Dollars and “Sense”- Our First Two Months and a Photo Tour Inside Our World

The Cost of Our Freedom-So Far

Our living expense for the month of November was about $1600.  That includes campgrounds with hook ups for 19 days, fuel for Reva and gas for the Yeep (pet name for Jeep), propane, internet and cell service, television service (antenna only currently) water, sewer, garbage, insurance -home and vehicle. I did not factor in food or entertainment.  All other expenses are included. We ensured we were debt free starting this journey. I think that’s very important when attempting to do this. We didn’t want any payments hanging over our heads.

 While this monthly cost may sound high, you have to remember, this is California.  Our daughter’s expenses in the relatively inexpensive town of Chico, are $1200 for a shared apartment (wifi and cable included), car, insurance, and cell phone.

 Our previous home monthly expenses for the same items-mortgage, water/sewer, gas, tv/internet, cell, and insurance were around $3500.  Yes, we were building equity in our home and our RV is depreciating every minute but I figure all that we’ve really done is spend our kids’ inheritance.  Hopefully they still love me despite that.  I think they will.  I know as I begin working again, we will need to earn enough to cover additional savings as well as living expenses.

Travel/consultant nursing assignments and good money management should definitely allow for that AND for the extended time off (6 months/year) that we plan to enjoy.  I’ve worked hard in my career field and I’m very good at what I do. (It’s very hard to admit that, but I’m learning to appreciate me!) We are very fortunate that I work in a field that has a huge demand for my skills in a state that pays very well. 

We also did a lot of research and I believe we bought a fantastic RV with great resale potential should we decide this isn’t the life for us. Tiffin has one of the best names in the RV industry and are highly coveted among RV enthusiasts. Ron and Marby gave us an incredible deal on Reva Mae who still has warranty on her motor. Reva had 17,000 miles on her and only 98 hours on the generator when we got her. She is a diesel pusher with a 380 hp Cummins diesel. At 37 feet 9 inches, she is the perfect length for her engine size according to the research we did.

Our Yeep was part of the package when we purchased the rig. It’s a 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee Sport with 107,000 miles on him. He looks like new on the inside and runs great. I’ve read that the 4.0 liter motors in these babies run for a long time as well so we’re looking forward to seeing how far Yeep can go. He is fairly light at 5300 pounds and is a 4×4.

Having a good toad with a flat tow package already installed save us $1000’s of dollars. We’re very grateful for Yeep! We saved on insurance by putting only liability on Yeep and have full time RV full coverage on Reva.

Mike has become a certified RV inspector and plans to attend actual RV tech school once we get to Florida in the next year or so.  This will ensure our Reva Mae is good to go for years to come. It’s been exciting to learn about her and how to maintain everything properly.  This may lead to some temporary work gigs for Mike down the road. We’re also looking at workcamping gigs. We may be able to line up my assignment with a park that needs a host 20 hours a week in exchange for free sites.

 We had 19 days with full hookups in November.  Beal’s Point and Lawson’s Landing were nightly rates and high at $52 and $76 respectfully.  Timber Cove was a steal at $304/15 nights with partial hook ups (110, water, and sewer).  Most places, other than state parks, have better weekly and monthly rates.  Daily rates are the highest paid rates.  The remainder of the month was free camping, also known as boondocking. If you recall we had to give up our reservation in Chico for the Paradise fire victims so we were parked on the street near my niece’s home and did some casino parking as well.

Our costs for December were a bit higher than what we had in November. We came out just under $1800 for basic living expenses. Mike had rotator cuff surgery and I needed him to be comfortable during recovery-he was willing to boondock, but I wasn’t sure that was a good idea- so we stayed at Beal’s Point for 11 days, at $52/day. There are no weekly rates at state parks. It was quite relaxing and he is recovering well.  But it did add a few hundred to our monthly expenses.  We also had purchased regae festival tickets months prior to going full time RV and needed to make a trip to Santa Rosa just to attend the weekend concert. There are no good close places to boondock nearby, so we had full hook ups for 3 days while there. 

We got the Passport America discount for our first day which saved us $22.50. Yes, it was $45.00 to camp in a parking lot with hook ups. California is pricey, but it’s California. So, while we had 5 less days with full hook ups, our costs were higher. It goes to show you where you camp and how long you stay can really affect your costs. I’m hoping to get monthly rates when I take a temporary position, weekly at least should be very helpful.

