Reflecting On Our Second Full Season of RV Living

When we started our travels back home to Canada after a winter in Greece and Mexico. We both found ourselves excited to get the RV out and start our next summer season. When we put the RV into storage in December 2021, I had mixed feelings. I was so excited and couldn't wait to travel again. I was also worried about mice and other creatures making a home in our home while we were away. While also being slightly sad we do miss our families and friends while we are gone.

Returning home, I found myself thrilled to return to "the Great White North '' to see everyone and get our home out of storage. When the day came to pick up the RV, I found myself really worried. Had we cleaned it properly? Had we done the winterizing correctly? Did someone move in during the winter? When we arrived at the storage facilities and we opened the door for the first time that season, there were no smells and no new friends (mice). This started the season off on a positive note.

Season two went off without a hitch! Now with this season behind us and being aboard again. We sat back and reflected a bit on our lifestyle. Do we still love living full time in the RV? How much maintenance had to be done? Did we do another purge? And the biggest of all would we recommend full time RVing?

Photo Credit: V.Gray

These questions took some reflecting, especially the love or hate it and recommending? After 2 full seasons, we have endured the weather with some pretty wicked storms and a few minor maintenance issues. With that we have had so much fun with our families and we are both in better health. The positives were out weighting the negatives, so let's take a look.

Love it or Hate it?

I can happily say, we are both still in love with full time RV living. I was unsure if after living in apartments aboard that have quite a bit more space, if we would still enjoy our small space in the RV. We did not find this played a role in any way about how we felt about or looked at our home. It did however bring a few alterations on what we owned, the lay out and decor. We did not find that living in an apartment for four months with more space, gave no negative effect on our outlook of our RV.

We felt more at ease this season with one season under our belts. We had more experience on what to do and how to do life seemed a little bit easier. We also have more knowledge after meeting other full time RVers on our travels. Learning a few tips and tricks from them, on what they have done along the way really did help us. One set of friends is a beautiful family of 5 living full time (currently in Texas) that travel yearly and return to Canada for the summer. The other couple travel Canada, the USA and Mexico throughout the year and are retired.

To add to these outstanding people, our dear friends from Canada sold their house and bought a trailer in Mexico for their winter stay and have a trailer in Canada for the summer. This lifestyle is catching on! People are seeing the benefits, whether you are a couple or a family, the financial benefits are worth it but the health and relationships benefits that have come from this lifestyle are so positive there is no reason to look back.

We love our full time RVing!

Maintenance.

We have been very lucky, that people we purchased from took very good care of the RV in every way, inside and out. This does not stop us from doing our own maintenance monthly and yearly before/after storage.

We do our deep clean inside and underneath before putting our RV into and taking it out of storage. While also doing oil changes on the motor and generator, take out batteries, check the jacks and tanks. This brings a big peace of mind while we are away for four months. While also makes opening the RV in the Spring a lot easier and quicker.

Knowing we have maintained and were the last to do it, we know exactly what has been done. While also having a short list in our phones if there was something we need to follow up on when we get back. Our maintenance so far has been really simple and we have done it all ourselves. We have done a few things like the RV batteries, slide cover replacements, re-sealing our roof and the water system valve changes.

This turned out to not be as bad as we expected. Granted we have not had any major issues yet (knock on wood) and are hopeful for the coming season.

Constantly Purging

We are constantly purging our belongings. Especially when we get home from travelling and the month before we put the RV into storage. We look at clothes we did not use for four months, accessories inside and out and other small items.

We normally have a box that sits in the closest and if we do not use something it goes in the box for a few days. If we do not think about the item or need to use it, we donate or sell it.

This seems crazy to some people, however it works well for us. It keeps the clutter down and it ensures we use everything we own. This also keeps us aware of what we have and what is getting worn out and may need replacing.

This is a huge perk to full time RV living!

Recommend It?

For someone looking at getting into full time RVing with a spouse or family, we would highly recommend it! Taking on the minimalistic and RV lifestyle has been very freeing and we find we are much happier. There is less stress of cleaning, we have more time outside enjoying our hobbies, nature and we spend more time with our families.

We love our home and find it just as relaxing and welcoming as travelling. Yes we do have the stress of work life when we return home. However when you are coming home to somewhere you truly enjoy being, your stress easily melts away at the end of the day or work week.

Highly recommend it!

Conclusion

We are still in love with this lifestyle, if you can do the maintenance yourself that's a big perk or you can pay someone to do it, however this can be expensive. The constant purging (minimalism) keeps the space clean and clutter free. While also keeping us aware of what we may need to replace soon. We would highly recommend this to anyone who wants to try it. If you already enjoy your trailer, cottage or great outdoors why not try it? If you do not enjoy it you can always go back to a bigger space.

We are excited to return to Canada for our 2023 RV season. We are still in love with this lifestyle and we have seen the benefits to our mental health, physical health, a positive change in our relationship and relationships with our families. The simplicity of this lifestyle is something I truly love, along with the relaxed atmosphere.

Cheers!

**Please note that all opinions and views expressed in this post are my own, from my own experiences. If you would like to see more pictures follow me on Instagram vikki.gray **