Fulltimer Newbie..few questions

Hey there! My boyfriend and I just bought a travel trailer, and once our lease runs out we'll be living in it full time.
We're currently paying $800.00 a month rent, which includes nothing. All in all, our utilities, cable, ect, and rent are currently approx. $1,500 per month.
Our lease runs out in January, and do not intend on renewing it. I work part time/seasonal currently, and my boyfriend makes fairy decent wages (300-400/week) We both have car payments that together total out to around $900.00 per month, for his truck (600) and my car (300)

So, let's get down to the good stuff.. 

We recently got a pretty good deal on a 2002 Rockwood travel trailer, 31' x 8'0", for $1,500, sold. It's not bad, but we are definitely going to have to downsize. We've looked into some nearby campsites, but they are all around $600 per month, and by staying there we are basically paying the same amount as if we just moved into another house. We've played with the idea of staying in his job's parking lot, which houses many tractor trailers and possibly will even come with an electric source.
However, if by chance we can't stay there, I'm not sure what would happen. Where are other places that have electric hookups that aren't camp sites? Is there even a thing possible?

I can go without a lot of things, but not electricity. Cooking? I can grill outside, if the weather is bad, I'll go grab a salad or a wrap. (previous living with ex proved - do not need oven or stove to live. - if it doesn't work and you cant fix it.) Heat? I'm more than content with a small space heater and a fuzzy blanket. 

How much money can we expect to save? We wont be traveling, or moving it much unless we have to end up boondocking.

Any tips and/or suggestions are highly appreciated. thanks

edit : we also have our dog living with us, too. a ginormous 95lb german shepherd.

I'm sorry to tell you that you probably won't save much, if anything. Electricity is actually the easy part, since you can hook into most any source to get by. Your biggest concern will be water, fresh water for drinking & bathing, and waste water disposal. The water that goes down the drain or flushes from the toilet doesn't magically disappear like it does in a house or apartment it goes into the trailers holding tank and you have to dump it out of there after just a few days. No, you can't just let it run out on the ground or parking lot.

Your best bet is to find a less-elegant RV park or mobile home park that caters to residents rather than travelers. Every area has at least a few, and rates are typically half that of the nicer transient parks.

If you are going to live in a parking lot you will need a lot more than electricity. A water supply, a sewer to dump into and a propane supply. You will need to move to a dump station at least once a week to dump and refill with water. Your propane will need to be refilled at least monthly. Forget about finding a campground. With a 95 pound dog it will be almost impossible. You will also need to haul your trash out at a regular basis.

After all the negativity, I wish I could say something positive. The only thing I can think of is ,  "I am positive you won't like it." There are too many things going against you--budget--dog--weather--parking site. But, you do have a good attitude.

I'm a tad confused..you say we will not save much money, but from my calculations, we're going to be saving a base amount of 1,500 a month between us both, what we would be paying for rent and other house bills.

As for showering/drinking water, yes, that is an extra "new" cost (kinda..I refuse to drink the tap water where we live now so keeping gallons of water on hand is normal for us), however, we can get water for around 30-40 cents a gallon,  and my estimation is we will go through maybe 10-15 gallons a week if we are careful enough.  I can always re-fill a few if need be at my mom's house (lives an hour away). So, a whopping $5-10 weekly, compared to $160 every three months is just fine.

My boyfriend is not concerned about having to get rid of the "black water" and trash. That's not even an issue.

We do not want to live in a park - that makes no sense to pay someone $100-300 a week, when the reason we got the camper was to save money we'd spend on rent and utilities.

All I asked was where we could find electricity that wasn't an RV park, and everyone jumped on me about how I will hate living in a camper, without even any past knowledge of my life experiences.

I understand now that my initial question can obviously not be answered here, and if it is will be followed by a mouth full of negativity.
Thanks anyways.

Believe this is the true definition of naive.

heyimlivinghere said:

My boyfriend is not concerned about having to get rid of the "black water" and trash. That's not even an issue.

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It is an issue and your boyfriend is in denial if he thinks it is not an issue. Between two people you will accumulate at least 20 gallons a week of black water that will have to be disposed of. You can't just dump it on the ground.

All I asked was where we could find electricity that wasn't an RV park, and everyone jumped on me about how I will hate living in a camper, without even any past knowledge of my life experiences.

