How Long full timing did it take to realize that you made the right decision - RV-Dreams Community Forum

Judy · RV-Dreams Family Member

How Long full timing did it take to realize that you made the right decision

ahoweth · RV-Dreams Family Member

Hi Judy:

We have been full timing for 2 years on Jan 1st. We had dreamt and planned to full time for probably 10 years before we retired. We have not had a second thought todate. We love the life style and the freedom and don't plan to stop until we can no longer live on our own.

Tmcblane · RV-Dreams Family Member

We had no problem adjusting to it or have not regretted the decision either!

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

Over three years of full-timing and we have no regrets. We can't see settling down anywhere because everywhere we like has a bad time of year. By being full-timers we can hope to avoid hurricanes, snow, 99 degrees and 99% humidity at the same time, stuff like that. Why deal with a Michigan winter or a Phoenix summer if you have a choice? We are from Washington State and Seattle just set an all time record for rainfall and had snow in November.

Plus there is still so much to see and explore. In this area I agree with Nick Russell in his blog: http://www.gypsyjournal.net/NicksBlog.htm, just scroll down to Tuesday, November 28, 2006.

We are also free of our stuff and can live cheaply.

Luvglass · RV-Dreams Family Member

Hi Judy,

It's probably different for everyone, but we've been out for 10 months now and have never had the thought that we made a mistake.

Every day is an adventure and a new experience, and as someone else has mentioned, it's so freeing, not being tied to STUFF.

Good luck in where ever your path leads.

Fred

Here4Now · RV-Dreams Community Member

We went full-time July 10, 2006. We had been planning it for about 5 years and our original date was May 1, 2007. An opportunity for early retirement beginning February 1 put us on the fast track for cleaning out and disposing the "stuff" of 55 years in one house for my widowed father and 34 years of collecting for Paul and myself. After that, we had two houses to put on the market and sell. By the grace of God, we closed on both houses within 10 days of each other. Needless to say, we were put on the fast track and went into "automatic" to get the job done. We found the number of decisions that needed to be made was exhausting.

However, once "the deed was done," we both experienced a let down. Paul grieved about a month. He really missed his truck and his tools. For the first couple of months, I didn't feel depressed, but I DID clutch every time I thought that we no longer had our stick house. Thinking of having to keep it clean usually snapped me out of it, though. :)

However, now after 5 months, we rarely think about life "before" except to pinch ourselves that we don't have to go to work on Mondays or to lament about something we got rid of that we wished we hadn'tt...like that scrap piece of plastic. :)

Paul knew that it wouldn't be like "vacation" but he thought it would feel MORE like vacation than it does. Maybe because when we were on vacation, we had the money to eat out more. Our budget now doesn't give us as much freedom, but neither would it have if we had stayed in the stick house as retirees.

We have made the commitment to two years on the road at a minimum. That decision gave us a lot of freedom to talk about how we were feeling without the other guy feeling threatened that we had made the wrong move. Though we expect to be on the road much longer than that, this "safety valve" worked well for us.

Frankly, I haven't found any people on the RV threads who aren't exuberant about their decision. I guess those who aren't as happy with their decision or who are second guessing themselves don't participate in RV threads. That can make it a little hard for those who are a little slower to adjust. It always helps to know that you're not the only one feeling what you're feeling. :)

Joan On The Road · RV-Dreams Family Member

Hi Judy, We are in our fourth year fulltiming. We've not regretted selling it all or going fulltime but we have regretted not planning as well as we could so that we had a slightly larger motorhome. Sometimes we may have a flash of anxiety for roots or sticks and bricks but they quickly go away when we consider our freedom to stay or go. We are stopped for a few months for holiday and family time and I know by the time February rolls around we'll be more than ready to move on.

We don't have a time limit on fulltiming but we do check in every now and then with a serious talk about how we each feel about our life. We talk about "what ifs"...illness, death of parents, family emergencies. We have contingency ideas. But 98% of the time we are solidly "OK" with our decision and life style.

Merry Christmas :)

Joan

Judy · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thank you all who have contributed to this subject. It is interesting in reading in the decisions.

southwestjudy & Bob & 2blackdogs

Winter Texan · RV-Dreams Community Member

We have been full timing for 4 years now. We have not regretted selling all of our 'stuff', being in the South for the Winter and going to Ohio to visit the kids and grandkids in the Summer months. We may do the RV adventure differently than most that I have read about here in the forum. We like the 50+ RV parks in the South. We enjoy music and attend jams that are scheduled everyday. Some days we go to Mexico to shop and have dinner. Some days we go to special tours arranged by the park. There is an indoor heated pool, hot tub, shuffleboard games, card games, bean bag baseball, line dancing lessons, square dancing lessons, potluck dinners, birthday parties, Red Hat luncheons and teas, scheduled entertainment shows every week, propane tanks filled right at our door, very little lawn mowing, no snow shoveling, and lots of friends that have become family all around us. There are over 300 lots in the park and are filled every Winter. Out of all the people we have met in the 4 years of RVing, most are full timers....I have not known any that have said they regretted it. Some have had to go back to 'home towns' because of an illness or just got too old to 'cut the mustard any more'. There are activities to enjoy everyday....the saying here is 'if your bored...it is your own fault'. We are all here for the same reason, to live life to the fullest and have a good time doing it.

Donna and Ray

The Winter Texans, in a 32' Argosy pulled with a Chevy Silverado dually 'flying across the sunrise discovering what comes with each passing day'.

Darrell and Judy · RV-Dreams Family Member

Judy,

You raised a good question. Donna and Ray bring to light a good point. The fulltime RV lifestyle is whatever one wants to make of it. We need to find our "nitch" just as we did in our old lifestyle. Donna and Ray have listed what fulltime lifestyle they enjoy. We have friends who like to travel a lot and stay short periods of time in any one place, then we have other friends who like to spend months in one spot.

