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How many times do you find yourself sitting at your desk, working away, when all of a sudden your mind wanders. Wondering what life would be like if you spent more time exploring the world and less time wondering about exploring it?
Wondering what things you could get rid of to make a travel life something attainable. Wondering what people you could meet, what places you could go, what things you could experience, if only you lived in an RV. Need more reasons why you should live in an RV before you die? Here are 10.
You Should Live in an RV Before You Die. Here Are 10 Reasons Why
We’ve got 10 reasons why you should live in an RV before you die. These include having experiences over possessions, saving money, finding a community, chasing warm weather, pushing boundaries, building relationships, and more.
Whatever reasons tug at your heartstrings, grab on and don’t let go. Living in an RV might become the ride of a lifetime.
1. Living in an RV Forces Experiences Over Material Things
RV life means minimal space. So, the 30 pairs of heels you own, the 50 glasses you’ve collected, and your garage full of tools won’t all make the cut. You’ll have to leave some things behind. Deciding what and how to downsize is an adventure in itself.
But when you have fewer things, you’ll have more time and space to have experiences instead. Maintaining things takes time. And when you don’t get to keep all your belongings, the ones you do keep become even more special. You may find the ones you don’t bring you won’t miss. You’ll have too much fun exploring new places and trying new adventures.
2. You Can Save Tons of Money
It is true, you can save a lot of money by living in an RV, but you can also spend a lot more than you thought. It all depends on how you travel and what experiences you want to pay for. However, simply talking about living in an RV compared to paying a mortgage on a house, then yes, living in an RV can save you a great deal of money — if you do it right.
Saving money while living in an RV means using discounts, booking weekly or monthly rates, and utilizing resources such as Good Sam Club, Harvest Hosts, and Passport America. Saving money means that you need to quickly realize that you are not on vacation while living in an RV. Yes, go out to eat and enjoy the local culinary delights, but don’t overindulge. Your budget and your waistline won’t appreciate it.
Slow travel is the best way to save money when living in an RV. Campground rates and gas costs will go down. You’ll save money while getting to know a community like a local instead of a tourist. Remember, you are living, not vacationing.
Join thousands of RVers in experiencing memorable and scenic overnight locations. This club allows you to stay for free at farms, wineries, breweries, museums, and golf courses around North America. Some of our favorite overnight stops have been at Harvest Hosts locations throughout the US.
Use the link below to save 15% on your membership!
3. You Can Travel All Over and Return to Your Own Bed Every Night
Living in an RV makes it possible to travel and still sleep in your own bed with your own pillows at night. Having this comfort makes it a bit easier to bust out of your comfort zone to try new things while living on the road. This can provide some consistency no matter where you end up.
So even when you pull into a friend’s driveway that you haven’t seen for years, and they offer you the hospitality of their spare bedroom and their kitchen, you can still go back home. Your RV can serve as a respite from the rest of the world. It can become your home away from home.
4. The RV Lifestyle Is Great for Introverts, Extroverts, Homebodies, Adventurers, & Everyone in Between
RVing can allow you to live whatever lifestyle you please. Extroverts who love meeting people can invite neighbors over to a campfire on a beautiful fall evening. On rainy or chilly nights, invite the camphosts over for a game night inside the rig.
If you happen to go boondocking in the middle of nowhere and need more company besides your partner, find the nearest brewery or winery, pull up a seat at the bar, and say hi to a stranger. Your rig will take you wherever you need to go.
Additionally, an RV can become a happy place for an introvert and a homebody to curl up between the pages of a book. Can you picture anything cozier than snuggling up in your favorite sweater, pillows surrounding you, a cup of tea in your hands, and a book on your lap in the middle of nature? Living in an RV gives you the perfect cozy space to make any night feel magical.
Need some adventure time? Plan your trips around trails. Love the water? Camp near a lake or river? Whatever adventures define you, living in an RV makes it easy to create those experiences months ahead of time or on the fly.
You can explore and meet new people by living in an RV. Or it can help you get away from it all and find yourself surrounded by more animals than people, with the sounds of nature as your only company. It’s all up to you.
5. Connect with Like-Minded Individuals and Make Friends All Over the US
You might think that moving into an RV will ostracize you from the community because you won’t have consistency. It’s actually the exact opposite. Moving into an RV opens up worlds of communities if you are open to finding them along the road. With many RV groups such as the RV Entrepreneur, Escapees, FullTime Families, and more, you won’t have to feel lonely on the road.
Pro Tip: Learn why the Escapees RV Club is one of the memberships we recommend to any RVer.
