Full timing - the process? (1 Viewer)

[The Cruisers]

When you decide to go full timing, What is the process? How did you do it?

Sell your house or rent it out?

If you sell it did you get rid/sell all of the furniture or pay for storage?

What about all those personal things - photos (we have thousands from way back) etc. Things that have wonderful memories for you?

We have quite a big house with tons of “stuff”.
I’m just sitting here thinking about all the things around me.

We are not thinking of full timing yet but wondered how you actually made the move and what it all entails.

What made you come to the decision to do it?

Just very interested as it sounds wonderful but also a bit scary.

 

[Spriddler]

It's more important to plan for what you will want when you have to give up full timing rather than when starting to do it.
For how long do you intend to full time?
Will finances be sufficient to support you and the cost of putting all your 'stuff' into storage whilst full timing and for a house purchase later?
Not enough info from you but in any case I don't intend to offer my approach/experience as it's down to your personal aspirations and circumstances regarding health, family, finances etc. etc.

 

[klaatu]

We were totally ruthless. We emptied the house - sold (cheaply, to friends and neighbours), gave away, or otherwise disposed of almost everything we owned. The van we had at the time had very little storage, so we kept only a few essentials. Then we went off over the channel, with no idea what the future would bring.

We thought we had a buyer for the house, but they let us down. Then a near neighbour decided to buy the house - while we were touring France.

In the end, we were only full timing for about six months. We decided to buy a small house in France to use as a base for motorhome touring; that was about two years ago. So since then we've been buying more stuff, and looking back with a little sadness at some of the nice things we used to own, that we perhaps should have put into storage - as it turned out. No regrets, though.

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[Neilfg]

We sold the house down sized, sold and gave away lots of stuff or it felt like that at the time. We the toured around looking for somewhere else to live for about 6/7 months. Then found our new house.

The issues as you can guess is that alot of the stuff we kept was not right for the new house, thankfully a surprising also amount fits and is useful. But my biggest bug bear was the storage bill every month, it was not the cheapest. And when unpacking and thinking I've just paid money to store that old hose pipe for 6 months

After living in the van for a few months you realise that actually you are paying to store stuff you just do not need.

So if I was selling up and going full-time for 6 months or more again I would be ruthless, get rid of everything and try and find cheap/free storage for the bits you can't. You will save on moving out and in costs as well.

 

[Wissel]

We were renters, but had a big house and a lot of stuff.

We spent a year planning for (what we thought was) every eventuality and downsized as much as possible (quite ruthlessly) and pinched a little storage space at a relatives for personal stuff.

We had an absolute nightmare start to fulltiming where everything conceivable went wrong, then just as we were ready to travel again (almost 2 years in a stationary van), lockdown happened None of this put us off.

We are now mobile and loving it. Because of Covid19 we're sticking to sites for now.

As far as our reasons for doing it go - I kept reading about motorhome users on here that spent all these years paying off a house, then sold it to travel. We both love photography and have had motorhomes since we got together 14 years ago and I figured lets skip the mortgage luckily Missus agreed

It was scary getting rid of everything and making the jump, but so pleased we did. Our house might be small, but you should see the garden

 

[Spriddler]

When I retired twenty years ago I was single and rented out my house, furnished, for 36 months while I full timed around Europe. I just kept mostly personal things (photos, mementos etc.) which I could store in the attic. No mortgage and excellent tenants fortunately. Incidentally, after I returned I didn't get my T.V. down from the attic for 9 years as I'd not wanted a telly (or missed it) whilst travelling.
I wouldn't be happy selling my home with no base to return to. Besides, money invested securely doesn't get more than a row of beans in interest.
I only packed up full timing after 3 years as I found it tedious and unsatisfying constantly travelling on my own; many temporary acquaintances but few real friends, plus I was really missing friends and family and riding my three vintage motorbikes stored at a pal's garage.

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[Rosemary1]

We full timed by accident - sold house end of February with date of moving into new house in April. Lockdown happened, sellers still not agreed new date.

We had a big sort out but still spending a fortune in storage including motorbike and classic car

Hubby now said if date isn’t signed for very soon he is going to part x present motorhome for his dream vehicle, sell off a lot of stuff and travel the world instead so we maybe properly full timing soon.........

 

[9526]

We have emptied our house entirely, half a doz boxes of “sentimental stuff” in our daughters loft.

just waiting for a completion date on the house and we’ll swap van and bugger off.

Lockdown entirely stuffed up our last completion, but our latest sale seems to be nearly there.

we’ve been living in an empty house with 2 camping chairs since Christmas

 

[fesuvious]

Rule of thumb;
An entire home contents on average is about 2 times the council tax bill per year for that house to store properly. (Not in a cow shed or council garage!)

That's a rough average and includes some insurance

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[MyrtleGuru]

Not for fulltiming purposes, but we rented storage for a while. After two years we calculated that it would have been cheaper to ditch all our furniture and buy brand new rather than pay the storage charges. So my advice would be to do the calculations carefully.

Obviously if you have family heirlooms rather than bog-standard furniture, the cost might be justifiable.

