What is it like fulltiming (1 Viewer)

[Adria 5]

hi For all the weekend and holiday motorhomers like me whats it like living all the time in one??

whats the advantages? whats the pitfalls?

RAY

 

[johnsandywhite]

:Cool: Advantages?

You can come and go as you please.
Go where you want when you want.

Disadvantages?

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm?

Can't think of any. Although I believe some have problems of an Home address.

 

[Adria 5]

hi john how do you go about mail?

sometime i just feel like packing the rat race in dont you!

ray

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[johnsandywhite]

hi john how do you go about mail?

ray

:Cool: Currently on Wifi. When Wild Camping we have always used Mobile phone to connect to the internet for emails. No other mail required (normally). Unless you are referring to Mail back in the UK? In which case? We go through it when we get back to the UK. We STILL own houses that are rented to family.

BTW. We have NEVER been in the Rat Race. So no need to escape it.

 

[Jim]

I think your life full timing in a van must be much the same as anyone else's, just in a different place that's all. Being able to wake up where you want must be fantastic. However is this the only real difference between a fulltimer and anyone else? Life is what you make it, no matter where you live.

Daytime TV is full of programs about people who lead dull and boring lives in the Midlands and then sell up to chase "the good life" and move to somewhere like Spain or Australia only to find that once the initial excitement wears off, they still have a dull and boring life! They fail to realise that they are the common denominator!

Is living full time in a motorhome that much different to the life you lead with a bricks and mortar house?

 

[zaskar]

hi For all the weekend and holiday motorhomers like me whats it like living all the time in one??
whats the advantages? whats the pitfalls?
RAY

Advantages.

Freedom to go where-ever you want.Knowing that if YOU want to, you can just take off. Gives a lot of peace of mind if, like us, you had to put up with GIT neighbours for the 10 years we had a house. If you like peace and quite like us, base yourself on a quiet CL in the middle of nowhere. Get home after 10 hours in the office and you've got scenery, peace and quiet, nothing but the birds and the wind in the trees as you sip on a glass of white. Neighbour problems are easily resolved with a turn of the key.

Disadvantages.

If the engine/bodywork fails (as it did on us recently) and you can't fix it yourself, you loose the roof over your head!
Depreciation. Your ALWAYS on a looser with a vehicle! :-(
Loss of footing on the housing market. We've been "out" 8 years now and to be honest, i doubt wether we'll ever have bricks and motar again, certainly not in the sort of area I would like. For us, the next step (other than another RV) will probably be a static park home and down size to a Eurovan for weekends.
If AT ALL possible, stick hold of your house and put tennants in. For us, that was a total non-starter and the only thing I've ever been sorry about fulltiming.

As you can see, it's VERY easy to make the disadvantages appear greater than the advantages, at least on paper.
The only thing I can say is that Fulltiming is something that comes from the heart, not the head.
Wether or not, 8 years down the line, niether of us are sorry we've taken this course in life and we still love the lifestyle to bits, even with another UK winter approaching.

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[zaskar]

Is living full time in a motorhome that much different to the life you lead with a bricks and mortar house?

Good question Jim.
The simple answer is that it CAN be if YOU make it. I must admit that it's VERY easy to slip into the 9 to 5 at the office and then rush "home" and start either running about after other people or rush about getting all sorts of silly little jobs done that probably, if your're honest, could wait.
The amount of times on site when the "weekenders" turn up and have a ball with the papers and the wine and the dinner in the local pub etc etc etc, meanwhile, yours truely seems to be flat out doing all sorts of nothing, with tools scattered everywhere and an oily forehead!
Another thing which doesn't help time is friends............and that's not meant to sound as nasty/miserable/ungratefull as it probably does.
Since we've been "out", ffiona and I have made FARRRRRRRRRRR more friends on site than we ever had when we had a house.
SO, I wake up saturday morning and think, "I'm gonna do X, Y and Z and then put my feet up for the rest of the day.
Yeah right!!!!!!!! First Nick and Jan come wandering over for a natter, then it's Ian and Jean, then Gary and Alison etc etc etc.!!!!!! Before I know it, its dinner time, the wine is starting to come out........AND I'VE GOT BUGGER ALL DONE!!!!!
Still, it's lovely to have so many friends who I know I could call on if I was stuck, and vice versa.

