Can't decide to go full time

[Steevo45]

Hello Everyone. I retired last October. We went south for 6 weeks this past winter.
We enjoyed our time away but is was nice to come home, too. We can't decide if we want to become full timers or not. I'm sure we're not the only ones who've wrestled with this issue. We'd sure appreciate insights on the subject from those of you who've tried and continue to be full timers and those of you who've tried and decided not to stay out.

We're looking forward to not cutting our outings short because of having to work! Every day is a Saturday! Thanks and glad to be part of this community.

[creativepart]

Go half way and see how you feel. Take a 4 to 6 month trial run and see how you feel.

Another thing is to look around your Home and decide how you feel about getting rid of the stuff in your home that you really don't want to be without.

My wife and I are taking baby steps - not to go fulltime RVers but to downsize to a smaller place closer to aging parents. We're doing the things that anyone has to do to sell, move and downsize. We've started cleaning out the "junk" that we've been hording, sort of, and fixing up the home mechanically and appearance-wise.

It's good to do these things no matter what, but it would be required to make any downsizing move.

[Steevo45]

Selling the home and stuff is definitely a daunting task. On one hand, it would "lighten the load" which would be beneficial but what parts of the load to lighten is going to be the tough part. I guess we could keep our "treasures" in storage until we know what we want to do. I like your suggestion to try a few months to see how it goes. We have children nearby who can watch things for us, but don't want to have to burden them with that too long. Thanks for your reply.

[creativepart]

Originally Posted by Steevo45

I guess we could keep our "treasures" in storage until we know what we want to do.

A good rule of thumb for using paid storage is to set a time limit for yourself. If after 12 months or whatever you a) don't miss the item or b) don't plan to come back into a house where the item would be needed - that you plan on emptying that storage shed without further delay.

[Steevo45]

We figure at some point we'll end up in a condo somewhere. We'll want to save the heirlooms, etc.
Good idea on setting limit on the storage.

[Marine359]

Originally Posted by Steevo45

Hello Everyone. I retired last October. We went south for 6 weeks this past winter.
We enjoyed our time away but is was nice to come home, too. We can't decide if we want to become full timers or not. I'm sure we're not the only ones who've wrestled with this issue. We'd sure appreciate insights on the subject from those of you who've tried and continue to be full timers and those of you who've tried and decided not to stay out.

We're looking forward to not cutting our outings short because of having to work! Every day is a Saturday! Thanks and glad to be part of this community.

I know enough folks who decided to full-time, then after a few months they wanted out. Unfortunately, some sold their homes and sank way too much money in a new rig, taking a bath when they sold it. If you haven’t owned before, strongly recommend you rent an RV for 4-6 weeks to find out if you want to transition to full-timing. We like our rural home and like being at home. So for us, the answer was keep our home and acquire a small rig that we could be comfortable in on 4-6 week excursions. Less money invested, and no worries.

[Steevo45]

Thanks for the input. We'll probably do what you suggest for now.