We absolutely love our lifestyle, but it’s not always sunshine and roses. Today I’m sharing our pros and cons of living in an RV.
Pros
We get to see some amazing places
Deserts, rainforests, mountains, valleys, rivers, oceans and prairies; museums, historical buildings, zoos and aquariums; our opportunities to see something new as often as we wish are endless. Being stationary with just a couple weeks of vacation a year just doesn’t cut it for us.
More time with each other
We hated sending our kids to school and daycare each day, only seeing them for an hour in the morning and a couple hours in the evening. Even weekends were filled with mundane tasks and not much quality time. Living so close together day in and day out has made us closer as a family, and we don’t have to feel bad about taking that rare date night away from the kids or sending one kid or another to do something special just for themselves.
More time with extended family
As adults my husband and I have chosen to live away from our families, with the closest relatives at least two hours away, and most much further than that. Having our home on wheels gives us the opportunity to spend days to weeks with them several times a year when we would otherwise only see them for a couple days during the holidays or even every couple of years or longer.
Hands-on education
Not only do we direct our children’s education through homeschooling, but we also get many more opportunities to have hands-on experiences in our travels. How cool is that?!
Less junk mail
We have a mail forwarding service handle all of our mail. We hardly ever get junk mail, and when we do we just ask our mail service to shred it so we never have to look at it.
All the wonderful people we get to meet
We meet so many people we would otherwise never cross paths with. We love to visit a different church every week (in fact, that’s one of the goals of our ministry), and each church is has a culture all its own. We have friends in many different states and it’s great when we can reconnect each time we drive through.
It can be less expensive than a traditional home
Our fixed expenses, like insurance, mobile phone and internet, are relatively low. We don’t have a mortgage, we don’t pay rent, and we don’t pay for utilities we don’t use. We don’t have to pay commuting expenses or keep business attire in our wardrobes because we don’t have to go to an office every day. Our largest expenses are food and fuel, so if we want to save money we just move less often and stock up on food when we’re able to get items in bulk. On the flip side though, our expenses can get out of hand if we aren’t careful. Just because living in an RV can be less expensive, doesn’t mean it always is. Budgeting is really important when you live on the road.
More freedom
We move when we want to move and stay where we want to stay. We take days off when we need to. We aren’t at the mercy of public school and daycare schedules. And we can visit the most popular tourist attractions while most kids are sitting in a classroom.
Cons
Limited high-speed internet
This is one of our biggest cons. We plan our stays around the availability of cell phone reception, and if we are in a place where reception is limited I have to find a nearby library or coffee shop to work at for a day or more. And since our high-speed hotspot data is limited, no one can use the internet until I have run through the high-speed data on one of our devices since work is a priority over play when it comes to internet access. Sometimes this means only a week or two of throttled internet access for gaming and movie watching.
Laundromats
Laundromats are not our favorite places to be. First you have to find one and then cross your fingers it’s in the better part of town. And then you have to sit there for two to three hours while keeping your young children entertained. If you have a choice, find a laundromat with free wifi and always bring coloring books and crayons for the kids, even if they have digital entertainment. Snacks are also a must for us (we bring snacks almost everywhere we go). I like to work while we do laundry so I will often bring my laptop with me as well, and the kids can always do schoolwork while we wait.
Finding places to park
We tow a 32′ fifth wheel, and getting in and out of parking lots and gas stations can be tricky. If there is somewhere we want to visit, like a museum or visitor center, we need to find our camping spot first to drop the trailer. There just aren’t very many places we can fit and that can make travel days stressful.
Limited utilities
Since we dry camp most of the time, we are constantly on the lookout for places to fill our water tank and propane tanks, empty our holding tanks, and throw away our trash. Dump stations with potable water are convenient but not plentiful in many places. Plus, we have to keep an eye on the temperature so we don’t have a frozen water tank and no running water.
Less privacy
We have a door to our bedroom, one for the bathroom, and another to the kids’ bunkhouse, but sound travels. We don’t have much space to get away from everyone else if we need to and sometimes that means sitting in the truck for some quiet time. Honestly though, the lack of privacy doesn’t really bother us.
Constant maintenance
There is always something to be fixed. Always. And it can wear you out keeping on top of it all. Having a budget and a routine maintenance plan can help alleviate some of the stress.
Do you live in an RV? Have you ever considered it? I hope our list of pros and cons is helpful for you no matter where you are at in life. Do you have any questions for us? Drop us a comment below!
[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_SOCIAL_ICONS]