I was able to change our Verizon Jetpack to a prepaid plan that has unlimited data and no throttling.  This allowed me to downgrade our data packages on our phones and reduce the cell phone costs a little bit.  I’ll watch our data usage and may be able to reduce that cost further relatively painlessly.  

We are hoping to figure out our television/satellite situation once we get to Quartzsite, Arizona.  The prepaid Verizon hotspot has been AWESOME!  Mike was streaming a Bowl game, the Warriors game, AND the Jones UFC fight all at the same time one night on his computer. (Reddit is a great streaming site, even for PPV events!) This is was all with only 2 bars of signal on BLM land.   It’s $65.00 a month which I think is a great answer for our internet.  I had thought about streaming Hulu or DirectTV and foregoing the satellite but I’m just not sure. 

We have a smart DVD player and I’ve tried to stream Netflix but it’s been glitchy.  I think it may be the DVD player though and not the Wifi since Mike was streaming so well yesterday on his laptop.  The televisions are built in and would require some dismantling of the woodwork to access the ports and use a Roku like device and I really don’t want to do that.  I have thought about switching out the DVD player but the surround sound is wired through it and it looks a little bit complicated.  I’ll talk to some folks about it once we get to the RV show in the next couple of weeks.  In the meantime, Mike has his other sports via Reddit streaming and I have my Warriors games. 

I do miss SVP and gloating when my boys win-I love basking in the glory with ESPN for hours after a great game- but other than that the television channels we get have been fine.  Some locations we get 50+ channels.  It’s kind of a relief NOT to hear the news every night.  It is however, very hard to try and sleep without at least one channel. I need the noise to sleep. I generally put in a dvd and try to fall asleep before it’s over. Sometimes putting my spotify on will work.

Cooking, Organizing, and Getting Settled

I’ve made homemade bread, waffles, sourdough biscuits, air fryer wings, banana bread, posole, goulash, shrimp tacos, etc. We’ve cooked everything we’d cook in the house. Tortellini soup is a quick go to with rotisserie chicken and frozen spinach and noodles- our pantry is stocked but not overly.  I hate moving things to find other things so my goal is to maximize the space while still having everything EASILY accessible.  It was a bit of a learning curve to figure out the convection oven but it’s large enough to meet our needs and really does an excellent job with baked goods. I did buy a new air fryer oven for Reva before we moved in. We love our fries and wings air fried!

One side of the main cabin is my pantry and the other is our cookware and dish storage.  With our residential refrigerator with large freezer on the bottom, I’m able to stock Reva with enough food to easily feed us good, home-cooked meals for a month at least.  I use can racks in our cupboards to organize canned goods and separated them out by fruit, vegetables, tomato products, meal like items (chili, etc).  I know where everything is and have to move things very little to get to it. 

Heavy and less used items are stored in the drawers under the dinette booth. Cast iron skillets, blender, crock pot, waffle iron, etc. are under here.

The cookware and dish side is in pretty good shape.  I do need to downsize my bake ware a bit.  I love to bake as do several members of my family so I’m sure I’ll find good homes for my beloved pans as we travel and I see which items I just can’t use anymore. Who knows, mini muffins might be something I make in Reva Mae, or Jumbo muffins, or bundt cakes, or ….just can’t part with them yet. There is really only one other thing I think we have in excess and no, it’s not clothing.

Towels. I still have too many towels. It’s one of those things I longed for in my childhood that I slightly overcompensate for in my adult life. As a chubby girl, I was very self conscious. The swimming pool was not somewhere we went to often, but when we did, I longed for the giant beach towels all my friends had. We couldn’t splurge on those. We had the very small towels that never managed to go all the way around my pudgy body. The thin little towels that I use for my hair as an adult. Those were our bath towels. It felt like every time we did get to go to the pool, none of our towels were clean either. So, we’d pick out the cleanest crunchy mildewed little towel and I would try to cover myself with it. While friends had these fluffy long towels to lay on, I had this little thing that stunk. I either had to lie my head on it, or my butt because it was only about 2 1/2 ft long lol

So, even in Reva, I have a hamper full of big, fluffy towels, including at least 4 beach towels-we might have guests, you know. I’m sure I will get tired of taking the hamper out of the shower where it is stored every time I take a shower eventually.

Every kid has one of these stories. I’m over it emotionally but that does not stop me from buying giant bath towels and having wayyy tooo many beach towels. We lived in a lake town when we owned our home. I had at least 6 beach towels that still had tags on them when we moved out lol! We had 3 bathrooms with 4 sinks. You should have seen my stack of coordinated hand towels. Towels, towels, towels-I sold a lot of them, gave a bunch to Hannah and my niece, and STILL have a hamper full of big, beautiful towels.

