some of our furniture to repay him for storage space. Mainly because we weren't sure working and fulltiming would be what we wanted to do and it had taken years to accumulate some of our furniture.

8 years later, we've since whittled down to a few irreplaceable photo boxes, put all the old home movies on DVD's and given away much of what we will never use again. Three years ago, we set up our 'guest room' at our daughter's when we're only visiting for a weekend. She's now using the furniture and it's holding up quite well. Our guest room has a walk-in closet with the few remaining boxes we can't part with.

[Southern_Nights]

CGXterra wrote:
You would recommend cutting everything out that we can't put in the camper then? We have some paintings from the mother in law and some other stuff that we just don't want to sell/donate. Maybe putting them in someone's attic till we decide to call the fulltiming quits?

We had a couple of paintings that we gave to a good friend to "hold" for us. Asked him to hang them on the wall and enjoy them until we want them back. Don't put valuable paintings in an attic or basement. Humidity is not a good thing for paintings.