Travel Archives - Making Sense Of Cents

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

Last Updated: October 19, 2020 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 4 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: August 25, 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…]

10 Easy Camping Meals For You To Try

Last Updated: August 15, 2020 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 4 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.

Camping is super popular, and I completely understand why.

Being able to camp is amazing. You can breathe in the fresh air, embrace the outdoors, try something new, connect with nature, and more.

Whether you are camping with a tent, RVing, trying out van life, or something else, easy camping meals are always great to have.

With these 10 easy camping meals, you’ll have a bunch of delicious and budget-friendly meal options.

These easy camping recipes are simple and have quick clean up and prep.

What I love the most about these easy camping recipes is that you will end up with meals that are more interesting than what you may normally have. And, because you can prep some of these meals in advance, you can spend more time having fun while you’re camping. [Read more…]

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

Last Updated: July 12, 2020 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…]

13+ Easy Zero Waste Swaps That Will Save The Environment And Money

Last Updated: August 31, 2020 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 2 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.

Are you looking for easy zero waste swaps that are good for the environment and will help you save money?

I’m always looking for things that I can reuse, and I love when I am able to find easy zero waste swaps.

Not only do they produce much less waste, but many times I am able to save money and space (because I don’t have to store as much!). So, many of these easy zero waste swaps are great if you travel full-time as well!

If you’re not sure what I mean by easy zero waste swaps, I am talking about replacing disposable household products with ones you can reuse over and over again. And, there are swaps for all over your house – there are low waste swaps, plastic free swaps, and more.

As a full-time traveler, one of the problems we have with disposable items is that we have to store a lot of things, and many of them will just be thrown away. [Read more…]

15 Things To Stop Being Scared Of So You Can Be Rich, Happy, And Successful

Last Updated: May 3, 2020 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 5 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.

Being scared is a natural reaction, but a lot of good things can and will be scary.

Often, people are scared when things are changing, like if you’re starting a new job, getting married, or any other major life event. It’s only natural to be a little scared about how things will turn out.

You might be scared when you are trying to do something that is difficult, like paying off debt. What if it takes you longer than you had hoped? What about the sacrifices you will have to make?

Being scared happens when you do or try things that are new or outside of your comfort zone, and everyone feels scared from time to time. You may not believe that you cannot achieve what you are setting out to do.

But, you have to push through these negative moments and realize that you are holding yourself back if you want to start overcoming fear and let yourself move forward and do something new. [Read more…]

Living In A Boat Or RV? What Is Better?

Last Updated: February 10, 2020 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.

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…]

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