It's all a big waste. House vs RV

[Fastfwd75]

I am in the process of getting the RV ready for a 2 month travel this summer. We are a family of 4 and currently live in a midsize house; nothing special. Average for the area.

The RV is 24' overall. 2 bunks, 1 queen bed and a single u-dinette; no sofa. Some storage under the bed and more in the 6,5' pickup bed.

It's really not that hard to bring everything we need for everyday life. Doing laundry at campgrounds will be somewhat inconvenient and not having high speed wifi daily. All the rest of the house and stuff is really just waste and luxury.

We can cook for 4 on a small portable grill. Should have got that with the foldable legs instead of the big grill we have at home. Now I have one huge extra grill with terrible resale value.
We can use the campground pools. Why maintain a pool at home for such little use?
So many chairs, sofas and areas around the house. Why have a whole bedroom just for sleeping?

We cannot fulltime with the family. Winter is coming 😉 and "mobile" home parks are not somewhere we want our kids to go to school near. We need separate space year round for cooking/working and to have the kids play inside during winter or rain. Still seems like a lot of waste.

[2oldman]

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[rainy029]

With the school thing... my youngest daughter is now 17 and just finished her Junior yr. For the last 3 school years she has begged me to let her do cyber school. The school district we live in is excellent. We live out in the county so we don't have the crime, drugs and gangs to deal with. I couldn't really see the point in her changing schools. She didn't have a problem with grades or making friends. Just the normal high school teenage girls drama. I made a deal with her last October. If she was still serious about cyber school come the 1st of the year (January of 2014)I would enroll her. But the minute her grades dropped or she was skipping classes back to the brick and mortar school she would go. She is enrolled at K12 Cyber School. She is doing so well in cyber school I let her enroll for her senior year. She has regular teachers, she doesn't understand something or forgets something, she just replays the taped classroom session. Her grades are actually higher than what they were at her old school. She even had the option of graduating early if she wanted to.
All I'm trying to say is, if you are seriously thinking about full-timing it. There are good options out there for schooling.

[moonlightrunner]

Yes, you can fulltime with kids and either homeschool them or live in a campground or mobile home park near the schools you want them to go to. My two goddaughters were homeschooled from 4th grade to graduation. In that time they lived in a popup in Chattanooga for 18 months. The pop-up was too small for 4 people + 2 pets but they did it. They also met lots of kids who were either homeschooled or went to public school. I was told Chattanooga accepts mobile residents so well that the school buses would pick up kids at the various campgrounds, including the county park!

[amandasgramma]

I've been helping my mother and step-father with pre-planning for a nursing/retirement home. Mom has 2nd stage alzheimers. I look at the money they have in savings and realize they have spent the last 20 yrs fixing up the home so it has "good resale value". New roof, new windows, new furnace, new flooring, new drapes The whole maryann. The money they have in savings might last a year if she goes into memory care -- maybe 1 1/2 yrs. All the traveling they could have enjoyed and they didn't do it. Realistically she will end up on Medicaid. She has long term care insurance but it will only pay out $3000 for 2 yrs, then he has to make pmts another 6 months and then it'll cover her another 2 yrs. $3000 is pennies in memory care units.

After the last jaunt to their house we got to thinking..... We can't leave our home for more than a week in the summer because of having to care for the place, we need to do maintenance even though we stay on top of it. We leave in the winter and worry about the house because of 40 below temps here. So.......why not travel, enjoy, sell the house, and then if we go to a retirement home, go on Medicaid faster???? After working in a nursing home, I know most homes do NOT tell the staff who is on medicaid or who is private pay. Maybe I'd get better treatment, who really knows......but if I get alzheimers, I won't really know.

This thinking may not set with some of you ---- but regardless, we're getting rid of "stuff" and going to put the house on the market next spring. The plus on this is we'll be able to stay in the town where my folks live for about $300. a month......yeah a win-win. Right now, the gas to get over there for all the trips we need to make will cost us that much!!!!!!

[uintafly]

I think it is kind of a North American thing to some extent. We have all of this space so we use it! The wife and I spent a couple weeks last year in Europe and skipped the hotel and just rented little apartments. At first it was kind of like, "holy crap, this is small", but after a few nights you get used to it.

[Fastfwd75]

the bear II wrote:
Although fulltiming with a family in a 24 foot RV is doable...it would be a lot more convenient for everyone in a larger RV. I would say at least 32 feet.

The plan was never to fulltime. Wife and kids were going to spend the summer camping coming back home weekly. We were going to take 3 weeks together and maybe go to Disney World and road trip on the east coast. 24' is convenient because we can park it at the house.

Job is gone at the end of June so we are doing the whole summer off as a family and going for Moab and the West coast.

I can change my mind many times in the next 2 decades but if I don't I will sell the house at retirement and buy a small class A and travel forever.

[the_bear_II]

Although fulltiming with a family in a 24 foot RV is doable...it would be a lot more convenient for everyone in a larger RV. I would say at least 32 feet.

There are some new models with a double bedroom or bunkroom in the rear with a 1/2 bath for the kids and a master bedroom/bathroom for the parents in the front.

Like others have said there are many families on the road...what a great adventure for the kids to see geography, history, science, biology and other education in living color.

[Dog_Folks]

You cannot full time YET, with kids, but your day will come.

I agree with you 100%. We looked at our living room, which was bigger than our entire RV, and asked: "What do we use it for?" The answer:"To walk through on the way from the kitchen to the bedroom." We never used it.

Further, 67% of our total income, went towards the house including mortgage,taxes and maintenance. For what? To have a nice place to sleep at night, after working 12 hours?

That was when we sold it and went full tine in a 340 Square foot camper. NO regrets.

[donn0128]

Ever heard of home schooling? There are many full timers working and living in their RV. Hubby works, DW home schools the kids. Seems to work for them.

[downtheroad]

I have come to realize that most of the stuff we own....owns us.

I spend half my time maintaining all our possessions. Example: Six or seven (lost count) possessions with internal combustion engines for just 2 people..really?