 

[Adria 5]

I think your life full timing in a van must be much the same as anyone else's, just in a different place that's all. Being able to wake up where you want must be fantastic. However is this the only real difference between a fulltimer and anyone else? Life is what you make it, no matter where you live.

Daytime TV is full of programs about people who lead dull and boring lives in the Midlands and then sell up to chase "the good life" and move to somewhere like Spain or Australia only to find that once the initial excitement wears off, they still have a dull and boring life! They fail to realise that they are the common denominator!

Is living full time in a motorhome that much different to the life you lead with a bricks and mortar house?

good point jim has anybody done a annual yearly bill for

1 living in a house v living a ... rv... i know the 1st one is getting dearer poll tax etc..oh: Talking to a builder near loughboro theres a big demand for moorings for narrow boats on the
new pillings lock that they are building at the moment

Ray

 

[Road Runner]

When my caring duties are over personally would be my dream and would alway try to stay in warm climates for health reason.:thumb:

but

No way would Irina go for it (why I don't know?oh she doesn't get the pleasure out of any form of camping that I do sadly.
She is her worst enemy though and allows the dogs to play her as she find herself up in the night with them wanting to go out (doesn't happen at home and when they do want to go out just open the door to the garden) but it's something I would not tolerate while away but I am sure they think she likes getting up all hour

It one dream I will never see sadly the idea of beach and shorts all day:thumb:HEAVEN

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[Rapide561]

Fulltiming

Hi

Not so much an advantage, but I like watching other people packing up and moving on.....whilst I think......"none of that to do"

Drawbacks - has to be the fact the MH is a depreciating asset.

Russell

 

[gillr49]

After only 4 weeks and 2 weekends in our small van, I really feel I would love to fulltime.
It was amazing that we could be so comfortable in such a small space, you guys in your rvs must be in heaven.

 

[PenelopePitstop]

Advantages - :thumb:
1 - Not far to walk from the living room to the bedroom ( says Rex!!)
2 - if you don't like the view / neighbours / weather you can MOVE!
3 - No millstone round your neck - worrying about the roof when the gales blow or the pipes when it freezes etc etc etc!
4 - Freedom to do what you want when you want!
5 - Being closer to nature. (On our "home" site a Guanaco and rescued battery hens!)
6 - Minimum housework ( that's me - Marie - speaking!!!)
7 - Warm and snug without taking out a second mortgage for the gas bill!

Disadvantages- :Blush:

1 - Ducking and diving re permament address!oh:
2 - Emptying the toilet ( says Rex!!)
3 - Dealing with unneccesary beaurocracy.

Marie and Rex

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[scotjimland]

Advantages -
1 - Not far to walk from the living room to the bedroom ( says Rex!!)
2 - if you don't like the view / neighbours / weather you can MOVE!
3 - No millstone round your neck - worrying about the roof when the gales blow or the pipes when it freezes etc etc etc!
4 - Freedom to do what you want when you want!
5 - Being closer to nature. (On our "home" site a Guanaco and rescued battery hens!)
6 - Minimum housework ( that's me - Marie - speaking!!!)
7 - Warm and snug without taking out a second mortgage for the gas bill!

Disadvantages- :Blush:

1 - Ducking and diving re permament address!oh:
2 - Emptying the toilet ( says Rex!!)
3 - Dealing with unneccesary beaurocracy.

Marie and Rex

Nicely summed up..

Add to disadvantages
Having to return to the UK for an MOT each year. :Angry:

 

[PenelopePitstop]

Nicely summed up..