 

[Mr porky]

We are lucky in the fact we have business storage for our business thus enabling us to have free storage however we have only kept 2 pallets worth of stuff. Its quite freeing ditching the chattels of life

 

[Hollyberry]

I set off for a six week break in the UK , stayed in the van for 9 months. House back in France just got left, couldn’t do much about it. Went home, hated being in the house. I sold and gave away as much as possible, packed up just half a dozen boxes and kept a few small pieces of furniture ( stored in friend’s barn) put the house on the market to be sold with all the furniture left (13 rooms in all) and drove away for another 15 months.
Mail c/o daughter, insurance, road tax c/o friend. Job done. It was lovely owning so little.
This last house move in May I realised how much crap I’d acquired in just 6 years, felt I was drowning in it at times.

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[TheAleMan]

Been fulltiming for one whole week today Sold the house and now living on 5 van sites whilst we carry on working for the time being. Will buy another house probably next year now and rent that our for extra income. Been wanting to full time now for around five years or so, just got fed up with living in a house what with all the upkeep of it and bills and council tax etc. We sold a load of our stuff as well as giving plenty away to boot salers that I know. Sold quite a lot of our stuff also to the people that bought our house like home cinema, kitchen dining table and chairs tumble drier etc. All the rest went into storage which we are quite happy to pay for even though not particularly cheap, it’s just something that has to be done until we buy another property.

 

[billym]

We got rid of everything except a packing box each which we left in my sister's garage. Bearing in mind we had two young kids the boxes were pretty much full of teddies and toys)

We rented our house out for two years then sold it, bought another house to rent out and sold it 18 months later at a huge profit.

It was the best feeling ever to be rid of all the trappings of home ownership which lasted for the next seven years

 

[Sucoz]

We planned for about 6 months, there's quite a bit to organise, then rented out (to my sister in the end, so managed to store things in the loft.)
We intended on it being for up to 3 years. Anyway with coronavirus (we were moved off the campsite we were on) we moved back just under a year and all lived together (our daughters included) during lockdown,then my sister moved out.
My husband prefers to be back home but I miss being somewhere new all the time.
For me ideally it's nice to have a base but to be able to go off for a month or two if you want - unfortunately I now have to work

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[NicandJay]

We sold all furniture, loft contents, shed contents the lot... kept about 6 removal boxes of really personal stuff all safely stored in brothers loft. Very liberating experience I must say when house was sold too. However we are fortunate that both sets of parents have room enough for us if needs be and covid and swapping caravan for moho has been such a time.
Do I miss the stuff we sold? No! My home is where my wife and dog are whether we are sleeping in the spare bedroom at my mums, my in laws or our new moho we collect in September... nothing else matters in life.

As they say... " he who dies with the most toys ...still dies".

 

[MyrtleGuru]

We sold all furniture, loft contents, shed contents the lot... kept about 6 removal boxes of really personal stuff all safely stored in brothers loft. Very liberating experience I must say when house was sold too. However we are fortunate that both sets of parents have room enough for us if needs be and covid and swapping caravan for moho has been such a time.
Do I miss the stuff we sold? No! My home is where my wife and dog are whether we are sleeping in the spare bedroom at my mums, my in laws or our new moho we collect in September... nothing else matters in life.

As they say... " he who dies with the most toys ...still dies".

Maybe a lifestyle statement:

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Arts & Culture | Artist to sell life possessions

news.bbc.co.uk

BBC NEWS | England | Wear | Artist sells possessions for £1

news.bbc.co.uk

 

[Ginster]

I'm in the process of getting rid of all my stuff as I'll be fulltiming from March next year and can't wait, took possession of my newer Moho on Monday and plan to be away every weekend till March, I'll only keep a few treasured items and store them in the loft as I'll be renting out my flat to supplement my pension, I'll be travelling alone but not worried about that, I'm so excited about the whole adventure I'm driving work colleagues nuts cos I can't stop talking about it!

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[NoName]

I shall be travelling around Europe for a year starting either November or January. Storing possesions can be expensive, so if you don't need, I would be inclined to dispose. My Daughter in Law will let my home on AIRBNB, just in case i need to come back quickly. If let to tenants, then there is the risk that it will take time to regain possession.
Having recently downsized from a 7 bed property to a 2 bed and disposed of a lot of possessions I can say that it can be cathartic. Plus my son said : Dad I don't want to have to clear your house if you pop your socks! So less is better !

 

[Pelirocco]

I own a removals and storage company. Storage is fine if you are between houses short term ,but long term its expensive ,and the longer you leave it the more you remember it as being nicer then it was lol

 

[Rosemary1]

I own a removals and storage company. Storage is fine if you are between houses short term ,but long term its expensive ,and the longer you leave it the more you remember it as being nicer then it was lol
[/QUOTE

We have just got ours out of storage yesterday - went in end of February for 6 weeks when we were between houses!

