I think I have lost my mind.   I'm sure others who know me will agree if they hear of what's been going on in my head lately. I am going to try and keep this short but I bet I will fail at that! This situation is a little different from most because at this point, if we were to live full time in an RV, we would not be "on the road" much.  So, we don't have to consider "on the road" costs. 

Here's the situation:   We are a family of five.  Three kids, with the oldest a student living at home (21) and working part time, and the next being 15, and then the youngest 10.  We also have 2 dogs and 3 cats. 

We (the "grownups") are both full time students working part time (I work from home).   Long story but neither of us ever had any formal education, due to having kids young, and hence the later in life return to school for us both.  We each have about a year left before we finish our degrees and we have been commuting to a school that is over an hour away from where we currently live. 

The commute got to be a bit much over the past year in cost, time, and wear and tear on our car, so we decided to move to the town our university is in, an hour up the road.  No problem there, the kids are on board because the new town is different and kind of exciting, and my eldest takes mostly online classes anyway and can get another part time job.  The problem is, rents in that town are a good 30% higher than what we pay here, it's a college town so finding a place that takes pets is proving to be very difficult, and there are very few rentals that are larger than 2 bedrooms or in any way "family friendly".  Those that are, are way out of our budget.   Yes, we will save money by not having to commute but the rental situation there is just less than ideal.   We can find something I am sure but I don't WANT to pay that much, honestly, especially not to have to live in a party type complex or a place smaller than where we are now.  It's not the space so much as it is the principle of the increased costs.  Most rentals larger than 2 bedrooms are rented per room to college kids, with individual leases, and if we had to go that route it would DOUBLE our current rent (away from the college town)!  Ugh.

So, I started thinking, if we're going to live in a smaller space anyway to not cough up a fortune, why not make it mobile?   We have been talking for years about buying some sort of RV.  Mainly because we all have crazy wanderlust but with five of us and being students, we never have much extra money to travel.  We satisfy ourselves a bit with short day trips here and there but overnight stays become cost prohibitive even in cheap hotels because there are five of us. Most hotels max the room at four so we have to pay for junior suites or get a second room.   We are always saying how if we had some sort of RV, we would have the gas costs but would save so much on hotels and eating out...   and now I am thinking hey, two birds, one stone.

My rationale: We will most likely spend over $11,000 on rent alone this year.  Add an extra $200 or month for electricity (it's Texas -- it's "summer' most of the year) and pet deposits and pet rent, IF we can find place that will allow all our animals since many places limit you to two.    What if we bought a used RV and stayed in a park instead?  I've looked at what's available in the town we need to live in.  Rents are about $400 a month, including electricity.   Most include wi-fi and cable.  A couple look really nice: river access, indoor pool, hot tub, dog park, playground.    That's $4800 for the year in rent instead of $11,000.  Sure, we'd have the initial cash purchase of an RV to consider but after that, well, we would cut our housing costs by about half, at least that's how it seems to me.  Plus, instead of wishing we could afford to travel, we'd actually be able to just go when there was a long weekend or during spring break.  The money we'd save would allow for more travel, which compared to now, is ANY travel -- we haven't really been anywhere since 2011.  We are happy even when we can get away to the beach (2.5 hours for us) but with the hotel costs we haven't done it in forever.  We would mostly travel in summer so we'd be living in the RV while staying put, but it would be nice to know the option to take a road trip was there, much more so than it is NOW.

Is there any big flaw in this thinking?  The kids are excited but also skeptical when we've discussed it.  They wonder where they'd put their stuff (actually the older two are both just worried about their computers and the type of internet connection we'd get)---but they like the idea of being free to move about the country, or at least the state.    I have been leaning towards a used Class C motorhome at this point, because of the bed over the cab and money reasons and also because I think I'd be less afraid to drive it.  Ideally we'd go for a 5th wheel but we don't have an appropriate vehicle to tow one and I don't' think our budget will allow for a truck/suv too.    

I should mention that I do have some very minimal RVing experience, both for travel and full time living, long ago.  I spent many summers traveling the NE coast with my Grandmother and her husband in their big Class A, as well as going on Texas trips with them, and I briefly lived with them when they had it parked, when I was in high school (for about a year).  I also lived with my mother in an itty bitty travel trailer, when I was 20 and my son was an infant.  That was about a six month thing, and not pleasant but there isn't a house big enough in all of Texas for me to live with my mom, so the trailer wasn't the issue.    My aunt and uncle are full timers (retired) and they travel the country.  They have kids all over the country and they stay with their kids for a bit then move on and stay in parks and campgrounds for a while, then go back to visit another kid for a while. 

None of that means I know anything, just mentioning it, and though it was long ago, I HAVE lived full time in RV's, even though not for extended periods.   Maybe I sound naive but I think we get along really well as a family, we aren't prone to bickering and everyone respects each other's space, so maybe it could work?  I keep thinking that if it doesn't work, worst case scenario is we have to deal with it for a while and then we find an apartment to rent so if it is a disaster it would be temporary...  my biggest concern right now is ending up in a park with management problems.  There are only four or five RV parks in that town that I am aware of, and a nearby town (fifteen minutes away) has a few more options.  So I guess we could always move if there are issues..?   My other concern is that some parks limit your number of pets (why??) and so there's that.

Geez, that is still longer than I wanted, I'm sorry!  If you read all of that, you are too kind and I thank you!