The trend of full-time RV living is booming, with more people embracing the freedom of life on the road over the traditional 9-to-5 and settling down in a house. My husband, Timothy, and I have been living full-time in our RV for over three years, experiencing the highs and lows of this unique lifestyle. Although full-time RV life has its quirks, we’re grateful for the flexibility, freedom, and incredible adventures it has brought us. Today, I’m excited to answer some of the most frequently asked questions about the RV lifestyle for those curious about hitting the road full-time!
Do you actually save money living in an RV?
The answer to this question is different for everyone. If you live in a $250,000 RV in Southern California, you probably won’t save a lot of money. But if you’re a budget traveler like me, you probably will! It totally depends on the type of RV lifestyle you choose. If you get a smaller rig that is 30 amps and you boon dock a lot of the time, you’re going to spend a lot less money than the person above.
Here are just a few things to consider:
- RV Parks and Campgrounds are not cheap – you can spend as little as $400 a month at a campground. But, you can also easily spend more than typical apartment rent depending on your location!
- RV or Fifth Wheel Mortgage – Something to think about also, will you be able to purchase your rig with cash? Or will you have to take out a mortgage and make payments with interest? That will be another monthly expense above and beyond the RV park fee.
- Do you have to have the newest model of RV? If so, you’ll end up spending a lot. The budget option is to buy a camper or RV that’s older and renovate it on the cheap! That’s what we did and we’ve loved it!
In our personal experience, we have saved SO much money by living in an RV! We’ve been able to stay with relatives for free sometimes, and also visit with them. My husband works in film, and they generally will pay for our travel and lodging while he’s working, which is such a blessing! We have saved so much over the past few years that we’ve been able to save towards our first house. And when we sell our RV we’ll hopefully sell it for a profit!
How do you get mail and packages if you don’t have a home address?
When you’re on the road, and you need to order something, you can usually send packages to wherever you’re planning to stay. Campgrounds and RV Parks generally let you send packages to their office, just make sure to give them a heads up. It can be a little bit inconvenient and somewhat of a hassle, but doing this helps me to not order unless I really need something.
If we’re boondocking, or don’t have a good address to send our mail to, we usually send it to a relative or friend’s address. Then we can pick it up when we get back to our home base. My parents were kind enough to let us use their address for our residency, so all of our tax documents, paychecks, and other official documents get mailed to them. If you don’t have family members or friends that would be willing to do that for you, I would consider getting a P.O. box in your home town!
Also, traveling full-time in an RV doesn’t mean you have to miss out on getting your Amazon packages! With Amazon Lockers located all over the United States, it’s easy to have your orders delivered to convenient pickup points near your current location. Whether you’re exploring a national park, camping along the coast, or stopping in a small town, Amazon Lockers make it possible to receive packages without a traditional address. Just select a nearby locker location when placing your order, and pick up your items at your convenience—perfect for the on-the-go RV lifestyle!
How did you find your RV?
We found our RV on Facebook Marketplace after about a month of searching. One thing that I always recommend to do when looking for an RV is to broaden your search to a 100 mile radius. We had to drive several hours away to look at our RV, but it was totally worth it to get the right rig!
We made sure to create a checklist before we went to look at our RV, and the seller actually came down on the price another $1000 because we figured out that the tires would need to be replaced immediately! Click the photo below to download our FREE RV buying guide and inspection checklist!
What made you choose a Motorhome over a Fifth wheel or camper?
3 years ago when we were looking to move into an RV, we constantly went back and forth about what kind of rig we wanted to buy. We ended up going with a Motorhome for a couple of different reasons. We didn’t have the money at the time to buy a fifth wheel or camper and a truck. Anything we purchased, wanted to be able to buy with cash. We didn’t want to have to make monthly payments on a truck and a camper or fifth wheel.
Looking back, I think choosing a Motorhome was the right move for us, because we don’t move around a ton. I can’t drive it, which means my poor hubby has to do all the driving. If we had bought a trailer and truck, I would at least be able to help with the driving. It’s also somewhat annoying to have an engine attached to your home, because you have to get that engine inspected every so often. We had to do this a few months ago and we were without our house for a few days while they were fixing some stuff.
If you have a trailer, you never have to worry about being away from your home because of an engine problem. There are definitely pros and cons to both, click here to read a blog post I wrote about the different types of RVs!
How do you shower?
This one always makes me laugh. People have legit asked me this before! We have a shower that is fully functioning! It’s small, and my 6 foot 2 husband barely fits in it, but we’ve made it work for 3 years! The only thing with the shower is that our hot water heater only heats 6 gallons at a time. So the hot water only lasts about 10 minutes. It also takes about 30 minutes for the water to fully heat. And we don’t leave the water heater on all the time to save propane usage. So if we both want to shower, we generally have to wait for the water to re heat. It has made us super mindful of our water usage and we’ve had to figure out how to stagger showers!
I hope that answered some of the questions you have about Full Time RV Life! If you have any questions of your own, please leave them in a comment below!
Thanks so much for reading!
Megan
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