I have some question's about the pro's and con's of living full time in my HeartLand RV?

Nat

Member
I need some help with the Pro's and Con's for full time living in my HeartLand RV. I have worked all my life and now I am ready to live on the road, I need your feed back. Thanks Nat:)
 
Last edited by a moderator:

jimtoo

Moderator
Hi Nat,

Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum and Family. We have a great bunch of people here with lots of information and all willing to share their knowledge if needed.

We have a lot of Heartland Owners who are full timing in their units. I'm sure you will get some information soon. Please let us know what unit and year you have.

Enjoy the forum.

Jim M
 

TandT

Founding Utah Chapter Leaders-Retired
Pro; If you get bored and want to see something different, you move.
 

rick_debbie_gallant

Well-known member
Pro. We really dont full time 24/7/365. We only 24/7/180 on the Gulf coast in Texas and then head home to Michigan for the other 180 days or there abouts.

Sure it is tight in the fiver. However you learn to do the "fiver-stutter two step." And with practice you dont even have to think which way to move. Just make sure you pass your partner port to port!
 

aatauses

Well-known member
We have been fulltiming for over 2 years and have had alot of fun, met great people, and have enjoyed it. We usually volunteer in a National Park for 3-6 months, travel some and then do some workcamping somewhere.Let me know if you have specific questions and we will be glad to answer them.al
 

jayc

Texas-South Chapter Leaders
We've been full time in our Bighorn since I retired in '08 and have loved it. We have a winter gig in Montgomery TX near the park where we are staying for the winter season.

Good luck.
 

Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
We began full timing in August 2006 and went 4 years. We bought a house in WI a year ago to make it easier to care for my Mom but we still head south for the winter.
Pros. If you don't like the neighbors, you can leave.
If the weather isn't what you like, you can go somewhere else.
It's a fairly reasonable lifestyle as long as you don't play tourist all the time and don't eat out that often.
You can see as much or as little of our country as you like.
It beats working
If you want to work a little bit, you can work camp for your site and electricity. This is usually arranged in advance.
You can meet a lot of wonderful people and make new friends. Enjoy your favorite pastime.

Cons. Your house is smaller but you get used to it.
Unless you have satellite TV you never know what to expect for a signal.
You don't get to see your family as often as you may like. (for some this is a Pro ;))
You might not be home for Holidays
Your yard isn't very big but you don't have to mow it.
You might have terrible neighbors, see Pro#1

There are probably many more of both but in all, it's a great lifestyle. If it weren't for my Mom, we would still be full time but I must admit, I enjoy having a garage and tools to tinker on stuff.
 

TXBobcat

Fulltime
We have been fulltiming since 2007. Give us some idea about your TV & trailer, are you married or single and such information.

If your married you have to be able to get along with your spouse a lot more. If you have a 30ft trailer you will probably get a larger one if your TV is big enough. Can you get rid of all the stuff and live with what you can take with you.

We are on the road except during Nov. for Thanksgiving and Dec for Christmas when we will stay in one spot for the holidays with our daughter. We get our physicals and meds renewed in December, then if everything is going well we hit the road again for the year in January. Do you have enough income to travel all the time or will you need to work as you travel, such as being a campground host or volunteer at some areas.

Some things great about fulltiming. Don't have to mow the lawn. Don't pay property taxes, school taxes, and such. Oh yes, as we pay for our services and the taxes are paid by the owners but we are not responsible for paying them. If we don't like the area or neighbors we can move. If we find a wonderful place we can stay as long as we wish. We love being on the road. We have to expect problems. The TV and the trailer will break down so we just take a deep breath and get it fixed then go on.

If you travel a lot here is a thumb nail idea of what you will have to spend. Now I know this is not accurate for everyone but gives you an idea.
If you spend an average of $30 for a campsite that would be about $900 per month. If like us you only travel on Monday, Wednesday and Friday (we like to look around each place we stay. We are retired not on vacation so why hurry) and you travel 250 miles each day (some less some more) that is 750 miles/week and 3000 miles per month. Say you get 10mpg. That is 300 gallons per month. Be safe and say $4.00 per gallon. That is $1,200.00 for fuel. Lets adjust to $2,000 per month to travel each month. Now figure what you might spend on food that you eat in the trailer and what you might spend eating out. Then what do you want to spend for entertainment, and what do you want to save for emergencies. If you have an emergency fund and you have to spend part of it you still have to build it back up. Insurance on the trailer and TV. We can live normally on $4,000 per month.

Cons: I make a lot of friends and don't get to see them as often as I want too. To busy traveling. Can't get mail very often nor are our meds easy to get to us.

Something to try. Take your trailer to a campground for a week. Spend a lot of time in it. When we are stopped, sitting in our trailer is no different in sitting in a recliner in a S&B watching TV, we only have to watch NYC or LA news if we don't get a signal on our OTA TV.

BC
 

2psnapod1

Texas-South Chapter Leader-Retired
We are new to fulltiming and our 5ver (as of May of this year) but we LOVE it! My husband retires from the military in just over a year and we plan to travel to where ever we feel like traveling to at that time. For now we are parked in an RV park in Montgomery, AL and hit the road only occasionally.

Pros:

Your scenery changes as often as you wish
Fairly inexpensive
LOT less area to clean!
For those of us with family spread all over - we can visit easier and more often.
Your neighbors are normally 'like-minded' and quite friendly
If you really like your spouse and being close to each other - you've got it made!

Cons:

Less space - but who really needs 2000 sq ft??
You will need to determine what to do with all your extra 'stuff'.
 

Birchwood

Well-known member
We are Canadians and we have full timed for two years.We basically sit at a park in Florida
for 4 months and 6 months at our park in New Brunswick .The other 2 months we travel
with the RV to different areas in the US.Our TV fuel costs would be $2000 per year, not
per month.We realize the RV lifestyle will not last forever but for now we are " living
the dream"
 

bradforx

Member
My wife and I weren't sure if it was for us so we sold the house and put enough furnishings to start over in storage and hit the road. This was in '07 and we are still paying storage bills. Not everybody can do this, you need to really get along. We have Sat TV, Wireless Router with AT&T WiFi that works most places and a mail forwarding service in South Dakota. Research this and see which state you want to be a resident of as far as State Taxes, auto insurance costs and possible vehicle inspection requirements. We love fulltiming and have 5 states left to see, Hawaii will never happen.;)
 

back2nature

Well-known member
We just spent five weeks in the BigHorn. Loved it. We are so-o-o-o ready to dump the 3000 sq. ft. house and get rolling. Anybody want to buy a house in So. Calif.?
 
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