fla.keys.
CT
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Joined: 01/22/2008
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I am 36, my wife is 30 and we have a 4 month old son. We just bought our home 2 1/2 years ago and I own a small landscape company so my line of work requires me to stay local. We are obviously not considering going full time, but I was just curious as to how you full timers do it. That is, how old are you, do you work or are you retired living off of a savings. How long were you RVing before you decided to go full time.
I know it's not on the same topic, but I plow snow in the winter and the past couple of winters here have been very lean. I was wondering about(giving up my plowing)and workcamping in the winter. Kind of like a 36 year old snowbird.(When I think of snowbird, I think of retiree.) Is workcamping on the same level as full timing in some regards?
Thanks for the input.
Mike , Amber , Sweet Baby James (and the dog )
2004 Chevy Silverado 2500 HD Ext Cab 6.0L 4x4
2008 Springdale 296-BH-SSR
Prodigy Brake Control, Timbren SES
DrawTite 1200 WDH, Dual Cam Sway Control
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Aridon
SE Florida
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Joined: 06/06/2007
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31 here and wife is 33. We are about to go FT once we close on our home. I have an insurance agency here that runs itself well on its own and DW is a RN for a local hospital. She'll work another year or so and in the process we'll get started on having a child. In between she'll take a few months off during the year for us to travel long distance and a few weeks here and there for shorter range trips. Once we have a baby she'll probably stop or only work a few days a month so we can travel and spend most of our time raising our child. Her normal schedule is 3 days a week which means we can arrange her days for a week off in between pretty easily so that will be a big plus for the times we are local but still want to travel.
2008 Newmar 4330 (Modified)
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forty4san
Hollywood, FL
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Joined: 08/26/2002
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Forget the term full timing .. just do what you want and call it what you want .. My husband got an early out at 51 (that was 4 years ago). We didn't have a house to sell, always renters. We always talked about living in an RV full time and traveling. Well the early out gave us the chance .. we traveled for 2 years. I say it took 2 years to get from FL to NV cause that's where we are and have been for 2 years. We have a pension check but it only goes so far. Shoot our health insurance is 750 a month and only good in S. Florida unless we go to the ER. My husband is working (started as a workamper, but became full time) here at Lake Mead. Making 1/3 what he was making but he has less stress. The money he makes here pays for fuel and food. It's a good feeling knowing we can leave any time. We don't have property tax and our insurance for full time on our trailer is less than you pay for your home taxes and we have about the same coverage.
Susan I
2008 McKenzie Starwood 32 FKD TT
03 3500 Quad HO Diesel DRW 4:10 
Fulltiming, On the road somewhere.
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fla.keys.
CT
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Joined: 01/22/2008
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Yes, this is the kind of info I'm looking for. I personally don't care what it is called either, I just want to know what kinds of people are out there doing it and how they manage to maintain an income. I guess if I were to think about it in the future I would have to have a pretty sizeable savings account to draw from, because my business can't run without me here and I won't have a retirement plan, pension or health insurance.
Please keep the responses coming.
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rjf7g
Virginia
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Joined: 01/18/2007
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Our compromise while we are still in the world of working is to have a park trailer set up on a seasonal site about 90 minutes away from our home at Smith Mountain Lake (VA). On Friday after work (I can usually head out between noon and 2 pm), we hit the road in a car, travel 2 hours (counting a stop at the grocery store), unlock our camper, turn on the water and the hot water heater and we have a mini-vacation. We have a 7 month lease (April 1 - November 1) and it costs about what 45 nights of mid-range campgrounds would. We have NO set up time once we open camp (2 weekends if we take it easy).
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1992 Fleetwood Tioga Montara Special 27 Class C
2007 Gulfstream Innsbruck 36FRS Park Trailer
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Trailering Texans
Huntsville, Texas
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Joined: 01/01/2008
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OK - It's none of my business - but you asked for advice - Find a job that will give you insurance and a retirement check. It must be great to have your own business but how will you ever retire? What happen when you get old and can't work? Even a small retirement w/ your Soc. Sec. can allow you to what you want (if you are careful with the money). Other alternative is to get the wife into a job that provides those things. Just my opinion.
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Enjoying the Lagniappe
Destin,FL,US
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Joined: 07/28/2003
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We were both 34 when we began full-timing - 5 years ago. The first RV we ever owned, we bought for the purpose of full-timing.
Enjoying the Lagniappe
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hitchup
Fulltiming in Madison, VA
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Joined: 02/17/2005
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What seems to keep most people away from fulltiming is having children in school. We thought we would have to wait until retirement even after our kids were all graduated. A few still lived with us & helped to pay the mortgage. That evolved into me traveling with DH to jobsites. Six months later it evolved into using a 5th wheel.
There's no reason you couldn't move your landscaping services South every winter. It might start out strictly as workamping, but who knows what it could turn into!
Best thing, you're young, in good health & that you have the support of a loving family that loves Adventure!
2009 DRV Mobile Suite 38TKSB3....our custom home
2008 Ford F450 Lariat CC 4x4......his office
Working Fulltimers since 3/2005
"Shoot for the Moon! Even if you miss it, you will land among the Stars."
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sfprop
San Francisco
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Joined: 11/22/2006
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Trailering Texans - and everybody!
You can be self employed and build up a retirement. Sometimes a better one! It depends on the income you can produce, obviously, and how well you budget, save, what you invest it in, etc. In fact those who are successful at self employment are likely to have MORE in their retirement than someone relying on wages.
Of course, many variables. You can have a great business and have something go wrong and be broke at 60. You can also work your whole life for a major co. and they steal your pension plan and you're broke at 60.
2006 Duramax Chev dually.
2008 Mobile Suites TKSB
Working toward "long timing".
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sportrac
Canada
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Joined: 09/21/2006
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My wife is 46 and I am 44. Kids are growen. I semi-retired and now I am working as a RV Partsman. My wife has worked form home for years via Internet so now she works from RV.
Paul & Kathy
Canada
08 F350 Superduty DRW Power Stroke 6.4
07 Cedarcreek 37CKQS
04 Explorer Sportrac
07 Mirage 5x8 Cargo Trailer
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