Planning to be a full timer

[RV is for me]

Hi, 59 year old guy here, been a lurker for 15+ years, my wife and I are contemplating retiring and doing 2-3 years full time in an RV.

I'm searching for information everywhere, and watching videos of people doing it. I'm a spreadsheet kinda guy, so I'm putting a potential budget together to see if this is feasible and what it will take.

I own my house in San Diego and plan to rent it out. I am not sure what to do with everything I own. I don't want to put it into storage due to theft worries. I guess I will need to sell everything, but have a hard time with things like my first guitar and my extensive tools.

I'm a handy guy, so I can take care of all the basic RV maintenance up to pulling the engine out on the road. I have read how engine failure has ended some people's fun, I plan on getting something <5 years old and having a warranty or insurance against catastrophic failures.

The bigger questions are what to do with my current stuff, and financially what it will cost. Those of you in my shoes probably remember how daunting this is when you're still contemplating it.

My wife and I boondock a lot. We like to go camping in the local deserts and are very familiar with making things such as water and batteries last. My bigger fears are having things stolen, or having major RV issues such as blown tires or a bad transmission. I realize these things happen and I cant control everything.

I believe we will be looking for a class A that has a washer/dryer, Gas engine (because I can work on them but have zero diesel experience), and a king sized bed. We will tow a small 4x4 to do some exploring and get into towns. Haven't decided on a size, but would like a nice big TV and lounge type area.

I would imagine we'd like to stay in places for 2 weeks or longer at a time. We have a list of spots all over the US we want to see. I want to be able to occasionally stop in a really nice spot (more expensive) but will mostly stay in the more reasonable areas or just boondock it. We're not huge nature people, but we do like riding our tandem bike and exploring new places. Want to meet the locals and uncover the hidden treasures of these new places. Like the idea of going somewhere and staying as long as we like and being able to leave when we're done with a place. Don't want to be at campgrounds in a sea of back to back RVs, we prefer to have very few neighbors.

Its really interesting listening to what people went through, and how they coped with it. I'm a very methodical person, I will need a game plan and a budget so I can make sure we stay within bounds.

So for now, I'd love to hear what you did when you were getting ready, and what you did with the very personal stuff. Also like to hear from what I said if you think this is not right for me.

Thanks!

[Old-Biscuit]

We notified family of our plans and told them ...name and get it
We also told dear close friends the same thing

Then we decided on:
What we needed
What we wanted
What we might need
What we thought we needed

those things were set aside...then we had an Estate Auction and SOLD EVERYTHING ELSE.........DONE

Ist 6 months on the road we realized:
What we needed== didn't really need all of it ---- basics works
What we wanted== just stuff we were carrying around taking up space
What we might need == just more stuff
What we thought we needed == hadn't used it/didn't need it

We FTd for 7 yrs
Went to CAT Scales and got weights
Then did it every year so we knew if we were 'gaining weight'

We traveled secondary/backroads spending a week/2 weeks in and area then move 250 miles and repeat
Mondays was travel day....depart by 10AM and set up by 3PM
Tuesday -- Friday out exploring/adventuring
Sat.....Laundry/Maintenance
Sun...RELAX & plan next move

Engage with Locals and found out the hidden gems in area and WHAT NOT to waste time on

Motto:
More is Less
1 bag IN = 2 bags OUT
If haven't used it/seen it in 6 months----not needed

[twogypsies]

I agree with how Old Biscuit above did it.

We made our decision to full-time in May and sold everything and took off for good in August. Never looked back.

We had no intentions of living in a big house when older so didn't make sense to keep it. I'd never rent it out. Too many headaches. As it turned out after traveling the country we settled down in an altogether different state. Also, our kids didn't stay in one place so no use trying to live where they were.

Budgeting just depends on you - where you stay, what bills you have, etc. People can do it comfortably on $30,000/yr and many do it with much less. Others need $50,000 and up.

We also volunteered a couple stints a year in national and state parks. This gave us free camping but that's not why we did it. We loved it!

If you're only planning on 2-3 years of travel you will be driving a lot so fuel may be a big cost.

We didn't have any major repairs - just regular maintenance.

[TechWriter]

Originally Posted by RV is for me

Hi, 59 year old guy here, been a lurker for 15+ years, my wife and I are contemplating retiring and doing 2-3 years full time in an RV.

Since you're not eligible for Medicare, what will you be doing for health insurance?

[Trapper2022]

What Old-Biscuit said. X2

My only regret is the size of the rig we used. ( 45’ DP ) You think you need this large rig to bring along all this stuff you never use. Now part timing comfortably in 32’ class C. If you know it’s only for a few years, save some money and go smaller. As to budget you will find you spend what you have available. Just like when you started your working life you make it work with what you are earning. You get a raise and you spend most of it. Just set a number per year and you will make it work. To lower your cost stay longer in your locations and enjoy life.

