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AARON3 · 10-18-2017, 04:52 PM

We started full time in a 2009 winnebago outlook class C this year. Been on the road for three months and love it. Both on S.S. and a very small pension. But it works and we can travel anywhere. Boondocking is fun but not running the generator and being in a park is also fun as long as we don't stay to long. Its all better then renting a house and paying the huge bills that go with it. And the view out the windows can be amazing some times. Winter is coming on lately and its 89 degrees in Arizona, awesome. Last winter it got down to 31 degrees in northern Calif. Not this time this time it's going to be a warm winter. Heck we have even been swimming lately. Our rv payment is about 500 a month. Our rent payment was 1,200 a month. We got this.

bigdaddychic · 10-18-2017, 05:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AARON3

We started full time in a 2009 winnebago outlook class C this year. Been on the road for three months and love it. Both on S.S. and a very small pension. But it works and we can travel anywhere. Boondocking is fun but not running the generator and being in a park is also fun as long as we don't stay to long. Its all better then renting a house and paying the huge bills that go with it. And the view out the windows can be amazing some times. Winter is coming on lately and its 89 degrees in Arizona, awesome. Last winter it got down to 31 degrees in northern Calif. Not this time this time it's going to be a warm winter. Heck we have even been swimming lately. Our rv payment is about 500 a month. Our rent payment was 1,200 a month. We got this.

Good for you!! That will be me in a few years !

mikeypj · 10-19-2017, 12:44 PM

Following this and you all are inspiring. I am waiting on the government (collective groan) before i can get in my rig and ride away into the sunset. Life is way to short not to be free and happy.
Safe Travels to you all!

Kenvb · 11-19-2017, 08:04 PM

this is the wifes plan too.just not sure we can let go of all our crappolla.? we had savings for our retirement,(Had) lost 50K is bad investment . now starting over. I'm on Canada pension of $240 month plus work part time in oil field after my shop of 35 yrs burned down 4 yrs ago. min Insurance too?
anyway the wifes 65 now and approved for the BIG Pension of $1250 month. once I get that..we plan on selling our home and try full timing in the Motorhome. will have lot of equaty in it, hope to buy into piece of land with son and build a covered pad for the summer and a garage to keep our chit in..thats the plan anyway. wife likes to travel across Canada..Doesn't want to go south till Moms gone. might sell the 92 Diesal pusher and find a smaller newer one.kind of scared about dealer support.and tow bills.

mikeypj · 11-23-2017, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kenvb

this is the wifes plan too.just not sure we can let go of all our crappolla.? we had savings for our retirement,(Had) lost 50K is bad investment . now starting over. I'm on Canada pension of $240 month plus work part time in oil field after my shop of 35 yrs burned down 4 yrs ago. min Insurance too?
anyway the wifes 65 now and approved for the BIG Pension of $1250 month. once I get that..we plan on selling our home and try full timing in the Motorhome. will have lot of equaty in it, hope to buy into piece of land with son and build a covered pad for the summer and a garage to keep our chit in..thats the plan anyway. wife likes to travel across Canada..Doesn't want to go south till Moms gone. might sell the 92 Diesal pusher and find a smaller newer one.kind of scared about dealer support.and tow bills.

I lost all my retirement in the crash of 2007-2009. Then i got hurt..waiting for my pay right now. Ive found rigs and im just praying they dont sell..i want it! Ive never been much if a pack rat..my GF is have some difficulties letting go of things. Our minimization is under way now with FT date of AUG 1st 2018

bigdaddychic · 11-24-2017, 09:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by halfwright

