I guess we aren't going to do this soon...

[davelinde]

Time flies. It seems it was not very long ago we were putting things in place to go FT. But now I'm looking at doing some repairs to the rig we got to live in, and sell it... kinda sad.

A bunch of stuff seems to have conspired here... the real estate bust meant we got less for our house than we'd hoped (though we did sell it). The stock slump meant our savings took a big hit (though it's almost recovered now). And the final nail here was that our kids really needed more stability than FT could offer. We were doing fine with homeschooling, but as we pulled up roots it became clear that the kids really needed some (not a lot, but some) friends who live nearby.

Like I said, kinda sad to give up the dream for now. However, it's all good. We really learned a lot by selling or giving away our stuff so we could fit in an RV. I'm really happy I negotiated a job that let's me work from anywhere. And maybe someday we'll consider it again.

[wbwood]

Just think of it that you are on pause for a while. Keep the dream and don't fall back into the normal life with all the stuff you never needed. Then when kids are out and on their own, put the pedal to the metal.

[davelinde]

JKrussow wrote:
I still don't see where the issue is. The house is sold so
... a lot of people doing it with less.

I should have been more clear... we have NO basis for complaint and we fully understand that. The proceeds from the house as well as the other savings were going to be the source of the income for this adventure. With the big drop, less income, not so easy to do.

But more than that, as we began we were in a few longish term stays and the kids did meet a few other kids, but the vast majority were gone in a week, two weeks, or a month. My son was OK with that, my daughter not-so-much.

My "kinda sad" was nore the reaction to realizing the rig we bought to travel has been sitting for too long and needs to be sold. But my "silver lining" is that for sure selling everything to downsize was a great experience. Also, where we've landed instead of FT is great and I have no complaints.

I was mostly posting here to see if others had gone through a lot of the move to FT, only to end up stick/bricks again - pretty much right away. Also wondering if any who tried and didn't eventually rekindled the idea and did it?

[rockhillmanor]

How old are your kids?

[hitchup]

We sacrificed for our kids. But then we had 6 and it was too hard to find an RV that would sleep 8 with 2.5 bathrooms.

You know the process, no reason to feel bad because you may delay the fulltiming. We always thought we'd have to wait until retirement because of our kids and grandkids. But we found a way to begin FTing in our early 50's.

[JKrussow]

I still don't see where the issue is. The house is sold so unless you are buying it back or buying in the same neighborhood the kids are going to have to make new friends. Why not go full-timing but travel less? Stay in the same area just don't own a home that way if things change you can hit the road in days instead of months.

Depending on the RV park you stay at there may be kids living there as well. I wouldn't give up. Make it work, there are a lot of people doing it with less than you have and doing just fine.

[wannavolunteerF]

sorry you didn't get to live your dream right now, but I have to agree that as parents sometimes we should do things for our kids' sakes. Don't fret though, they will be grown and gone and you will be missing them soon enough. Just like the old saying about people not saying, "I wished I had worked more", I don't know of anyone saying "I wished I had spent less time with my kids."