June 2025
By Sheila Bressler
So many times, when we tell people we live and travel in our RV full time, their reaction is “OMG! I’ve always dreamed of doing that!” Well guess what? There is a whole community of folks who have stopped dreaming about it and have made it their reality! We want to help you make your reality, too!
Getting started in full-time RV living can seem overwhelming and unachievable. If you are a spontaneous person who doesn’t plan a thing, feel free to skip this blog, head to your nearest RV dealer, buy the RV of your dreams, and hit the road! Otherwise, before you put a HOUSE FOR SALE sign in your front yard, here are some things you may want to think about before committing to full-time RV living.
Things to consider about the lifestyle:
What is it about full-time RV living that appeals to you?
- Traveling and exploring new places?
- The freedom to live wherever you want?
- Wanting to downsize and have a “simpler life”?
- Wanting to exchange the 9-5 daily grind for work that is less stressful and potentially more fulfilling?
- Having a smaller house to clean and maintain?
- Are you retired and looking for a way to stay busy by volunteering and giving back?
Regardless of the reason, selling your home and most of your personal belongings to move into an RV is a big step that is not to be taken lightly. So, before jumping in with both feet, think about whether it is necessary to live full-time in an RV to make your dreams come true or if they could be met in some other way.
Living in an RV requires (guess what?), living in an RV
Recreational Vehicles (RV’s) come in a variety of different shapes and sizes. In a future blog, we will give you a full description of the different types of RVs, which may help you decide what will be most comfortable for you. Regardless of what type of RV you choose, living in one full-time will require some type of camping. Prior camping experience is not a requirement for becoming a full-time RVer. However, if you have never camped before, we would recommend that you rent or buy an RV and spend a week or two camping in it. This will give you a small taste of what it will be like to live in an RV full-time. If you already have some camping experience under your belt, here are some additional things to consider before committing to full-time RVing:
- Have you ever stayed in an RV at a campground for an extended amount of time? What was that experience like for you?
- How comfortable are you driving/towing/backing up an RV?
- How do you feel about having to dump your black tank (the holding tank on the RV for your sewage) or a composting toilet every few days for weeks on end?
- If you are planning on traveling with a partner or family members, what is your relationship like with them? Are they as enthusiastic about full-time RV living as you are? Can you live with them in a small space for days/weeks/months?
- Are you comfortable selling your house and going full-time, or would you feel more comfortable living part-time in your house and part-time in your RV?
If you are a planner, all these questions and more will probably run through your mind before you fully commit to this lifestyle. And guess what, even more questions will pop up once you are living on the road. But don’t let that deter you! Thousands of people live this lifestyle every day, so how hard can it be, right?
If I sell my house, what do I do with all my stuff?
If you are currently a homeowner, I guarantee you will not be able to fit everything from your house into your camper, so some downsizing will be required. What you take with you may be determined by the storage capacity and weight limit of your camper. Here is the thought process we went through when we moved from our house to our RV:
- First, we considered what items we currently owned that were practical for RV living. Things such as kitchenware, tools, clothing, linens, etc., were evaluated for practicality, weight, and space limitations. Word of warning – some of the roads in our country are rough, so traveling with your grandma’s good China might not be the best choice. Lightweight, non-breakable dishes might be a better option. You also need to think about how many items you really need. Will you really need five winter coats if you are going to be spending six months out of the year in Florida? Also, think about alternative ways of getting the same result. For example, do you need your entire library of hardcover books, or is electronic reading material, like a Kindle, more practical?
- Next, we assessed if we had space in the RV for everything we wanted to take with us. Sheila would have loved to take her Kitchen-Aid along in the RV, but she didn’t have space for it and settled for a smaller hand mixer. We physically took things from our house to our camper just to see what would fit and what wouldn’t. And, after five years on the road, we continue to downsize on a regular basis. Two rules we try to live by: 1) If we haven’t used it in a year, we get rid of it. 2) If you buy something new (ex, a pair of shoes), you have to throw out the old.
- Once we decided what to take with us and what to leave behind, we used the three popular methods of downsizing: donate, sell, and discard. If there was something we wanted to remember, we took a picture and then disposed of it.
- For items you just can’t seem to part with, rent a storage unit. However, a lot of our fellow full-time RVer’s have told us they end up getting rid of all that stuff and the storage unit within a few years of being on the road because they realized they really didn’t need it.
- We checked with family members to see if they wanted any of our family heirlooms or had use for some items. Our son was a new homeowner when we went on the road, so a lot of Mike’s tools went to our son’s house and are now being put to good use.
What about health insurance?
This is another major concern of a lot of people who are considering full-time RV living. Since we are not old enough for Medicare, we purchase our health insurance through the Marketplace in our home state. However, there are jobs out there for full-time RVers that do offer health insurance and other benefits. We will address that more in our blog next month when we talk about Workamping.
How do you get your mail?
How do we get our mail while moving from place to place? Even when you live in your RV full-time, you still need a domicile. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a domicile is “a person’s fixed, permanent, and principal home for legal purposes”. This includes an address to receive mail, register your vehicles, pay your taxes, and vote. We use a family member’s address as our domicile and are grateful that he is willing to go through our mail and forward anything to us that needs immediate attention. Other full-time RVers utilize a mail service such as Escapees or Traveling Mailbox. Most campgrounds will allow guests to receive mail, and if they don’t, your mail can be forwarded to a post office near your location.
Final Thoughts
Although there are some logistics you will need to figure out to enter full-time RV living, the good news is that there is a whole community of folks who have gone before you and have already figured it all out. There are also a ton of online and social media resources to help support you on your journey. Sometimes the hardest part of fulfilling a dream is taking that first step. We hope you found something in this blog that inspired you to move forward. As Walt Disney said, “All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them”.
Let us know if you have any questions about getting started that we haven’t addressed. We would be happy to write about them in future blogs. Until next time, safe travels!
Next month: How to earn money while living in your RV full-time.
