September was all about saying goodbye to our house and moving into our motorhome as we transitioned to full time RV living. Downsizing all our stuff and leaving our home and a neighborhood that we loved so much wasn’t easy. We share four tips on how to prepare for full time RV living, price comparison of three long term RV parks in San Diego, and how we moved our cats. Don’t have time to read this now? Pin it for later!

How to Prepare for Full Time RV Living

We made the decision to buy a motorhome and move into it full time because eventually we wanted to hit the road and explore the country. We liked the idea of going where we want when we wanted and simplifying our life. Living in a motorhome full time is a huge change and it is not for everyone so here are our tips on how to prepare for full time RV living.

Tips

1. Take Practice Runs. We took two big road trips together in rented motorhomes, stayed overnight at an Airstream Motel, and Penguin previously owned a trailer and rented various sized motorhomes for other Burning Man trips including 40’ class A. We were confident before we started looking at motorhomes that we could live together in a small space and handle the good and the bad that comes with living in a motorhome full time.

   • Road Trip 1: We rented a 1996 26' Coachman Freelander 2600 to go to my first Burning Man. It is around 1300 miles round trip from San Diego and we were gone for 11 days.

     • The drive is long and the elements at Burning Man can be very extreme. You learn pretty quick if you and your partner are cutout for this type of adventure.

     • This 1996 RV had some issues while at Burning Man so that was my first lesson in how things will break in an RV and often at the most inconvenient time and location.

   • Road Trip 2: For my second Burning Man we upgraded to the 34’ Fleetwood Bounder and what a difference it made.

     • The additional space and larger holding tanks were awesome.

     • We learned that we prefer something around this length.

   • Airstream Motel: We took an overnight trip to Kate's Lazy Desert Airstream Motel near Joshua Tree.

     • It's a private lot in the high desert with a collection of vintage Airstreams they rent out on sites like Airbnb.

     • The Airstream we stayed in was one of the larger Airstream trailers so we could get a feel for how roomy they are and how much you can store in them.

       • At the time, we were seriously considering an Airstream for our upcoming full time RV adventures but after that trip we knew an Airstream didn’t have the storage we needed.

2. Research, Research, Research!

   • We've spent the better part of a year browsing RVtrader, RVT, manufacturer websites, internet forums, attending the local RV show at the stadium, etc to get ideas on brands and features we would like.

   • Read what brand and features we decided we needed in our Best RV to Live in Full Time article.

3. Downsize and Purge

   • We didn’t have a lot of time to prepare once we made the decision to buy our motorhome. Nine days after seeing the motorhome we were on the bus to purchase it!

   • We had one month to get out of the house. We didn’t want to pay for a storage unit so we had to move everything we wanted to keep to the motorhome, store a few things with family and friends, and then get rid of everything else that filled our three bedroom house.

   • How did we downsize? We sold some things worthwhile online, gave some to family, had our friends over to come take whatever they wanted, left some things outside on the sidewalk with FREE signs, and then donated the rest.

   • We parked the motorhome in-front of our house for a few days (that is all that is allowed in San Diego and you have to get a permit) and moved as much as we could. Then we moved to an RV park not too far from the house. Every day after work we would go to the house to pack and purge, and then move a load to the motorhome. We repeated this for the entire month of September and in the end we were exhausted.

4. Take Deep Breaths. There will be ups and downs.

   • Moving and downsizing was emotional. It feels odd to work so hard to earn money to buy all this stuff and then turn around and get rid of most of it. It also feels amazing to simplify your life and organize your stuff. I love knowing our stuff is getting a new life through some of the people we love the most.

Wondering what motorhome we purchased? Read about it in We found the one! Our Tiffin Phaeton 36GH Purchase. Want a video tour of our motorhome? Check out our Tiffin Phaeton 36GH Video Tour.

Full Time RV Living San Diego

So what are your options for full time RV living in San Diego? Both Santa Fe Park RV Resort and Mission Bay RV Resort are long term RV parks in San Diego. San Diego RV Resort also has a monthly rate but we haven’t stayed at that RV park.

Santa Fe Park RV Resort had availability for two months and they were cheaper than Mission Bay RV Resort so we stayed there first. We paid $975 at the time but their rates have increased.

Santa Fe was close enough to our house that the back and forth every day for weeks to continue moving out of the house wasn’t too tiring.

After two months at Santa Fe we moved to Mission Bay for two months and we prefer that RV park, although the pool and hot tub at Santa Fe was nice. For one month we splurged and upgraded to a Bay View site. You can read about that in our Beautiful Bay View Site at Mission Bay RV Resort article. One nice thing about Mission Bay is the electricity is included even for the monthly rate.

RV Living with Cats

Moving can be hard on animals. Nacho’s personality changed for the worse (he got very shy and skittish) when we moved into our house so we were concerned about his move into the motorhome.

How did we move our cats into the motorhome?

We didn’t move the cats until we were settled in the motorhome which took eleven days. We wanted to have the cats out of the house before we started having people over to take things since Nacho doesn’t like strangers.

Once I felt we were ready, we put the cats in the car and headed to the RV park. That was probably the hardest part for the cats as they HATE the car. Both cats were nervous at first but it didn’t take Tinkerbell long to warm up to her new home. Nacho took a little bit longer but within an hour or so he was getting comfortable. Now that we have successfully moved them I wonder how they will react the first time we fire up the diesel engine.

Once we were living full time in our motorhome and enjoying our life at Santa Fe RV Park I knew we made the right choice. September was still warm enough to have a few days to enjoy the pool!

Interested in life on the road or how to save money living in an RV? Take a look at our RV Life articles. Wondering what kind of repairs and maintenance occur when you live full time in an RV? Check out our Motorhome articles. Curious how the cats have adjusted? View our Cats articles. What are we doing next? Don’t miss an article, subscribe today.

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