We are working towards getting on the road full time and would be very interested to hear how you went about getting ready.
Did you sell up or Rent out your home and why did you make that choice?
How did you go about clearing out a lifetimes worth of stuff? (Ebay, Markets, Kids, Tip, heaps still in storage somewhere)
And how long did it take you to get organised ? (3 months, 12 months etc)
Did you have any regrets? (I wish I hadn't of sold this or gave away that etc)
How did you cope those first few weeks ?
Apreciate all responces as we are trying to find the best way to aproach this.
Personally I am as keen as mustard by have concerns my better half may struggle for a while (she says she supports the idea but keeps comming up with all the what if's etc)
We are working towards getting on the road full time and would be very interested to hear how you went about getting ready.
Did you sell up or Rent out your home and why did you make that choice?
How did you go about clearing out a lifetimes worth of stuff? (Ebay, Markets, Kids, Tip, heaps still in storage somewhere)
And how long did it take you to get organised ? (3 months, 12 months etc)
Did you have any regrets? (I wish I hadn't of sold this or gave away that etc)
How did you cope those first few weeks ?
Apreciate all responces as we are trying to find the best way to aproach this.
Personally I am as keen as mustard by have concerns my better half may struggle for a while (she says she supports the idea but keeps comming up with all the what if's etc)
regards
Mike
Hi Mike, and welcome to our forum. I will try to answer some of your questions, as we went through the same dilemma as you.
Did you sell up or Rent out your home and why did you make that choice? We sold our home as we were unable to finance the purchase of our rig with out doing so, however the balance has been invested and helps our allocated pension.
How did you go about clearing out a lifetimes worth of stuff? (Ebay, Markets, Kids, Tip, heaps still in storage somewhere) Before we sold the house we had a huge garage sale which helped, then after the sale (before settlement day) we had an auctioneer come in and clear the balance of our "total lifetime worth of stuff". We were guaranteed everything would go, and were surprised to find that it did. The auctioneer was very good.
And how long did it take you to get organised ? (3 months, 12 months etc) We had been talking about doing this since we met 17 years ago, but the way and method changed over the years. About 10 years ago, we put a photo of a 5th wheeler on the fridge, and wrote across it "10/7/2016". We managed to bringe the date forward by 5 years, and the photo changed from a 5th wheeler to a Kedron. Working backwards from 10th July 2011, the house took 6 months from putting on sale (1/1/11) to settlement, the garage sale was in December 10, we had a financial planner working with us for over 6months prior (this is very important to find one you can trust). So in answer, close to 18 months of full on prep.
Did you have any regrets? (I wish I hadn't of sold this or gave away that etc) Only regrets are leaving the grandies and an elderly mother behind, but have managed to see them every 6 months so far since getting on the road (we have been on the road for 15 months now travelling close to 30,000km)
How did you cope those first few weeks ? That was easy, I treated the first 4 weeks as a holiday, and was relieved to find that I did not have to go home and the end.
She says she supports the idea but keeps comming up with all the what if's etc There are a lot of "what if"s", Mr D's answer to that is always "you are a long time dead". Just bite the bullet and do it while you can.
Other tips:
We downsized from the 5th wheel to the Kedron caravan as we wanted to be able to go off road.
You need to be comfortable when on the road permantly. Ensure you have a rig with enough storage for the gear you plan to take (you will cull as you travel, but you will also collect)
Re the financial adviser, go with a strong bank's financial adviser, not a private one. Make sure there are no ongoing charges.
If you have issues with finances, look at working while travelling. We worked 5 months out of 12 last fin year (not consecutively). This website has a good help wanted and work wanted page.
Try to camp in free camps where possible, however, when staying in a free camp, you still need to travel (fuel) into town for food and/or entertainment, when staying in a caravan park in town, most shops etc are at your finger tips and in walking distance.
It is not cheap to live on the road, we have paid up to $2.30 for diesel so far, but have found that the more we pay for camps, the less we pay for fuel (I have a graph to prove it)
I hope this has helped you and answered your questions. Hope to see you on the road soon.
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Pay it forward - what goes around comes around
DUNMOWIN is no longer on the road and still DUNMOWIN!
We too are selling everything we own our own business and and have our home and business For sale we dont want to rent out as we dont want any responsibility also as most people Know us on here ive been through the wringer and have had melanoma twice now so its time To try sell up and get outta here aftervall its just stuff isnt it,we cant go away unless its for like Four days because we have responsibilities here ,i will miss my big old qlder when she goes but hey We have a 24 foot van and brand new holden colorado ready to go so just bring it on and we can go im off For a bone scan tuesday ,all i can say is im 51 and life is too short.
We always had this planned to do this but its been bought forward big time now hope this helps .