Safe travels
Enjoy the journey

[KenZ71]

I hate moving stuff. So I would say leave everything in the house, go out for a few months then decide if you want to purge, store or keep it.

[hilgert]

We have been full timers since 2018...going into our fifth year. We first owned a travel trailer (mostly local camping), then a very nice Class C (traveled all over the US) and now are full-timing in our current diesel Class A.

We did something similar to what you did. Our approach was to cut the umbilical cord and sell the house, and move into an apartment prior to going full time. We intended to go full time in 12 months, but ended up doing it after 6 months (happened to find the coach we wanted one day). Note that we had been traveling quite a bit in the prior Class C on longer and longer trips.

The below list of thoughts is long, but I just had this discussion over the weekend with a friend who is going full time, so it's fresh in my mind.

Originally Posted by Old-Biscuit

...
Ist 6 months on the road we realized:
What we needed== didn't really need all of it ---- basics works
What we wanted== just stuff we were carrying around taking up space
What we might need == just more stuff
What we thought we needed == hadn't used it/didn't need it
...
Motto:
More is Less
1 bag IN = 2 bags OUT
If haven't used it/seen it in 6 months----not needed
...

Exactly...Americans are packrats (we were among the worst).

We have no external storage other than in the motorhome, the covered bed of the F150 towed vehicle (my "garage"), and some small storage on our permanent spot in Florida (beach stuff that we do not travel with). We initially moved from a large house to a 1100 sqft apartment, so that was the "big discarding" of stuff, with the idea to eventually motorhome full time. Moving from there to the motorhome was easy...moved everything except the furniture.

Perhaps rent out the house (or sell it if the market is hot), find an apartment and force yourself to get rid of stuff until you can squeeze into the apartment. Then when you find your "dream motorhome" the final move is less difficult (and less emotional). I would not keep furniture or anything else that requires some kind of paid storage...if you are storing it, you probably don't really need it. Buy new furniture when/if you decide to stop full timing (it will smell better too). Your kids probably don't want your old furniture anyway (ours did not want much).

You say you can do maintenance...that is the same as myself. When we moved to the apartment I kept some key tools, but gave the rest away to neighbors and friends. I change my own oil in the main engine (6 GALLONS of diesel oil!!!) and generator (can do the generator in 15 minutes, engine in 60 minutes and 90 minutes with fuel filters), air filters and other maintenance. I keep spare filters and enough replacement oil onboard to do multiple generator oil changes (for boon docking) and one main engine oil change mid-trip if needed. I also periodically lubricate the chassis/jacks myself. Gas or diesel, you can do the same...things are just bigger and messier with diesel.

Originally Posted by RV is for me

...
I believe we will be looking for a class A that has a washer/dryer, Gas engine (because I can work on them but have zero diesel experience), and a king sized bed. We will tow a small 4x4 to do some exploring and get into towns. Haven't decided on a size, but would like a nice big TV and lounge type area.
...

Many gas motorhomes may not have sufficient CCC (cargo carrying capacity) for full timers. CCC is you, spouse/other, kids, Mr. Dog, Ms. Kitty, clothes and wife's large shoe collection(!!!), fresh water, tools, old pictures, food and the weight anything else that was not onboard the motorhome when it rolled off the production line. CCC is GVWR (max vehicle weight when loaded to max capacity) minus it's empty weight (weight of coach at production, with a full tank of fuel), and gas coaches tend to suffer in this area. Since you may boon dock, note that water weighs 8.34 lbs/gallon...so 100 gallons of water gets close to 1/2 ton!!!

Towing a vehicle. Look at GCWR (combined GVWR plus max towed weight) and hitch receiver capacity (you will likely want at least 7500 lbs towing capacity to get some margin). Diesel coaches (Class A) tend to be built on chassis that have more GVWR, GCWR and CCC.

Diesel vs gas. Diesel beats gas for power (especially when towing), and we prefer diesel (having owned gas prior). However, I would disagree with some who would say gassers have trouble going over mountains and such. The Ford engines in gas motorhomes may go over mountains with more noise/effort and slower than diesel, but they will eventually get the job done. I would be more concerned with GCWR/GVWR/CCC. Diesel is of course move expensive to purchase and maintain/fix than gas, and in recent years diesel has become more expensive than gas. It's trade-off you have to determine.

We spent years looking at layouts. I am 6'2" and needed a taller shower, an RV king bed (with entry from both sides) and 1-1/2 baths (big deal for us). Wife would walk out of motorhomes if they had the main TV in a stupid place (where you had to turn your head 90° to watch). If you are using this for short trips these things may not matter much; if you are living in it for years they will matter a lot.

