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[lovemyzoo]

We have our own group so it should be easier to find topics and such then in one long thread.

So lets all introduce ourselves :)

[lovemyzoo]

I am Michele. We have 7 girls, 1 boy, 1 on the way in Dec. We have a small farm now but will be selling it off this fall/winter and in the spring leaving NY and living in our RV making our way to AZ, where we will keep living in the RV at lest 9 months, possible 14 at lest. We have to see how it goes and DH's upcoming jobs out there.

[trekkingirl]

Hi I'm Trekkingirl! 

I'm usually nursing as I type so please excuse my typos. I have an eight year old DD and a five year old DS.  My nursling is a 16mo DD who is happily still co sleeping with her mama! My DH and I both work at grocery stores in Northern Ca Bay Area. We have yet to hit the road with our 30ft class A. We are in an extremely high COL area so we are full timing while we save for a down payment on a house.

[bmdatx]

Hi I'm Bryn or 'Away at Home Mom'. As I said in the thread, I just love this site. As soon as I think I'm the only crazy mother out there I find so many other like-minded moms thinking along the same lines. We are about to hit the road in a fifth wheel with our 6 month old and out 100lbs dog! I would love to connect with other families with babies on the road! And can't wait to get advice from seasoned fulltimers!

[LeighB]

Awesome group!  so happy to see other fulltimers.  

We live in a 34 ft fifth wheel-Dh, me, dd5, and new baby.  We haven't started traveling yet, but will within the next 3 months.  

[jr'smom]

Hi.  I'm kind of crashing your group.  I hope that's okay.  We're not fulltimers but we plan to take extended trips (up to 3 months at a time) and I think I can learn a lot from you.   We're new to RVing.  We bought a 30 foot class A and are doing some "practice runs" this summer and hopefully longer trips next year.  We have 2 boys ages 7 and 6 and 2 girls ages 3 and a 14 month old nursling.  The baby cosleeps with us too.  We have an RV sized queen I HAVE to sleep with a body pillow so it's pretty tight!  We're also trying to conceive a fifth child. 

I own my own chiropractic practice and DH is a stay at home, homeschooling dad.  I have associate doctors in my practice so I have freedom to travel.

We plan to tour the US (and parts of Canada) in the summers for the next several years.  This summer we'll get to WI, MI, Niagara Falls, NY, PA, OH, and IN (and we live in IL.)  Next summer we think we'll go west. Our dream trip is to Alaska...that's what prompted the RV purchase. It will be 2 or 3 years before we're ready for that though.  We do a lot of travel by plane too.  We just love to travel!  We also love being with our kids.  Weird huh?

[trekkingirl]

welcome jrsmom

[EmbraceLife]

Hi.  I'm crashing the group too.  We are WANNABE's!  We at least want to take the long extended trips, maybe even one year.  If I could figure out HOW to do this, I'd do full time RV living!

Hope I can learn some things here!
 

[lovemyzoo]

Welcome everyone :)

[grandmom Ruby]

ck out my post of camper living...it can be done, but there again we are downsizing...have been married 41 years and retired.  I look at it like I am playing house...have always loved miniatures so, after a year in it, I am basically still okay...just miss my house when we want to have functions and our farm doesnt have any shade trees, yet.  If you want a simple life, then it might be for you....Grandmom Ruby

[MovnMama]

Hello there! We are currently living in our 31ft 1979 airstream trailer. We've done numerous improvements to it, like painting, flooring, etc. it's DH and I, ds1 who is 5years, and our newborn ds2! Pregnant in the camper was crazy, but it's all over now. I had some major slideout envy! We full time each summer, from end of may to early September. This year we are in a pay campground, but hoping to do enough improving to be camp hosts by next year. In the winter we rent a seasonal cabin - its a really affordable way to live, for Alaska! Here especially, there are lots of cute cabins that rent by the night during the summer (tourists) and then really affordable 9 month leases for the rest of the year. Looking forward to advice about having a crawler/walker and childproof issues!

[lovemyzoo]

Welcome grandma and Movnmama. Nice to see you both here

[trekkingirl]

welcome everyone 

[crazyeight]

Zoo~ I would love to hear how you are going to RV with all those kids!!! I am a single mom with 3 kids and am having a hard time figuring out how to manage!

