Our answers/opinions are just ours, what has worked for us so far, and things for you to think about; if you are considering a serious downsize and possibly an RV… to call home.
Being back home (Spartanburg, SC area) for a couple months spawned a lot of questions from friends and family, as well as the questions we’ve gotten from neighboring campers along our way, so far. I thought I’d break away from the “travel” blog for a minute and give our answers/opinions on the frequently asked questions.
Why on earth did you sell your house? We knew we needed to sell the house regardless of what we did next. It was too big for us, the laundry was downstairs, too much acreage to mow, a 36′ x 18′ inground pool to maintain, and general upkeep. Not to mention an avg $250/mth power bill, yearly property tax, and other maintenance costs that we were no longer interested in having. Not to mention insurance on said house and two vehicles. We knew it was time to make a move.
Why did you settle for the RV Lifestyle? We purposefully didn’t settle – we choose it! It took us two years to completely downsize, so we had lots of time to contemplate our next move. We ran budgets, watched lots of YouTube (from very real folks), and scoured our finances.
Did you consider staying employed and buying a Tiny home and living in that? We did. Problem was… the only ties to the area our house was located – were two jobs.
They weren’t careers – they were jobs. Both can come and go. If we’d had careers (25-30 years in) – it might/probably would have been a different story. I’ve had a couple great corporate careers over time and I’m reaping some of the rewards from that now.
We also had zero family within a 3-4 hour drive! So the issue was where do we want to settle down for life? We didn’t know so we choose not too settle anywhere just yet. Tiny home living is a thought for one day – just not today!
Were there any other housing/living alternatives you explored? Sure we did! A Boat! We’d love to do the Great Loop one day!
You started out in a 30′ Fifth Wheel and now a 40′ Motorcoach, why? Well… we started cheap, basically. Our 5th Wheel worked out great. We remodeled the entire inside, I made it our own, and we pulled it from SC to AZ with many side adventures! We didn’t know if we’d like this lifestyle or not, so why spend tons of money upfront? Our 5th Wheel was a 1997 Carri-Lite (which was top of the line back then) and built very well!! We had no issues with the trailer at all and it was quite cozy.
The motorcoach came to us by luck and negotiation. We love boondocking and she was completely solar ready! We were (deep down inside our souls) ready for a little more space and she was a high end coach back-in-the-day. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack to find her… but we did.
What do you miss about owning an actual house? Short answer: Nothing!
Long answer: It’s strange not having a “place to go back to” so we’re contemplating buying a piece of property “somewhere someday” to call our home base. I see these spots all over the country. You’ll see a deck in the middle of a small patch of land and you know the owners are out with their RV and this is their “homebase”. Maybe one day we’ll have one of these spots.
You said it took you two years to downsize… why so long? We were a full blown homestead…. 80+ chickens, hundreds of meat rabbits, goats, 40 American Guinea Hogs, and 10,000 sq. ft. of gardens. The stories I could tell! Not to mention 50 and 60 years worth of stuff! It takes a while. You have to stay after it and have the right mindset. I wasn’t always in the right mindset, I’ll have to admit.
Which one of you wanted to do this the most? I’d say my husband. But I was quick to get on board. However; because it did take us so long, I started dragging my feet a few times. I was getting really tired of purging all our stuff. At first it was fun and then it became daunting and then really personally. Some things of ours, neither of us could part with. And yes, that comes with a cost! A storage unit bill we pay monthly.
What tools did you use to downsize all your belongings? We used any means I could think of, but that was primarily my job. I had about 400 Ebay auctions and buy-it-nows, Craigslist – about 360 ad’s and 8 days (total) of garage/yard sales. OfferUp and Marketplace were never good for me. But some folks love those over the ones I choose.
I follow your blog and FB page but you seem to move slow, why? I just recently started The Fry Way Facebook page, so I guess that does seem a little slow, but otherwise… we tend to like to stay somewhere 10-12 days. As I mentioned to some friends, as we visited, this is a long answer.
If our MotorCoach, that gets 8-9 mpg, isn’t moving, it’s not costing us to “move”. Unless you’ve got one heck of a paycheck coming in… RV’ing on the east or Midwest can become costly, quickly. Right now were are parked in an Encore Park through Thousand Trails and we’re paying $0/nt for 10-14 days at a normal rate of $57/nt. There were upfront costs, yes…. which I’ll try to talk about in another post later. It’s a little confusing. Even to us, as owners of them.
Also, we don’t like moving fast. Plain and simple. Everyone figures out their own speed and what’s right for them. It doesn’t take long to figure out your travel/life speed.
Since you no longer work… do you forget what day of the week it is? Short answer: No – the bills keep me in check and on the date!
From a former coworker: What about your blood pressure? Big topic for me, for sure! I had battled blood pressure issues for a while. In Bilouxi, MS (when I got a serious sinus infection on our first stop in Jan 2019) – I arrived at the Urgent Care with a BP of 188/107.
The Doctor flipped and almost sent me to the ER via Ambulance!
But, I was sick, recent major life change, and white coat syndrome. My external signs of high blood pressure are my ears turn red… (yea, for real, red) and my enteral signs are I feel really hot in my face. I was actually a little scared in Bilouxi and it took me a while to recover. It wasn’t a “how are you today?” – It was two weeks later…. asking “how are you now?” It took a bit for both of us to grab-hold-of how sick I was and to adjust in a small space. But the gods were on my side and I was better, finally.
For now, over the past 5 months… my blood pressure has relaxed to a comfortable avg of 120/70. Yea, the heart rate is still a little high (82 per minute), but I’m working on that now.
In Summary, it’s still life and routine. I will admit I’ve gotten a little slack with routine these past two months because we’ve been in “visit everyone” mode. I need to get that back “in check”. I need to get back into running a household instead of letting it run me. I need routine, I’m definitely realizing that. Otherwise, I just slosh around and I hate that.
Next time I’ll take you to Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey winter housing that we stumbled upon in Baraboo, WI! Such an interesting find up here in Wisconsin!!!!