Downsizing Buying an RV and Hitting the Road This Spring

Well it's been almost a week since my last post, last Friday night.

In my last post I had someone comment that I am just screwing around. They told me what to buy, hitch up my 4Runner, load the hounds and hit the road.

That comment struck home with me and made me think.  He was right.

THAT is the way I use to make decisions, now I over analyze EVERYTHING!!  ...  as you can see from this blog.

So, I spent the week re-thinking, reading blogs, more stories, looking at Class A's, C's and trailers...basically everything that I have been doing since October 21 when this huge urge hit me.

What I found was, all the reasons I first had to RV fulltime, KEPT COMING BACK to me.  A few friends that knew of my plans kept asking me when I was leaving.  "What are you waiting for?".

Then something hit me like a ton of bricks. I had been thinking of everything that could go wrong. I'm a survivor. Just like most everyone, I have had my ups and downs in life, things at times didn't go as planned and yes there have been a few times after taking risks I ended up with very little cash left. Each time I was able to rebuild and continue on.

One thing when I look back over the years, that no matter what happened ... in some way I was always provided what I needed and only when I needed it.

I cannot think of a time I ever went without getting what I needed to go on.

This week I started downsizing again ... a bunch of stuff was picked up by my garbage man sometime around 4am this morning. He may be a trash collector but out here in the rural area, he loads anything I sit out to be picked up. Last night it was a TON OF STUFF.  After I post this blog, I'm hitting my closets again and filling up those 32gal black hefty bags with clothes to take to goodwill on Sunday. I am starting at one end of my kitchen cabinets and throwing away stuff I don't use or don't need.

The For Sale sign goes out front of my house no later than Saturday morning...I am still looking for the sign stand to plant in the yard. I will sell the house as is and will start on minor repairs while it is advertised. If I have someone stop to see the inside unexpected, they will see a "lived in" house, otherwise give me about a week and Ill have it spotless for showing.

I plan on leaving May 14, 2012

I plan on buying my used RV for cash. I will have solar panels and large tanks to boondock and in the spring or as soon as my house sells, my first RV trip will be heading to South Dakota (spring time) to set up residency and getting my SD drivers license.  I will workcamp when I feel like it or see a place that I don't want to leave for a while. I will also follow the weather. I realize it may get a little cold in SW Arizona at night in the winter but I'll take my chances. It can't be worse than what I am feeling right now in Indiana at night.

So there it is ... a plan and a SET DATE for departure!

Margarita's and Looking at RV's

After another week of wishing I was no longer working....I'm spending tonight drinking some great margarita's while looking at RVs for sale, reading blogs and will later tune into the Oregon vs UCLA football game for the Pac12 Championship.

There will be an RV show in Indianapolis in January, so that will be a planned vacation day to spend it up there looking around and maybe coming closer to a decision.

I think it is down to two options:

1.  Sell the 4Runner and buy a Class C
2.  Buy a 30-34' Class A diesel pusher and tow the 4Runner

I need more room than a trailer I think and as long as the hounds are traveling with me, I need to allow for a little extra room.

Back to looking at RV's and reading blogs....salute'

Plan Starting to Come Together

I didn't spend much time looking at RVs last night and tonight has been all basketball since my team was on the tube earlier. Yet, during commercials thoughts of what kind of RV to buy starting taking over my thoughts.  Between a Class A and a Class C...don't know yet but I have narrowed it down to what features I would like to have in either RV type.

So the picture is starting to get a little clearer on what I want.

I am looking around here and see I need to get in gear and start downsizing.  I use to be a full time eBay seller between 2005 - 2010. I had the urge the other day of just taking a few pictures of things and listing them on eBay and selling them for whatever the top bid is. maybe start with a few items, start auctions at  99 cents and let it roll. I am still thinking about that and deciding if I have time to package and ship when things sell. It would be nice to build up some cash off of things I would normally throw away. Some will be going to goodwill and some will be given away locally for those that need it.

So things are looking up.  I just have a lot to do and need to get started. Once I see stuff start disappearing then it will be a momentum shift.

I like the in class C's I like Jayco's Thor Chateau, Winnebego's and the Lazy Daze really make me think. For Class A's, I am thinking of 32-35', diesel pusher, couple of slides and using my 4Runner as my toad.

Any feedback is nice and I do consider what people comment or email me.

Some Possible Developments

I replied to a friend's email the other day about changing their email address and let her know I was seriously thinking of selling everything and hitting the road fulltime. At the end of my reply I added a question asking her if she knew of anyone that would be interested in buying my house.

She replied this morning that she knows of someone that has always liked my house and are presently looking to buy in the area.  We are making arrangements for them to come over and see the house within the week around their busy work schedule.

That leads me back to my financial spreadsheet tonight, and looking at my options as if the house is sold.  I think this also leads the way for me to get on the road much sooner than I planned and will have to hit my "to do" list harder than I have been. Even if they don't buy the house I can still put a For Sale sign up while I work on my "to do" list.

The bad part???  .... I have not really made up my mind on what type of RV to buy.

