The Zen of Full Timing - Living Comfortably

[4X4Dodger]

The Buddha taught that Attachment was suffering. Attachment having to do with, on one level, the amount of stuff one has.

Well if preparing to be full-timers doesnt bring you face to face with the huge amount of stuff you have collected and the process of divesting yourself of it nothing will.

But, while I agree in general with the Buddhas philosophy on this, I have to say there are some things I think it smart to carry with you.

While my Mothers idea of Roughing It was slow room service mine is a bit different. But I still do not want to feel like I am camping-out on an endless basis while full timing.

So I have put together a short list of things that (for me at least) make life on the road more civilized.

1. Real Wine Glasses The best ones you can get. A set of four
2. One set of 4 real plates (not plastic or melmac) and silverware
3. A set of 4 Real glass drinking glasses
4. Really good sheets and bedding – no sleeping bags except as guest sleeping.
5. A really good comfortable chair – one inside and one for outside

This is not a complete list but it is the big and heavy things. But taken all together the weight is minimal. Especially since you are only dealing with the difference between the cheap stuff and the good stuff.

Feeling like you are in a real home not on an extended camping trip I think is key to the success of RV'ing full time.

One of my first projects will be to install a good wine cellar.

Whats on your list?

[Mike_LeClair]

MFinCA wrote:
In July '13, I took a job about 130 miles away from my home. So I put my TT in an RV park near work and stayed in it Monday-Friday and went home to my family on the weekends.

I treated it like a studio apartment. I brought leftovers to warm up during the week. I did cook quite a bit as well when I needed to (I ate well). But since I was just by myself, I slept in a sleeping bag. I ate off of plastic plates. I drank my cocktails in a nice hard plastic drink glass.

I felt that I did just fine for 13 months. But I was happiest when we put our house on the market and moved up here permanently. Now I can use my TT for fun trips. And have my wife and dog with me every night.

Whaaaaaaaaaaat? Wait!!! Just what in the blazes is wrong with hard plastic cocktail glasses??:B

We replaced most of our glassware with plastic after one particularly violent application of the brakes which caused the contents of the "dishware" cupboard to come spilling out of the cupboard, breaking the door in half, and shattering EVERY piece of glassware/dishware that was in the cupboard. Lesson learned at great personal expense, grief and heartache.

Cheers!

Mike

[PawPaw_n_Gram]

We moved a lot of stuff straight from the S&B to the TT.

Sleep number bed
Silverware
A set of Corel
Reverware pots and pans
Keurig - the good one
We have comfortable recliners inside, a nice TV and Blue-ray/DVD player.
Added a small book shelf

While camp hosting in Big Bend NP, sometimes a tent camper would say "That's not camping" to which I'd answer - you are right - that (the 36 ft TT) is our home - we are LIVING here in the great outdoors, not camping for a couple days.

[oldtrojan66]

Let's see, is it better to work and make money, or not work and draw interest off my savings, and cut back my lifestyle needs? Let me think about that for about 1/10 second! Oh, I think I won't work again for the rest of my life if its not something I want to do. JMHO

[MFinCA]

In July '13, I took a job about 130 miles away from my home. So I put my TT in an RV park near work and stayed in it Monday-Friday and went home to my family on the weekends.

I treated it like a studio apartment. I brought leftovers to warm up during the week. I did cook quite a bit as well when I needed to (I ate well). But since I was just by myself, I slept in a sleeping bag. I ate off of plastic plates. I drank my cocktails in a nice hard plastic drink glass.

I felt that I did just fine for 13 months. But I was happiest when we put our house on the market and moved up here permanently. Now I can use my TT for fun trips. And have my wife and dog with me every night.

[noplace2]

14 years into this fulltime traveling experience (from AK to C America and back a few times), we have always believed that simpler is better. We've not changed our minds.

Wherever we are, walking an average of 4 miles/day is a given. Preparing great, nutritious meals with minimal fat is a part of our daily lives. (I've owned 2 restaurants and managed another) We might eat out roughly 4 times/year when we have coupons to do so. We nearly always regret it.

Zen? If you can wake up and go to bed with a sense of peace, you're there. If you can't, figure out why and work to correct it, or not. Remark upon the fact that you are among a privileged few on the planet who can even consider the question.

[rockhillmanor]

The Buddha taught that Attachment was suffering. Attachment having to do with, on one level, the amount of stuff one has.

I on the other hand, after just one year of full timing purged the MH and gave away about 3/4 of the stuff I brought with.

Ahhh, that's when I started enjoying the Zen of full timing.

[camper19709]

If it is real glasses or real plates or a lazy-boy recliner or nice sheets and a memory foam mattress. I will be comfortable in my home-on-wheels.

