Follow up to living in RV by necessity

[jesseannie]

In the spring of this year I posted about a dilemma I had about the high cost of housing in Boise, ID. We thought about living in our RV temporarily to find other housing or decide if we were going to move.
There were some good responses and some curmudgeons who said we should have planned for retirement better to those people spfffft.
Well here is the rest of the story we moved to Roseburg Or. Put the RV on my brothers property which has full hook-ups. We then purchased a single wide trailer, set it up in a nice park and with my carpentry skills and help from my talented brother completely renovated it.
We spent 7 months in the 26 ft trailer while doing the work.
We now are moved in to a paid for house with a small monthly bill for the lot. This will allow us to have a home base and travel when we want and not spend 50% of our retirement income on housing like we were doing in Boise.
It will be a thankful Thanksgiving!

[Blue_Warbler]

Glad to hear your happy ending also. I heard that some of those wiped out by wildfire recently, or their families, have RVs and moved into them. That really made me appreciate the idea of having an emergency home just waiting to be needed, such a blessing when it is.

As for unimaginative assumptions about people who live in RVs, we have relatives by marriage who have a small motor home and 1 mobile home on the water and own at least 5 stick-built homes that they rent and/or help young relatives get a start with, plus other investments. They live in the RV and MH as and where it suits them as their versions of home bases and travel the rest of the world the rest of the time. Those who imagine people living in an RV must be without resources are mistaken. Many are, however, without a need to put on a show for the world.

We have an elderly friend who, similarly, gifted the properties he and his wife had accumulated to their children and went to live in an elderly once-mobile home (reminds me of Lucy and Desi's long, long trailer) in a rather decrepit-looking park on a river where an old friend lives. His children will inherit the rest of his still considerable estate when he's gone.

We have a too-large main home, etcetera, right now. It's actually quite nice to know about ourselves, though, that we could be happy and comfortable, as many are, supporting ourselves in very modest accommodation. We're not dead yet -- we still could be hit by one of those storms of medical and other problems that wipe out the estates of so many. Possessions to show the world we're "worthy" and those they draw are discardable, a little room to garden, books and nearby fishing not. 🙂

I completely agree with those who say people should not be congratulating themselves on having the good fortune to live in an era of exploding productivity, which leaves most people who work steadily but not terribly hard for a few decades, who save a fraction of what they could, and who aren't seriously unlucky, reasonably prosperous at the end. We're among the most and know we're among humanity's very fortunate ones.

[TurnThePage]

westernrvparkowner wrote:

shelbyfv wrote:
Congrats to OP and thanks for posting the happy ending! Regarding the smug snipes, it's not uncommon for those of us who have it relatively easy in retirement to attribute our condition to our own genius financial planning, self restraint, etc, etc. The fact is luck plays the major part in how this aspect of our lives turns out. More specifically, the absence of bad luck. Illness, derailed family, an economy that changes on the whim of others.... These things can bite anyone who was not lucky enough to have been born into affluence.

I disagree that luck plays a major part in a person's success. While it is true that bad luck does befall a few, most of us make our own luck. You mention health, family, the economy as factors that change on a whim. I disagree. Your personal habits effect your health more than luck. Eat well, exercise, take reasonable precautions and your health will benefit. Family issues are often within your control. Divorce, alcoholism, drug addiction are all matters of choice, not luck. Live within your means and downturns in the economy are bumps in the road, not disasters of bad luck.
Successful people most often achieve that success through hard work, proper planning and making well thought out decisions. It is an insult to the millions upon millions of people who are financially successful to attribute that success to luck.

Spoken like one who's not been burned. It doesn't have to be YOUR health to trash YOUR plans. There are so many variables that play into life. You could do everything right but work for the wrong boss. So many things. Quit being smug.

[westernrvparkow]

shelbyfv wrote:
Congrats to OP and thanks for posting the happy ending! Regarding the smug snipes, it's not uncommon for those of us who have it relatively easy in retirement to attribute our condition to our own genius financial planning, self restraint, etc, etc. The fact is luck plays the major part in how this aspect of our lives turns out. More specifically, the absence of bad luck. Illness, derailed family, an economy that changes on the whim of others.... These things can bite anyone who was not lucky enough to have been born into affluence.

I disagree that luck plays a major part in a person's success. While it is true that bad luck does befall a few, most of us make our own luck. You mention health, family, the economy as factors that change on a whim. I disagree. Your personal habits effect your health more than luck. Eat well, exercise, take reasonable precautions and your health will benefit. Family issues are often within your control. Divorce, alcoholism, drug addiction are all matters of choice, not luck. Live within your means and downturns in the economy are bumps in the road, not disasters of bad luck.
Successful people most often achieve that success through hard work, proper planning and making well thought out decisions. It is an insult to the millions upon millions of people who are financially successful to attribute that success to luck.

[TurnThePage]

shelbyfv wrote:
Congrats to OP and thanks for posting the happy ending! Regarding the smug snipes, it's not uncommon for those of us who have it relatively easy in retirement to attribute our condition to our own genius financial planning, self restraint, etc, etc. The fact is luck plays the major part in how this aspect of our lives turns out. More specifically, the absence of bad luck. Illness, derailed family, an economy that changes on the whim of others.... These things can bite anyone who was not lucky enough to have been born into affluence.

