Too Much Analysis?

I knocked off a few more items from my list that needed to get done. That's a good thing. A bad thing is I am starting to go back over all of my notes and spreadsheets and re-analyzing. Also looking at a different angle.  I wasn't having doubt but I was thinking over my finances, how much of my savings do I want to dip into either for a rv purchase or perhaps to live on.

I have read budgets on other blogs, I have looked at my budget and also my expenses that I have kept track of the past 10 years on an Excel spreadsheet. I have a feeling that I will spend more than I plan while on the road.  Sure, I can live like a hermit and keep all my expenses RVing as low as possible but I know there will always be something around the corner that will have to be fixed that is unexpected. Just like owning a house.

Would I be willing to workcamp a lot just to get myself on the road?  I don't think so. When I leave for fulltime, I will not be wanting to work. Volunteer...yes!  But not a job.  I have one of those now that pays quite well and a house that is close to being paid for. So I can't really justify leaving a job and a house to get on the road, only to go back to a job (workcamping) to be financially fit while traveling.  I cannot decide just how much of my savings I want to spend.

The ideal situation would be to sell my house, my sports car and all my furniture. Anything else give to goodwill. Then RV full-time. I might like keeping my house as a home base and RV part time, but I  am really the type that I go all the way or not at all....not 1/2 time.

I had an older relative tell me this past week, to rv full-time now, because by the time I am 70 (in 10.5 yrs) I may not have the good health to travel. Her sister and brother in-law have been RVing fulltime and this winter is their last time. Due to health issues they will be selling their 40' motorhome and moving into a family owned condo.

I have heard something to that effect from more than a few people.

My weakness is "over analyzation" and when that happens, I stand still without moving in either direction.

I am starting to think my preparation may be longer than I had planned a few weeks ago and my departure date not until May 2014.

Still, no matter what the departure date turns out to be, I think this bloodhound could sleep about anywhere.

Still Sorting Through Types of RV's

I haven't posted much this week. I've been spending most of my time sorting through my stuff for Goodwill runs or throwing away. For some reason, even with experience, I don't have the urge at this time to sell on eBay or Craig's List. I have also been spending time taking care of things on my list before I depart.

I just wish I could make up my mind on what type of RV to buy when the time comes.  I know from past comments, emails received and general discussions on different RV forums, that the right RV will "hit" me either when I see it, drive it, like the floor plan, etc. Still that process is frustrating at times.

I spend a lot of time reading my blog list and then from that list finding blogs they are reading. So I have a "million' sites bookmarked with information and files of RV's for sale that I like. Lots to look at and study.

It is not if I am going to do this but when. No doubts. The only questions now, are what to buy and when to buy. How long will the RV market be a buyers market? Best to buy new or a few years old and should  I consider a model over 12 years old that was top of the line when new and is still in good shape?  Those are just some of the questions that go through my head while I look at RV's for sale.

I do know that the hounds and I need to get out on the road. I don't really want to be a long distance landlord if my house doesn't sell but I also don't want the status of my house determine my departure date. I know I will have an "end plan" when I leave and I also know that I have no idea how long I will full-time. I do know I want to boondock the majority of the time.

Some of the things I want:

I want solar panels, I want tanks large enough where I can boondock for a few weeks if not a month at a time.  I will have my big screen HD tv for my sports addiction and I plan to either take out the dinette set and install a desk for my computers,  and to eat on....basically like I do now at home. I want an outdoor shower for not only me after a day at the beach but also to keep my dogs clean. I can say I want a Class A most of the time, yet at times a Class C feels like it would be the right type to have.

I am still not convinced that a trailer pulled by my V-8 Toyota 4Runner is the way to go for me. Maybe my 4Runner can be my toad. Anyone out on the road seen a 4Runner as a toad? I know that Jeeps seem to be popular.

So I leave you on this Friday night  (Saturday Morning really) at 12:11am, with my mind made up that I am definitely going to do this and I know what I want but still no clue on what type of RV to buy. Tomorrow will be a day of digging into my LIST and hopefully marking them off my list to make my departure closer.

How long did it take you to buy an RV after you made the decision to RV full-time?

More Changes

I started thinking last week of trading my Camry for a different car just because there are a lot of them for sale on the car lots and on different web auto sites. I thought it might be easier to trade that car than sell it. They are a popular car, yet many available. I also wanted a better car for the winter weather. In the past I have had Toyota 4Runners and always liked them, but the used ones with low miles are hard to find.

Last Friday I had a salesman at the Toyota Dealership I have dealt with in the past, call me about a 4Runner that had been traded into his lot, 1 owner, bought new at that dealership and all the service was at the dealership. I told him when I bought the Camry to let me know if he ever had a 4Runner traded in and gave him specs on what I was looking for. So I did some research on the 4Runner and made the trade on Monday. It's a great trade. Camry's are great cars but I love 4Runners. If I eventually trade or sell all cars before I leave, the 4Runner will sell much easier than the Camry.

