Don't fulltime

    I'm not trying to judge anyone just curious why
anyone would want to fulltime? Why set up in a park
and live there in a RV? Isn't that the same as a house,
just the walls are thinner?
    Someone help me to understand.

A wise person once said, "If you have to ask you'd never understand". Not being a FT RVer myself all I can safely ASSume is that it's the lifestyle that matters. The ability to move on whim, to see the sights...

Most (or at least many) people who full time don't just set up in a park and stay there, Rather, they move around the country. They stay anywhere from a few days to a few months in each location.

Joel

Full-timing has different meanings to different people.  Most of us would not consider someone who sets up in a park and never moves to be full-timers but that person does live "full time" in an RV.  However, there are quite a few full-timers who live in one location in the winter and another in the summer and don't travel anywhere other than to go from one place to the other.  Personally, I would view them as snowbirds rather than full-timers.

My wife and I have been full-timing for 3.5 years and, although we stay put for several months in the winter, we travel throughout the rest of the year. We've yet to return to the same place in the summer.  I guess some day we'll run out of "new" places to go to, but that's still a ways off.

I was a full timer for 10 years. During that time I visited all 48 of the lower 48 states. I visited all 46 of the National Parks in the lower 48. In my signature is a link to my photographs. Go there and look at my photos for a while and see the sights I have seen in the last ten years. I could go on and on about all the things I have seen, places I have been and people I have met. What have you done in the last ten years?

In the 16+ years that we lived full time in our motorhome we saw more of the US than most people see in a lifetime.  We visited 49 states, made more friends than you could in any neighborhood, and we still didn't see it all.

we saw more of the US than most people see in a lifetime.

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Ditto that!!!!

After seeing the places we've seen and meeting the people we've met, my question would be "If you're in a position that you can do that, why would you not full-time?"

-Roni

I'll answer the question directly.  I'm single, and for the last 10 years or so I've been living in my RV, mostly in a fixed park while I work fulltime.  But I also take off for extended vacations, and that means I just pack up and go.  When I leave the park my rent payments stop, I can then apply that money towards travel instead of trying to fund a vacation while also supporting a fixed residence.

Besides, in temperate climates living in an RV is like living in an efficiency apartment.  Having done both, I much prefer living in an RV.  There's space between me and my neighbor and we don't share common walls, floors or ceilings.  Having lived in a couple of apartments, I find RVers to be much more considerate of their neighbors than the typical apartment dweller.  Loud music is the exception, not the rule, and there's no creaking bedsprings from the upstairs neighbor or the sound of my other neighbor's headboard hitting the common wall between our bedrooms in the middle of the night. <g>

I started living in an RV when I moved to the San Francisco area in 2000 in the middle of the dot-com boom.  Real estate prices rose so rapidly the only purchase I could qualify for within commuting distance of my job was a condo, and I'd had enough of apartment life.  I had a 5th wheel I used for vacation travel, so I moved into it intending to buy property when the real estate market settled down.  But it never did, and I wound up liking the RV lifestyle.

Plus the cost of living in a RV park is a half to a third of what it would cost to rent an apartment, at least here in CA.  The difference went into my rainy day, travel and retirement fund.  I've taken numerous extended vacations including two month long trips to Australia, and I will be financially secure when I retire in another couple of years.

/\  That's a good answer. 

Painting another picture for you:

Yesterday, we left our RV site that included a full outdoor kitchen (such a blessing when it's hot!) and a patio almost twice the size of the RV. If I stepped off the back of the patio, I'd be standing on a beautifully landscaped golf course with waterfalls, flowers, a family of ducks and gorgeous mountains for a backdrop.

Last night, on our 4th anniversary of full-timing we sat in a Mexican restaurant listening to live vocals from a very talented singer, while we stared at the London Bridge, that crosses the Colorado River in Arizona. While today, just outside the RV are beautiful mountains surrounding the same river.

Tonight we'll be in the Grand Canyon and the day after that Lord willing, we'll be in the mountains of Colorado visiting very dear friends we made while full-timing.

