I am in charge of expenses for the full time RV trip across the United states and I have observed a couple of issues with regards to how much money we’ve been using.

From time to time we have been doing okay with saving money for this RV trip and from time to time we’re wasting way too much money.

I think 7 good methods for us to save cash are as follows:

1. Prepare dinner much more at home (within the RV) and not eat at fancy restaurants

Restaurants are very pricey and this will add up when you’re RVing full time.

2. Buy snack foods at the supermarket instead of at truck stops

This may help you save nearly 50%!

3. Pack lunch and bring water bottles!

Drinking water could cost $3.50 for just a small bottle! Yikes that’s ridiculous.

If you pick big containers of water at the food store and fill your own water bottles that’s much better.

4. Get to the galleries and museums very early

Achieve this so that you maximize your entrance fee and maximize your time there (this one is Mom’s idea). We have to make the most of the trip to the attraction that’s why get up early and make the most efficient use of your money. The visit to Henry Ford Museum cost over $145!

5. Purchase gasoline at discount prices

We found diesel for only $3.93 for each gallon (lowest price ever)!

6. Use the cruise control , it can help save fuel!

Dad tells us that when you stay at a consistent speed it will save fuel. Our RVing vehicle just takes diesel and this costs almost $4 per gallon.

7. Lessen buying souvenirs

At Niagara Falls we didn’t buy any souvenirs but we did get keychain holders and cases and totally free Maid of the Mist rain coats.

Yet another way to save cash when RVing full time is if you’re going to National Parks on your trip, make sure you purchase an annual pass. You’ll save hundreds of dollars in entry fees throughout the course of the year.

If you would like to learn more about how to go RVing, click here to learn more about how you can go RVing full time.

Back in the days of the past, you probably got on a congested highway, battling with other people for all to travel to several locations, all being within the same path and every one of you trying to get there all at once. You’re likely elbow deep in humanity, thinking about open roads with the wind in your skin and not another soul around. In those days, you could get lost on your way to here or there, going through detours that kept you against exactly where you h to be.

Nowadays, you are not limited by a particular destination. If you do not know precisely where you are traveling, if you don’t have a fixed destination, then you certainly can’t get lost.

Working for an income meant living to your work. Whenever you went to your job, a portion of the income you earned was already spoken for by the government. If you ever paid to a retirement plan, then portion of your paycheck went to that as well. If you have the company’s health care insurance, another chunk of your money gone to that as well. Each and every penny had been set aside just before they reduce that particular paycheck and exactly how much of it did you get to enjoy, realistically?

Also, consider this: What happens if you paid in to that retirement plan for 20 years and right before you can really begin to see the end of the tunnel, the company went belly up, destroying all that you have built up along the way? This is a common enough concept; it occurs all the time. So, there you are, financially lost, believing that you will never work out how to succeed, confronted with being forced to start from scratch.

Outside on the open road, the wind in your skin, your own bedding journeying along right behind you, the person that you care for sitting in the seat close to you, possibly even your dog, you’re not lost. There’s no need to struggle through traffic because you can pick a route that can take you around the hustle and bustle of human life, out and round the major towns and cities and away from the busy freeways. Once you are a full time RV-er, there is simply no such thing as lost.

If you would like to learn more about how to go RVing, click here to learn more about how you can go RVing full time.

Sometimes when you are staying in an RV full time, things fail.

And also at times, important things break in the middle of nowhere.

The other day, I damaged each of the RV trailer hitch rails wanting to back to a tight spot at our RV car park. I was attempting to loosen the RV hitch from a “tow” position into the “maneuver” position and the darn thing bent in the bed of our truck.

The RV trailer hitch is the very important equpiment used to tow the fifth wheel RV. If perhaps it’s damaged, you are not moving anyplace anytime soon.

If the rails are bent (just slightly), you just can’t take a chance on it and start driving by using it.

Must it be mentioned that if you are RVing full time throughout the country along with a wife and two kids, you do not want the 5th wheel RV to come out of the back of the pick up truck?

We have a Reese Sliding Hitch, and needless to say, all of us don’t encourage you purchase that one

We all do recommend the Husky RV Sliding Hitch instead.

Compared to the Reese Sliding Hitch, the Husky RV Hitch carries more support on the RV hitch rails because they are actually screwed onto the frame of the pickup truck. And since its so stable, you are more unlikely to bend one.

The Reese rails are bolted in the bed of the truck.

I’m not at all specialized RVing master, but that doesn’t appear as if a good thing when you are hauling 6 tons.

As soon as we purchased our truck, we’ve got the hitch as the additional from the dealership (the other place we don’t really recommend – also will remain mysterious) and these people gaveall of us the lower priced hitch.

What are the chances for a car dealership actually doing that?

$537.99 and also a beautiful encounter to the Wisconsin countryside after that, we had the RV hitch rails repaired out in Wisconsin at Mound View RV in Belmont, Wisconsin.

Thankfully that RV shops in the Mid west are almost as frequent as cornfields.

If you are considering RVing full time, consider for the things going wrong and plan for all the things not going just exactly as you have prepared it – even if you planned it as carefully as you could.

Things always go wrong, especially if you happen to total full time RVing amateurs like us.

