6 things I wish I knew before selling everything to RV fulltime
Let me tell you, quickly, about how we kicked off our journey. The white picket fence dream didn’t work for our family. We craved adventure, more vacations, less 12 hour days of work to maintain a certain lifestyle.
I was watching youtube and came across RVers traveling fulltime, dove into the details and then convinced Joseph to sell it all and travel full time in an RV. Honestly, we had never even staying in an RV before selling it all to travel. Once the house sold, we had to find a truck and RV to move into and begin our next chapter.
So… there were a few things that took us by surprise when we launched.
The shaking in the RV. No matter what you do, you just have accept the fact that your RV will always shake! We have stabilizers , tripod and try to keep the RV low to the ground. It’s a mobile unit so the shaking NEVER goes away. Honestly, I only notice it when laundry is going or something “crazy” is happening.
Amps matter, more than what I expected. I quickly learned how many things I can run at once. I’m not talking about the lights, fans or phone chargers. I’m talking about the instapot, ac units, blenders, heaters, dehumidifier and such. Our limit is 3 main things. I get to pick 3 of those that I listed when on 50 amp. When downsized to 30 amps we can run 2 of those things. It’s a whole ordeal. Most who say they can run anything they want don’t have 3 kids and a 42 foot fifthwheel.
Command hooks /3M strips are your best friend! It’s how I hang everything in my RV, including my curtain rods!
Staying in hot climates during winter means that I have to break out my reflectix. If you haven’t seen it before then it’s like bubble wrap with aluminum foil on each side. I put them in our windows to insulate and heat out of our rig.
These rv’s are MONEY pits! Just this week we’ve had to replace the entire electrical system ($500), the sink ($150), the electric cord that we had just bought 5 days ago ($150 ish) and a fan ($40). That’s one week! In the past we’ve had 2 black tanks drop, our kitchen slide floor needs replaced from the outside… the list goes on and on without including the 30K we’ve spent in truck repairs. This lifestyle is not cheap! Those who tell you that it is must be in one spot without traveling or are lucky ducky’s!
Finally, it’s not just crazy people traveling!! A lot of the people at the campgrounds who are traveling fulltime are military vets, creatives and just people who appreciate the simple things in life. Fulltime rver’s are just like our friends in big houses but have more free time on their hands and get a different backyard every few weeks!