Today I have an exciting interview with my sister Michelle, from Making Sense of Cents.
For those of you that don't know, Michelle was the reason I started this blog, so if it weren't for her, you wouldn't be reading this right now!
Michelle has been living in her RV for quite awhile. A couple years ago, Michelle, Wes (her husband) and I were all living together in western Colorado. I remember her and Wes talking about getting an RV, but I didn't think they were at all serious.
One day, they came home with an RV and told me they were going to start taking trips in their motorhome. I never in a million years thought they would end up living it in full-time.
I've also been lucky enough to stay in her RV on numerous occasions. Guys, this RV is nicer than most houses I've ever seen. I get better sleep on their couch than I do on my bed. The floors are HEATED. It's seriously so nice and cozy, and they've found a way to make the space work for them.
So, whether you're interested in learning about RV life or you're a fan of Michelle's, I know you'll love this interview!
Related articles:
- 12 Travel Websites That Will Save You Thousands
- 25 Incredibly Useful and Unique Travel Gifts
- 12 Epic Jobs For The Passionate Traveler
1. What made you guys want to RV full-time?
We have been RVing for over 2 years, and we absolutely love it! The funny this is that I never thought I would live in an RV. It wasn't a dream of mine or anything. However, one step into an RV and I knew it was for me. Living in an RV full-time has been the best thing ever, and we truly love it.
We sold/closed on our house in St. Louis the same week that we bought our RV. At first, we thought it would just be a weekend thing, but one step into the RV and we realized that we didn't want to live in a “normal” home again anytime soon.
And, we've been RVing since!
Living in an RV means that you can live wherever you want to live. The United States has so many beautiful places to see and live, and because it would be hard to just pick one place, RV life allows us to live in as many as we want.
And, it’s more than just going on a vacation, which is nice too, but I love being able to bring my entire home with me. This way I’m not forgetting anything, and because my home is always with me, I still get to live comfortably.
If you want to spend your summer in the mountains and your winter near the beach, you can do that. If you want to do the opposite the following year, you can do that too. If you want to have your front window open up to a beautiful national park, you can even do that.
We see ourselves traveling full-time for the foreseeable future. I don't know when or if we will ever stop!
2. How do you stay healthy while traveling full-time?
We are very active people, so we have no problem staying healthy while traveling full-time. We go on hikes and bike rides multiple times a week, and walk our dogs multiple times a day. One of the reasons we RV is because we love the outdoors, so it's quite easy for us to stay healthy.
We have done many top hikes in the areas that we have visited, and it is always a lot of fun. I'm always looking for a fun mountain to climb, a nice paved bike trail, and more.
3. What's your favorite thing about RVing?
One of the best things about RVing is that you can live wherever you want to. We love being able to do things outdoors, and we usually pick places that make that even easier. So, we like to park next to hiking trails, bike trails, rock climbing routes, and more.
This is great because we can usually just walk or ride our bikes to wherever we want to go, which allows us to spend a ton of time enjoying the beautiful outdoors.
4. What's the hardest hard about living in an RV?
There is really nothing that is hard about living in an RV. At first, I had a tough time being away from family and friends, but it's much easier now. We just really make sure to enjoy the moments when we are with family and friends – we really make those moments count now.
Other than that, living in an RV is really great. I guess the other tough part about it would be that more and more people are starting to realize how great RV life is, so finding a spot at nice campgrounds is becoming more and more difficult.
5. Is RV life expensive?
RV life can be as expensive or as cheap as you want it to be. I recommend reading How Much Does It Cost To RV? to read the full costs of RVing, as it can vary greatly from person to person.
Common RV expenses include:
Your RV
Fuel
Campgrounds and RV parks
Insurance
Food
Entertainment
Cell phone and internet
Miscellaneous
For us, RVing costs us more than living in a traditional home. The house we owned in St. Louis was a small fraction of what the RV we live in now costs.