Washer/dryer is key. We do laundry almost daily (the washer is the laundry hamper...when it get full enough we toss in soap start a load). You do not want to have to rely on laundromats. We also wanted a separate washer and dryer...we often are running both at the same time on weekends, since with only 120V the dryer takes twice as long as a 240V stick-and-brick home dryer (these are basically "apartment" units). Both are Whirlpools, and have performed flawlessly for 4+ years.

Internet/satellite? There are many options. We still work, and have a primary and backup Internet options if needed when traveling. DirecTV or Dish? Lots of opinions, but if you are happy with one already then probably go with that. Or just stream everything (we are almost to that point).

Will you travel ALL the time? If not, you will need a home base somewhere, and where you domicile will determine your taxes. We home base in God's Waiting Room (Florida...no state income tax) near the in-laws (so, yay...), and have a permanent spot and street address in the resort. When we travel our neighbors check our mail and if needed can send stuff to us. But most things today are email/online. If you do travel all the time, there are services that allow you to domicile in Florida, Texas or a few other tax-friendly places, and will hold/forward your mail and will be your legal address.

New or used? There will be a LOT of opinions on this (you may get more opinions than there are folks giving you opinions). We like new, and others will say we are crazy and will like used. Part of the "new" theory is that everything is new and unbroken (but not always the case) and under warranty (and this can be hit or miss). The "used" theory is that in addition to being much less money, things that were going to break would have done so and would have been fixed (not sure I'd buy totally into that). We bought new, and only took our current Class A to the factory once for something I could have addressed myself (happened to be working in the area and the facility was only two hours away). Others will have nightmare stories (probably the minority of folks).

Develop a list of must-haves. Some items on our list were having the main (and bedroom) TVs in good spots, king size bed, tall shower, washer/dryer, sufficient CCC and towing capacities, etc. When you then look at motorhomes you can use that as a "filter". We had not intended to go full time (we were only 6 months into our apartment lease), but one Saturday we were kicking tires at an RV dealer and saw what would become our current motorhome. Having the list, and having spent a lot of time looking at 100's of other units over the years, we knew instantly "this was it" (there were rainbows, rays of sunshine and I thought I could hear angels singing). 20 minutes later we were signing papers, and left the apartment 7 days later, never to return.

Make sure you love the one you are with. There will be arguments, and not many places for either of you to storm off to. We've tested this a few times in 4+ years, but somehow are still going on 38 years of marriage.

Hope this helps...good luck, and enjoy the lifestyle!

[hilgert]

Originally Posted by twogypsies

...
We had no intentions of living in a big house when older so didn't make sense to keep it. I'd never rent it out. Too many headaches. As it turned out after traveling the country we settled down in an altogether different state. Also, our kids didn't stay in one place so no use trying to live where they were.
...

+1 on all the above...especially on where the kids will live. Traveling has allowed us to explore areas where we want to end up, and we are still in the process of doing that.

I've followed/read many of your posts based on your experience (which I believe will be similar to what our experience will end up being).

[RV is for me]

First off, I'm overwhelmed by the amazing responses, can't thank you all enough.

In peeling this onion, I am sure of a few things. When you live in San Diego, if you sell your house, you're out. We have Prop 13 which keeps property taxes in check, so if I sell and try to buy back in in some number of years, I may not be able to afford to buy here again.
I don't plan to find a better place to live than San Diego, but it may happen, and if it does I can always sell my house. I can rent my house for >$5K/month, and with it paid off I just need to pay insurance and taxes on it, so I'll clear near $4K a month most of the time. I have some investments to help if I have a large expense on the road, but I will be planning to keep my budget to the $4K.
I will box up a few things for storage at my daughters house, mostly old pictures, degrees, etc. but I plan to sell the rest of the big things like cars, motorcycle, dunebuggy, jetski.
My thoughts are to just have the MH, and a really small 4x4 to tow behind. I want to be able to offroad in some areas.
If we decide to move back home, we'll have a house there, and still have money to retire.
One of the biggest sad things is we will miss our herd. We have some really great friends, and some we hang out with almost every weekend. Will be tough to leave that, and that may be our biggest hesitation. We are very active and have a lot of fun with our herd. But at 59, I am thinking we need to go out and see America while we still are active and healthy. I really want to retire, and this is a good way to do a massive life style change in one fell swoop. The RV part is easy for us, we are in our current RV a lot, so we know the basics. We will have no problem living in an RV, and the thought of waking up in different places and only thinking about where to go next and what to see next is exciting.
I am thinking of upgrading my current 31" Seaview now to something 40+' so I can work out the bugs, do upgrades and become familiar with it so I will be comfortable tearing it apart to fix something while out in the boonies.
I've been reading the threads and its really helping me to figure out the must haves in a new to me MH. I am kinda torn in looking at the RV's in the trader like Newmars and Tiffins, vs the higher end ones that are soooo much nicer inside. I really can't find a spot online where I can see these higher end RVs. I'm going to have a budget of $150K or less, so I need to decide if an older one is better/worse than a newer one. I don't want a diesel, but I need to work out the extra maintenance costs vs the resale value, maybe a diesel makes more sense. I'm not in a rush, so getting over that hill a little slower is not a big deal.

