RV Archives - Making Sense Of Cents

10 Lessons I’ve Learned From Living A Nomadic Lifestyle

Last Updated: March 19, 2022 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 13 Comments

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If you’ve ever wondered what the nomadic lifestyle is really like, I’ve been traveling full-time for over five years, and I’m always excited to share my experiences.

It all started back in 2013 when my husband and I left our day jobs and became location independent. We started traveling more extensively, and we loved being able to spend more time outdoors doing what we love.

Then in 2015, what feels like a lifetime ago, we started traveling full-time. First, we sold our house in Missouri that we had owned for a little over five years and moved to Colorado.

We rented a house in Colorado and bought an RV right after we moved in, but the house didn’t last for long. We were ready to move into the RV and start traveling full-time.

Traveling is always something I was interested in, even from a young age, but I never thought that I would live a nomadic lifestyle.

It was exciting and scary at first, and I’m so excited I gave it a shot as it has greatly changed my life for the better.

I’ve found many nomadic lifestyle advantages over the years — I have learned so many skills, I have met amazing people, been to countless beautiful places, and more. [Read more…]

2020 Business and Life Review

Last Updated: March 17, 2022 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 56 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Welcome to my 2020 Business and Life Review!

Usually, I separate my travel and business annual review content into two separate blog posts, but this year I’ve decided to combine it into one.

2020 was a different kind of year, and I’m sure nearly everyone would agree with that statement.

It was a tough year for a lot of people, and I completely understand.

I feel very grateful for the life that I get to live, but it was a hard year for me as well. I lost two important family members in my life, my grandma as well as my dog who was my best friend for almost 14 years.

[Read more…]

How To Rent An RV: The Best Tips For Your First RV Rental

Last Updated: April 14, 2022 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 8 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Want to learn how to rent an RV? Today, I’m going to talk about the best way to rent an RV, if renting is cheaper than a hotel, what to know before renting an RV, and more.

While I no longer live full-time in an RV (we’re now living full-time and traveling via sailboat!), I lived in one for several years and still own one. When we’re not on the boat, we live full-time in the van.

RVing is something that I absolutely love, and I think that traveling or living in an RV will ALWAYS be a part of my life!

What I love so much about living in an RV or van is that you have your whole house with you while you visit beautiful places. You can park right next to hiking and biking trails, next to the mountains or beaches, and more.

When we first sold our house to live in an RV full time, people thought we were crazy. We got rid of more than half of our stuff and started driving across the country.

But, as I started sharing our experience with our friends and family, more and more people started to realize it wasn’t crazy at all – it was amazing! [Read more…]

How I Travel Full-Time By RV And Boat With My 2 Dogs

Last Updated: November 8, 2020 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 7 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Traveling with a dog is a lot of fun, but there are some important things to consider so you and your pet are prepared.

Sometimes people think we are crazy for bringing our dogs on our adventures, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. For us, it’s like bringing your kids along, haha!

Since we’ve been doing this for several years and in so many different ways, I figured I would be a good person to share what it’s like traveling with a dog for anyone who is interested in learning how it’s done.

You might be interested in going on a roadtrip with a dog. Maybe you want to sail or RV full-time with them, or perhaps you just want to take your furry companion on your next week long vacation.

Whether you want to travel full-time with your pets, or if you want to just go on the occasional trip, hopefully my experiences will help you.

Traveling with a dog has been a huge learning process for me.

We’ve had to go slow and learn what works for our dogs. I say this because there is no single right way to travel with pets. So, you may have to adjust a little for your specific animal, as all animals are different and have different needs. We even see differences between our two dogs in how they travel. [Read more…]

Full-Time RV Travel With Kids – Are They Crazy?

Last Updated: March 31, 2021 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 11 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Hey everyone! Today, I have a great article from Jacob Wade on how to become a full-time RV family. I’ve known him for years now and it’s been so much fun watching him and his family on this RV adventure that they are on. Jacob Wade is the budgeting expert who started iHeartBudgets, a place where Millennials and young families come to learn EXACTLY how to build a budget that WORKS. Jacob quit his job in 2018, sold his house and 95% of everything they owned to take off on an adventure of a lifetime. He is now on mission to spread the message of Financial Freedom around the country, and help others build a “Freedom Plan” of their own!

18 months ago, I quit my job, we sold (almost) everything we owned (including the house), and we hit the road with 3 kids, 6 and under!

Hello Making Sense of Cents family!

I’m Jacob Wade, Founder of iHeartBudgets.net, and Michelle was kind enough to let me share our story with you fine folks today.

I know Michelle has shared all about her adventures around the U.S. in an RV (and in her sailboat!), and I as I’ve read through her stories, I found myself nodding my head all the way through.

There is something about giving in to your sense of adventure, having a curiosity to explore and taking hold of the FREEDOM that is right in front of us!

We’ve had such an incredible journey over the past 18 months, and get SO MANY questions about what it takes to up and leave EVERYTHING.

So today I’ll talk through the details of HOW we saved for and planned our adventure, what it looks like to sell EVERYTHING and downsize our family into 300 sq. ft., and the day to day of traveling full time WITH KIDS.

And hopefully inspire some of you who feel “stuck” to take a chance at something BIG! [Read more…]

Living In A Boat Or RV? What Is Better?

Last Updated: February 21, 2021 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 14 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Which do you like better? The boat or RV?

Do you miss RVing?

How long do you think you’ll sail for? Do you think you’ll ever go back to a normal home?

The questions are never-ending.

Now that we’ve switched to sailing, we get these questions ALL THE TIME.

As a refresher, we RVed for around four years, and we have been living on our sailboat for almost two years now.

We really love both lifestyles and everything that they allow us to do.

There are a lot of similarities between living in a boat or RV, such as:

You can bring your home with you as you travel.
Marinas are kind of like campgrounds.
Anchorages are similar to boondocking.
They have a lot of the same systems, such as a battery bank, solar, dump, water tank, and so on.
Smaller space than a “normal” home.

But, there are also a ton of things that are completely different between the two. [Read more…]

The Honest Truth About Van Dwelling: Answers To The Most Common Van Life Questions

Last Updated: March 4, 2021 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 16 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Van dwelling, or the lifestyle of living in a van, is becoming more and more popular as a way to travel full-time. Since we bought a van a few months ago to live in, I have received a lot of questions about van dwelling.

While they seem funny to us now, I know that we had some of these same questions before we started RVing.

Some of the questions we are asked are from those who think we are crazy for living in a van. Whereas, others are from people who are interested in van dwelling but are unsure about certain things. Either way, I hope to clear up a lot of the common questions we receive about living in a van.

You never know, maybe I’ll convert some of you. 🙂

Below are questions that I’ve been asked by friends, family, readers, and even strangers. It’s always interesting trying to explain RVing/van dwelling to strangers who stop me at the store after they’ve seen me get out of our van.

It’s a lot of fun, though. I love answering questions about what it’s like living in a van full-time and getting others hooked on this lifestyle! [Read more…]