Was expensive but pleased that everything was okay and kept say “ohh forgot about this “ as I unpacked

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[Northernraider]

I sold everything , sold the house furnished , gave away lots of stuff I no longer needed , I've a few items in mums loft but its mostly clothes I might fit in to again one day lol , I've been fulltime 3 years now but spent most of the first 2 years in europe , never stayed on a campsite always been aires or free spots ...and spent the last 9 months on family driveway till i head off to europe again in a fortnight. I'm constantly clearing out and getting rid of more stuff I don't use. And if I ever go back in to bricks and mortar I won't be making the same mistake of collecting clutter again
Its only stuff and in truth it has little value

 

[Fulham Dave]

We sold our house, move out next Tuesday, handed in our resignations at work, finished last week and then gave away majority of things to friends and family, keeping just essentials that we will store at mums. Cannot wait to get started although looks like UK and Ireland first before heading south. Not sure if finances will stretch to perm early retirement, we are on 54, but will have a few years of fun for now

 

[nicholsong]

I am not full-timing in a MH, but at my lady's house.

I kept the house and let it out unfurnished, which has been successful for 10 years, a good income and some appreciation. I was fortunate in having a small attic area under the eaves which I have reserved for myself and in which I have stored my private small possessions that I want to keep.

It also keeps a UK address for me for any purpose that needs it.

Geoff

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[Wanders from Glos]

We have sold our house and bought an A class and will be living in it from mid-October until we find somewhere else to live. I guess we are fortunate that we do not need to work again if we don't want to. We are being very ruthless, giving away a lot of stuff and only storing the minimum. Because the house has always been part of the pension plan, we knew we would be selling up sooner or later and so didn't really buy any new furniture for the past 10 years, therefore not too worried about giving it all away. Some of the stuff we are keeping, such as most of the clothes are going to the mother-in-law who will keep it in a bedroom so we can get warmer/cooler clothes. After this weekend kids are all set up in flats/houses and we have been able to use some of the money to help them. The rest is going into storage, which including insurance is likely to be between £60 and £70 per week, another reason to have been ruthless. Large items worth less than about £250 have gone. Post is being redirected to the mother-in-law, and the CAMC insurance covers contents up to £5,000 with a maximum each item of £500.

We have booked the first week's site, one near family for Christmas and St Ives for New Year. The rest will be decided by the weather as much as places we want to see. The real disappointment is we hoped to tour around Spain and just get cheap flights back occasionally to visit, but feel that is unlikely now. We did fancy a warmer winter. The plan is to drive about 1-2 hours whenever we change sites, taking the car as well (too big to tow). That way the pressure on sight seeing and shopping when the weather is bad is eased and we can get back to family occasionally.

Who knows how long we will be travelling, but we expect it to be about 6 months before a new property is found and the conveyancing completed. After that we plan to spend maybe 3-6 months holidaying, especially once Europe looks more appealing. I'm sure we've missed loads of things, but that is the plan so far.

 

[bobandjanie]

When we sold up in 2013, we sold everything, including both cars and downsized from an a class to a PVC and caravan, if it didn't fit in we sold it.

The caravan was used on site in winter and stored while we travelled in the summer months, in that time we looked for another home, and after two years decided that Spain was for us, and whatever we decided on was to be a holiday rental and something that could be left and looked after itself.

After looking at villas, we decided lots was going to be empty in winter when we would be there, you needed a car to go anywhere, something I wanted to get away from, having done that at every other house we owned.
So after two years we ended up with a apartment right on the front opposite the beach / restaurants there's always people around just what we wanted, the furniture was included although most we changed, and found it's the best thing to do, so many friends have their personal belongings in storage for years, and when they find their dream home, the furniture doesn't belong or fit the new house then sell it.

I think anyone selling now and going full time are very brave the way things are, but it wouldn't stop us you only get one life do what's right for you. Bob.

 

[Snoopy]

All very inspiring, Brave, well thought through, most days hubby and i say let's do it!! Then ( dreaded...compromise) we can't afford it..most night I think? It's got to be when your ready!....mmm as life changes..can we afford not to do it..are we ever ready good luck and safe travels to all

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[Ginster]

All very inspiring, Brave, well thought through, most days hubby and i say let's do it!! Then ( dreaded...compromise) we can't afford it..most night I think? It's got to be when your ready!....mmm as life changes..can we afford not to do it..are we ever ready good luck and safe travels to all

If you really want to do it, you'll find a way. I'll only have my pension and rent from my flat, which will hopefully always have a tenant otherwise, I'm screwed but like you say, you only live once so don't live to regret not doing it

 

[sally47]

Would like to give it a go but what do you do about insurance can you get full time insurance and What does it cost

 

[Spriddler]

Would like to give it a go but what do you do about insurance can you get full time insurance and What does it cost

There are very many threads on here if you use the 'Search' facility (top right in the blue bar) with the key words 'Full time'.

E.g. here's just one of them.......

Full timing - the process?

When you decide to go full timing, What is the process? How did you do it? Sell your house or rent it out? If you sell it did you get rid/sell all of the furniture or pay for storage? What about all those personal things - photos (we have thousands from way back) etc. Things that have...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

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