Full Time RV Living–More Tips for RV Wannabees

I probably receive a handful of requests each week for info from folks

who are interested in the lifestyle. . .and while we love it. . .

and have no plans in the near future to go back to sticks and bricks. . .

I am very truthful when I say. . .this lifestyle is not for everyone. . .

it’s really, really not. . .

That’s why I love to share great articles with great view points when I find them. . .

and this is one of those articles. . .I hope you’ll take the time to check it out:

Is Full Time RV Living Really For You?

and please share in the comments section

any tips that helped you when you were

just getting started. . .

it's time to pass it forward!

Full Time RV Travel–How Do You Plan Ahead for Bad Weather?

What do you do if you are in a state that is susceptible to hurricanes and/or tornadoes? I know you can handle snow and some rain in your RV but what about the scary stuff...what do you do? I guess a hurricane gives a lot more warning but tornadoes don't.

Another great question from our Ready To Go Full Time RVing FaceBook Page. . .

Because we travel full time, and have a fairly flexible schedule,

we make every effort to NOT be in severe weather areas

during high season. . .hurricanes on the coast late summer, early fall . . .

tornadoes in the middle of the country, late spring, early summer. . .

however. . . we were in Houston when Hurricane Ike decided to head our direction. . .

we packed up and left for Austin. . .which is about four hours inland,

and although Austin anticipated some outer storm effects,

fortunately that ended up being far enough away.

Using Weather Underground to research our planned route, we have completely rerouted. . .

In early summer 2009, we were headed to Yellowstone to work camp. . .

by way of Mt Rushmore in South Dakota. 

Our anticipated route was through Oklahoma, Kansas, and up. . .

after checking forecasts, we ended up going through

Missouri and up through Iowa. . .which allowed us to skirt the predicted

thunderstorm activity. . .and thus, the possible tornados. . .

We also have a NOAA radio. . .haven’t used it yet. . .but we do have it!

At Weather.gov you can also plug in an area, and see any anticipated weather events. . .

What precautions do you take. . .and what resources do you use to avoid severe weather?

Stay safe out there,

Janice

Full Time RV Maintenance–Tools–How Many Do You Have?

My blogging friend Jeannie was writing about having tools and loving tools. . .

and it got me to thinking. . .

A girls gotta have tools too. . .I mean, we gotta talk gender neutral here. . .right?

So. . .here’s my tool stash. . .it’s very basic. . .but easily accessible. . .

Hubby keeps the “man” tools in the real tool box. . .

Whadaya think. . .what’s in your tool stash?

Full Time RV Living–Routine Maintenance Means What to You?

Message:
living full time in my 36' fifth wheel now......thinking about staying
in it for retirement....just had some questions about routine
maintence?

 

I received the email above from a new RV’er. . .

thought they posed a great question. . .and wanted to get your thoughts.

 

Routine maintenance of course includes the daily cleaning you would do even in your house. . .

and then there’s the wash job the outside needs ever so often. . .

washing the bugs off the front is an almost every trip chore!

 

We wax ours about once a year. . .yuck!

 

Empty the black tank once a week, and do a back flush. . .

that keeps the yuckies, and the smellies down. . .

 

Window washing and cleaning is constant, as is dusting. . .

there’s no end to the dusting. . .where does it all come from?

 

I keep most routine maintenance chores listed on my Google Calendar,

so the reminders pop up as needed. . .

 

Not really a maintenance issue. . .but keep a Travel Journal. . .

I also do this on my Google Calendar. . .

sure makes it nice when you want to remember where you were and when! 

Wish I would have started this at the beginning of our travels. . .

I’m slowly going back and adding in all our trips. . .

 

I’m sure there are tons more tips. . .what do you think. . .any ideas to add?

 

Hubby checks the batteries, and adds distilled water on a regular basis. . .

every three months or so. . .same with the hot water heater. . .

you gotta clean it out, or it will fill up with gunk.

 

Add bug screens to your furnace and hot water heater vents. . .

they are cheap, and will prevent dirt daubers from building a nest (we know this from experience.)

 

I’m sure there are tons more things that I’m not thinking of at the moment. . .

what would you recommend. . .any ideas?

Tips and Tricks for Full Time RV Living–Following your Favorite Blogs

I follow about 60 different blogs. . .some are RV How To Blogs, 

some are friends who blog about their travels, some Ministry Blogs, 

and some are just Life in General Blogs. . .

Now, of course, everyone on every blog 

doesn’t write a post every day, or that would be overwhelming. . .

but I have a very efficient way of keeping up with them all. . .

so simple:

GOOGLE Reader. . .
but here’s the trick to making it even simpler than that. . .

GOOGLE Chrome. . .
and the Google Chrome Bookmarks Bar. . .

Open your Google Reader. . .
it’s listed on your GMail Tab on Google Chrome. . .

Click on the Tools Icon
 (on the far right side by your name) looks like a little cog. . .

Open READER SETTINGS

Open GOODIES

Scroll down til you see the NEXT icon. . .

drag it to your Google Chrome bookmarks bar. . .

Scroll down til you see the SUBSCRIBE icon. . .

drag it to your Google Chrome bookmarks bar. . .

That’s it. . .

Open one of the favorite blogs you love to read. . .

hit the subscribe button in your bookmarks bar. . .

follow the instructions. . .done!

Once you have subscribed to all your favorite blogs, 

and have them listed in your Google Reader, 

all you need to do is click on the NEXT icon in your bookmarks bar. . .

and read away. . .so much easier than looking them all up.

Hope some of this makes sense, and is helpful to someone. . .

