How many sold it all for full-time?

[bayou316]

Ok..as the day draws nearer, I need to ask a question. How many of you sold it all to go full-time RV'ing?

When we do, we will have no home to return to. Our church is putting in a beautiful huge 4" concrete slab on church property. They are going to run the electric hook-up, sewer, water and allow us to use the trash pick-up service for the church. In other words, no utility bills for when we come home or rent.

No cost for any of this.

What do you think? Good plan?

This question is for the ladies or maybe the men. On the Limited 2011 pdf file (Excel's website) the wife is having a hard time choosing color schemes. She went with the crimson couch and the leather valances.

Any other color schemes we are forgetting?

[KU9L]

We still have a 10x20 storage unit in Clinton, IA (near family) that we store our 6x10 utility trailer, some furniture (waiting for our son to buy a house some day), and numerous family treasures we can't seem to get rid of. We took the opportunity of 2+ moves previous to going full-time RVing to downsize, downsize, downsize. I don't think it would have been possible for us to have done it cold turkey initially after living in one of our homes for 13+ years as one becomes quite the pack rat. We made it a six year goal to downsize and our goal became more clear over time as we tried to make more rational decisions to avoid getting rid of things at 5-10 cents on the dollar at the last minute. We kept some of the high value items that we wanted to pass down to our son that we knew would hold up well in storage for a few years.

We now have a 50-amp RV pad on our family farm with full hook-ups. Full hookups is important so one doesn't have to haul water or run a honey wagon for parking more than a few days at a time. I wish more places had opportunities for parking short term like your church idea, makes it nice for visiting friends and family. The problem with this setup is that it can be abused or vandalized by many situations which is why we are seeing more dump stations closed at rest stops or some Wal-Marts not allowing overnight parking, etc.

Regardless of where you choose to park with overnight hookups, remember that the electricity that you use or the sewage that you dump into the sewer system IS costing someone something. We used 450 KWh of electricity for 60 days of parking on our family farm and my brother was more than happy to make sure I did a work-trade for the power we consumed!

Dave

[rockintom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bayou316 Ok..as the day draws nearer, I need to ask a question. How many of you sold it all to go full-time RV'ing? When we do, we will have no home to return to. Our church is putting in a beautiful huge 4" concrete slab on church property. They are going to run the electric hook-up, sewer, water and allow us to use the trash pick-up service for the church. In other words, no utility bills for when we come home or rent. No cost for any of this. What do you think? Good plan? This question is for the ladies or maybe the men. On the Limited 2011 pdf file (Excel's website) the wife is having a hard time choosing color schemes. She went with the crimson couch and the leather valances. Any other color schemes we are forgetting?

We sold it ALL and have been FTing for 5.5 years. Love it. Sold my $45,000 worth of mechanics tools and Donna donated about 375-400 books. We had a professional 4 day major estate sale, etc. Family history went to my brother. Tax papers to my sister, and no storage. Scan what pix we wanted and threw the rest away. Gotta safety box with my sister in charge. Several folks we talked to that have done it for a while share that a storage is just a waste of money, by the sixth year after downsizing each year everything is gone.

If I can give you very important piece of advice. If your traveling with someone else, make sure you are they are on the same page about what FTing life is all about. If one or the other doesn't want to do it.....you are in big trouble. That is a recipe for disaster. Rigs break down and need constant repair and maintenance and that is part of it. If your partner isn't so hip on FTing that is always a bone of contention!!! Have fun, for us it has been a dream come true!!! We're slowing a bit and enjoying our GD and family more and that's OK. We've done 47 states (in the rig) and 3 proviences in Canada. Lots of neat sites. We usually take a weeks vacation every year and do a cruise to get a break from this stressful lifestyle!!!! I bet we've seen and done more than most have in their entire life!!! We are truly Blessed!!! rockin'

[JMonroe]

We're working on it. The house goes up for sale next year. Everything else will be sold or given away. The only thing I'm having a hard time with is my convertable ('99 Camaro SS that I bought new, has less than 18k miles on it). I'd like to keep it, but not sure how or where. In the end, I'll probably end up selling it.

