thinking of buying a motorhome to live in

runaway places are good... I've kind of been considering the same thing get a mini rv ..but too hot at the slabs..you have to play cat and mouse with the park service unless you have have friends who are willing to let you park it at their place.

probation may have some say on this

 

I know you can't leave your area right now but mabey in the future you should try north Ontario Canada. I've been camped out on crown land since late May and haven't had any problems. Lots of fish and game, tons of berries to pick, a good growing season for gardening. A fresh cold spring water running right out of the rock face. Lots of space to sit and think and tons of place to heal and reenergize surrounded by nature. If you want to talk PM me I can explain things better. KDB

 

Put your kids to work! Here is a decent site as well http://www.rvsearch.com/index.cfm?affiliateID=1827

 

Well Boog with the California trim season on it's way you could get one or 2 of your kids up to northern cal and get a trim job, they pay up to 200 per pound of trimming.

 

Howdy you might wanna check into the "Vandwellers" forum on Yahoo.. it's very active, all folks that are living in thier vehicles. some are vans, some box trucks, some Rv's. alot of ideas get passed around and there are definatly single ladies living on the road.

 

Alot of municipalities are now making ordinances just with this in mind making it illegal to stay overnight.. so the retailer might not have an issue with it, but the city does.. sucks

 

If you want water, electricity, and a sewer connection, you gotta rent a space at an RV park, although sometimes you can find homeowners who will rent space to you. I've lived fulltime in my RV since 2005, and I'm a wanderer. I usually don't stay in one place longer than a month or two.

The cheapest monthly space rental I've found is around $300/month. Some places will give you a lower monthly rate if you pay a year in advance. Most of them also charge you for the electricity in addition to the rent.

I don't think you want to drive around and park in a different place nightly. Theoretically, you might be able to do it, but you won't have hookups and sooner or later, you'll get hassled over it. You'll constantly be stressing about it.

And it's not realistic to use a motorhome as your primary vehicle .... they're just too big. They're fine on the open road, but driving around town, parking, etc is a hassle. Plus they get terrible gas mileage.

I have a 20 ft trailer, which is fine for just me but way too small for four people. You'll want at least 30 ft.

You should be aware that RV's are not very good investments, compared to real estate. They depreciate more like cars than like houses. And if you have to finance it, the payments plus the space rental will probably be more than the rent on your apartment. You might be able to find someone who would rent their RV to you, though.

It's true that you can find campground host positions that give free space rental, but they don't pay anything to speak of. They're intended for retired people who don't need a job.

The main advantage of an RV isn't so much a lower cost of living as it is the convenience of being able to pick up and go at the drop of a hat. That's why I have mine. I can go anywhere I want, anytime I want.

 

thanks everyone.

this is still going to happen, just not right now. probably won't until, at the earliest, may of 2010.

it'll just be me alone.. or my boyfriend and me.. then i can get my puppy/dog!


i'm constantly looking at all sorts of rv and buses online.. so i have a good idea of what i want and will get. i'll keep you all updated on this as it happens.

 

Guerilla camping is cheap and quite possible; it’s just not real convenient. But as I said it’s cheap, like free.

Basically you get an RV that’s no longer than a typical parking space, usually 19 –20 feet long. This allows you to park in an average parking space without intruding into the adjoining space(s). This would allow you to parallel park in most cities (I didn’t say it was easy) and avoid drawing attention to your vehicle (i.e. cops), due to citizens being unable to use the adjoining spaces

As a rule, most cities have laws stating that you may not park in a spot any longer than 72 hours without moving your vehicle. Sometimes all you have to do is move it a few feet to meet within compliance. Always check with the laws of whichever city you’re “camping” in, prior to setting up “camp”, as well as getting to know any street schedules, such as street sweeping, garbage pickups, etc.

While being parked it is best to avoid any smelly cooking (no fish fries) and use of blackout curtains is a must. Just think of yourself as the U-Boat commander, run silent and run deep.

The average RV will allow you to be self-contained for a good week before you have to drive to a Flying J to dump and fill tanks. Use that time when you’re out and about to find a new spot and to replenish supplies.

For more ideas check out this link, this guy has camped in the cities for a while.

http://tynan.net/living-in-a-small-rv-introduction

 

As I say, I've been living fulltime in my travel trailer for five years now, and while you can dry-camp for short periods, you will find doing it fulltime to be inconvenient, to say the least. Sure, you can go for a week without filling up your tanks or dumping your waste water, if you don't take a shower or wash any dishes or stuff like that. I can take at most three showers before I have to dump my grey water. Bigger motorhomes have bigger tanks, but those things can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

And do you really want to park on the street and constantly worry about being hassled, which you eventually will, guaranteed? It's not very safe, either. That's not a very comforting way to live. There are places where you can dry-camp very cheaply. There is BLM land in the Western states where they charge something like $50 for two or three months (I don't know the exact figure, but it's in that range).

But the problem is that they're in more remote areas, so unless you work online or have a job nearby, forget it.

Also, unless you have a generator, you're limited in what appliances you can run off your batteries. In particular, no AC. RV's are ovens in the summertime. The larger ones require two rooftop AC units. You can run your propane furnace in the winter off the battery, but a single cold night can run your battery dead. Don't ask me how I know this!

I'm not trying to discourage you. I'm just giving you the realities of RV life. As I said before, the advantage of living fulltime in an RV isn't the economics, it's the ability to pick and move at the drop of a hat. One of the often-heard comments around RV people, when discussing the economics, is that they could have paid for a hell of a lot of motel rooms for what their RV cost, both the upfront purchase and the ongoing maintenance.

Just something to think about.

 

for $2000 you can get maby 4 months in a motel if your lucky. but for that same $2000 at least with a van or camper ill have a roof over my head for a lot longer.

 

Good luck finding an RV for $2000.