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You can't find electricity. It must be generated. Either by a generator, solar cells or hooking up to shore power. Since you don't want to live in a campground that rules out shore power. Your trailer is not big enough to put enough solar cells on the roof to generate enough electricity for two people to live on so that means running a generator. A generator uses about a half a gallon an hour so figure four hours minimum per day running the generator, plus driving to a gas station every day to get the gas.

I understand now that my initial question can obviously not be answered here, and if it is will be followed by a mouth full of negativity.

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You seem to be under the impression that all you need is a $1500 trailer and you can go out in the woods and live for free. That is just not the way it works. All your utilities cost money. It is actually cheaper to live in an RV park than to boondock. There are plenty of RV parks that are well under $300 per month. You will spend that much on gas, propane and dump stations.

I didn't see any negative comments. I did see people pointing out items you overlooked.

Electricity isn't free, someone has to pay for it. Neither are propane, water or sewer, which are going to be a much bigger deal than you seem to realize. Can you live on 10 to 15 gallons of water per week now? Why do you think it's any different in a trailer? A two-hour round trip to Mom's house for water is going to get old pretty quickly.

Your other "house bills" don't just disappear. You still need to buy groceries and feed the dog, do laundry and everything else, except maybe cable TV (which you could cancel today and save that expense anyways).

The romantic notion of living for free in your little trailer just isn't going happen.

I understand now that my initial question can obviously not be answered here, and if it is will be followed by a mouth full of negativity.

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Apparently you came here asking questions and expecting answers that support your beliefs and what you want to hear.  Instead your question was answered by people who live full time in their RVs and truly understand more about your proposed situation than you do.  They told you the truth and you can't blame anyone for answering truthfully even though they don't support your mistaken beliefs.  This is not being negative.  It's being realistic.  Please pay attention to what they say because they are bringing up serious issues that, by your own admission, you know nothing about.  My advice is not to give up your apartment until you do your homework and learn a whole lot more about full-time RVing.  Happy Thanksgiving!

ArdraF

You can "find" electricity wherever there is an outlet. If the owner of that outlet is willing to provide you with free electric service, fine. If not, it is theft. Your RV will have a battery (probably just one in that trailer) and it will be charged whenever you are plugged into an outlet, even a lowly 15A residential type outlet. And that will also handle your lighting and probably the fridge as well. Water heater will likely need to run on propane, though, unless you have a bigger (more amps) power source. Your trailer is probably designed for a 30 amp power outlet. Even all 30A isn't a lot.

The cooking part is easy - the propane stove in the trailer uses very little LP gas. Heating, though, hot water & furnace in the winter (if needed), can use up quite a bit every month.

Water: you may drink only 15 gal/month, but what about showers, flushing toilet, dish washing, etc.? And where/how will you do laundry?

To think that disposal of waste water is a non-problem is incredibly naive. It's actually one of the larger problems of living in an RV, especially if trying to live cheaply.

Have you asked your boyfriend's employer about living in a trailer on his parking lot? And using his power? You might be surprised...

All very valid points made here in response.  I don't think people are judging you or being mean, just letting you in on their experiences.  Personally, we love the advantage of living in a county park environment because of the conveniences: we pay rent and have this lovely bonus of an all in one packaged deal for the rent.  Which translate to we live in a great location, a gated community so to speak.  We also have electricity, running water and sewer hookup.  There are also park rangers providing around the clock security, gorgeous lake view, access to laundry room, public showers with great water pressure, tennis courts, handball courts, golf range, mini golf...etc.

No, we are not ultra experienced in this adventure....Yet.  This is our first RV and yes we chose to live this lifestyle.  Our first month living in a small home.  And despite a couple of hiccups, we are actually loving it!  Life is like that; either you live and learn to laugh while working together or you will be miserable.  We have a medium sized dog and an almost 14 year old son living here..  He far out weighs your Shepard.  LOL  I have seen neighbors/other campers with large dogs, so I wouldn't get rid of the dog just because you are down sizing. 

My advice, find a place to live that is within your budget and make it your home.  Stick to your budget and be realistic in your expectations.  Oh and check your local area, you will find what you need.

Happy camping.  God bless