7. What's a common misconception people have about RVing?
There are a lot of assumptions that people make about why we live in an RV, like we’re hippies or even homeless. On the other end of the spectrum, some people assume that we’ve inherited a ton of money and don’t actually work, ha!
I recently wrote about this in my article Why would you make $100,000+ a month and live in an RV?
We hear a lot of common misconceptions about RVing as full-time RVers. The above is the most common – that RVers are bad at managing money and are pretty much “losers.” The other half of the people we meet think RVing is absolutely amazing and they tell us that they are jealous.
For me, I find it hilarious that there is such a wide swing in beliefs when it comes to RVing.
Another misconception is that RVing is cheap. It's not always cheap – I can definitely tell you that!
8. How do you get internet in your RV? Is it reliable?
I used to have a Verizon MiFi that I used for internet. With this device, I could access the internet from almost anywhere. RV park internet is notoriously bad. If you plan on working online while traveling full-time, I highly recommend having an internet device.
Now, we just use our iPhones as hotspot devices. As a blogger, I really don't use that much internet since I don't do video. Due to that, using my phone is plenty of internet for me each month. Plus, I'm more mindful of how long I'm on my laptop because I know that I don't have 1,000 GBs of internet to use.
9. What's been your favorite city or trip so far?
We have really enjoyed everywhere that we've gone. That's one great thing about RVing – you can visit even the most boring places and they are still fun and worthwhile – because you're in your RV and you're not in a rush to see a specific place. Instead, we can take our time everywhere and visit all the places that we want to visit.
We really love anything west – Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Montana, Wyoming, California, Oregon, and Washington. We love anywhere with mountains and water!
10. What would you say to someone who wants to start RVing full-time?
Do it! It's actually a lot easier than you think. I was terrified of starting because I thought there were going to be a lot of hurdles. I was afraid of how I'd receive mail, what would happen with all of the bills, how I'd get internet, how the laundry would get done, and more. However, those were all easily solvable and now I just laugh at myself for wondering about those questions. And, those are the most common questions I receive about RVing!
11. Have you made any mistakes while RVing? Have you learned anything you'd like to share?
When we were brand new to RVing, we made a lot of mistakes, hahaha! I still remember that when we first got our RV, we turned on the water pump while we were hooked up to water. That led to too much pressure and water come out of everywhere. That was a disaster. We've also switched the battery off on accident (we think one of our dogs hit it), and it took us forever to figure out why the RV wouldn't start. That was a disaster in itself because we thought the RV was broken!
New RVers will come across a lot of mistakes. There's a lot to learn about RVing, and every RV is a little different from each other. Thankfully, everything does get easier. And, it's all worth it in the end!
12. Has anything about RV life surprised you?
The friendships that we've made! We haven't made new friends in awhile at “home” in St. Louis, but in RV life, it is so easy to make new friends. I think this is because we all have a “strange” obsession, and that is with RVing! So, there is an easy way to connect with people because we all like to talk about RV life.
There have been a few times when we've arrived at an RV park and people have knocked on our door asking us to hang out – young RVers flock to each other, haha!
I hope you all enjoyed this RV interview I did with Michelle! Once JD (my boyfriend) finishes school, we either want to RV full-time or move to Germany. Michelle really inspires us to RV and we love the unpredictable and exciting life she lives.
Do you want to become a full-time RVer?
Like this post? Share it!
Get exclusive access to the free resources!
Join 5,000 others to get access to 20+ free printables related to budgeting, traveling, and meal planning with new prints updated weekly.
Thanks for letting me share my story! We love RV life 🙂
Yay!
Michelle being you like the water you need to come to Ohio and check out Lake Erie. May-September is the best time. We also have islands! Kelleys Island and Put in Bay and South Bass.
Living in an RV, driving across the country, and camping under the stars is the way to go. I definitely plan on doing this one day.
Yeah! Sounds amazing, right?