I have a 35' snowbird 5th wheel with 2 slides that has been hauled from az to or. we have lived in it off and on between house sharing. I am fixing up the last few major things on it (a very large water leak from the kitchen sink somewhere) so we can move to a park. We aren't planning to travel in it but just live in it until I get approved/find low income housing. I don't co sleep with the kids but they usually co sleep together and i take the living room pull out couch.

We did the "do not reccomend" mentioned already haha. I bought the RV and had to have our house emptied out within a week and move it across the country. We got here and had a few beautiful days and then winter set in and the water pipe to the rv was NOT burried! So we had frozen water a lot. I can't believe I went from a 1600 s.f. house to a 35' rv in just a few weeks but we have so much less stuff. While we were room sharing out items increased and they do NOT FIT anymore! I am having to go through and cull more items. I would like to build in 2 sets of bunk beds into the bedroom but i doubt they will fit. We've ran out of propane (the heating is horrible!) and had so many clogged toilets! How are you guys dealing with the rv toilets? So far we are having to put the toilet paper in the trash instead of the toilet.

[lovemyzoo]

We have done extended stays, 3 months once already. We have a new rv, it has 3 slide outs. The back room has 2 and bunk beds on both sides so then when open it has a huge open room. The oldest two have th living room(couch and table to turn beds), the baby will be with us, and the other share the back room. 4 in the bunks, 2 on travel air mattress that store on the top bunch Nicky which opens the room for the table or toys to be used during the day.
We have a smaller then normal size travel playpen also. Although I tend to wear the youngest most of the time is she is out of the way that way.
We will be driving from NY to Az over the course of 4-5 weeks in march/April and then living in az, ideally till oct, but possible for a full year.

I have one that tosses to lit paper in the trash but it is left over from living in Korea where it is common to do so. We haven't had an issue so far with the toilet clogging but we have never really used it outside a park with sewage and all yet either. One night we slept in it without hook up but it isn't something we do often or will do. I can't dry camp with this crew

[crazyms]

Hi! We're a full-time family of 5 including dad, mom, DD 7, DS 5, and baby DD 16 months. We have been in a camper off and on since 2008. We are currently in a 37' bumper pull in Maryland. Dh works as a sandblaster -painter and we travel for his job usually on location for at least 3 months at a time. Its been an adjustment but after all this time it is like home. The only thing is we have yet to get a camper completely fixed up the way I want so that would be great!

[trekkingirl]

welcome

[woogs]

Hi there! I am a wannabe. I have 2 kids, my son is about to turn 10, my daughter is 7. We are stuck right now. It sounds crazy, but dh has a phenomenal sales career making a really good salary, with an awesome 401k, insurance, etc. Not a happy job, not one he wants for any longer than he needs, but in this economy, it seems asinine for us to give it up at this moment. We almost purchased a smaller trailer (minivan towable) a few weeks ago, but didn't do it...I want a big one, and the idea of buying a small one and just weekend camping just bugged me. Not to mention, the smaller one isn't much cheaper than buying a nice travel trailer, so that irritated me!
We are debt free, minus our mortgage, which could easily be paid off if we sold (with a large chunk of money left over) even in this economy (we bought it 15 years ago in foreclosure for a song!)
We are already homeschooling.
DH just keeps asking how will he make a living? I have no decent answer for him. So, for now, here we sit, until he loses his last bit of patience with working an insane amount of hours, or the money stops being worth it, or he finds something equal/better for on the road.
He has asked if the job could go on the road (he travels to two states at least every month or two, and they want it more often), and was told no, which makes no sense to me, since they would be fine with him moving to those states, or working from home. Why not a home on wheels?
Anyway, that's my story,so I will be here dreaming and scheming!

[crazyms]

Could he find a different sales job that does go on the road? The money is my biggest drawback to fulltiming so we just travel with dhs contract job. It doesn't give us much time to explore or spend together though. The real benefit we get is saving money on expenses to eventuallly set up new home somewhere. This really helps when we are in a high cost of living area. A decent size travel trailer was necessary for us with the kids. Its great when we are outdoors but really need the indoor space when weather gets bad so we don't feel suffocated. Good luck just keep looking and I'm sure you'll find a way to make it work.

[trekkingirl]

I don't remember the link right now but I recently saw a traveling sales job listed online. It was for selling merchandise at nascar shows. Maybe google search it.