Add to disadvantages
Having to return to the UK for an MOT each year. :Angry:

That's part of no 3 Unnecessary Beaurocracy !!! ( can't spell at this time of the night and too much Ribena!!!)

But here's another one from Rex - -

It's most unfair when you've spent over 40 years working and paying into the system and they excommunicate you from the NHS if you are out of the country for over 6 months!!!

Why can't we have LONG holidays???? :Sad:

Who cares?????? We're FREE!!!!! and we'll do it anyway!

Marie and Rex

 

[kijana]

I think your life full timing in a van must be much the same as anyone else's, just in a different place that's all.

No, I don't think it works like that, Jim. That was one reason we elected to sell up completely, and give away all the accumulated impedimenta of 30+ years living in bricks & mortar (including our dog), rather than retaining & renting out. It was a statement of intent, or commitment, a cutting of lifelines.

I agree it's too easy to take your (mental) baggage with you, in which case your statement would apply.

But we have completely left everything behind, and literally driven off into the setting sun. It took us a couple of months just to unwind and realize we'd actually done the deed, after so much planning & hassle to achieve it.

But now we've adjusted to our new lifestyle, it would be very hard indeed to go back to a 9-5 mentality. We meet so many different people; live, eat & drink completely foreign, and are in a totally different mindset from when we worked & lived in UK.

We move around to suit ourselves, change our location to achieve the climate we want. If we find somewhere that is beautiful & feels nice, we stay there until we want a change: if it's not a good place we move on.

There's way too many good things to fulltiming to try & list them here. I would just say that fulltiming is a state of mind, an attitude, a way of looking at life, that can't be found by house-dwellers.

And yes, it's surely comfortable in our big fat RV. We love it!

Bruce

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[kijana]

Sorry, forgot the downsides. Thinking hard, here's all I can cite:

Even in an RV, you're living small. So you need to be tidy, and give each other room.

If you're travelling with a partner, you'd better get on with each other. Living cheek-by-jowl 24/7 is not for everyone.

It would be good to have proper fulltiming insurance. Haven't yet achieved that.

And really, that's about it. Yes, there is the bureaurocracy issue, but no more than everyday living in UK (& maybe a lot less).

You could argue that storage space is limited, but again, that's just a question of readjusting your expectations - surprisingly easily done.

And I suppose you could worry about lots of things: getting ill; breaking down; being robbed (gassed?!); where to stay when you move on.

But somehow these concerns just don't assume the same level of importance as when you live and work in UK. I don't know why this should be so, but it is. I suspect it is because we are all conditioned into a certain mindset, a given list of aspirations, from our earliest days. By our parents, the State, the System. It is in the best interests of society that we should all be good productive taxpaying members of the club. The system wouldn't work if we all dropped out of it.

But once we dare to cast off the fetters of a predefined lifestyle, and realize that true freedom lies not in how much we own, but in how little we need, then we can truly begin life again from a new perspective, no matter how old we are.

You see? I started off trying to list disadvantages, and once again, it came out positive!

In the words of my sig., just do it.

Bruce

 

[Parcverger]

We switched to full-timing over five years ago, gave furniture away, sold the flat - it was a big change, but one we've never regretted. We have met so many lovely RVers and motorhomers, our lives are the richer, and we love every day of this life. Its true that if you have a problem with the vehicle you can lose your home - we had to have a new roof recently, and lost ours for just over two weeks, but it gave us a chance of seeing friends and family, and as soon as the repair was complete we were off again.
We agree that partners must get along well - we're best friends as well as a married couple - and we have agreed on the "who does whats" of life.
One of the great aspects is that you can just decide to start the engine and go, for any reason or none, at any time. :thumb:Thats about as free as you can get in this life!

 

[Adria 5]

hi thanks to all for your input :thumb:

right wheres the estate agent i wish i got the bottle call me mr brown


ray:thanks:

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