Many of these groups also host annual gatherings. People love to gather and talk about specific rigs. So if you have an Airstream, a truck camper, a Skoolie, or a van, you can get together with people with the same one. You’ll also find communities and gatherings for families, entrepreneurs, retirees, and solo travelers.
You simply have to search for what you want online and greet people on the road. Many full and part-time RVers love to give newbies travel advice. You don’t have to be alone if you don’t want to. The community on the road is astounding. Your neighbors may be far away in another state, but you’ll often feel more connected to them than the neighbors you had right next door for 30 years.
6. You Can Follow Fair Weather
Fair-weather fans rejoice. Living in an RV makes following warm weather a breeze. Campgrounds nationwide mean you can escape the cold for warmer states in the winter.
From the desert landscapes of Arizona and Nevada to the beach escapes of California, the Gulf, and Florida, you can escape the drizzling, dark snow for as long as you please. And with many campsites catering to snowbirds just like you, you’ll even find places with monthly and long-term rates.
The only thing that may make you want to leave is the thousands of other Snowbirds heading south. So choose your location carefully. If you want to get away from bad weather and all the people, maybe avoid Florida. But if you love people as much as you love warm weather, you may enjoy heading south for the winter.
7. Gets You Out of Your Comfort Zone
Once you start traveling full-time in an RV, you may realize something new about yourself. You may have to push the boundaries of your comfort zone. For example, maybe you have never camped before, let alone in a home on wheels. You may find yourself in an all-inclusive resort for your first foray into full-time RV living.
However, you may hear people talking about these quaint campgrounds in a state park surrounded by hiking trails and the stunning view of a mountain lake. It still has hookups but no pool or a spa. You may decide to venture off to take in the scenery.
You may find that you love it. Then you may hear someone talking about camping next to vibrant red rocks and fields of brilliant blue wildflowers. The dirt road or the lack of hookups may deter you but camping next to wildflowers may change your mind.
Before you know it, you can become a boondocking expert. Living on wheels and meeting new people can feed your curiosity and your courage, teach you new skills, and help you find new passions.
8. Connect with Nature
You can connect with nature by simply driving your home into a forested campground. Finding hiking and biking trails right outside your door is nothing surprising when camped here. Sitting outside watching the deer in your front yard, coffee in hand, makes for a brilliant way to start your day.
With many campgrounds situated next to or directly in national parks, consider it a perfect way to connect to nature everywhere you go. Consider yourself warned. Listening to the sounds of crickets or the coyotes off in the distance or the waves crashing along the shore may become the only way you can fall asleep. Who knows, living in nature might just become a necessity.
9. Multi-Million Dollar Window Views for Free
Many people boast that they have a vacation home or two. And from there, they will proceed to make your mouth water with their descriptive words for the expansive views of the crystal blue waters from their 3,500 sq ft beach house. Or maybe they’ll sing praises about their log home with hot tub and 25 ft granite fireplace surrounded by snow-capped mountains and towering pines.
Good for them. Because you’ve got those views and a hundred more — and for a lot less money. You may not get a hot tub or a granite fireplace or 3,500 sq ft of space, but you can find more things to enjoy. So while you won’t have those spectacular amenities, you won’t have to take care of them, either.
You can get the views that come with those million-dollar vacation homes for free. With boondocking sites dispersed across the nation, free camping offers sights that you could never afford before you moved into an RV.
How about an ocean view for two weeks? Maybe tucked away in a forested cove next to a mountain stream? Want mighty Saguaros as your guardian angels under a starlit desert sky? You could choose them all.
10. It Can Strengthen Relationships
Many people think living in an RV will put a strain on a relationship. For most, it can actually strengthen them. Living in close quarters teaches you how to respect each other’s space.
Whether you have a 24 ft Class C or a 40 ft Class A, you’ll generally have one maybe two doors in your entire home, resulting in less privacy. You’ll have more conversations about how to manage the time together and the time you need to be apart. This small space may encourage increased communication, resulting in stronger relationships.
While your RV doesn’t have much room, you have the entire outdoors to escape. So when you need some space to breathe, you have Mother Nature as your therapist right outside your door. Because of this, you’ll have a better understanding of what each person needs, whether that be quiet time or music to keep you both singing down the road.
RVing Isn’t for Everyone, Is It for You?
Living in an RV isn’t for everyone. It involves pushing past comfort zones daily. You have to take on several roles when setting up camp. You’ll learn patience, creativity, and a sense of humor, or those times that your house won’t start or your slideout gets stuck halfway will make you come tumbling down quicker than Jenga blocks.
But if you love the idea of living wherever you want, the possibility of a different city every week, meeting new people, visiting old friends, and wandering to your heart’s content, then the RV life just might be for you. But you may miss out on a ride of a lifetime if you never try. You can always go back home.
