Choosing RV Life Over Home Ownership

You would think that a decision as important as choosing to sell your home and essentially be “homeless” for the foreseeable future would be a long, difficult one to make. It’s true that it took Shane a few weeks to warm up and then be totally on board with the idea, but for me it was a no-brainer.

Why? Well, let’s start from the beginning:

When we moved to Texas just 6 months ago, we did so with the intentions of settling down there for a very long time. We had decided that it was a good time to put down roots after missing having a sense of community, so we put in an offer on a home in Waco. After a month it was ours and we moved in!

After just four short months, Shane’s job starting picking up a lot more work. Coupled with a now 4-day Drill weekend for the Army, I was only spending about one day with him per month, with the rest of his time spent on location at work and drill.

During this time, we decided to purchase a fifth wheel to use when Shane’s job locations were within a day’s driving distance so that we could spend a little more time together. The other time we’d rent out the RV on Airbnb.

Unfortunately, the job locations that we’re getting lined up were no where near Texas (which we chose because of its central location within the US), so our plan isn’t seem to be working.

With another year and a half on his military contract, I knew this would continue and it’s not something I liked the thought of, so I proposed to Shane that we sell the house and live in The Falcon.

He initially didn’t like the idea, but he agreed to my reasoning.

I think that so many of us in America are brought up and taught what our ideal lives should look like: college career with $50k in student loans, office job working 50+ hours a week, big house with an equally big mortgage, fancy car(s), 2.5 kids, etc.

I have long rejected these ideals because I was raised a little bit alternatively, on a farm in a small home with older vehicles that my family repaired and no mortgage or significant debt. I saw growing up how free and happy you could be living a more simple lifestyle and learned that just because you don’t make a lot of money doesn’t mean you can’t live abundantly and happily.

Shane wasn’t raised in the same environment I was, so I knew it would take him a little bit longer to warm up to an alternative “American Dream.” But he did!

So, we sold most of our belongings, packed up the rest into The Falcon, put the house on the market, and headed out on the road! We’re both enthusiastic about all this lifestyle has to offer us and where it will take us from here!

What’s important in life is to actually live, and how can we do this if we’re chained to a mountain of debt, a job we probably hate and where we’re overworked, and a huge house that drains our bank account and energy maintaining? This leaves us broke, unhappy, exhausted, and bitter because we can’t spend time or money doing what we love, like traveling! For us, home ownership also had the added expense of keeping us separated from each other, which was the biggest issue of all.

I’ll leave you with this:

Are you living the dream that someone else has planted in you, or are you pursuing your own dreams? How do you want your life to look in a year? 3? 10? What small (or huge!) step can you take today to make that future lifestyle a reality? Do that! Right now! We’re not guaranteed tomorrow, so why wait!

Start dreaming, then start living that dream – today!

Xoxo,

Aria