Fulltime RVing and Finances

I spent the past couple of days trying to get away from RV sales sites, so I could see what thoughts would come to the forefront. I read a lot yesterday about fulltiming, about different rigs and what the owners liked and disliked about them. I also thought about a smaller trailer that could be pulled with a my Toyota 4Runner. That might be a good set up short term but I can't see that being a long term fulltiming option after adding my 3 hounds to the trip.

Had another slow day at work today, so I continued my way around blog land reading more of the same type of blogs. One theme that kept coming up in the new blogs I was reading....finances or lack of.

I see sticking to your budget on the road to be very important. With no plans to workcamp, a pre-planned budget will be a key issue before hitting the road. I already know what my expenses are now living in a house, I know that my eating habits will probably not change,  of course no one knows what the cost will be for unexpected repair and maintenance will be but you can put the money aside and add to it monthly.  In my case when I compare living on the road financially to living in a house that will be paid for, those expenses are very close to being the same.

Fulltiming for me will not be a way to live cheaper. It will be a way to live at about the same monthly expense but deciding where I want to wake up each morning. I will be able to chose where I stay and when I go. When I picture living in my paid house, retired and two different pensions hitting the bank account every month, I see my life possibly becoming very stagnant. I do have workaholic tendencies although those have decreased this past year. I am basing that on what I normally do when I have time off during a long weekend or during a holiday. I would get tired of that routine day after day.

So because of that, hitting the road fulltime is a good thing for me. When I took a cross country bicycle trip many years ago, I had a general plan but every day I was pretty flexible on where I headed or when I rode. I have a strong desire to get back to that type of travel. I know weather will play a factor at times when and where I am at. I plan to boondock as much as possible. My main reason to boondock is not the cost savings compared to staying in a RV park, but the main purpose is getting to a beautiful place that is quiet, no one around and hot sunshine. I want to go places where I hear nothing but the nature around me. I can see myself doing that easier in a RV Class C rather than a Class A.

So based on those plans I think I am pretty close on what it will cost me on a monthly basis. For my fuel estimate I have been using $4.50 per gallon for fuel and 8-12 mpg in whatever vehicle I use. I think I could live at about the same monthly expense that I do now and still be able to save monthly for unexpected repairs that lie around the corner. I know there will be some months where the miles will be almost zero if I am at a place that I like enough that I don't want to leave. That will average out over the year if I am wanting to follow the weather.

So that's where I have been the past two days ... reading different blogs and thinking about cost of living fulltime. Just out of curiosity, how many of you spend more than you budgeted for? How many of you spend pretty close to your estimate?

For some reason, the Class C has moved back to the front of the pack for my type of RV.  I think a trailer that would be towed by a Toyota 4Runner with a V8 engine would be too small for fulltime long term.  Anyone have thoughts on that? I know some of my readers have smaller trailers with dogs and are fulltiming. But my dogs are larger than I have seen so far for those traveling in a towed trailer.  Of the bloggers I have seen with a couple of large dogs, they are all traveling in Class As.

I know eventually answers to all my questions will hit me up the side of the head to where it's obvious what I will do, but it is sure a pain sometimes in getting to that day.

Domain Change

Problem solved on the Domain redirect from GoDaddy to the blog.

Over a cup of coffee this morning I was looking on Blogger's notables and saw a recent "Buzz" where it was easy to transfer your domain name from GoDaddy to Blogger. In the past when I was selling sports memorabilia online, I use to transfer domains all the time but each time I had to go through the step by step process....it was confusing each time. So I was happy to see that BlogSpot had found a way to make this process easy.

Well...maybe not.

I had bought my new domain about a month ago for a couple of reasons. That domain is www.houndsandrvs.com

It goes to my blog when typing that into the address bar...good
It also loads if I leave the www off...good
All looks normal EXCEPT...my list of blogs I read does not show up...bad

Working on little computer things like this is not on my "to do" list today, so hopefully as the domain grows today that list of blogs I read will show up.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Oh, Saturday was another day of looking at different RV Sales websites. Through the emails and comments I have received it sounds like I am not the only one that took time to sort through this maze of RV full-timing information.  I found a couple of new blogs that I will mention later, that is great information for a "RV Newbie" and also a couple of blogs where Murphy's Law had kicked in as soon as they drove their newly purchased RV off the lot. Some amazing stories between those two blogs....almost made me wonder for a second if RVing was really the direction I wanted to go.

Yet, the more blogs I read of the travel, the pictures and the freedom to move RVing gives....I haven't changed my mind about hitting the road.

More RV posting later....now its back to laundry, blog reading, and preparing for a day of NFL football.

Too Complicated??

Maybe I am making this process way too complicated. Anyone agree? I look at these smaller Class C's and know I could live in one of those. I look at my hounds when we are inside at my house, they DON'T do a lot but sleep....some play time but mostly .... sleep. On a couch, their dog chair, their dog bed or a pile of blankets. None of those take a lot of space and are already in a smaller Class C or can be put on the floor.  (pile of blankets and dog bed).

I think that is something to think about for tomorrow around my football games and preparing for snow flurries on Sunday night.

Let me know what you think, all comments are welcome....but really, this RV decision process just shouldn't be that complicated in my opinion.