Today, I thought I’d get on a little more personal level and take you a step farther into my family’s full-time RV life. For those of you that already know the jest of this topic, keep reading for a update on our full time RV living.
If you have read any of my past posts, you probably already know that me, my husband, and two small children live a full time RV life. But, you may have wondered a few things like… why we made this decision, how much we travel, what neat places we have been, what this year’s plans are, and so on. I may not be able to answer all of your questions about our full time RV life but this post should be a start!
Why do we live a full-time RV life?
Whether it be work or leisure, most but not all, live a full-time RV life by choice. Our decision, though ultimately by choice, was guided by a calling from God into the ministry. We made the choice to answer this call going on 2 years ago. We are now traveling the country wherever the Lord opens doors. My husband is what is called a full-time evangelist.
What does our day to day full-time RV life consist of?
My personal day time consist of a lot of the normal stay at home mom activities and responsibilities. Our blessing of a camper, to take with us as we go, provides us with a ‘home’ atmosphere of which I spend time tending to while caring for my family. Cooking, cleaning, meal planning, homeschool, and laundry often fill the early part of my day. If you are interested in how I control laundry overflows in a pinch or how I clean out and keep a small wardrobe, click on these linked post here or below.😊
My husband, on the other hand, spends a lot of his day time praying, studying, and preparing for the ministry. He also tends to things around the camper such as RV and truck maintenance and so forth.
Many of our evenings consist of the ministry, in which we attend many different churches, ministering to the people in sermon and songs.
What’s the biggest difference in our RV life and former “9-5” life?
For the first 7 years of our married life, me and my husband lived the ideal Mon-Fri work schedule. I was a stay at home mom with just a handful of housekeeping side jobs outside of the home, and we had every 3 day weekend off together. We had a perfect schedule and didn’t need to have much flexibility.
The biggest change between then and our current life style is definitely the flexibility issue. Full-time RV life, along with the ministry, takes a LOT of flexibility. You learn to go with the flow and not stress when things don’t go as planned. After living and learning this lesson for the past 1.5 years, I can see how this mindset can benefit anyone in any type of lifestyle. Let’s be real, even in the perfect scheduled life that we all love, things still go awry from time to time. Learning to make the best of it, no matter what, is a great benefit and blessing to the whole family.
Do we still have family days and dates even though we are always together?
Yes! Especially because we are together, living full-time in an RV can sometimes feel like the walls are closing in. This doesn’t mean you don’t love each other or that you are a bad family. You sometimes just need a break and the easiest way to do that is to plan a family day outside of those 4 walls.
The fact is, it’s easy to forget about family time or dates when you are always together. Some people relate “RV life” to a “full time vacation” and although we all admit to the flexibility and excitement traveling can bring, we still need a break from the monotony of our everyday responsibilities. That’s where family days and dates come in. No, my kids don’t get super excited over a long road trip anymore because that’s part of their life, I can just imagine convincing my four year old that his camper life was just a big camping trip 😂 but, if I tell him we are going to a local park for a picnic or to a local aquarium, he would go through the roof with excitement because it simply breaks up the monotony of our everyday life.
The same goes for dates, me and my husband don’t have a traveling baby sitter so we have to get creative. Date night may be staying up late after the kids go to sleep and playing a game of chess, or it might be a late car ride for ice cream. It takes a little more effort but dates are vital when you are cramped in a camper for months at a time, you need that time to just clock out and enjoy each other’s company.❤️Click here or below for date ideas after the kids go to bed!
Things I’ve learned living a full-time RV life
- Be flexible
- You don’t need near as much things as you think
- Too much stuff piles up quick in -500sq.ft.
- Kids don’t need much to be happy (link- a simple toy room)
- There is a lot of wonderful people everywhere
- The will of God is the happiest and safest place to be
- When God calls you, He will make the way
- RVs break, it’s part of it, fix them and roll on!
- Travel can be expensive, budget & take advantage of money saving apps.
- RV maintenance is a necessity to prevent many problems!
- RV life takes love, patience, and understanding with each other
- Take advantage of the outdoors (RVs are only so big)
- Purchase a good RV & Truck, you won’t regret it
- You can learn a lot about your RV problems online
- Find a dependable RV handy man that you can call when problems arise. He may not be able to always get to you but he can give you suggestions and help with maintenance when you are home.
- When ordering parts, price check! Amazon and RV trader are our favorites so far
- Make travel days fun for your children, happy kids make happy travels. Check out my post here for travel boredom busters!
- Amazon Prime can be worth the subscription with their 2day shipping and easy returns
- Anywhere can be home if you take the time to make it a home
- Traveling in a RV is the only way to go when you are fulltime!
What’s our plans this year?
So far, we have been to OH, KY, VA, WV, MA, PA and TN this year. Later this year, we plan to spend time in SC, KY, and OH hosting kids crusades, we are really excited about starting this part of the ministry back up. Before the kids crusades start, we plan to spend some time in AR and surrounding states. We can’t wait to see what else the Lord has in store for us this year, only time will tell. In the meantime, we will be settling into our new camper over the next several weeks, in between travels. We recently were provided with the opportunity to trade our RV in for one which is better suited for our full time living. We are very blessed and excited about our new home! Keep watching for pics and posts with it in the near future!
I hope you have enjoyed this post. Stick around for more links below on mentioned and related topics. What else would you like to know about our full time RV life? I would love to hear from you in the comments below! If you haven’t subscribed already, be sure to do so directly here below.
Happy Homemaking 😊
