I wouldn’t be surprised if someone told me that most full time travel journeys begin with a list of pros and cons of RV living scribbled down in notebooks. That’s definitely how our family’s adventure began.
When you’re contemplating full time travel, evaluating the pros and cons of the lifestyle is an important first step.
Here’s the thing: there’s no one definitive list of pros and cons that’ll resonate with everyone considering the full time RV life. The pros on my family’s list are probably very different from the benefits that you’d find most important. And there’s probably cons on our list that don’t sound too bad from your point of view.
That’s why I didn’t want to write this article solely from my own perspective. I asked other full time travelers to share their pros and cons with me, too. Together, we created a list that I think will resonate with many people.
And afterwards, I’ll walk you through how to use a pros and cons list of your own to decide if full time RV living is right for your family.
Pros of RV Living
There are definitely many more benefits of RV living than what’s captured on this list. Based on your family’s unique values and priorities, you’ll likely experience several additional benefits that we haven’t thought of. Still, here’s some common pros that experienced RVers love about the lifestyle:
We spend so much more quality time together.
- Our entire family spends so much more quality time together in nature than we ever did before because we have more time to do so. Grimm Side of Travel is so right about this:
There’s always something new around the corner.
- We have the freedom to travel wherever we want whenever we want. If we don’t like our neighbors or need to get out of the path of severe weather, we just move.
- There’s something special about how the view outside your window changes as you travel in an RV. Here’s how Annie from @traveling_willnuggets describes it:
- We encounter so much diversity on the road. From diverse ecosystems to diverse wildlife to diverse humans, we’re experiencing so many new ways of living and being in our world.
Our lifestyle is helping us build more sustainable habits.
- Living in some of our country’s wildest places is helping us deepen our love and respect for Mother Nature. We get to see firsthand how precious the wide variety of life here on Earth is.
- We waste so much less food living in an RV than we did when we lived a more traditional American lifestyle. We only have room for the things we plan to eat very soon. We conserve more water, too!
- We spend less money buying things we don’t need. We just don’t have space for all the excess stuff we used to buy when we had a 4-bedroom house.
The whole family is learning so much together.
- We’re learning firsthand about the geography and history of the United States by visiting places and learning their stories. When you’re camping, every day is an opportunity for a science lesson.
- According to the Child Mind Institute, researchers agree that kids who play outside are happier and better at paying attention than kids who don’t. And we spend most of our lives outside!
- We get to experience our country and one another in ways you just can’t experience the same way simply by reading a book or listening to a news anchor. Here’s how The Pups And Us explain it:
Cons of RV Living
But the full time travel lifestyle isn’t all kittens and rainbows. Like anything in life, there are drawbacks.
Your social life will take some getting used to.
- It really is hard to be away from family and friends, especially if you lived close by before taking on the full time travel lifestyle.
- Finding a community to stay connected with on the road can be a challenge. We had a wonderful community in Winston-Salem, NC and we miss them very much!
- There’s not a lot of room for alone time. When your travel companions start getting on your nerves (and they will!), there aren’t many places to hide. You know…except for the entire state park.
There’s not as much room for all the conveniences you’re probably used to.
- I know I listed “conserving water” up there on the pros list, but y’all: we sure do miss having big showers and taking long, hot baths.
- We don’t have much room for a dishwasher or a laundry machine. Some people do! But if your camper is on the smaller side like ours, that part’s tough.
- We’ve always lived in places where finding sustainable small farmers and local businesses was easy to do. But now that we’re traveling through pretty remote locations, it’s hard to find important work like this to support.
Adulting becomes a little harder when you travel full time.
- When you live in a tiny home on wheels, you should expect things to break down from time to time. And if the breakdowns are significant, it can be a big problem. Here’s how Trisha and Jason at When in Roam USA put it:
- RV Living is not a money-saving personal finance strategy (at least in our experience). Budgeting can be a challenge (i.e. the cost of fuel).
- Even seemingly simple things like dog grooming, dentist appointments and healthcare are a little harder to manage on the road. It’s definitely doable, just harder. Here’s what Off to see in the RV said:
How to Use Your Own Pros and Cons List to Decide if RV Living is Right For You
Why are Pros and Cons Lists such effective decision-making tools?
A pros and cons list is a decision-making tool that allows you to visualize and evaluate both the positive and negative outcomes you would expect from a specific decision or action.
And it’s such a simple tool to use that if you have a pencil and paper handy, you can go ahead and get started right now.
It’s not just about ease, though. A pros and cons list is also super effective for making big decisions. Humans can be pretty resistant to change. Big life changes (like deciding to live in an RV full time) can be pretty scary. And it can be hard to see past the barriers you’ll have to overcome.
But by focusing on the positives instead of just on the scary negatives, roadblocks that once seemed impassible can be reframed as minor obstacles that are standing in the way of something that could be really good for you (or not, if the pros don’t outweigh the cons in your unique situation).
How to Create Your Own Pros and Cons List
Even if every word of the pros and cons list we created above resonates with you, don’t stop there. Pros and cons lists should be personal.
Spend some time and really think about the pros and cons that are truly unique to you, your situation, and your values. Here are a couple examples from our own pros and cons list where our situations might be a little bit different:
- Pro: We were a 14-hour drive from family before we sold our house and bought an RV. We spend more quality time with family and long-distance friends now than we before we were full time travelers.
- Con: Living in a 250-square foot space with 2 adults, 2 kids, and 2 cats can feel quite crowded (we love our tiny camper, y’all; it’s just a tight fit).
Only once you’ve truly taken a look at how the decision to live and travel full time in an RV will impact your unique situation – in positive ways and in bad – will you be able to decide if the lifestyle is for you.