Well said! I doubt those that could benefit from your commentary will read or heed.

[shelbyfv]

Congrats to OP and thanks for posting the happy ending! Regarding the smug snipes, it's not uncommon for those of us who have it relatively easy in retirement to attribute our condition to our own genius financial planning, self restraint, etc, etc. The fact is luck plays the major part in how this aspect of our lives turns out. More specifically, the absence of bad luck. Illness, derailed family, an economy that changes on the whim of others.... These things can bite anyone who was not lucky enough to have been born into affluence.

[winnietrey]

CavemanCharlie wrote:

Old Days wrote:
I work with a lot of young guys in construction, and I keep telling them you only have so many years to save money for when you get old, work all the overtime you can. But most of them don't. Right now I only work part time because I enjoy it, but after 45 years of being a carpenter my body is beat up.

It is good advice to the young people to tell them to save up money. I don't think that they should work so many hours that they forget to live life when they are young though. Time only goes in one direction. Once it's gone, it's gone. You can't go back and do things over . (My how I wish that you could)

To the Original Poster, I'm glad you found a solution !!

X2,

[winnietrey]

Old Days wrote:
I work with a lot of young guys in construction, and I keep telling them you only have so many years to save money for when you get old, work all the overtime you can. But most of them don't. Right now I only work part time because I enjoy it, but after 45 years of being a carpenter my body is beat up.

I don't disagree, but the flip side is, you only have so many years with your kids, and limited amount of being young and wanting to go see and do.

Truth in my opinion is in the middle, spend some, save some, realize these times will not come again.

[CavemanCharlie]

Old Days wrote:
I work with a lot of young guys in construction, and I keep telling them you only have so many years to save money for when you get old, work all the overtime you can. But most of them don't. Right now I only work part time because I enjoy it, but after 45 years of being a carpenter my body is beat up.

It is good advice to the young people to tell them to save up money. I don't think that they should work so many hours that they forget to live life when they are young though. Time only goes in one direction. Once it's gone, it's gone. You can't go back and do things over . (My how I wish that you could)

To the Original Poster, I'm glad you found a solution !!

[BizmarksMom]

I'm glad you found a good solution! The housing prices here in the Boise area are getting crazy.

[Old_Days]

I work with a lot of young guys in construction, and I keep telling them you only have so many years to save money for when you get old, work all the overtime you can. But most of them don't. Right now I only work part time because I enjoy it, but after 45 years of being a carpenter my body is beat up.

[spoon059]

jesseannie wrote:
Come to think of it I think you were one of the curmudgeons from my first post. Thanks for being consistent.

The thing is Lwiddis you have no idea what put us in those circumstances it sure and the hell it wasn't something we planned on.

Jesseannie

Not to get on too much of a high horse, but "failing to plan is planning to fail". I think very few people that find themselves down on luck planned to be in that position.

I'm glad you find a way to deal with your issues and come out ahead. Unfortunately for most people, they fall on hard times and continue to struggle, for lack of better planning.

There is a difference between being a "curmudgeon" and being someone who encourages others to take a more definitive step towards preparing for the future.

[wa8yxm]

Regarding the naysayers.

Many. Myself included. Live full time in an RV by CHOICE.
And glad I am we made that choice.. (That story is longer than this post).

[jfkmk]

jesseannie wrote:

Lwiddis wrote:
“and some curmudgeons who said we should have planned for retirement better to those people spfffft.”

It’s not bad tempered (curmudgeons) for comments to your post to say “think of your shelter first” when planning for retirement. Many at retirement age don’t have the skills and/or physical ability to rehab an RV. You may have learned the skill but you were lucky to still have the physical ability. Neither is planning for retirement from an early age a strategy to be poo-pooed.

Come to think of it I think you were one of the curmudgeons from my first post. Thanks for being consistent.

The thing is Lwiddis you have no idea what put us in those circumstances it sure and the hell it wasn't something we planned on.

Jesseannie

Jesseannie, you’re right, some folks land on extremely hard times and due to circumstances beyond their control, have a tough life and retirement.

But Lwiddis is right too...lots of people spend, spend, spend, with no thought of the future. There IS no substitute for financial planning at an early age.

I’m glad you made the best of your situation and it worked out for you!

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

jesseannie wrote:


The thing is Lwiddis you have no idea what put us in those circumstances it sure and the hell it wasn't something we planned on.

Jesseannie

Being able to respond positively to adversity (in other words, doing whatever it takes to get by) is a "gift". Good for you, for making things work out well!

[jesseannie]

Lwiddis wrote:
“and some curmudgeons who said we should have planned for retirement better to those people spfffft.”

It’s not bad tempered (curmudgeons) for comments to your post to say “think of your shelter first” when planning for retirement. Many at retirement age don’t have the skills and/or physical ability to rehab an RV. You may have learned the skill but you were lucky to still have the physical ability. Neither is planning for retirement from an early age a strategy to be poo-pooed.

Come to think of it I think you were one of the curmudgeons from my first post. Thanks for being consistent.

The thing is Lwiddis you have no idea what put us in those circumstances it sure and the hell it wasn't something we planned on.

Jesseannie