Judy and I are realizing that we don't like to move every couple of days. We prefer to stay put and work on our hobbies and take in some of the "local color". We prefer campgrounds where there is social activities where we can meet new RVers (Escapees' Parks). We like nature hikes, rails to trails biking, and canoeing. And we want to work with other RVers in meeting the needs of others. So what that means to us is doing volunteer workamping in exchange for our site (don't take money because that often requires too many hours of work), look at state parks and national parks, sign up of a few RV care-a-vanners builds for Habitat for Humanity each year, and make at least bi-annual pilgrimages to Escapee Parks (quarterly if possible).

We've absolutely no regrets about our decision to sell all and go full time, but we are still defining what lifestyle will bring us the most joy.

Darrell and Judy

ofm · RV-Dreams Community Member

About five years before I got shed of work is when I knew full timing was for me.

tumwatergal · RV-Dreams Family Member

It took us about 10 minutes to know we had done the right thing. This is the best life for us. We are now F/T for 14 months. We didn't want the hassle of owning two homes. Plus, I always hated all the packing and unpacking of the RV for a vacation. We love it so much I keep a blog reporting our activities in this lifestyle. Hope you find the lifestyle to your liking for years to come.

Tumwatergal (Margie)
www.bruceandmargiesfulltimejourney.blogspot.com
www.myhealthylivingthruweightcontrol.blogspot.com

hogans1947 · RV-Dreams Family Member

Fun that this listing is current,again. Hopefully some of you that responded before will do a follow-up. We have now been full-timers for 3 years and see no end in sight. Just today I was thinking about just the past 4 months. We left kids and grandkids in Ca. the middle of May. Drove across country to Hilton Head, back through Ky. ,2 months in Il. area, then to Salt Lake City to leave motorhome and dog while cruising to Alaska. Now in Carson City, Nv. and will be back in Ca. in 2 days with kids, grandkids and camphosting "job". The really important part of the past 4 months is that all of it was spent with brothers, sisters, in-laws, high school and college friends and visiting places we have lived in the past. To be able to keep and renew friendships with friends and all immediate family. PRICELESS !!!!
Brenda

ahoweth · RV-Dreams Family Member

I posted much earlier in this thread but thought that I would just make a little up date. We have now been fulltimers for just short of 5 years. We still have absolutely no regrets and are enjoying the lifestyle more every day. I personally have never had a single regret. Of course I can not speak for whether my wife has had any or not but if she has it has been tied to not being with the grandkids as much as she might want to.

Luvglass · RV-Dreams Family Member

Funny to read the comments from 2006, but ours are pretty much the same now.

We are thoroughly enjoying the lifestyle after almost 4 years and wouldn't think of changing anything about it. We've managed to keep up relationships with family and regular visits from grand children, and in fact, now have more friends than we ever had at home.

About the only thing we would have done differently would be to have gotten rid of everything right away, rather than pay for a storage facility for 3 years. But hey, who knew it would be this great?

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

Six years of full-timing now and we are still happy. We just visited some relatives, will be meeting up with RV friends later today at another campground, a rally next week, we seem to stay quite busy.

Sandra · RV-Dreams Family Member

We are over 5 years fulltime now and thoroughly enjoy it. Since we're from Canada and are starting to have health problems, we're finding that it's getting more difficult to find travel medical insurance. We're hoping that we can keep it up though! It would be so hard for us to settle down in one spot at this point.

sirwinston21 · RV-Dreams Family Member

It has been just under 10 moths for us and I have never been happier. I don't miss anything about our previous life. We have traveled about 3k miles, visited family in Oklahoma, Maryland, work camped in the Adirondack region of New York, I have visited old friends and made new friends in the RGV of Texas and Bracketville Texas and Kerrville Texas, camped on the Mississippi River, drove our truck on the beach at South Padre Island, went to Mexico 6 times, and on and on. All this in less than a year. And if we only do 1/2 of what we have planned for the next 12 months it will be even more exciting. When did I realize I made the right decision, the moment I left from closing on the house and drove away towing the Kram-lot-inn.

thebearII · RV-Dreams Family Member

It's great that a few of the original folks who replied, have replied with updates on this nearly 3 year old thread.

tumwatergal · RV-Dreams Family Member

ahoweth wrote:

I posted much earlier in this thread but thought that I would just make a little up date. We have now been fulltimers for just short of 5 years. We still have absolutely no regrets and are enjoying the lifestyle more every day. I personally have never had a single regret. Of course I can not speak for whether my wife has had any or not but if she has it has been tied to not being with the grandkids as much as she might want to.

I'm a grandma, too, and I think the grandkids pull at my heartstrings just a little more than for DH. Still....I LOVE this lifestyle and will not change it until forced to by "natural circumstances". I do think that it has been easier not actually living full time in the sticks-n-bricks only 2 miles from our kids and the grands. Being so close lets us know too much! Sometimes ignorance is bliss. If I am not right in their faces, I don't know what is actually going on that I might rather just not know about.

Happy Wanderers Are We!

Margie M. a happy fulltimer
www.bruceandmargiesfulltimejourney.blogspot.com

www.myhealthylivingthruweightcontrol.blogspot.com

-- Edited by tumwatergal on Monday 21st of September 2009 10:42:05 PM

dream reachers · RV-Dreams Family Member

We knew as soon as we started that we had made the right decision. We had planed , researched and dreamed of doing it for 2 years before selling our house and going fulltime. We have now been fulltiming for over 2 years and are in love with the lifestyle. We have been involved in volunteer work as we travel the country. We try to have a positive attitude even when there have been bumps in the road, the same as we did in our former lifestyle. No regrets.