RV spinoff - Living "Homefree"

[Pig Pen]

I recently read a book "Home Sweet Anywhere" by Lynne Martin. After retirement, she and her husband sold EVERYTHING and now travel around the world full-time. They don't have a home at all and claim that living on the road is no more expensive than maintaining a house, car, etc.

They stay in furnished apartments for several months at a time, then go to their next location, living out of two suitcases.

This idea really appeals to me and DH didn't shoot it down when I brought it up. The book was not that informative about logistics, but since I was a successful amateur "DIS planner" for years, I am confident I can figure this out.

Any thoughts?

 

[disney212]

My dad is kind of like that. He goes from place to place. A couple times he has purchased campers and used those for a while before selling them and moving on. He has a PO box, pays his bills online(doctor), all regularly scheduled payments (insurance, truck payment) are debited out of his account. He uses me for a permanent address but has not stayed overnight with me in over a year. Due to my mom's medical bills (died at 61) he had to sell the house and empty all savings to pay them after she passed. He now depends on his ss only and says it is the cheapest way to be able live/travel. He just found s cute place to rent in FL from November through April for way less than you would imagine. He can get places cheaper since he rented starting in November, most folks dont want winter rentals until after Christmas and want to be out by April.

 

[trip]

My DH and I are thinking about doing this. He should be retiring for the second time in about 3 years. He is retired military so we are used to moving but haven’t found “the” place we want to retire. We are going to sell our house, put the essentials in storage, and travel until we find where we want to settle. He does IT contracting work right now and we have leased apartments in different cities already. We have found it is a great way to explore an area.

 

[Happy Snowman]

Depending on how you travel, yes, it can be inexpensive. Stay at the same chain hotel and you can build up a lot of free nights, for example so figure getting 50% off a good hotel rate almost all of the time, etc. but often doing an apartment rental or vacation home rental, etc. is less expensive. You have to eat no matter where you live so those costs are going to be similar. Not sure how they are traveling but I would personally still want a car. If the car is paid for and you maintain it, there is no reason it has to be expensive to keep up, especially if you get one that has good gas mileage. Our last car came with a lifetime warranty and free oil changes for life. I would say that normally there is some kind of a markup on that but in this case, we bought for below dealer invoice even with the extended warranty. Helps to have bought several cars from the same dealer and they need to hit a year end goal . So, other than gas, tires and brakes, we won't pay any upkeep on the car.

I sure would want to do something like this. A lot of people retire to cruise ships in a similar manner too. I'd be ok with that too

 

[NewRVLady]

I read that article! how fun is that?
HOWEVER-they both had major corporate jobs and have a BUNCH of $$ & investments etc

My old maid Aunt did this when she retired....she lived for 3 months at a time with-her Sis and Husband, her Niece who was a widow in the South and another niece who was divorced in North Dakota

 

[Happy Snowman]

I read that article! how fun is that?
HOWEVER-they both had major corporate jobs and have a BUNCH of $$ & investments etc

My old maid Aunt did this when she retired....she lived for 3 months at a time with-her Sis and Husband, her Niece who was a widow in the South and another niece who was divorced in North Dakota

Well, hopefully everyone has retirement savings--but I know, not reality . You have to live somewhere though. Depending on where you lived before retirement, you could pay for hotel stays for a year just from the property tax savings. I know our utility bills for cable, internet, heat, electricity, etc. could pay for about a month at a moderately priced hotel with discounts. My FIL said he was planning on staying with each of his kids for 2 months out of the year. He hasn't done that yet though .

 

[eliza61]

I love the idea. I think it's like any other type of retirement that you plan for. I want to sell my house, rent a condo or apartment for 6 months and then do Europe for the rest of the year. Possibly Lisbon or Paris.

They previous poster has a point, when I lived in nj my property taxes where 10k a year. I could stay at a pretty good hotel for a while.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Oh it sounds wonderful to me! We could never afford living like that unless we win a Powerball jackpot.

That being said, if I was pretty darn wealthy to afford a lifestyle like that I would love to buy a condo on "The World".

http://aboardtheworld.com/our_story

 

[lizabu]

I think it's an interesting idea. I could see how the costs would be pretty much the same wherever you go. I've had the RV dream too.

 

[dawnhaze]

I wouldn't want to live out of suitcases indefinitely, but traveling around in an RV would be a fun experience.

 

[Colleen27]

I'd love it but DH would flip. He needs to have "home" to go back to and only has so much patience with staying in space that isn't his own. That's part of the appeal of the RV/travel trailer idea to him - we'd be traveling, but would have a place to go back to each night that is strictly ours. Vacation rentals and hotels wouldn't cut it.

As far as it not being more expensive than home, I suppose that depends on how expensive home is. Coming from a more expensive part of the country it might even out but for us it would be a much more expensive lifestyle than we're used to.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

I've been following the blog of a guy from LA who did this and has been living in an RV and other vehicles for the past 5 years. Definitely something I'd love to try when we retire.

The blog is tosimplify.net if anyone is interested in reading along.