So, with that trade, it brought up a different option. With the V-8, same engine that is in the Tundra and Land Cruiser, it will tow up to 6,500 lbs. Just out of curiosity I started looking at different trailers. The Casita, Jayco and one very interesting... TrailManor. Could these be used for full-timing?? Some do.

So I have gone the full spectrum of looking and trying to decide on RV's. From the Class A's, the C's and now trailers.

Anyone out there have experience in trailers? I noticed on some blogs of couples with dogs full-timing in a trailer pulled by a small SUV or small truck. I will study those in the meantime to read about their experiences, but if anyone has any experience in the Truck/Trailer combo, let me know.

I had another couple of things checked off the list Monday and Tuesday. My new Larsen storm door was installed, more things were sorted to go to recycling this Saturday and a lot goes in the trash pickup tomorrow morning.

My "to do" list is decreasing on things I HAVE to do before departing.

Major Things Off List & Questions

Yesterday turned out to be a great day to knock off a couple of things off of my list that needs to be done before I depart. First, had a friend come over with a "man eater" machine. We cleared out some wild overgrown brush on the back of my property line, to the point of being at the level to where I can use a lawn mower in the future.

The big thing that was knocked off the list was selling my old '94 Chevy Truck, within an hour after putting the for sale sign on the window. I was wanting to clean it before selling and that was going to happen after I finished the yard work of clearing that brush. Just out of curiosity I went ahead and put the sign on the truck anyway while we worked. The buyer test drove it and paid in cash, the price I was asking for.

There is no surprise I have a lot of interest in people wanting to buy my 2003 BMW Z4, with a different color than what you see most of them painted. I will drive my other car until I am finally ready to leave.

With the high winds today 25-40mph from the SW, I will be working inside, doing more things on my "list before departure"....sorting what goes to goodwill, what is sold or thrown out. Based on responses I think the things I am selling will be sold locally before I even have to put it on Craig's List.

I get comments for both ideas of selling my house. Put the sign up immediately and sell as is....or wait until I do some improvements I had planned on doing when I was planning on living here, then put the for sale sign out.A few friends locally think based on what I want to do here before I leave and what I need to do once I find an RV, that I will be gone within 5 months.

Even though I have feedback on these questions, I would like to throw out a few of them to get some ideas from you.

1. Best TV satellite service  - plus what kind of dish?
2. Best cell phone / internet service
3. If I remodel by taking a chair out and putting in a desk for my computer, what do you normally do with the chairs / tables you take out when remodeling a RV?

Friends of mine are becoming excited about the RVing full-time idea, even a couple of them that were somewhat negative when I first mentioned what I wanted to do.

This Morning is Like Camping

This morning here in southern Indiana is what I envision some of you going through at your camp sites this morning. It's a bright sunny day, blue sky, but a chill in the air and 47 F. Having a hot cup of Starbucks in my hand, made in the kitchen and just a few steps away from being outside with nothing around. I can't wait to feel that, to see that. What interrupts my "camping" morning is the early Saturday morning traffic on a US highway 125' down the hill.  I use to see a lot of RV traffic on that highway but not nearly as much since 2008.

That decrease in RV traffic made me think the industry was drying up and the short time in 2005 that I thought of full-timing, lasted about as long as my friend's stay that summer, 5 days in his 37' Southwind RV that he had been full-timing in for the previous 3 years. He is the one that told me about workcamping. That visit just barely got the RV fire burning.

So I get ready to start my Saturday with a list of things to do, ALL THINGS that lead me to my departure date. Some of those 19 items can be checked off after today.

I received more local support for "Decision Made", via email this morning. As I stood outside drinking coffee and waiting for the post office to open for mailing a package, I could "feel" myself standing the same way, drinking the same coffee out of the same cup....some where in Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Central Calif.

Your RV pictures make me dream.

The hounds within 1 hour....ONE HOUR....had completed their weekend morning routine....go outside to dump their tanks while I make coffee, back inside for the daily breakfast bone (the large ones bought at Costco), back out for a final survey of "their" field....and then within 1 hour of waking up....are all three together sleeping.

It's a dogs life.

I am wondering if RVing full-time is a "dog's life" with a little RV maintenance thrown in just to keep you honest.

Have a great Saturday and be safe if you are traveling.

Decision is Made

It might seem quick but since October 21 I have spent practically every hour at home on the internet reading blogs, reading forums, asking questions, emailing my questions to people on the road, looking at different RVs for sale late into the early morning hours (1am-3am) on a daily basis. Then asking local people that I know that RV part time about their experiences, getting sometimes new but a lot of the same consistent answers. After this intense research, reading how people got started RVing fulltime, their why's and what happens when you are tired of RVing. Then going over my financial analysis and making sure my finances can support life on the road. .....today I spent not even thinking about RVing, nor looking what Class A or C was for sale. Thus the later than normal blog post tonight.