Good luck,

From Blogger Pictures

Dave and I have lived in our RV Full Time since 2003, when we sold the house and everything in it, and have traveled fulltime since 2009. Follow our tales by signing up to follow our blog on your favorite Blog Reader, and check back often as we share the tips and tricks of living the lifestyle. Connect with us on our

 FACEBOOK Ready To Go Full Time RVing Page. . .

where you’ll meet lots of other RV’ers just like you. . .
traveling and enjoying this great adventure.

If you would like to receive our blog updates, just enter your email in the top right corner.

We respect your privacy, and never share your email address

Full Time RV Living–Tips and Tricks–Getting packages on time!

Today I want to share an excerpt from a fellow RV’ers blog. . .

This was written by Greg White – Our Rv Adventures

And now for another installment of . . .

Things Every RV’er should have:

Today I’m going to tell you about a service, and not a gadget. It’s Amazon Prime, a special service from Amazon.com, and we find it invaluable while traveling full-time.

The bad news is that it costs $80 a year, but the good news is that if you order a lot, or want to order a lot from Amazon it will save you money.

But in our case, we also like the time it saves us. Time, as in how long it takes to order and receive something.

And Amazon sells pretty much everything.

Having never heard of Amazon Prime. . .I decided to check it out.  Getting packages delivered in time has been an obstacle since we have been fulltiming. . .so I decided to give it a shot.  I am really, really liking it.

We normally stay put at least three or four days. . .so far, everything I’ve ordered has shown up as advertised.

Hope you find this info useful,

Janice

 

From Blogger Pictures

Dave and I have lived in our RV Full Time since 2003, when we sold the house and everything in it, and have traveled fulltime since 2009. Follow our tales by signing up to follow our blog, and check back often as we share the tips and tricks of living the lifestyle.

Connect with us on our FACEBOOK Ready To Go Full Time RVing Page. . .where you’ll meet lots of other RV’ers just like you. . .traveling and enjoying this great adventure.

If you would like to receive our blog updates, just enter your email below.

As a bonus, you will receive a link to our Seasonal Job Listings Page, and a follow up email linking to a sample copy of our personal Seasonal Jobs Resume.

We respect your privacy, and never share your email address

Full Time RV Living–Tips and Tricks–Saving Money on Restaurant Meals

One of my favorite websites for finding restaurants all over the country is:




Click here for Restaurant.com




 

They don’t feature the chain restaurants, which is what I love about their website.  In order for a restaurant to be featured. . .they need to become a partner in the Restaurant.com program. . .which means these are normally locally owned establishments looking for ways to get more people in the door. . .and willing to offer discounts to make it happen.

 

We’ve used their deals all over the place. . .and have never been treated any differently than if we were paying full price.

 

NOTE TO SELF: REANALYZE AFFILIATE LINKS AND REAPPLY TO CLICK BANK. . .

Full Time RV Living–Tips and Tricks–Electrical Schematics

Although we’ve owned RVs for thirty years, and lived in this one for eight, last month we learned something new:

 

You NEED the schematic for your electrical system. . .the entire thing. . .not just the bits and pieces that show the electrical wiring diagrams for various and sundry appliances and such.

 

How do we know. . .well, look at the wire in the pic. . .see that little tiny black place. . .

Somehow, this wire got pinched, or maybe rubbed up against something, until it wore this hole in the outer cover. . .at which point the wire must have been rubbing against metal or something that was causing the fuse to blow due to a short. . .and since this happened to be the wire providing power to the appliances, specifically the refrigerators, it was imperative that we figure out what the problem was. . .pronto.

 

Mobile tech to the rescue. . .he asked for the wiring schematic right away. . .ha. . .that was when I discovered that all we had were wiring diagrams. . .not very helpful. . . so, next solution, a call to the Alfa Techs in California. . .who were very, very helpful, and walked the mobile tech through the wiring sequence.  He was then able to diagnose where the short was. . .Lord knows, electrical issues are beyond me. . .I just expect it to work correctly when I plug something in. . .however, the point being. . .having the schematics might have saved a lot of time.  . .he eventually found this tiny little spot above the axle on the street side of the coach!  Like hunting for a needle in a haystack. . .

 

So. . .the tip for the day is:  Go ahead and order a wiring schematic from your RV manufacturer. . .at some point, you are going to need it!

RV Power: LP and Shorepower and Gennys, oh my! – Season 3 ...

Traveling On The Outskirts - Living in a RV fulltime & workamping to escape the 9-5. ... RV Power: LP and Shorepower and Gennys, oh my! – Season 3 Episode 7. Posted on October 25, 2011 by Duncan. Hey, have you subscribed to our feed ...

Publish Date: 10/25/2011 9:00

http://travelingontheoutskirts.com/videos/rv-power-lp-and-shorepower-and-gennys-oh-my/

RV INFO that You Probably already know ??: Balance your RV Power ...

Balance your RV Power Load on 30Amp Service A great article the I wrote about things that you can do to balance your power load throughout the day when your camper is in a campground with only a 30- Amp Service. ...

Publish Date: 10/31/2011 16:10

http://donsrvinfo.blogspot.com/2011/10/balance-your-rv-power-load-on-30amp.html

From Blogger Pictures

Dave and I have lived in our RV Full Time since 2003, when we sold the house and everything in it, and have traveled fulltime since 2009. Follow our tales by signing up to follow our blog, and check back often as we share the tips and tricks of living the lifestyle.

Connect with us on our FACEBOOK Ready To Go Full Time RVing Page. . .where you’ll meet lots of other RV’ers just like you. . .traveling and enjoying this great adventure.

If you would like to receive our blog updates, just enter your email below.

As a bonus, you will receive a link to our Seasonal Job Listings Page, and a follow up email linking to a sample copy of our personal Seasonal Jobs Resume.

We respect your privacy, and never share your email address