As we inch closer to March it has quickly become clear that we need to start making some plans and decisions.

We were at our favorite campground recently and stopped by the office to inquire about their extended stay rates for when we decide to go full time in our RV. They gave us the rate, which is just below our budgeted amount 👍🏻, and then the young lady said we had better book it soon as October is already getting full. Wait, what? October is getting full already? Are you kidding me?

This comment thrusted us into a situation of needing to better understand how this whole process works as we were not planning on making a decision until after the College Road Trip 2020 in August/September. It turns out now there is no way we can wait that long if we hope to have a place to live after our house sells. What we thought would be a smooth glide until the second half of the year is now turning out to be a sprint to a goal date.

The big problem with this is that we didn’t have or really want a goal date. We thought we could get our affairs in order once we returned home from our trip and worry about a date once the house went into escrow. We now know we need to book a spot immediately if we actually want to have a place to park our RV once we move into it. Additionally, you have to book in 29 day increments so we might also need to book through December as well. This whole process just got very real.

As we walked back to our RV from the office we both realized it was time to start getting serious about this whole process. We tried to think this through over the rest of the weekend and tentatively decided on November 1st as the day we will move full time into our RV. This date is conditional on a few things. We have to book the space at the resort and have the option to cancel without penalty if we are not ready by then. If we book December at the same time that gives us a secondary date, but that could have financial implications if we have to delay a month. As for those conditions, we have to sell all of our belongings and our house. We have to time this process around being able to live comfortably, work, and coming to grips with our son now being 2500 miles away from us. We also need to rearrange our RV to accommodate those things that we are planning on having with us, but this can be done over a weekend and is the least of our worries.

Logistically this is all going to be very difficult for us to do. Trying to time everything to happen at the right time feels like it is going to be nearly impossible. We have been selling some items slowly on eBay and now we are talking about selling our entire house full of furniture and decades of things within a shorter timeframe than we had originally planned. If we sell everything too early we will live like hermits in an empty house. If we wait too long and we have to push back our timeframe, it could cost us some money as we store our RV and you can’t just change your mind once you give notice your leaving the facility. So we need to get this right.

There are a few options but they all have their downsides. The easy solution would be to have a couple of yard sales to help get rid of things quickly and get cash in hand. We live in a community with an association and garage sales are strictly prohibited, so that option is out. We are going to look into estate sales but they can be very costly so that might not be an option for us as we would like to keep as much money as possible. We thought about asking for permission to use the local church parking lot for a yard sale in exchange for a donation to the church. The thought of moving everything to a parking lot sounds awful. And if things don’t sell we have to move them back again and still find a way to get rid of them. We might not have much of a choice if we don’t want to pay fees.

I’m sure it will all be worth it in the end but we certainly have our work cut out for us. We are not the first people to make this transition so thankfully there is a lot of information out there to draw from.

The great part is that a dream we have had for many years is now just months away from becoming reality. In another blog I will touch on the financial aspect of this transition and the difference it will make in our FIRE journey.

Until next time…………………….

Joe