[mockturtle]

While I use real plates and cutlery, I am happy with my cozy sleeping bag. 🙂

[JAXFL]

Well I have read these and am thinking to myself, WOW. When we go we have paper plates and cups, who wants to have to wash dishes. We eat out or have what is in the pantry, like soup, or beans, or roman noodles. We drink beer from the can. We throw a comforter over us on a bed to sleep (we do have a sheet on the bed). The dog sleeps on the bed with us. I guess if we full timed it would be different but we use the MH as a hotel only as a place to stay while in an area. We are normally outside and enjoying the campground and area.

[DutchmenSport]

4X4Dodger wrote:
...

1. Real Wine Glasses The best ones you can get. A set of four
2. One set of 4 real plates (not plastic or melmac) and silverware
3. A set of 4 Real glass drinking glasses
4. Really good sheets and bedding – no sleeping bags except as guest sleeping.
5. A really good comfortable chair – one inside and one for outside

...

We've already done this and we are not full timers. My attitude about my TT is, it's my personal resort. I want it to be my private 5 star motel. So we've already supplied it with the best we could get. We do use Correlle Ware however, instead of real China.

Also, our first camping trip of the "season" has a tradition, been doing this for years now: First night out (usually in the campground and set up by now) ... it's a really nice red sweet wine and cheese and crackers for supper. It's elegant, and "romantic". There's just something about that first night "out". So it's 100% special!

First morning out (after the first night) ... breakfast ... is ALWAYS T-bone steak and eggs. We usually wake up normal time, but don't actually get up and moving until around 9:00 or 10:00. So first meal of the day is usually mid-morning! We make it 100% special! We've not missed doing either one of these activities in over 15 years now. We did the same thing when tent camping, and also with our PUP. The kids ate good at least once a year! (They had Sparkling Grape Juice. We never told them it was not alcoholic. They figured it out after a few years though!)

On a more routine campout, (not full timing now), we purchased a good electric flat griddle, a good electric skillet, and a set of real fireplace pokers and tools for campfires.

Sheets and blankets are a high quality, we replace the pillows every Spring, and we use a good soft toilet paper! Not the cheap junk or the RV stuff.

AND.... we use electric blankets ... dual controls, king size for lots and lots of coverage!

Our trailer is our 5 star resort. It's not a trailer, it's our resort. We've done the "rough and rugged camping" enough when we were younger. Now it's time to REALLY enjoy life! I'm not a full timer. Maybe I never will be, but we do keep the trailer supplied with the best we can get!

[Naio]

I brought my mattress and bedding straight from my S&B. My back is very choosy!

I quickly learned that I need a freezer (not just the compartment of a fridge), microwave, and hotplate (not just propane stove and crockpot), so I picked those up along the way.

I bought one extra cooking pot and I will bring more from home next year.

I brought my favorite cooking knives, and my favorite tools for working on the van. No second-best travel set.

I brought a lot of clothes and bought some more. I like variety!

I did not bring enough choices of perfume :).

[JKrussow]

After full-timing for over two years I have to agree with 4x4dodger. It's the little things that make the difference in your life and how you enjoy it. Yes we have paper plates and use them for pizza night but we still use our 6 place dinnerware the rest of the time for our meals. The same goes for everything else.

This lifestyle or "attachment" is the difference between full-timing and camping. To us camping is sleeping outside, on the ground, cold and wet. Full-timing is living our lives free to be where we want and not having to endure the roughing it aspect.

[BarbaraOK]

I'm not roughing it. No way. If a glass or dish breaks I will buy more. I'm helping people all along the way to put shoes on their kids feet.

My sentiments exactly. We are now helping the economy by spending the money we saved and saved over the years.:W

Barb

[azrving]

You got that right!!!!
I dont have a ton of experience but I talk to others who will be rv'ing and are geeked just as I was when I started out. One of the things I emphasize is what do you do everyday? They often say they will be out hiking and be out doors a lot. I tell them yes you probably will but at the end of the day what will you do? They say I'll be inside. I say will you be comfortable? Oh yes I can sit at the dinette. At that point I tell them to think about it as they will want to be just as comfortable as when they were in the s&b. So you nailed as far as a good comfortable chair. If I bought a small TT I'd be tearing the dinette out to put in lazy boys.

We also talk about how they will stay warm even if going to the far south. They say oh I have sleeping bags and warm clothes. So that brings up another comfort issue to me. There is no way that I'm wearing anything different to bed or sleeping on less of a bed or using any different bedding then I use in a house. The thermostat will be set right were I want it and all the supporting batteries, chargers, generators, panels etc will be in place to do so.

I'm not roughing it. No way. If a glass or dish breaks I will buy more. I'm helping people all along the way to put shoes on their kids feet.

[Dog_Folks]

Gourmet coffee
Big screen TV
No alarm clocks
A beer at dinnertime
A Nook reader
A heated mattress
A weather station
A Sleep Number bed.

OH wait! These are things I have now that I did NOT have in my regular house!!!!

This retirement thing is much better than work.