Ever Think About Fulltiming?

An Unplanned Venture

We've been fulltiming for over seven years but did not plan this lifestyle—not at all. We retired and our "plan" was to sell our home of sixteen years and move into a condo. With a condo, we would not have the maintenance, yard, and "house" stuff that costs and keeps you busy plus we would get rid of the minutia, schedule, and structure that constantly tie you down when living in a house. This wasn't a financial decision (we didn't have to sell) but a lifestyle change. This was seven years ago so the economic situation was not a factor back then. All this was possible—we had a motorhome, wanted to travel, were retired, and the new condo would be our "home base." So, we put our house on the market.

It sold. The buyers wanted possession in three weeks—non-negotiable! We agreed, temporarily moved into our motorhome, put it in a local campground, packed/stored the sentimental "family" stuff while shedding an occasional tear, and turned our daughter and three grown grandkids loose on everything else (take anything from canned goods to furniture to pictures to tools). One two-day estate/yard/garage/junk sale, followed by Goodwill, and the dumpster solved everything else. Our house buyers took possession on time.

After three weeks of whirlwind packing/selling/moving, we were just worn out—physically (and mentally) drained. So, we rewarded ourselves with a motorhome trip (to Nashville) just to rest and before looking for that condo—after all, our lifestyle-change plans included travel—so off we went.

Seven years and two motorhomes later, we are still on that first trip! It worked for us. We still haven't looked at a condo! We love this lifestyle!

Living Out of Your Vehicle

In our RV seminars, we are asked when we will stop fulltiming. My consistent reply is that my last drive will be to the nursing home door where I will hand over the keys and they can help me inside!

I tell people that "fulltiming is never a permanent decision." While that seems unusual, consider this… at some point you have to stop fulltiming. You might die suddenly—unfortunate, but a possibility. It could be health reasons or family members (especially elderly parents) may require your frequent help. Fulltiming is a major decision but not a permanent, locked-in-forever decision. You will always stop at some point.

When/if you do make the decision to fulltime, your non-RV friends will, for the most part, think you are a little crazy, but will be a bit envious of your new lifestyle—it's likely your family will, too. Don't listen to any of them.

Your family and friends will also be thinking you are living out of some vehicle while you think you are living in a house. After all, you sit in your favorite chair, know what is in every drawer, sleep in your own bed, know when the bed linens were laundered, and what is in the fridge. Is that really any different from your house-bound friends? Of course not.

What is different is that you have the wonderful opportunity to wake up to whatever scenery you want—mountains, ocean, a desert, and whatever temperature or climate you want (within reason). For example, we don't do snow, period. We have also managed to avoid those Texas summers. Just remember: You are at home in your RV but your RV is not always at ‘home'.

Structure and Behavior

When you begin fulltiming, the lack of structure provides a freedom typically unknown to homeowners and certainly never experienced by most people. Fulltimers are not simply lost, meandering around, looking for something to do, or a place to settle down. Many discover they fall in love with the freedom of the unstructured lifestyle—possibly for the first time in their lives. The RV lifestyle provides that potential. It's a grand feeling and the freedom is wonderful.

Probably the most important characteristic for fulltiming with another person is that you get along—really well. Living in an RV, it's difficult not to be physically close to the other person at any given time. The joke is that if you burp, someone is always close enough to hear it.

Moving from a house into an RV—even a large RV—requires some change in daily behavior for everyone involved. For example, you just cannot create piles of stuff in the RV—there isn't that much floor space and the counter's surface area is extremely limited. Dirty laundry has to be put away someplace. There simply isn't room to drop it on the floor and walk around it—you will trip over it. You will have less of everything with you—clothing, food, tools, etc. That's good.

Living in this fashion is not hard and you certainly don't have to deprive yourself of anything. We live very well—equal to or better than we did in our house. Now we do this with less stuff than before and are having the time of our life.

A Change in Lifestyle

My book, "Fulltiming for New and Used RVers," is about how you approach the idea of fulltime RVing, research the information, estimate your costs, look at what you need and don't need, and how you accomplish those normal daily things even though you will be (mostly) mobile—i.e., with no fixed physical location. When you are ready to take the big step and actually fulltime, the book provides information to help you prevent mistakes during the transition and after you drive away.

Fulltiming is definitely a change in lifestyle but not a negative change—not at all. Yes, a number of things in your life will change—I think for the better. It's worth a try. After all, it's not a permanent, locked-in-forever decision. Just like our unplanned venture seven years ago, you don't know what you don't know.

Questions or comments? Contact Ron Jones at info@rvstuff.org. Visit his website at www.rvstuff.org for more information or to order one of his ‘must have' RV book titles.