 

[Riles_and_Gabe]

You should read the blog www.bumfuzzle.com. Start from the beginning (about 10 years ago) when they sailed around the world for 4 years. They have had different forms of travel after that and now are currently in a RV with their two children. I should warn you that reading it can be very addicting (it was like reading a really good book), and I am always waiting for the their next blog entry. It makes you want to sell everything and join them in their adventures.

 

[Teresa Pitman]

This is another blog by a couple who travel the world full-time together. It's quite interesting and they do have a lot of resources (some free, some you have to pay for).

http://www.marriedwithluggage.com/

TP

 

[ilovepcot]

This works great until it doesn't. DH's parents had friends who did this and were having the time of their lives "until". No one knows what the future holds and when this couple sold everything and took off, they appeared to be in great health. A few months into the trip the man had a massive heart attack and wrecked the motorhome and nearly killed both he and his wife in the process. Hospital phoned their children and one had to take time off from work and fly to ...where ever they were? That meant hotels and food for the visiting child and loss of time from work. BUT, it looked very dire for the man and the wife was in serious condition herself. After they recovered, doctors said they needed a permanent residence...stress of handling a big rig was too much for the man and he needed to be under the care of cardiologists who could become familiar with his medical issues. So...they started over once again and they had very little to do it with. The woman said selling everything they had acquired the last 40 years was the worst mistake of their lives. Would have been better to have kept their home and bought a motorhome they could have easily afforded and been able to "come and go" from road trips. She also said it was the most frightening thing being so far from anyone they knew when they were at their worst. I bet! So no...I wouldn't mind traveling for a bit, but I do know as we age things happen and I'd never want to be without a permanent home in a place surrounded by people I know.

 

[StephMK]

This is another blog by a couple who travel the world full-time together. It's quite interesting and they do have a lot of resources (some free, some you have to pay for).

http://www.marriedwithluggage.com/

TP

I recently read their book about how they prepared for their adventure. Interesting read if you are planning extended travel and how to budget for it. I would need to have a private place to unwind at night to survive non-stop travel and be pleasant. There are so many places around the world I've love to visit that if we could rent apartments along the way, I'd consider it one day.

 

[minniecarousel]

I am not very adventurous. I'd get homesick and I'd miss my family.

We have friends who are retired and will spend the month of June next year travelling around Europe. They have relatives in Italy and she speaks Italian. Sounds exciting (for them!)

 

[Colleen27]

This works great until it doesn't. DH's parents had friends who did this and were having the time of their lives "until". No one knows what the future holds and when this couple sold everything and took off, they appeared to be in great health. A few months into the trip the man had a massive heart attack and wrecked the motorhome and nearly killed both he and his wife in the process. Hospital phoned their children and one had to take time off from work and fly to ...where ever they were? That meant hotels and food for the visiting child and loss of time from work. BUT, it looked very dire for the man and the wife was in serious condition herself. After they recovered, doctors said they needed a permanent residence...stress of handling a big rig was too much for the man and he needed to be under the care of cardiologists who could become familiar with his medical issues. So...they started over once again and they had very little to do it with. The woman said selling everything they had acquired the last 40 years was the worst mistake of their lives. Would have been better to have kept their home and bought a motorhome they could have easily afforded and been able to "come and go" from road trips. She also said it was the most frightening thing being so far from anyone they knew when they were at their worst. I bet! So no...I wouldn't mind traveling for a bit, but I do know as we age things happen and I'd never want to be without a permanent home in a place surrounded by people I know.

Some of this is a risk of any travel, especially at an advanced age. We have a relative who had a similar experience on a Florida vacation... blood clot, stroke, too ill to be flown home, a costly nightmare for her children to manage, all at a relatively young age (early 60s) and despite overall decent health.

It is only common sense not to throw financial prudence to the wind in retirement, whether to live on the road or to maintain a home while traveling. But personally I wouldn't let fear of a medical crisis keep me at home unless there was a reason to expect such a situation.

 

[ilovepcot]

But personally I wouldn't let fear of a medical crisis keep me at home unless there was a reason to expect such a situation.

No, because it that was the case, no one would be traveling. It's just not a prudent thing to invest so heavily into an "on the road lifestyle" as the people did I was speaking of that you can't recover financially and emotionally if the traveling experience changes in some way.

 

[Jaya]

We go out on the road RVing for 4-5 months at a time and meet lots of people who are "full-timing".

Some live half the year in the south and the other half in the north, same place each time. Others just move from place to place, following the seasons.

Some do what is called "workcamping", where they work maybe 15-20 hours per week at an RV park and get their rv site and utilities for free and sometimes a little pay besides.

We've met people who only get $800 a month from social security but can full-time by workcamping or picking up odd jobs. One of the Amazon distribution centers has an RV park attached to their facility for the people who come to work during the pre-Christmas prime season.

Another thing some folks do to save money is "boondock" for a couple of nights at a Walmart, rest park, truck stop or COE park and then stay for a few nights in an RV park.

It's incredible how cheap traveling around the country can be if you do it right.