Back in about 2000 went online to research what this full time lifestyle was all about. Started reading travel blogs and thought I needed to group them for me and others. So started www.hitchitch.com Retired in Jan. 2003.. hit the road in late Nov. 2003 without the house being sold yet as it was getting cold in IA and the 5er drain hose froze solid. Was living in it in the back drive keeping the house clean. It was time to get out of town... and let the realtor sell the place without us. Went straight to south TX and in Jan. got an offer and sold. From there never looked back.
We ran the numbers so many times getting ready and had our doubts if it was the right move but Ya Know looking back... it was the best thing we have ever done... Not one regret...
Sharing Travel Journals and Adventures Hitchitch.com
We started on the boat but later started going back and forth between the boat and the 5th wheel.
I'm an engineering nerd and have the household budget on a spreadsheet. I can't remember why but one day I decided to look at the problem from the opposite direction. Instead of saying how do we generate $X dollars per year, I redid the budget as if we sold just about everything, got DEBT FREE and took off.
I did this and was a bit shocked. When Tammy got home I called her into the den and told her I had a crazy idea. Silly girl said fine, let's do it. Turns out we can live a very nice lifestyle on around $25k/yr or a fraction of what we spent living in a house.
Next step was to get debt free because that was a big part of the problem. Paid off the cars, credit cards and student loans on an accelerated pace. Took about a year to clear it all out.
The plan was to stop periodically, work for 3-6 months where ever and then head out for a few months and then repeat the process. Ironically a sarcastic comment to a buisness associate resulted in a job offer where I could work remotely on a part time basis.
We headed out almost 6 years ago and have loved it. We are quasi stationary for a couple years while we save up for a PanAmerica trip.
Tammy Mike & the Bilge Rat (AKA: Diego)
Ford F250 7.3L
1997 Sunnybrook 27' 5er
1995 Gemini Sail Catamaran 34'
Full Time spliting time between boat and 5er
In May 1999 our business partner sold our business out from under us. In shock, we couldn't decide what we wanted to do. DH suggested taking a year to travel to decide. We hit the road in Feb 2000, and we're still out here! So, a bad situation turned out to be a great opportunity.
Wife and I just got tired of the rat-race of work, we both have RV'd for years, so we decided on a plan..
To payoff all bills, save up as much as possible, and hit the road at 55..
Back then, the housing market was hot, so selling the house was really fast..
We thought about a storage locker, but decided against it, if we were to buy another house, it would be a smaller house..
That turned out to be a very smart move as we fulltimed for 9+ years and the storage fees would be far more than the stuff we would have kept..
We did store a couple boxes at daughter's house in her garage..
In order to quit our jobs and go fulltime at 55, we knew we needed to work a little in the summer to offset our health insurance cost.. Part-time work was easy to find and enjoyed doing something different at the time..
At 62, stopped working part-time and joined the SS club with Uncle Sam..
All I can add to that is WOW, and if we had to do it all over again, we would have pulled the trigger a little sooner...
I am the most reluctant full timer. I just moved to the driveway of the property where I was born. Then once a year we haul the camper to Florida. We used to reside in an apartment I'd built over the garage. Then one spring my DW said "Why not just stay in the camper this summer?" So now we're full timers. NOT full time travelers, just live in it full time.
The sun's up-gotta go to work. bye
'03 GMC 4500 Topkick with Duramax/Allison
'04 36' McKenzie Medallion triple slide
Cabover kayak racks w/18' touring kayaks.
Bicycle carrier on the front with a street bike & a mountain bike
Snowbird W/Ohio camper dock
Great stories. What we like best about all the posts is that everyone is saying they wished they had done this sooner! Next year will not come fast enough for us! Number 2 -- being debt free is also our plan (we hope, we hope, we hope) by then. So far everything is on track!
Regards to All!
Heylea
Class A TBD in 2013
2009 Jeep Compas Rallye 4x4 5-sp manual
How about hearing from some folks that tried it and didn't make it for one reason or another. But then, I guess they may not be on this website anymore.
These days, I spend a lot of time thinking about the hereafter... I go somewhere to get something, and then wonder what I'm "here after."
bcsdguy wrote: How about hearing from some folks that tried it and didn't make it for one reason or another. But then, I guess they may not be on this website anymore.
I think I really expected it to be cheaper than living in houses. It isn't, unfortunately. More convenient and cheaper to move, yes. But I could get the cheaper part by owning an old moving truck to move my **** around in. If you're going to sit somewhere for six months at a time, and rent is the same whether you get an apartment or live in an RV park, what is the point of living in the RV? Convenience in moving becomes less important with time.
I have had for the last almost six months a luxury apartment on a golf course for about $35/day, which is more or less identical to the cost of staying in an RV park nearby. I am now buying a house for $13,169 in this city - as within a year (and it looks like I'll be around that long) its as expensive as the apartment. So I'm no longer full timing in the RV.
I didn't dislike living in the RV - my 35' fifth wheel was more space than I needed. But I don't live in it any more. (I even sold it to my mom who is living in it now) Circumstances just seemed to conspire to make it a more logical decision to live in more conventional housing. If I go back to consulting and moving around frequently, I might go with an RV again, if I could afford to buy it outright. But it sure will be configured more suitable to my lifestyle choices than the last one was. Nothing like living in an RV to learn you some things.
Well, After pretty much taking a bath x10 on our home .. the wife and I decided that it was just not worth it. I ended up with Cancer and treated for it in January .. so that was also a deciding factor that life is just too damn short to be so stressed about things.
We ended up surrendering the house after years of trying to get the finance company to work with us. That alone is a long story .. but to make it the short version .. we went bankrupt in 2002 .. we tried and tried to reaferm (how do you spell that???? lol)on the house and the finance company refused. All we wanted is for them to show that we where current and in good standing on the credit reports. Come to find out we where one of the illegal loans and thats why they would not work with us. so we told them to stick it and gave it back to them .. they cant do titally squat about it .. as it was under bankruptcy anyway ..
Anyhow .. again after the cancer thing .. it just was not worth the stress and the wife and I decided that we wanted to live life .. so we bought a 2011 Keystone Springdale .. and 2011 Dodge Ram 2500, bought the wife a 2008 Jeep Liberty .. and off to Texas for 2 years .. than we are going to travel from Texas to Utah in the Summer and Utah to Texas for the winter months ..
2012 Dodge Ram 3500 Dual 6.7L High output diesel
2008 Jayco Designer 34RLQS
2013 Harley Davidson Ultra Classic
Full time and loving it
Cancer free since 1/2012
Men, Please check your self for Testicular cancer and Teach your young men how to check as well!
We took about a year - same as you: ebay, craiglsit, goodwill. Settled on what we wanted to bring and simply got rid of the rest, Emotionally was difficult at time,s but now we don't look back. We started gtting Workamper News subscriptions prior to hitting the road, so we would know what kind of opportunities are out there, since we knew we wanted to do some workamping.
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