How to Know That You’re Ready for Full-Time RV Life

Are you ready for full-time RV Life? Traveling on the road full-time takes more than just finding a rig and getting behind the wheel. There’s a lot of preparation that comes with moving from a permanent home into a mobile one, some of which can be daunting and a lot of work. If you think you’re ready to take the leap of living on the road full-time, here’s a checklist of what you can expect and should prepare for ahead of time.

Take Only the Essentials
When you decide to make your RV your home, you begin to realize that you’ve collected a ton of stuff you don’t necessarily need every day. You’ve also developed emotional attachments to these things, so it’s even harder to get rid of the things you love, but don’t actually need. But the first step to making your rig a home is to find the essentials in your current home to determine how you can make room for them in a smaller area.

Related Read: The Essentials Every Nomad Needs on the Road

Whether you decide to put some things in storage or not, living a minimalist lifestyle is one of the best (and sometimes worst) parts of living on the road. You realize you can live with less and spend more money on experiences, treating your family and friends, and seeing the world. If you’re ready to get rid of things and shift to an experience-only mindset, you’re a good fit for full-time travel.



Find a Way to Sustain Yourself on the Road
Whether you’re retired or someone who needs a steady income, finding a way to sustain yourself on the road is one of the biggest things you need to have in mind before making a life change this big. You may need to adjust the number of times you go out to eat each month or find a new job entirely. All of these are important to understand prior to getting behind the wheel full-time because they require sacrifice and dedication. If you’re not used to having to work on your own or cook every day of the week, you may not be a good fit for full-time travel.

Related Read: Top Jobs Options for RVers on the Road

You also need to consider that life on the road means spending more on things like fuel for your rig, maintenance for both your rig and places to stay. Depending on where you choose to stay, campgrounds can be expensive in the busy tourist seasons, so you need to be able to afford a place for your rig, especially if it’s rather large.

Whether you’re looking for a side gig or a full-time job, there are tons of resources out there to help you look for your next paycheck. Here are a few that may be helpful for you to check out:

Virtual Vocations
CoolWorks
LinkedIn

Be Okay with the Unexpected & Frustrating
Life on the road is more than just seeing beautiful places and eating amazing food. There are days you will sit at a mechanic shop, maybe even for weeks. You’ll realize that breakdowns, malfunctions, and unfortunate events happen more regularly than they do when you just had a car sitting in your driveway. It can take a toll on your wallet, but also a toll on your mental state, too.

Things like flat tires, car accidents, heavy traffic, and construction can make a quick trip into a long trip, and a long trip where you don’t get to do much of what you planned to do, too. If you’re looking for a vacation, full-time travel is not always unicorns and rainbows. There will be times when you realized that maintaining a house may be easier than maintaining your RV, but you have to be able to walk away from those experiences better prepared and hopeful that you can tackle it easier the next time.

If you want to ensure that you’ll always have someone there for you, the best thing to do is get great insurance for your RV and invest in roadside assistance. You can also invest in a nice fluffy pillow to yell into on the occasions when it seems like everything that could wrong happens. :)

When you’re on the road, you have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable and, occasionally, frustrated.

Prepare, Prepare, Prepare
Jumping behind the wheel and hitting the next destination sounds like a fun and spontaneous way to travel, and sometimes it’s a good way to go, but most of the time, you’ll want to have a general idea of where you are heading and what you plan to do.

For those who like the adventure of not knowing, you will learn the hard way that things like traffic, tourists, and weather, are not always your friend. Preparing a flexible travel itinerary with activities and campgrounds can help you identify what you can and can’t do on the days when the weather or road construction doesn’t line up with your expectations.

Preparing isn’t just for when you’re on the road, it’s also how you’ll get yourself ready to get on the road, too. Preparing a checklist before you take off for full-time travel can help you identify the things you need and also your routine for packing up or settling down. You should have more than one checklist prepared before you set sail, so here are a few of my lists I carry with me in terms of categories:

1. Tools & Extra Parts List: A list of all the tools and parts you may need to replace. These can be things like fuses, nuts & bolts, and extra batteries for your electric drill.

2. Pack-up & Settle Down List: A list of all the things you need to remember when you decide to settle down somewhere and also when you pack up to get on the road. This list will save you when you realize your awning is still up and you’re driving down the highway.

3. Emergency List: These are the things you need in case of an emergency. You’ll always want to carry a flashlight, first aid kit, and extra water everywhere you go. Think about all the emergencies you can land yourself while on the road and make a list of how you can solve those problems to make a full emergency list.

Get Introspective
At the end of the day, if you’re considering full-time travel, you need to know yourself and what you can handle. Self-awareness is the best way to know whether or not you’re actually ready to hit the road full-time. If you can see yourself handling all situations, good and bad, well on the road then the full-time travel lifestyle is a good fit for you!