Not meaning to scare anybody but you never know whats around that corner my hubby had been married Three times before i could never understand why because i have two children to different men who treated me Like crap ,my hubby has treated me like a queen and i want to be around to share the time with him
Wow "Sold your Furniture" I would never have considered that as a risk.. did insurance cover that?
I like the idea of the 110K duplex that would solve a lot of issues however I wonder if there was a property to escape back to would one be tempted to fall back on it at the first problem on the road?
The police recovered nearly everything from a second hand dealer in the next town. I got a phone call weeks later saying, "We have your washing machine in the Court House". It was newer than the one we lost !!!
On your first trip, drive for days, that way when you encounter your first problem you'll be too far away
-- Edited by vk6tnc on Sunday 30th of September 2012 06:09:43 PM
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Cheers, Chris...
"The problem with doing nothing is not knowing when you're finished" - Benjamin Franklin
No responsibilities is my big want.. however its hard for me to explain that to my wife (still in her 40's) she is pushing for the "need" for a home base just in case etc. and we would be silly to get out of the Market type stuff. So still looking for a workable compromise.
I have had several close friends (some younger than I) discover they had the Big C or suddenly find themselves having a multipul by pass etc I found I was typ2 diebetic only a few months back so my aim is to find out whats around the next corner by turning that steering wheel on my motor home not by continuing to drift into it.
I understand your wife's thinking and yours as well. I couldn't cope without a homebase for the same reasons as your wife. I also think not having one would be the ultimate freedom in being where you want when you want. I hope you find a great compromise.
No base....no worries. We are living each day as it unfolds. Full time travelling & loving it.
Andrea, We can't part with books. Have taken some favourites, and some not so favourites to swap. We tried one of those reader thing-a-mies in Meyers, but didn't like it.
-- Edited by leevin on Sunday 30th of September 2012 10:09:09 PM
I understand also but this is a big house that will not rent well and costs a fortune in rates and maintenance (Pool, spa, grass etc)
One option we are thinking about is buying a smaller property in a country town with good amenities and space for the motorhome or buying an investment property and renting it out.
Problem is if we buy an investment it opens up the capital gains tax issue. If we rent ours we have (I think) a 5 year window to escape CGT but we then can't free up capital and will worry every day as to how the place is being looked after. Its never an easy question and will take a while to figure it out. The small town country property may well be the best answer.
We rented out our house and after a few good people always ended up with the tenants from hell !!! The last ones even sold our furniture before they left....
In the small town I live in now a duplex sold for $110,000. The new owners have a large Winnebago that fills the driveway. They lock up and leave for months at a time.
Probably good to have a fixed address somewhere.
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Cheers, Chris...
"The problem with doing nothing is not knowing when you're finished" - Benjamin Franklin
Hi, Mike - we all seem to have different ways of dealing with these questions. John and I sold everything four years ago - 35 years of accumulated 'stuff', some sold over a weekend garage sale, some given away to Vinnies; as glassies says, it IS just 'stuff' after all.
The house sold within a week to two local youngsters buying their first house, and we had just six weeks to get rid of everything and get out!
We'd never travelled in a van before, and had anyone suggested to me a few years earlier that I'd spend the rest of my life in a caravan I'd have told tham they were nuts! But we did a lot of research and settled on a 5th wheeler by Southern Cross (it has a suspension that will handle any country!). We've never looked back, and I certainly never want to go back to a 'fixed' house. We may never own real estate again, but despite thinking at times that we must be mad, it really doesn't worry either of us one bit.
Dunmowin has the right advice: bite the bullet, and it's unlikely that you'll ever regret it!
Andrea
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Free-ranging, in a Southern Cross 5th wheeler, in between property-minding (to save money!).
We rented out our house and after a few good people always ended up with the tenants from hell !!! The last ones even sold our furniture before they left....
In the small town I live in now a duplex sold for $110,000. The new owners have a large Winnebago that fills the driveway. They lock up and leave for months at a time.
Probably good to have a fixed address somewhere.
Wow "Sold your Furniture" I would never have considered that as a risk.. did insurance cover that?
I like the idea of the 110K duplex that would solve a lot of issues however I wonder if there was a property to escape back to would one be tempted to fall back on it at the first problem on the road?
Yep thats why we are not renting ours pool spa huge house rates ,nope i did say to hubby about Buying a couple of acres and putting a big garage on it to come back to but he does not want anything so im Putting all my fears aside now and going with what happens ,weve had our home for sale since feb ,half dozen looked No offers lovely old qlder but nobody has money to spend just tyre kickers
I am with you totally but I have to ensure that the better half is comfortable too.
6 weeks? I look around me and think 6 months will be pushing to get sorted.. you dont happen to freelance as a house sorter by any chance? :)
We have already done extensive travel in a campertrailer (up to 5 months) and really could have kept going and existed quite comfortability (so I keep reminding myself) so now in an 8.7m motor home it should be a breeze (I think).
