RV Archives - Making Sense Of Cents

Would You Consider Living In A Camper To Pay Off Debt Quicker?

March 19, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 45 Comments

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What would you do to save more money and pay off your debt quicker?

One thing that I've noticed more people doing is living in a camper in order to save money.

Before we begin, I will say that RVing is funny. Some people who don't RV think that all RVers are trust fund babies, and others think the complete opposite, like that we are all truly homeless and have no money.

In reality, living in a camper has a wide range of costs, just like houses that don't have wheels do. You could live in a $1,000 travel trailer, or there are $2,000,000+ motorhome mansions. Similarly, the budget you keep while living in a camper can vary widely too.

Some people manage to spend just hundreds of dollars a month, whereas others can easily spend several thousands of dollars a month RVing.

While we don't live in an RV to save money (the house we used to own was actually much less expensive than our motorhome), there are many who have been able to pay off debt, save for early retirement, and more, all by living in a camper. [Read more…]

What Traveling Full-Time For 3 Years Has Taught Me

February 10, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 53 Comments

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What Traveling Full-Time For 3 Years Has Taught Me Three years ago, we completely emptied our house, put it on the market, and drove to Colorado. We had been location independent for a couple of years at that point, and we had the travel itch. We were ready to explore, and little did we know that would be the start of our life traveling full-time.

It wasn't easy. I remember going out to eat with my close friends right before we moved. It was, literally, moments after we packed everything into a car, that I went out to eat with friends to say goodbye before continuing the drive to Colorado. I cried about selling our house and leaving my friends and family.

We found a “homebase” in Fruita, Colorado, and we used that as our jumping off point as we explored Colorado and nearby Utah.

We knew absolutely no one in the Fruita, Colorado area (or anywhere near it). We just picked it after a recent trip and liked the location, the small town feel, and all of the mountain biking, rock climbing, and hiking that it had to offer. [Read more…]

My Year In Travels – Where I Went in 2017 – Hiking, Biking, RVing, Sailing, and More

January 5, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 51 Comments

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2017 was an amazing year. We traveled to many new areas in the RV, went on a 10-day sailing trip, climbed several mountains, went on many bike rides, saw killer whales in their natural habitat, rode the third longest tram in the world, went on a brewery trail (yep, it exists!), and more.

We traveled to 18 states, too many cities to even keep track of, stayed in St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and sailed in the British Virgin Islands. We saw beautiful mountains, oceans, beaches, deserts, and everything in between.

We visited several new places, and we revisited many of our favorites as well. Some people think we're crazy for visiting the same place more than once, but we are always doing new things, and I think it's impossible to see and do everything if you only visit a place once. Plus, if you enjoyed your visit once, why not enjoy it some more?

2017 was an amazing year, full of great travel, building friendships and relationships, and more. I couldn't have asked for a better year.

Here's where we RVed in 2017. Credit: https://visitedstatesmap.com

Quick list of my favorite things from 2017: [Read more…]

Why would you make $100,000+ a month and live in an RV?

October 30, 2017 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 88 Comments

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My name is Michelle and I live in an RV. And, yes, I regularly earn over $100,000 a month.

A common question I often receive involves why would I make a high income and live in an RV. As if only a "certain" type of people are allowed to live in an RV and everyone else is just lying about it. A common question I receive is “Why would you make $100,000+ and live in an RV?”

I am asked this question so often that it deserved to be its own article. And, if you want to get to the point quickly, it’s simple – we do it because we LOVE RVing.

There are a lot of assumptions that people make about why we live in an RV, like we’re hippies or even homeless. On the other end of the spectrum, some people assume that we’ve inherited a ton of money and don’t actually work, ha!

Other people assume that if we just bought a real house we would love it and quit RVing. Well, we did own a “real” house for six years, and we still love RVing more.

Whenever people make these comments, though, I think what they should be asking is, “Why wouldn't a person live in an RV if they could?”

To us, full-time RVing is freedom. We can chase good weather, we can visit friends and families all over the country, we can wake up one morning by the ocean, and spend the night next to a snow capped mountain. It also means that we understand how little we actually need to live, and that is true freedom. [Read more…]

How This Couple Does Van Life with A Baby (and a dog!)

October 25, 2017 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 21 Comments

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Giddi and Jace live in a van and travel full-time with their baby and dog. They are outdoor enthusiasts who purchased and converted a Sprinter van. Come here for van life DIY ideas, hacks, interior looks, tips, how they shower, how they afford their travel budget, and more! #vanlife Next up in my Extraordinary Series is Giddi and Jace from Our Home On Wheels. They live in a van and travel full-time with their baby (yes, a baby!) named Juniper, and their dog, Lotus. They are outdoor enthusiasts who purchased and converted a Sprinter van in March of 2016.

When they first started full-time travel, they had no more than $40 to their names.

Before they moved into their van, they were feeling stuck and unhappy in their full-time jobs.

Now, they fund full-time travel by selling their handmade jewelry, and they also collaborate with brands on social media.

Their Instagram account is one of my favorites, and it’s how I first found out about them.

In this interview, you'll learn:

How they live in a van with three people and a dog
How they are raising their beautiful baby in a van
How they earn a living traveling full-time
And more!

[Read more…]

How To Make Extra Money By Renting Out Your RV

September 27, 2017 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 16 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Are you looking for a way to make extra income, maybe by providing an RV rental? According to the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association, over 8.9 million households own an RV, and this number only continues to increase.

Many RVs sit unused in storage lots, driveways, and backyards, so why not try to make a little money while you’re not using your RV?

And, who doesn’t want to earn a little extra money?

As you know, I talk a lot about how to make extra money here on Making Sense of Cents because I believe that earning extra income can completely change your life. By learning about different ways to make extra money, you can stop living paycheck to paycheck, you can pay off your debt, and more.

Due to the fact that I learned how to make extra money, I was able to pay off $38,000 in student loans within 7 months, I was able to leave my day job in order to pursue my passion, travel full-time, and more! [Read more…]

Common Full Time RVing Questions Part 2 – Don’t You Hate Each Other Yet?

August 7, 2017 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 47 Comments

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Ever since we started full time RVing, we've been asked some funny and interesting questions. And, over a year ago, I published Common RV Questions – Yes, I Even Talk About What We Do With #2. Some of the questions I answered in that article included:

Do you shower?
What do you do when you have to use the bathroom?
How/what do you eat?
What do you do for internet?
Do you ever do laundry?
What do you do for a living, so that you can RV full time?
How do you receive mail?

While they seem funny to us now, I know that we asked some of these same questions before we started full time RVing. Due to that, I knew I had to write that first post to answer some of the most common questions we’ve been asked about full time RVing.

Some of the questions are from people who think we are crazy to RV full time. Whereas, others are from people who are interested in RVing but are unsure about certain things. Either way, I hope to clear up even more of the common RV questions we receive. [Read more…]

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