Community Forums

smack2020 · 02-22-2014, 07:43 PM

We've been FTing for 6 months now. We are still working for 4 more months. We are at Santa Barbara Elks this weekend, nice spot. I still have to think for a minute when people ask me if I am a fulltimer and when I say yes, I have a big grin on my face. No house, no storage, just the RV and whatever we could fit in it.

myshaggydog · 03-24-2014, 03:44 PM

smak2020:

I bet you still have that grin on your face! Why because mine is still there after 4 months of fulltiming.

Best of luck to you once again.

foreverfree · 03-24-2014, 05:58 PM

So time for an update...

We are three months in now and what a crazy time that has been. We spent two months getting the s&b ready to list, garage sale, donation runs, and working the kinks out of our older RV. We spent a week at a shop fixing a mistake that another shop made back in December but luckily got everything fixed and on the road. We did learn from this that even when you think a shop knows what they are doing, do your own research. It turns out that the first shop put hard crank batteries in our house battery bank. We kept having voltage issues and since we had a new inverter/convertor installed in November we just couldn't figure out what the issue was. Turns out that the invertor was programmed for deep charge batteries so it "cooked" two of the brand new batteries, of course then we found out that the "new" batteries that had been installed were actually almost a year old when installed. I will say that Interstate Batteries did a stand up job of helping get everything fixed. They took back the wrong "cooked" batteries and gave full credit and they gave a refund check for the service call to figure out why our rig was having voltage issues. Four new gel batteries later and everything runs great.

The only thing that hangs over our head at this time is getting the s&b sold but all things in due time.

We found that when we actually hit the road leaving our old home, family, and friends behind it was strangely freeing even as it was sad. Our first stop was a private lot we found through escapee.com up in Blue Ridge Georgia. What a great start. Fresh mountain air, room to stretch out our legs, and so little to do. While we are both still working we find that we are able to work half a day and spend the other half enjoying the outdoors and each other. We love it so much that we extended our stay an extra 10 days. It is definitely something to get used to when you have so much control over when you move or not as we no longer have a "schedule" to keep.

I know that we have just begun our journey but if this is what it is like I hope it never ends....

katyscarlett · 03-25-2014, 11:01 AM

So happy for you Foreverfree. I hope you continue to enjoy your new life and thanks for keeping us updated. Don't stop

Steve1313 · 03-26-2014, 03:52 PM

Foreverfree, great post. Brings back a lot of memories as we left Indy after 5 years of trying to sell s&b, finally gave it back to the mortgage company and have not looked back. Spent our first winter in AZ workkamping and truly enjoyed it. Warm sunny days, cool nights, but no ice and snow. Fulltiming is a relaxing lifestyle. Yes, thing happen. Recommend finding an online forum of other RVers with the same brand of coach to learn the how to's and where to get repairs done.

We have been on the road since June 2013. Our only regret....we didn't start sooner!

NY Camper 86 · 04-02-2014, 11:34 AM

I just went fulltime! Have always loved camping and ran out of options for places to live. So I bought a camper and my 2 cats and yellow lab are settling in well. It is so peaceful at the campground I picked and I couldn't be happier! I am young to be living in a camper but so far it is one of the best decisions I have ever made! Can't wait to get to know you all better!

katyscarlett · 04-03-2014, 09:11 AM

Congratulations NY Camper 86. I am soon to be following in your footsteps. It is something I have wanted to do for a long time. You couldn't have found a better site than IRV2 for great people, advice, conversation and just plain fun. Enjoy your new life and stay in touch.

NY Camper 86 · 04-03-2014, 09:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by katyscarlett

Congratulations NY Camper 86. I am soon to be following in your footsteps. It is something I have wanted to do for a long time. You couldn't have found a better site than IRV2 for great people, advice, conversation and just plain fun. Enjoy your new life and stay in touch.

Thank you so much! I am very excited about it!

kyrv · 04-05-2014, 11:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NY Camper 86

Thank you so much! I am very excited about it!

Yep good luck. I'm coming up on one year (newbie) and I love it.

Diesel Diva · 04-07-2014, 08:56 AM

Keep the updates going please! We are putting the S&B up for sale by the end of the month. Once listed, will start shopping seriously for a Thor Tuscany. Once the house is sold, will be having an estate sale to get rid of everything in our 4k square foot home. We're one of those crazy couples that have never had a motorhome but that's not going to stop us. LOL. Have been wanting to do this for 15 years!

spritz · 04-08-2014, 12:01 PM

We decided to go Full time, well I did and the other half wants to come along. We plan on Garage sales for the 50 plus years in my childhood Home

planning on every weekend. Garage sales and then put the S&B on the Market hoping to be on the road by end of Oct first of Nov.
There has been a few houses that sold in my neighborhood with in 30-60 days of posting. So I have a good feeling about that.
Got a few things, Tires, shocks, and such to replace before then so we will have most of the big stuff done while still around the citys..She's been good to us so far will have no worries starting out in her @ 49,500 miles and 32 years old.
We plan on getting a newer one after a few years unless something happens to her.
Congrats too all that have gone ahead of us, but we are coming and am starting out in this our New Home on wheels...
Take care and safe travels,
Tim

RV Manager · 04-15-2014, 11:06 AM

Like forever Free, we are just beginning our FT journey and love it so far. Left Colorado on March 16, have visited family and friends in Florida and South Carolina and have just arrived at our first work kamper opportunity outside of Asheville, NC. As I said, so far it has been great and gets better every day. Probably like some we brought too much stuff so we are shedding items as we go, I bet that some Goodwill people are wondering about what they find in their boxes. We are towing a 20 enclosed car hauler with space for tool boxes, gas grill and more clothing than we will ever need. So far it has been shorts and T shirts and I hope to keep it that way.
Lady still feels like she needs three outfits a day but is slowly changing her mind on that too.
No real surprises yet, we had and have a budget and are able to stay within it so far. Fuel obviously has been our biggest expense to date, over $4.00 in Florida but still within the budget and of course now we are parked so that cost will be negligible.
We have a loose plan for the next year including a visit to the New England states this fall then working for Amazon during the Xmas rush and then more time in Florida with family till April. After that we will see what motivates us.

Pepper2 · 04-15-2014, 12:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BIJ6165

We've been fulltiming since Jun. Sold 3000 sq ft house and now in 30 ft rv. Loving life.

We left TX on Jun 30 and traveled to ME. A great journey filled with great memories.

We use laundry mats too. 4 or 5 loads done usually in 2 hours. Love it.

We use a book called "1,000 places to visit before you die" and the book is worth it. Visited so many places we knew nothing about.

Thanks, I just ordered the book online. Looking forward to seeing the USA recommendations.

katyscarlett · 04-16-2014, 12:35 PM

Diesel Diva, I'm not far from Murphey, in McKinney. Will be doing the same thing except I don't have to sell a house. Just waiting on the RV I want. I too have never owned or driven an RV and as advised by several people on this site to take advantage of the Escapees Boot Camp. There is one in May in Indiana and another one in November here in Texas. It's a weekend filled with everything you can possibly think of to help newbies and the old timers as well. Also, you can get your RV weighed. You don't have to have your rig to go and learn, but probably is more helpful if you do have one.
I will be doing this solo, so I need all the help I can get.
Good luck!