My wife and I have been fulltime for over 2 years with just social security($1850 after medicare and insurance). We volunteer or work for site a lot, just slightly over half the time. When we travel, we use Passport America or state and county parks. There are also towns that have campgrounds for cheap. Some of the VFW, Moose and Eagles have campgrounds or will let you stay overnight in the lot. We boondock a lot. Not that I have anything against it, but we have only stayed at a Wal-Mart for 5 nights total. Three of them was because of an unplanned trip to Illinois and 2 because of closed roads. I would not change a thing. We have seen and done things we have only dreamed about. We just finished 3 months volunteering 12 miles from the US capitoll building and got to see Washington DC a LOT. We are now volunteering at a Corps of Engineers dam in West Virginia for 6 more weeks. Then, 2 months off and then a work for site position in the Rio Grande Valley (Harlingen TX) for 5 months. Then, a month off and 4 months in Colorado at Steamboat Lake. My ultimate plan is to find a volunteer or work for site job in Arizona for the winter and I know I have one in Colorado for the summer. We have not touched our savings since we started and still have about the same amount in our checking acciount. That varies friom month to month, depending on travel expences. So, I guess we are living proof that you can fulltime on just social security and still have a h---- of a good time.

Halfright good for you. Just proves you can do anything in this world ! With today’s young people who don’t have a work ethnic in them ( don’t get me wrong some do ) there are plenty of jobs out there to take on your are a perfect example of that! Wife and I plan going on the road f/t in next 6-7 years with an income of about 2200 a month . Good to you !!!
Alan

beamisl · 11-28-2017, 04:03 PM

This has been an interesting thread to read as I will be retiring on January 4, 2018 and plan to travel quite a bit with our rig. We will leave MI on January 10th and head to Florida for 3 months. Staying at a RV park down there where some friends are at. Really looking forward to being out of the MI cold for a change.

We will both be on SS at the time and have wondered how much it would take to live in the rig and maintain the house still. We will find out soon. Not sure if we will sell the house or not but plan to spend some time seeing this great country of ours.

I have checked out WorkamperNews.com and there are a lot of jobs posted there as well as the work camper jobs at many campgrounds. Heard about the State Parks being woefully under funded and needing help and not sure how much we will do or not. I plan to take the first 2 years and just enjoy not working.

I think when people live within their means they can do this. I know of people who live on only one SS check and seem to do fine. This is a dream for many to travel in a rig and I am glad for all those who have done it and those who plan to.

Best of Luck to each of you, Lynne

mikeypj · 11-30-2017, 06:29 PM

My DW and i are looking for "the one" lol. We will be FT in less than 1 year. I am getting $1400 a month from ssdi. We are willing to work for a few weeks to a month for a little extra cash. But plan is boondock 20-24 days a month. With budgeting we should be able to live comfortably and maybe put some back into the rainy day fund. All i know is life is short. Why spend it being miserable. I spent most of my working life working my butt off and hating my life. May all your travels be safe and breathtaking.

beamisl · 12-01-2017, 05:18 PM

mikeypj,

Check out PPL Motorhomes out of Texas for rigs. Sometimes it is worth the trip for the deals you can find there. This is a consignment place so all are used RVs.

Camp hosting totally pays for your monthly fee and would keep from the need to boondock unless that is what you really want to do.

Amazon has three warehouses and two of them are in warmer climates. They have put CGs (campgrounds) in to attract the people who live in RVs. Older people with good work ethics. You can work from September till December 23rd and make $11, an hour and if you stay until December 23rd, you get a $1. bonus for every hour you work. You also get free camping while doing the job.

There are jobs all over like this that you can earn enough to pay for your gas and CG rent for the whole year.

Best of luck, Lynne

Dmrad · 01-15-2018, 06:14 PM

Our full timing story: For years we've been planning on full timing when we retired. The plan was to retire in the spring of 2018. By then our truck would be paid off and we figured we'd have our travel trailer paid off by then too. Yes, we are one of the few who chose to full time in a TT instead of a 5er or MH. (we've got a 30 ft. Heartland North Trail Calibur Edition)

