Comments on: Why we bought an RV to live in

By: Jacob

Jacob — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 04:34:47 +0000

@claire – Oregon is probably colder. Given my knowledge it would be stretching it, but I don’t know much (still learning rapidly).

@PerfectRetirement – Actually, we do have a lawn that we have to cut.

By: PerfectRetirement

PerfectRetirement — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 23:57:06 +0000

I’ve often thought about buying an RV. You have your privacy…more so than in an apartment. You don’t have to cut your grass and if you don’t like the neighbors…you can just move!

By: claire

claire — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 16:57:50 +0000

would you consider oregon?

I’d love to go there, all those trees and green I hear its cheap there?

By: doubleourmoney

doubleourmoney — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 01:15:11 +0000

I spotlighted this post today in my weekly blog posts of the week.

By: Daizy

Daizy — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 20:13:24 +0000

Washing out the black tank with a hose and wand thru the door is one chore I refuse to do. When I was putting TP down the tank I just emptied the tank and then closed it, refilled the tank with water by stepping on the toilet lever for a while, and emptied it again. Now that I don’t have an excess of water, I just don’t put TP down the tank. Don’t expect your sensors to stay clean. They get covered in crud and are worthless. Everyone knows when the tank gets full anyway.

Why don’t you leave your grey tank open? I used to shut it but got tired of taking a shower and then the tub starts to fill. Ick.

By: Jacob

Jacob — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 19:56:58 +0000

@Daizy – Bathroom procedures? Like your standard house except every weekend the black tank (solid waste) gets flushed with a wand and a hose in through the door. I have a reverse flush system but I don’t have the plumbing fittings for it yet. The gray tank gets flushed every other day. Someone uses a lot of water for their showers and I’m not fighting it (very much).

@claire – Moving is not that easy in the short term (1-3 years). I do plan on a cheaper state long term. Photos and regular posting will come back when we get the DSL working. Currently Wed at 8pm. We have considered wireless but that was 60/month compared to 35 for the DSL.

@S – We have earth quakes here. We are on a suspended chassis. We have our own gas, our own water, and our own electricity. Overall I would say we are extremely earth quake resistant compared to say living in a house where the roof could cave in. I don’t think the RV falling on its side would kill anyone. I worry more about strong winds. We don’t really have that around here. Wildfires are a minor issue, but hey, we’ll just drive the “house” away

@1stMate – Thanks for your input. I think living aboard is really a very long term plan for us (at which point the dog should be gone).

@mjukr – DW is entirely to blame! ;-P

@AlexK – Pictures are coming up. The panels are on the todo list (I must admit that I have been working on other projects for the past two weeks). Right now they are in the bay below the RV.

@claire – We actually only have liability insurance on our RV which is kinda silly since we don’t drive it very much. If it gets stolen, vandalized, hit by a meteor, we’ll just buy a new one. As for the pricing issue, it gets progressively cheaper the further you get away from San Francisco.

By: claire

claire — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 15:56:26 +0000

moneyblogga – yes I see its problematic in so cal – is it any better/cheaper in north california?

By: Moneyblogga

Moneyblogga — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 14:46:11 +0000

@Claire – There are many of us in California considering leaving the state for a cheaper place to live. SoCal, for example, is extremely expensive in the metropolitan area. Not so expensive out in the far reaches of the deserts but you still have to drive miles to get anywhere. The insurance issue I mentioned was in regards to a house …. if you owned a house outright you would be smart to insure it especially against an earthquake. You wouldn’t want an earthquake to come along and level your structure, taking its value with it. At least with insurance, you can rebuild. Same with fire. In essence, you’d want to insure against earthquake, fire and flood. So, the cost of insurance plus property taxes actually mounts up to a large payment every month even if you own the property outright. I heart RVs.

By: claire

claire — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 18:47:29 +0000

@moneyblogga – california is expensive that is why I suggested the blog author consider moving to a cheaper place to live. BTW where I live property taxes are less than half of what you have quoted but thats another issue. Insurance, well why wouldnt you need to pay insurance whilst living in an RV? You would want to insure againgst theft, weather/accidental/criminal damage etc?

By: AlexK

AlexK — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 17:11:45 +0000

An RV would not be practical for most of the US due to inefficient insulation. The Ca Bay area is an exception to this of course. I like the earthship idea. The passive solar aspect of them is great.

We definitely want some RV picutres.

By: mjukr

mjukr — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 16:54:54 +0000

Why did you ultimately decide against a Tumbleweed house?

By: 1stMate

1stMate — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 16:27:20 +0000

I’ve enjoyed reading about your RV adventure and always look forward to the next installment.
I wanted to give my input about boat living. I’ve done it and it’s an entirely different animal than living in an RV. The first thing is it’s getting more and more difficult to find marinas which allow live aboards and when you do find them they tend to be pretty pricey and there’s usually a waiting list to get a slip. Yes, you could live on the hook, but that comes with a lot of downsides as well. Putting a dog in a dingy to go to shore so it can do it’s business several times a day is just the tip of the iceberg.
There are several online forums which deal with living on a boat. If you’re serious you should check some of them out.

By: Moneyblogga

Moneyblogga — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 16:11:42 +0000

@Claire – There are still property taxes to pay whether or not there is a mortgage on the house. In California, that equates to 1.25% of the price you paid for the house. In a good neighborhood right now, you’d be looking at paying at least $350K to buy – that’s $365 a month just in property taxes. And, in a good neighborhood in California that’s close to everything, the prices just go up from there. If you own the house outright you would, of course, still need insurance too. Personally I think RVs rock purely from a mobile standpoint never mind the COL savings

By: Rhea

Rhea — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 13:59:13 +0000

I like what you are doing. I may try it someday. The straw bale house is something I am familiar with, too. Both ideas are good.

By: S

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 13:13:14 +0000

My big concern with full-time RVing is structural stability. Are you in a part of California that is not prone to earthquakes?

I grew up in an area that was affected by hurricanes so having a building with a foundation is important to me. Is it worth $276k to me? Maybe. I know that our cat hated our last two bedroom apartment and would express his feelings by peeing on the bed. He hasn’t done that since we moved to a somewhat bigger place that we own.

By: claire

claire — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 10:57:24 +0000

I agree that houses have their own problems. But I just cant get my head around full time RVing. Couldnt you have bought some land and built a cheaper option or gone to have lived in a cheaper state other than california? You say you have to move around for the job a lot but havent you been in california for some time now? I agree that houses are over inflated but at the end of the day eventually you will have a free place to live as opposed to paying rent fees to park the RV, such rent fees will only increase over time with inflation.

Im not saying im right or your wrong just trying to discuss some of the issues. BTW are we going to see photos of the RV?

Claire

By: Daizy

Daizy — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 03:41:26 +0000

Earthships are cool although I am not too enthused about the pounding tires full of dirt part. I thought I had a great idea with buring a shipping container but the county permit department put an end to that. What dream-squashers they are. My next idea is to build a tiny house out of a shed and have another shed next to it for storage. Anything below 200sqft can sneak by the permit department in my county (although that probably doesn’t count for residences).

Good choice with the RV, I heartily approve. And I am curious about your bathroom procedures.