I’ve shared this story with my younger kids. I even asked them what item I have deprived them of that they think they will overcompensate for as independent adults. I can’t recall what Sherman said-although the fastest internet known to humankind would be my guess. Hannah is determined to have the central a/c on whatever arctic temperature she chooses for any length of time she wants. I told her to be sure to marry rich lol!

What About Clothes?

We have four very deep cupboards above our bed. They are really too deep to store anything and easily access it. I cannot reach the back of the cupboard even standing on the bed. I spent weeks looking for something I could use for our clothing that would work in that area. I finally found these under bed soft sided bins that fit perfectly in the space. Yes, I do have to pull the entire bin out to get clothing, but at least everything stays semi organized. If it gets too heavy, I’ll get rid of some more clothing. Or hang more up.

We have 2 small drawers and a laundry bin like drawer in the bedroom. I keep paperwork, etc in mine. Mike uses his for socks and underwear. (He has less clothing than I do) I could not see wasting a drawer for dirty laundry so we keep our fresh sheets and laundry detergent, etc. in this drawer. Both beds (sofa folds out) use queen sheets so I kept 3 sets-always a fresh set and one for when guests stay. We use a hamper or the washing machine for dirty clothes. Yes, we have a washer and dryer that is awesome when we have full hook ups. We’ll use these often when I’m working.

I can do a load or two with the generator but the dryer is very slow (its 110 V) and we don’t want to fill our holding tank up too quickly. Usually if we are boondocking for a longer period of time I’ll just run in to the laundromat. We wear casual and active wear when I’m not working usually so I toss it all in and get by with one quick load. I made sure we had plenty of under clothes and we try to wear outer clothes a few days when boondocking. I always use an apron when I’m cooking to help keep clean. I love my aprons!

Our closet is large. I was able to hang up all of my work clothes along with jackets and other clothing. I’ve tried to piece my wardrobe so that I can mix and match multiple pieces. Check out the 30x3o wardrobe challenge videos. Very inspiring stuff to keep working toward minimalism and has helped me downsize a lot!

We have an under bed storage area. I’ve kept 2 carry on suitcases that we can use when we choose or need to fly for trips. I store extra blankets for guests in one and my work shoes-heels, boots, etc. in the other. I have a few carry bags under here as well. We also keep a fire proof box with our important papers and our box of RV manuals under the bed along with our vacuum attachments. Yes, Reva has central vac-which I love by the way.

The bathroom stores our dish towels-yes, more towels along with a pretty extensive first aid and medicine cabinet. I also keep a Mike and I store our personal hygiene items in the cupboard above our bedroom sink.

Hope you’ve enjoyed this little pictoral tour of our place. I don’t feel as though I’m missing anything of any importance. I think we have all the material items we need.

Growing on the Journey

I think there is a mindset needed to live this life and not drive yourself crazy or become miserable.  Mike and I have talked about this.  I am working on it.  It’s hard.  I find I am now shaming the shamers on social media, then being shamed for shaming the shamers.

I use FB groups to research RV issues and lifestyles.  It really is informative but like any groups, there are the shamers.  You know who I’m talking about.  They post a picture of a dog turd on the corner of their site and complain, or a picture of the way someone hooked up their sewer, or a tow hitch. 

 I want to live and let live, I really do.  And for the most part, I do-except for the shamer posts lol!    Mike is better at it than I am.  Mind your own business.   Just because you have an opinion doesn’t make it right or mean that you must share it.  Don’t jump on the band wagon.  Live by the examples you want to set.   Do try to be” that guy” or not be” that guy” based on your beliefs and YOUR reactions to situations you observe, but don’t bitch and don’t argue.  Try to keep the peace and respect everyone-even those who you are certain don’t deserve it. Those of you who remember Mike’s younger days may not believe this is him now, but it is. He’s not the man I fell in love with (thankfully), but he’s definitely the man I love. (He can still be a pushy, opinionated ass-especially with family, but he hangs out with so many diverse groups he masters getting along very well with everyone-don’t tell him I said that, his head is big enough-he doesn’t read my blog!)