Well don't they say all well laid plans go astray? LOL Feb. of 2017 we went on vacation down to Mexico. All during our vaca we kept saying, Man we can't wait until we retire. We must of said it 1000 times. Came home and the real estate market was so hot we had realtors calling our land line wanting to know if we'd be interested in selling our home as they had buyers. At first we brushed them off. Then we got to thinking, it wouldn't hurt to see how much our home had increased in value. (We had built our home in the middle of the housing bust back in 2010.) So we made a few appts. with realtors to come out and see what they thought. We were flabbergasted to say the least. The amount they told us we'd probably get for our home was a good $100,000 more than what we'd thought we'd get. All 3 realtors we spoke to said they had buyers waiting to move to our small town (in Colorado). Knowing that a housing bust can happen at any time and the housing surge may or may not last until spring of 2018, it didn't take us long to decide to retire a year early. So we had an estate sale (hired a company to do it as we were still working), the house sold for full asking price before the realtor even got it officially on the market.

We retired June 2nd and hit the road June 3rd and never looked back. We've got a 30 foot Heartland that has not given us any trouble. We've talked about upgrading but we truly are happy in our little camper. We've traveled all around Colorado, up to Tetons, down into southern Utah's National parks, further down south to Sedona and then came across the southern USA. We spent the month of October close to Asheville, NC for the fall colors, then drove down and spend most of November in Charleston. December in Ft. Myers and Homestead. Right now we're in the Florida Keys for 6 weeks. We've seen people living in everything from a truck camper to the mega motor homes and everyone seems happy.

Traveling full time is everything we'd thought it would be and couldn't be happier.

As far as budget goes, we're doing okay. My husband has SS, we both have pensions and 401ks to draw from. He also gets a check quarterly from his Indian tribe. We're debt free. We're keeping the money from the sale of our house to buy another one when or if we decide to settle down. We've only boondocked a couple of times out west. We do like the comforts of being in a campground or RV resort and it fits within our budget.

At the beginning we agreed when one of us gets tired of life on the road we will settle down. Don't know exactly when that will be. But for right now.....life is good.

jbooks · 01-28-2018, 07:55 AM

We have been full time for over 2 years and I'm not able to receive SS until next year. Been work camping and gate guards and we are doing fine. We are both frugal and watch what we buy. Depending on your lifestyle you can live on very little. Now as soon as I start receiving that "big" check we can really live!!

mikeypj · 01-30-2018, 04:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikeypj

My DW and i are looking for "the one" lol. We will be FT in less than 1 year. I am getting $1400 a month from ssdi. We are willing to work for a few weeks to a month for a little extra cash. But plan is boondock 20-24 days a month. With budgeting we should be able to live comfortably and maybe put some back into the rainy day fund. All i know is life is short. Why spend it being miserable. I spent most of my working life working my butt off and hating my life. May all your travels be safe and breathtaking.

It now seems i will be getting $1600 a month now..wooo hhoooooo

mikeypj · 01-30-2018, 04:48 AM

We will be changing states so we can establish a permanent residency. So here is my question, will i still be recieving Medicaid until medicare kicks in? And what kinds of insurance thats affordable (bwahahahahaha) for my DW?

mikeypj · 04-03-2018, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bjcarpetguy

I Hear from a lot of people about you must have x amount per month to get by.
I get just over 1650.00/month for the wife and myself.
We have an older MH. Yeah I would love to have a new truck and 5v'r. But injury and job loss took care of that dream.

We travel mostly the western states, Fortunately I am able to do a lot of the maintenance. If a major break down occurs, we will figure something out, be it holding up somewhere till we can fix it or get something else.

I do have some safe guards. Road side, good insurance, some spare parts, a lot of tools, and a good skill set.
Just couldn't do this kind of work for any length of time. Wife could work for a short time to help out if needed.

Do have some family that could help.

With that being said, I could not imagine sitting in an apartment with little to do just to exist. The way I see it is you get one go around and its a pretty short ride and we never no when it is going to stop.

You and i are about in the same situation. We going FT this fall and my SS is $1600 a month. It will be tight, but im confident it will work..