-Roni

Ned said:

......... made more friends than you could in any neighborhood, and we still didn't see it all.

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That's RIGHT Ned... We STILL haven't met yet.. 

BinaryBob said:

That's RIGHT Ned... We STILL haven't met yet.. 

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We've made a lot of friends here that we haven't met, yet

The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence unless you have to cut it.  We have vacationed, retired, fulltimed and then became vacationers again.  I like the extra garage and space of our stick and brick.  Then again when I am pulling weeds I wonder what I have left.  It is a personal choice and each has its advantages.  If you are asking the question then you might try it.  Life is short and you have to live it doing what is best for you.

justpassin said:

    I'm not trying to judge anyone just curious why
anyone would want to fulltime? Why set up in a park
and live there in a RV? Isn't that the same as a house,
just the walls are thinner?
    Someone help me to understand.

Click to expand...

How easily can you move your home around?

The idea that one can chase the best weather for the time of year and not be stuck at the same location for years at a time all sound good to me.

I ain't a full timer, but have two homes 225 miles apart in different states plus an RV, so I can get by this way.

Being stuck in one place for life is what I cannot understand.

-Don-  Reno, NV

The original poster "JUSTPASSIN" sure received explanations that should allow an understanding of the WHY!

And what a "moniker", JUSTPASSIN. Sure seems applicable for an RVer....... even a Fulltimer.

Personally, I would love to be a "fulltimer" but my wife want's to live in a STICK and BRICK home. Soooo, when possible I travel for ten, twenty, or thirty days at a time by myself.

What's down that road, what's over there? What a pleasure to just be as free as a ???? well hell, as free as a FULLTIMER.

God willing, I may get to experience that feeling for more than days at one time.
See ya on down the road!

This was are first year retired and we asked the same question to the full timers we met in Florida. Just like you we are trying to understand giving up the house. The answer that we got many time was that is was liberating to remove yourself from the day to day needs of owning a home. They also said the hardest thing was parting with the stuff. But it was just stuff and now they do not have to take care of it. We are still too fond of our stuff to part with it yet. It is to each there own I suppose.

One of the best things about it is if you don't like the neighborhood, start your house and move. If you're still working, don't care for the job or local economy, again, just start your house and move.

Bill

justpassin said:

    I'm not trying to judge anyone just curious why
anyone would want to fulltime? Why set up in a park
and live there in a RV? Isn't that the same as a house,
just the walls are thinner?
    Someone help me to understand.

Click to expand...

You know, there is something about this poster that seems to point to the need to have confrontation between those who reply.  I have followed several of his/her post topics and each and every one seems to set up and invite replies which eventually result in some bad feelings between posters.  Such other posts as on Walmart parking, Dogs in campgrounds and this one are what have led me to this conclusion.  I may be wrong - have been numerous times before in my life but I will just refrain from joining in on such posts that invite bashing.

We don't fulltime, but dreamed about it when younger, although not for very long. We periodically re-visit the question, especially when we're on long trips, but always agree it's not for us or our lifestyle. OTOH we know many folks who have fulltimed for years, and wouldn't have it any other way.

One observation from our 20 years here on The RV Forum is that, sooner or later, life events take an unexpected turn, derailing or modifying the fulltime lifestyle. Health and mobility issues are just a couple of reasons for unexpected changes. Just curious if fulltimers typically have an exit strategy for the day when they're no longer able or no longer wish to continue the lifestyle.
Edit: Typo.

We didn't have a specific exit strategy in mind when we began full timing in 1997, but I had a block of stock that was a solid performer and had little downside risk that I earmarked for a future land purchase.  We took 16 years to see most of the US and when we finally decided on where we would like to eventually settle, we looked for, and purchased, a lot that we were able to put 2 full hookup RV sites on.  We spent much of the next few winters there, getting to know our neighbors and the area.  The lot purchase and development were funded by that block of stock, just as planned.