One of the things I find I am loving about this lifestyle is meeting new people from all walks of life.  It’s interesting how friendly people camping are compared to out in the “real world.”  I’m not sure I have ever just struck up a conversation with a stranger at the store, but I’m happy to talk with any camper around.  New neighbors moved in next door to us in our home. In 2 years living side by side I never saw the mom or the children. They existed, Mike saw them a couple of times I guess. I hope to share stories of the people we meet along the way in future blogs. I’ve already got a couple of great encounters to share from our time at Hippie Hole!

There are all different walks of life you will encounter when you are camping.  When we’ve been in BLM land, I’ve encountered six figure rigs and people camping in their 20+ year old cars.  It’s fascinating to hear their stories.   Ask questions -find out about the people around you- if they want to talk.  If they don’t -respect that too-usually eye contact or lack of will let you know how to respond. It does for me anyway.  If you see me out in the campground walking my dogs, you’ll know.  If I glance at you, give a smile, a nod, and quickly glance away, I don’t want to talk.  Nothing personal, not even about you, but about me.  I’m in my own groove- into my thoughts, my dogs, my pictures, or my music.  If I hold eye contact and openly smile, game on, let’s talk.  You may have to make an excuse to leave.  I can talk!   But I take hints pretty easily lol. 

Our Most Frequently Asked Questions So Far

Don’t you miss homecooked meals? 

No, I cook the same way I did in our home.  I can make the same meals I made every day there.  We have soup, pasta, vegetables, and the like every day just like everyone else.  My pantry is well stocked.  I do bake in smaller batches since it’s just the two of us, same as any empty nester.  I also bake a lot more since I have more time off from work.  I have made sourdough bread, banana bread, orange poppy seed bread, skillet bread, rolls, and cookies are almost a nightly treat.  Mike does love a “proper goody” before bedtime.  It took a bit to adjust to the convection oven but I’m getting that dialed in pretty easily.  We try to eat in a healthy manner most of the time.  We took a little break over the holidays as I’m sure most of you did and now we’re ready to get back on the health wagon. 

What do you do about showers?  What about shaving?

We have a large shower with a tankless water heater.  I do have to take PTA baths and use dry shampoo when we are boondocking to stretch our water supply a little longer but I still shave-a little less frequently in the winter like most old married gals but I’m not braiding anything. I also have my own wax pot. Our holding tank is quite large-60+ gallons.  With conscientious conservation and military style showers, we can both easily shower every 3 days and not have to dump our tanks for quite some time.  When I’m working, we’ll have hook ups and manage quite easily.

What about haircuts, etc?

I was fortunate to be in my home area when I was in need of a touch up and a trim.  I am nervous about the next time I need a color and I’m not near my beloved Sara!  I’ll have to wing it.  I have used Groupon deals for esthetician services which is really a great option if you’re not overly shy.  Services that I usually pay $60 plus tip I can get through Groupon deals for $12 plus tip! 

Mike has been a long time customer of Lucky’s Barber shop in Folsom and all the guys know how to do a midskin fade.  He’s worried some of these places may not even know what that is.  He is going to get his first non -Lucky’s haircut in Blythe tomorrow.  He did look up the barber shops online and found some pics of the barbers doing cuts on their FB page of the shop he selected so we’re hopeful! 

Update:  His barber went a little high on the mid skin fade but nothing he couldn’t live with.  He did certainly miss the hot towels and the attention to details-neck, ears, etc. that he was pampered with at Lucky’s for nearly the same cost, but his hair is cut. 

It’s such a small space, doesn’t it drive you crazy?

I’m not sure why I am so drawn to living in a camper.  I’ve always loved camping!  I vaguely remember when my parents had a pick-up camper.  I have some snapshots in my memories of camping, I think at Lake Cornelia with several other families.  It was a happy time very early in my childhood before my parents divorced. 

In grade school, starting in second grade, I fell in love with the book, “The Boxcar Children” by Gertrude Chandler Warner.  I would repeatedly check it out of the school library and I swear I memorized it.  It’s the story of four orphans who create a home out of an abandoned boxcar.  I could see their home as I read it over and over again. I used to play “Boxcar Children” under the outside stairs of our split foyer home in the summer.   From what I’ve read, a lot of full timers can relate and know this book too.  I had no idea it was even a book series until years later when I introduced it to my children.  I saved my copy of the original book when we downsized and carry it with me to this day. 

I remember my mom had moved into an upstairs efficiency apartment behind second street when I was 19 and pregnant with Tyler.  I spent a lot of time there and I just loved that apartment.  It was all inclusive-rent and utilities- and she had a daybed in her living/bedroom.  I thought it was so cool how she had all she needed in such a tiny space. 

