Hello! I'm new here

[Melissa]

Hi everyone, just found this forum today and I’m glad to meet you all.
I'm not sure if I'm in the right place? VanDweller forum - should I move on if we are looking to live in something a bit bigger?

Hubby and I are in the gathering information stage; we are looking at purchasing a truck and 5th wheel to live in full time. We are middle aged, quite a ways from retirement, but we are yearning for the nomadic lifestyle. Jim works as an IT consultant and can work from anywhere so having some income isn’t a problem. However we now live in a frugal way, and the cheaper life (after expensive RV purchase) is our goal.

Right now I’m doing research towards our goal of being in the RV in 1-2 years. I was hoping this forum would be a good place to hear what others have learned and to glean knowledge of best brands, pitfalls and pluses of buying an RV. We are newbies to RVing (although I camped a lot, Jim has not) and want to learn from those who are living the life.

Thanks

 

[Lucky mike]

Alot to be learned here...if you are digging for a forum that would meet your needs better I would try... RV Dreams .com......it concentrates on fulltime RVers Lifestyles , working and getting started and such.... with a good bunch of people.

I hope this is acceptable to do this on this forum

 

[Donedirtcheap]

Welcome Mellisa. There are a lot of people here that live in vans but much of it is the same as an RV. You will find tons of info and many very knowledgeable folks.
Some of my tips on RV's

If you want to stay in the north with winter climates it may be tough. If your free, I assume you would migrate.
If you buy a new RV give it tons of research as to what will work so you dont keep changing models.
When you buy it check the roof soundness often. Water is the major killer of RV's
If its new, still check it. They come from the factory leaking. YES they do.
If its used be even more careful of water damage.

Thats enough for now

 

[Melissa]

Thanks Mike, I will check it out.
Although I guess I can be a part of two forums; this one sounds good so far.

 

[rvwandering]

You'll fit in here too. There are members living in all types of vehicles, fifth wheels included. The emphases is on cheap living no matter what you live in.

 

[Oneleggedcowboy]

Melisa it all goes here, truck, bus it dont matter and this is a great resource for how to! Welcome, Bill

 

[akrvbob]

As the owner, I can assure you that you are totally welcome here!! Vandwelling is an attitude, not a choice of vehicle!!
Bob

 

[Blue]

Hey melisa, I did three years in an RV best tip I can give you is GET ORGANIZED, going from a home to an RV where you'll have to dig behind five layers of crap to get to whatever it was you stuck in the back of the cabnet, becomes an even bigger nightmare if your not exactly totally sure where you put something. Other than that, have fun!

 

[Ladywolfe]

Welcome Welcome Melissa! Good luck going forward with your planning and your vehicle purchase.

You can definitely get great information from this forum.

 

[crazybill]

HI Melissa!
You are smart to gather as much information as you can before you take the plunge into full timing.
You will find a lot of good information here. Another place I can suggest is the Escapees group. It is a club forum but they are very friendly and welcome non-members on their forum. They too are focused on full time living in an RV. http://www.rvnetwork.com/
-Bill-

 

[blkjak]

welcome from s.w. florida .... blkjak

 

[Melissa]

It was such a pleasure to see all the responses to my post. Thank you for the warm welcome and the good advice. I feel like I belong!

Donedirtcheap- Hopefully we are going to stay away from northern climates in the winter, but things can happen so we are trying to remain flexible. But you’re correct in assuming we will migrate. Jim is a consultant and can choose jobs based on location…
We are buying new. Being newbies to RV full time living we felt that was best. I remember my dad checking roofs when we camped as a family, but not sure how it’s done now.

Hi Blue – thanks, I appreciate your advice, I love to organize. Living in 720 sq ft now is good training. I am paring down possessions and getting streamlined. I’ve even made lists by room (we now have living room, kitchen,bedroom, bath) of what we absolutely need to keep and what can be let go.

We lived in the OH/ MI area most of our lives and raised 3 children there. Moved to Dallas for a job, got rid of the big house in Michigan and have lived in a small apartment ever since. So its handy that we have experience at downsizing our possessions and living with less.

Originally we both were interested in the small house movement, where you build a house around 1,000 sq ft or little less… but here in Texas there aren’t many people building small. Most people are building new around 3,000 sq ft on average. Jim and I are both opposed to living beyond our means, in more home than we need, and we try to be green too, so another house isn’t what we want. Last month we attended our first RV show together, and this month is another one. We are narrowing down our choices and weighing the options. We have also been going around to dealerships to ask questions and get more advice.

As soon as we are debt free we are making our dream of full time living in an RV a reality. We hope that to be a year or less from now so this gives us a good time to learn all we can from people who are fulltiming, like you all here.
Thanks for your help.
.

 

[WheelEstate USA]

Welcome to the forum.

We have been full timing in our motorhome since 8/1/12 and love it. We're wintering in Quartzsite, Az and traveled 4700 miles up to northern Or and back to Az in a loop. Had a hoot and can't wait till spring to see where our wheel estate takes us then. We couldn't be happier with our lifestyle.

We hope your dreams are realized and are as satisfying as its been for us.