I spent most of my day-off from work today, looking at different SUV's for sale. Finding out what my vehicles are worth for putting them up for sale. I read my usual large amounts of sports news, took a nap, walked the hounds longer than normal. Then after watching my favorite college team play their first basketball game of the season, I sat outside in the cold on a bright clear night, just enjoying what was around me. It was beautiful outside.

Still not thinking about any plans, not a thought on what RV to buy and no urge to read any thing about RV's tonight, just enjoying the environment around me. Not thinking about RV's ....  THAT surprised me, because that is ALL I have been thinking about since October 21.  For those just reading this blog....I had this urge to sell everything and hit the road this past April 2011, then came up with every justifiable excuse not to do it and  talked myself out of it.

Then late tonight, totally unexpected I had a feeling of a lot of relief knowing in detail what I was going to do. No doubts, no questions, just a really good and exciting feeling on what I really wanted and how I was going to do it.

The decision came to me and it was quite clear.

1.  Put the house up for sale immediately, I'll be getting signage Saturday morning and putting it up for all to see.
2.  Downsize my 2 cars and 1 old truck to just 1 vehicle that will be used until I leave.
3. Start listing things I want to sell on Craig's list hopefully all by the following week, November 18.
4. Spend this weekend sorting what goes to Goodwill and what gets thrown away and by Sunday drop it off at the Goodwill.
5. Write my departure date in BIG font on my white board right above my desk.
6. Work fast on downsizing / simplifying my things.
7. Upon sale of the house, by an RV for cash
8. If house is not sold 1 month before that date, rent it out  (good local rental market)
9. If house is rented, use part of my savings and the funds from selling my vehicles to buy an RV for cash.

I will be working fast on sorting and moving stuff I no longer need and in some cases have not used in YEARS!! Based on my past experience, once I make a decision, I work fast on what needs to be done and things happen fast to make my decision happen.

This is going to be fun!!

My Mind is Hopping All Over the Place

Found some new answers on an rv forum, looked at more Class C's and A's. Read all the blogs I follow and then did some strange searching.....strange! For some reason I started checking car lots for possible trades with my Camry. I looked at 4-Runners, FJ Cruisers, Hummers H3, Mini's. Then had a very strong urge to go wheel 'n deal tomorrow and come back home with a new vehicle.

Can anyone tell me why??  During this process of getting rid of everything I own, that I would have the urge to go trade vehicles?

I am really not sure how to take that way of thinking. Maybe it happened when a friend sent me a text saying she swore she saw snow flurries 25 miles away.  When I have snow, it is a huge problem getting up my 100' inclined driveway. Maybe that is why I started looking at SUV's. I use to have a 4-Runner and loved it.

I am finding more and more Class A blogs that are boondocking. It is the type of boondocking I would do, so I am thinking that is probably the way I go....Class A. If I didn't have the hounds, that might have changed to a Class C but they are coming with me, so it keeps looking like a Class A is the way to go. I had asked on the forum if I found an older Class A priced about the same as a '06-''09 model but had more features, was in good shape and comparable condition for the similar amounts of money, which should I buy?  Some of these older models have some great features and floor plans but I am somewhat skeptical of buying an RV that is over 12 years old.

Saw some great pictures today from blogs I follow with people out on the road. From the beaches in Florida to the mountains in Utah.

The discussion came up with a friend of mine today about the cost of maintenance of a RV and how they are "money pits". She and her husband had an older one that she admitted they rarely used it but it was still costing them money as it just sat there.  So I took her estimated figure, plus some annual figures for rv maintenance from different blogs of full-timers and divided them by 12 for a monthly cost.  I then took the last two years of my house maintenance (painting, landscaping, and interior repairs, etc) and divided my actual cost by 24 to get a monthly cost for my last two years.  The monthly figures were very very similar, almost scary, they were so close. My house maintenance totals did NOT include the mortgage, taxes and insurance I had paid for my house. In most blogs and forums I have read, I find the maintenance comparison between an rv and a house to be very similar in my case.

Then the age excuse is always brought up, what if I get sick, what if my dogs need a vet. The results would be the same if i were here in a house or full-timing in an rv. I guess I will always have friends, co-workers, etc try to talk me out of this. A few think it is awesome and can "see you doing this", and there are some that think I am totally out of my mind. They seem to have forgotten that I have never really followed the straight and narrow road that is expected in society. That is one reason I have always had a lot of fun.

Well that is all I have for tonight. I have tomorrow off for Veterans day. I want to thank all the vets out there that read this blog,  for your time of service to this great country....old vets and young vets alike.  A big Thank You to all!

I'm going to back to looking at 30'-32' Class A's and maybe longer.  vbg