Even in our 4 bedroom home, we never used all the space-except to store crap.  We would use the kitchen for meals and eat at the table there.  When the kids got older, they would spend time in their rooms and we would go to ours.  We have tv and computer in there and were more comfortable hanging in our room than either the living room or family room.  We used the living room when we had a family movie night, played a game, or had company.  The diagram below shows which parts of a home are used most. Ours was probably less than that.

Maybe it’s a combination of all these memories and experiences that make me love the RV life.  I just know we’re really enjoying it and don’t feel crowded at all.  We do go through things and down size frequently.  I think it would be easy to overstuff the storage areas.  I love the streamlining we’ve done.  Everything has a use and a designated place—almost.  We’re still weeding out but now it’s about never having to move one thing to get to another! 

That being said, I do get out alone for at least an hour a day walking with the dogs and my music.  I’ve had some down days-we all get them from time to time, and I’ve just retired to the bedroom to wallow in my self-pity and some marathon tv time.  Our night shades can make the room pitch dark even on bright days and is great for taking a nap! 

Mike was able to get out and fish early in our adventure and has come a long way on his shoulder recovery.  Once he is able to fish, we’ll both have our space and time.  I enjoy reading and writing and can escape into a book in a matter of minutes when I have a good read on the kindle. 

What about mail?

There are a lot of services that can help with mail.  With over a million full time RV’ers, companies have figured out how to help folks become residents of Florida, South Dakota, Texas, etc. They will receive your mail, process it, scan it and email it to you, or mail it to you on demand whereever you are at the moment.  People save on registration, taxes, and the like by becoming residents of some of these states. 

Since I will be working in California anyway, I will have to pay California income tax.  So, we chose to remain Californians.  It really hurt when we paid sales tax and registration on the RV but for me, my time is also valuable and I had no desire to go through the steps of getting a driver’s license, etc in another state. 

Our daughter moved to an apartment in Chico to settle there and eventually finish her education there. We are on her lease so currently our mail goes to her place.  I did try to go paperless with as many accounts as I could prior to our move.  That’s been a real time saver.  She calls if something unusual shows up, otherwise we face time over the mail every couple of weeks. 

When Mike was recovering from shoulder surgery, we were in the Folsom area.  Calvin, my former employer, had no problem allowing me to use the facility for receiving several packages-things we needed to order for Mike’s kayak and the RV.  Doughnuts for the staff was worth the convenience of knowing our packages were safe. 

What do you miss the most?

That’s a tough one.  I guess right now I miss my coworkers.  We had a great staff and were very close.  Don’t get me wrong, the stress was part of the reason I needed to change to this lifestyle, but there is no where I would rather work if I were to work full time. I would have loved to job share at FCC. It just wasn’t in the cards at this time. We really were a family and we got through the rigors of SNF regulations together.  We were involved in each other’s lives.  We celebrated together, we mourned together, we experienced births and deaths and losses and gains together. It’s hard to find workplaces like that. 

 Some days I don’t speak to anyone but Mike -and the dogs.  That can be lonely.  Usually I use the silence, to read, to write, to just think about who I am and how I got some of my beliefs and if they are still my beliefs.  I know once I start working an assignment I won’t have this same time to reflect so I try to always see that as a gift.  I’ve thought about so many childhood and young adult experiences over the past few weeks-how I may have misinterpreted things because of my youth. 

Where do you plan to go?

I can’t wait to take an extended trip back to Iowa and Nebraska.  It’s always a rush to get back, see as many old friends and family as I can in a few days, and get back to work.  It will be nice to take some time, especially with my G babies.  The rates for camping are so reasonable compared to where we live that we can enjoy full hook ups for extended time and really take some time to be around those we love. 

I also cannot wait to explore the Baja peninsula in Mexico.  The Sea of Cortez looks absolutely beautiful and I fell in love with Mexico my first trip there.  To think that I could spend several months playing there is a dream.  I volunteered at a nursing home the first time we went to Zihua and I’m really looking forward to doing similar things during our time off. It’s so rewarding and really puts what’s important in life into perspective for me.

I’m excited to see Missoula, Montana.  A River Runs Through It is a movie that means a lot to me and I think Montana just looks breath taking—in the summer!  I’m not sure why, but I really want to see Myrtle Beach. Of course a summer in Alaska is in the plans.   I cannot wait to find a place I’ve never heard of that just blows me away.  And I cannot wait to share it with you all. I’ve truly enjoyed my time with this blog and I hope those of you who follow it enjoy it as well.