Again, appreciate the suggestions, tips, experiences, keep them coming!

RV IS FOR ME

[twogypsies]

Originally Posted by RV is for me

One of the biggest sad things is we will miss our herd. We have some really great friends, and some we hang out with almost every weekend. Will be tough to leave that, and that may be our biggest hesitation. We are very active and have a lot of fun with our herd.

Join Escapees and their subgroup, Xscapers (which is a younger group like you). You'll have so much opportunity to make friends and do fun things together. The group will plan a meet-up and attend if you're near the area. We joined Escapees before even full-timing just to learn about the lifestyle. It's a great organization for full-timers. Explore their website fully.

Escapees also has an excellent mail forwarding service.

The main, Escapees, and also the subgroup, Xscapers, have various rallies throughout the year. We even attended one before full-timing as a walk-in just to learn about it. They have a good 4x4 group who meet up around the country. Both groups have big rallies in Quartzsite, AZ in January starting about now - 100+ rigs attending & lots of activities - hiking 4x4, boating on the river, and lots of fun, fun at the group site. Since you're close by it would be great to just pop in and ask questions. We always attended with the Boomer group of Escapees, another subgroup and where we met our friends.

Escapees has some RV parks throughout the country and some, what they call, co-op, parks. There's a park very near you called Jojoba Hills. Drive up there and check it out. It's beautiful. That could be your next home. Talk to the members. Ask questions.

https://jojobahills.com/cms/

We did things over the years with about 25 RVing couples met through Escapees and now all of us live in one community - life-long friends - still doing things together - and an excellent support group since we're now all aging big time. We're like family helping in every way.

https://escapees.com/

https://escapees.com/community/xscapers/

[jrs]

Great info above!!!
Escapees had (when we were switching) great info on getting ready to full time.
IMHO go big with the RV but we don't boon dock very often. We can go 7 days if we're very careful with the grey and blk tanks. We're full electric and w/o AC only need to run the generator 2.5hrs in the morning and 3 at night.
Have an estate sale to get rid of all the stuff you won't bring with you.
Don't store anything (in a storage locker). Few important things could be kept at family/friends.
I agree with the Diesel vs Gas comment plus CCC above. I you go diesel, try to get side radiator. Currently have a neighbor with an older 04 DP and he's thinking of upgrading. I'm telling him he should upgrade his current rig instead. His only regret is not getting the side radiator.

[FLJOE]

A lot of good advice to pick through. A huge stumbling block for many is the final stage of getting rid of "stuff". It is amazing of how furniture and personal belongings a couple can collect in just a few short years. We sold and unloaded absolutely everything we could stand to part with and still ended up with a 10x10 climate controlled storage locker for over 11 years now (ending soon). You many find a relative to take several boxes of personal items but we felt that was a huge ask.

The only piece of advice I will offer is don't try to see everything in the first year or so. Go slow and plan ahead. Make a game out of saving camping fees. If you can average $30 per night or below for that first year you are doing okay.

Good luck.

[twogypsies]

Originally Posted by FLJOE

A huge stumbling block for many is the final stage of getting rid of "stuff". It is amazing of how furniture and personal belongings a couple can collect in just a few short years. We sold and unloaded absolutely everything we could stand to part with and still ended up with a 10x10 climate controlled storage locker for over 11 years now (ending soon). You many find a relative to take several boxes of personal items but we felt that was a huge ask.

Think of the expense for that storage locker for 11 yr. Plus... after 11 yr. will you still want the stuff you stored? I wouldn't think furniture or appliances. They're outdated by then.

[Djfan]

Hello RV,

Mrs. Fan and I are probably taking the jump soon, too. Interestingly enough, we are the same age, and I lived in San Diego from 68-09. Don't miss it at all!

We moved for work and lived in our TT for "a short time" which is turning out to be a long time. We are not finding any homes here (very small town), and are very seriously considering just upgrading to a 5th wheel, and living that way.

The idea above about taking a few months and trying it out before renting is a great one. If you like it, take the plunge. It's a gamble, but a well researched one by that time. We kind of look forward to unloading a bunch of junk, and I bet you will too.

Keep us posted!