There are a few family heirlooms that will find new homes, everything else goes. I see no value to paying to store something we don't expect (or hope not) to need for a couple decades, if ever again. Should circumstances of poor health or poverty demand a change back to a stick and brick, we should have enough value, between our small piece of real estate, and the residual value of the RV, to set up house keeping again - God forbid!

[Norm4015]

We had a custom built three story house, two sports cars, a family sedan and a van. We sold it all including the furniture. We told our five kids to take what they wanted and were surprised they took very little. What we thought was treasure, they thought was junk, so no need to pay for storage when nobody wanted it.

We recently built a new house and moved in after ten years and one month of fulltiming, but we still spend more time traveling than in the house. The best decision we made (other than retiring at 54 & 49) was getting rid of everything. No telling what it would cost to store furniture over ten years and then pay to have it hauled across the country. And that old furniture would not look good in our new southern home.

[RickO]

After 2 years of half timing we sold our home (fully furnished) and have been full timing for about 14 months now and love it. We have a 10x10 storage unit which I think is mostly for emotional support as we really transition to "no roots".

Rick

[1ciderdog]

In 1982 we sold our house and everything we could and moved onto a sailboat. 14 years later we sold the boat and moved back ashore. We had to buy all new furniture & replace many hand and shop tools I had sold. If we had maintained a house during the same period of time probably the furniture would have been replaced as time went by so I didn't look at that as a terrible expense. We'd do it all over again if we could. The only suggestion I have would be to look at the items that may have personal value (or not be replaceable) and store those in long term storage. Do it and enjoy it.

[gdbontly]

We're working on it as well. Whatever we don't take with us will be sold or given away . . . EVERYTHING! Hope to put the house on the market next spring (2011). We are both tired of buying stuff we think we need, only to find out later that we already had it! We have so much "stuff", we can't even find half of it. Most of it we don't even use. We are tired of the constant maintence on multible vehicles and toys, also not often used, not to mention maintaining insurance on the same. The constant maintenance of the S&B house and associated property. Most of all, we are SICK of being abuse at our jobs because the bosses keep telling us that "in this economy, you should be happy to HAVE a job". Well you know what, once we get rid of all the stuff (including the house, which used to be called the American Dream, but I now consider the American Nightmare), we won't NEED your "job". Jan & I are both very much on the "same sheet of music" regarding our plans and it is extremely stressful waiting so long for it to happen. Whew, can you tell that we are very passionate about this?

[MakinSmoke]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Norm4015 We had a custom built three story house, two ......cars, a family sedan and ......(pu truck). We sold it all including the furniture. We told our ........(3) kids to take what they wanted and were surprised they took very little. What we thought was treasure, they thought was junk, so no need to pay for storage when nobody wanted it. ...................

With a few modifications, we would have the same story. Been fulltiming for about 4 years and have been homeless for over 2 now. Now we have a winter place to park which overcomes the lack of community we felt for the first 3 years. We still love it!

[bayou316]

Sounds like we are doing the right thing. Thanks for all the input. At least we will have some sort of a "home-base" to come back to during the holidays.

Thanks again.

[Endeavor2BnC]

We are now in our third year. We've either sold, gave away, donated or stored what we had in our 3,600 sq ft home. I couldn't believe the amount of "STUFF" that we accumulated that was NOT going to come with us. It just wouldn't fit in 388 sq ft of new living space.

We have a storage shed that we share with our daughter. We go back to it to get photos to scan and then get rid of, replenish some supplies that we need replenishing, and most of all go through and continue to get rid off.

We have elected to keep art work, and other things that are momentos of our travels through out our lives that will become reminders of our memories, as our memory fades, WHEN we decide that we need that stationary living space located somewhere in the U.S.

We have been unable to sell our S&B. We had it on the market for 18 mos w/o success. We're very fortunate to have found a management company that has it leased for us to excellent renters. They actually take as good and in some areas better care of it than we did. Our intent is to try and sell it again when the lease is up. If no luck then, we'll lease it again.

We take a periodic "vacation" from living in the rig, using our time share, and visit other countries. Being retired military, we have many perks. One is being able to fly stand-by to just about anywhere in the world and we use it whenever we can.