Yep thats why we are not renting ours pool spa huge house rates ,nope i did say to hubby about Buying a couple of acres and putting a big garage on it to come back to but he does not want anything so im Putting all my fears aside now and going with what happens ,weve had our home for sale since feb ,half dozen looked No offers lovely old qlder but nobody has money to spend just tyre kickers
When we get the truck back I think I need to go for a long drive and chat with a few fultimers over a beer or three..
So the hint is to designate all our belongings as "Stuff" Stuff to throw out.. Stuff to Sell.. Stuff to Give away.. Maybe a little bit of Stuff to take with you. Some Stuff to store (and probably forget about) Whew.. I am getting Stuffed just thinking about it :)
I am trying out some of these Auction sites for stuff to sell so anyone wanting a folding boat go here http://www.quicksales.com.au/buy/auction.aspx?itemid=15198729 I have a lot of camping gear that we will not be taking with us.. The folding boat has been replaced with Kayaks.
Hi there; we have been full time for 4 years. We decided early on that it was all or nothing. It took about 3 months to decide and buy/fitout our rig, parked in Mums backyard to get all the bits sorted. etc. We sold house, but bought a 20' container to store furniture and some stuff in. Lucky to have a mate with farm where we were able to leave container, which we visit on each lap, to check and put stuff in and take other out, quite handy actually. We curremtly live in 23' Supreme van/full annex towed by 4.2 Patrol, so we can do offroad thing, well that was the plan. Not enough room and the 4.2 is too thirsty for a daily drive, so now we are changing over to 38' converted bus, towing a fully enclosed car trailer with bumby ute. We also have a 50cc scooter for town running, just the thing for that run to the shops. Only regret maybe, is we should have invested in a small country rental property, 1 for the security investment of property,(no-one will ever convince me to invest in shares ever again, ever) 2, some where to parkup longer term should the bodies need it.
Thanks Pauline I am slow but might just get there yet.
Hi Russhenn We did a lot of the off road stuff in the ultimate and now are looking to wander around slowly perhaps towing a small 4wd for the ocassional side trip. Most places we went with the ultimate had Motorhomes and caravans so I dont think we will miss much.
Talking with the other half we are starting to come to the conclusion that a small country property with space for the motorhome sounds like the sensible way to setup a base and store some gear (will free up a lot of capital). Perhaps somthing with a big shed and a rentable house might be the way to go.
My eldest son has 7 acres and has suggested that we put a shed there for storage and to use as a home base if we ever want to but it worries me what happens if his situation changes and he needs to sell etc. I think I would rather control my own destiny..
Maybe rather than rush we could do the container thing (great idea) as a tempory measure while we wander around looking for that perfect place to buy.
really apreciate all the responces it helps one get their head around it all.
Mike, further to my original comment, I thought I would also mention that as we have travelled, we always have it at the back of our mind that we might one day, have to settle down again.
So as we visit towns and villages, we check out real estate from a curiosity point of view. We also try to get the feel of the little towns with the locals, and try to imagine whether or not we could live there.
So far in 15 months, we have bookmarked Allora, near Toowoomba in Queensland, and Burra in South Australia. Looks like we might be creating an alphabetical list so are now looking for the town with the letter "c"
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Pay it forward - what goes around comes around
DUNMOWIN is no longer on the road and still DUNMOWIN!
We will probally look within Victoria due to Licence and registration issues (I have to have annual medicals and no annual checks or roadworthies required for the bus) plus I would want it to be within an easy weekender for my 4 kids and 3 (soon to be 5) grandkids.
I think it makes a lot of sence to live in a place for a while to get the Vibe etc before commiting so I am really considering the container on sons property as a good tempory soloution.
I dont see property going up dramatically in the next few years so time is on our side.
pauline i like the way you think , i used to go travelling with my x partner and we would go up to weipa or the top end or the gulf and more than once i would look around me love what i had (a jayco camper) nissan patrol and think good lord what the heck do i have all that stuff at home for ,it just doesnt get used either a lot of it.
so yes i have decided to give into graemes dream and get rid of everything will keep some very important things possibly in a container on a friends property ,other than the whole lot is going or if someone wants to lend things like a big screen tv we shall lend it out.
the ide is to say i think you cant take it with you when you leave this earth so why hang onto it, we always say we have our house on the back of a car if things get tough and we have to return to this area due to my doctors appointments etc we can pull into our local c/van park and our home is on the back.
that way if we get sick of it we can pull up in maroochydore or any place around the area
New here too after similar situation. The other half recently diagnosed with cancer. Had surgery and started chemo. Good prognosis but it made us stop and think "why the hell are we waiting??".
So, house in New Zealand will be sold and we will buy that rig!!! Loving this country and want to see more of it...at OUR pace!!
Hopefully will see some of you out there eventually!! :)