However get back up, decide on ideas on how to solve your issue and take action. Even though it can cost you a little cash to make it done properly, you should not be skimpy or cut corners if you are carrying a six ton RV behemoth.

To learn more about RVing full time, visit our blog on how to RV full time.

As we first began to RV full time it was a little challenging.

It had been hard to get used to the little living quarters, the toilet smaller compared to a telephone booth, lengthy drives on boring interstates, figuring out the way the cable tv operates in every campground, oh-so thrilling black water drainings, really chatty “RV” neighbours, missing friends and family back at home.

Yet despite all of thatafter the first week or so, we began to discover how suitably RVing fit our standards of living, just how comfortable it is and how the small place really improves your life as well as how liberating the journey really is.

But so far, the best thing of living in the RV full time is definitely the absolute and utter escape from “the scheduled life”.

If you have kids, you know exactly what I am speaking about.

It’s the consistant running to baseball practice, lacrosse practice, swimming lessons, chess club, drum lessons, various family activities, endless birthday parties, play dates and every other activity that takes up majority of of a suburban family’s routine schedule.

It is tiring(and I did not even actually do majority of it in our own family)!

Even though all of those things are good and are also a lot of fun to do, whenever you’re RVing, you’ll be 100 % free away from that daily activities and you are also able to enjoy life “unscheduled”.

When you’re RVing full time, you travel the places you like to visit and at whatever pace in which is a convenience to you. Not really that we do not go on a schedule, since we do.

The truth is, you need to have RV park reservations with two kids during the summertime. This is because RV parks fill up fast and you have to reserve ahead of time or you will be shut out.

Yes, you’ll find lots of RV blog owners which discusses how living at an RV you’re your own boss, there is no reliance on hotel accommodations, airport terminals, restaurant reservations and also becoming “at one” with the wilderness.

Do not be deceived by all of that. Greatest reason of all is freedom away from the scheduled life.

Freedom and “location independence” is exactly what driven each of us to create lives that can support a full time RV lifestyle for a yearor longer. When I browsed The 4-Hour Workweek three years ago, it was all over for me. I believed I had to make it happen. And author Tim Ferris does not have kids so he did not actually explained this kind of independence and freedom.

But I believe there’s no other freedom that tops it. I’d guess that at some stage in our journey I’ll miss all that scheduling, all of the parties, all the activities but for the time being I’m not. It is a fun filled break and for me its the #1 reason to have RVing full time.

To learn more about RVing full time, visit our blog on how to RV full time.

What we really needed if RVing full time is a list of guidelines which detailed each of the procedures you want to do as you set up your Rv at the Rv campground.

Every one of us went on the web and we were not able to see a good Motorhome setup checklist anyplace. So we made a thirteen step check list that will help you setup your personal Motor home when you go to a campground. We’re going to include steps 7-13 within this post.

7. Connect the Electric

* Withdraw the electrical cord from your electrical hole. If the electric cable won’t reach you must have 30-Amp RV Extension Cable to be a backup. It truly stinks to park your RV and the power cord will not make it to the outlet!

* Next, open the electrical case, guarantee that the breaker switch is in off position then connect the electrical cord.

* Lastly, flip over the breaker switch to the on position.

8. Slide Out the Slideouts

* This really easy! Simply press the switches in every single room for each slideout and then slideout should go out.

9. Now let Mom Inside!

* Open the door for her and permit her to go in to the RV. She is going to be pleased!

10. Hook Up the Water

* Take out the hose pipe and screw it into the water input valve on the RV.

* Put the water levers in the “on” or “town water” position.

* And then activate the water from the RV camping site.

11. Hook Up the Sewer

* Affix the RV Sewer Hose Equipment with Swivel Fittings towards the gray water tank output drain. And then connect to the campsite sewer drain.

12. Unveil the Awnings ( when necessary)

* Push the awning switch until the awning is entirely out. Then pick up one side of the awning then pull it down roughly 6 in. below the other side of the awning*.

* Tighten the screws on the awning post until its tight. Then tighten up the awning screws on the reverse side so all sides are secure.

*All of us suggest you accomplish this to be sure that if it rains, the rain water will drain off the awning and not gather over the awning itself. It helps prevent rain water from splitting the awning!

13. Set Down the RV Patio area Mat

* To help keep dirt and pests and also stuff place of the RV, place down a large rug, artificial turf or exactly what we strongly recommend is the RV Patio Mat just like the one we’ve. It folds and is nice to do whittling on as well.

* Place it on to the ground right outside the RV and lay it out right in front of the RV doorstep.

14. Install the Antenna

* Go into the RV and crank up the TV antennae so that you can sit back and watch Phineas and Ferb while doing RVing full time!

15. Be Organized

* Arrange and set aside any thing which fell off shelves and drawers when you were RVing.

* Pick-up your entire dirty garments on your own room floor and then place them in the hamper (in our full time RV the hamper is under the bath room sink via a cool hidden trap door).If you do this without being asked, Mom and dad would be so pleased!

Oh yes, another thing: when you’re fulltime RVing, do not be reluctant to ask for help when you are in an RV park. RV people are extremely welcoming and will love to help you – and so ask them for assistance.

And that is how you setup your RV on the camping area when you RVing full time cross-country!

If you would like to learn more about how to full time RV, click here to learn more about how you can go RVing full time.