We love the FT lifestyle. We have met many people, some who have become very good life time friends. We have had the opportunity to see things and places that we probably never would have had we not been FT'ers. We have been greatly blest in our life and we now try to share our experiences to help others.

Have a great time. Laugh each day, embrace each moment of adversity and know that you'll be stronger and wiser at the end of the day. Stop each day and look at the world where you have chosen to put your jacks on the ground for it is a very special place. Look for the gifts you'll receive that day and most of all remember to say "thank you" for the ability to do what most people only dream of doing. You ARE blest. Enojoy it.

[bayou316]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Endeavor2BnC We are now in our third year. We've either sold, gave away, donated or stored what we had in our 3,600 sq ft home. I couldn't believe the amount of "STUFF" that we accumulated that was NOT going to come with us. It just wouldn't fit in 388 sq ft of new living space. We have a storage shed that we share with our daughter. We go back to it to get photos to scan and then get rid of, replenish some supplies that we need replenishing, and most of all go through and continue to get rid off. We have elected to keep art work, and other things that are momentos of our travels through out our lives that will become reminders of our memories, as our memory fades, WHEN we decide that we need that stationary living space located somewhere in the U.S. We have been unable to sell our S&B. We had it on the market for 18 mos w/o success. We're very fortunate to have found a management company that has it leased for us to excellent renters. They actually take as good and in some areas better care of it than we did. Our intent is to try and sell it again when the lease is up. If no luck then, we'll lease it again. We take a periodic "vacation" from living in the rig, using our time share, and visit other countries. Being retired military, we have many perks. One is being able to fly stand-by to just about anywhere in the world and we use it whenever we can. We love the FT lifestyle. We have met many people, some who have become very good life time friends. We have had the opportunity to see things and places that we probably never would have had we not been FT'ers. We have been greatly blest in our life and we now try to share our experiences to help others. Have a great time. Laugh each day, embrace each moment of adversity and know that you'll be stronger and wiser at the end of the day. Stop each day and look at the world where you have chosen to put your jacks on the ground for it is a very special place. Look for the gifts you'll receive that day and most of all remember to say "thank you" for the ability to do what most people only dream of doing. You ARE blest. Enojoy it.

Very good advice. Thank you. I am retired military also and understand the catching the "hop's". I am also retired federal civil service.

I think having at least the full-hook up at our church anytime we need it for a trip home is fantastic.

Hope to see you guys on the road.

Thanks again.

[rockintom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Endeavor2BnC We are now in our third year. We've either sold, gave away, donated or stored what we had in our 3,600 sq ft home. I couldn't believe the amount of "STUFF" that we accumulated that was NOT going to come with us. It just wouldn't fit in 388 sq ft of new living space. We have a storage shed that we share with our daughter. We go back to it to get photos to scan and then get rid of, replenish some supplies that we need replenishing, and most of all go through and continue to get rid off. We have elected to keep art work, and other things that are momentos of our travels through out our lives that will become reminders of our memories, as our memory fades, WHEN we decide that we need that stationary living space located somewhere in the U.S. We have been unable to sell our S&B. We had it on the market for 18 mos w/o success. We're very fortunate to have found a management company that has it leased for us to excellent renters. They actually take as good and in some areas better care of it than we did. Our intent is to try and sell it again when the lease is up. If no luck then, we'll lease it again. We take a periodic "vacation" from living in the rig, using our time share, and visit other countries. Being retired military, we have many perks. One is being able to fly stand-by to just about anywhere in the world and we use it whenever we can. We love the FT lifestyle. We have met many people, some who have become very good life time friends. We have had the opportunity to see things and places that we probably never would have had we not been FT'ers. We have been greatly blest in our life and we now try to share our experiences to help others. Have a great time. Laugh each day, embrace each moment of adversity and know that you'll be stronger and wiser at the end of the day. Stop each day and look at the world where you have chosen to put your jacks on the ground for it is a very special place. Look for the gifts you'll receive that day and most of all remember to say "thank you" for the ability to do what most people only dream of doing. You ARE blest. Enojoy it.

Stated perfectly, 99%. You are smooth, buddy! rockin'

[MakinSmoke]

RockheadTommie calling 99%er "smooth" is like me calling myself a fiver mechanic.