If you're one of my friends, there's a good chance we've had a discussion about whether or not living in a motorhome is cheaper than renting. Conversely, if you and I haven't had this dicussion, and you think it would have been natural to do so, consider the implications...

But I'm not here to shrink my already meager social life via insults hidden in logic games. I'm here to tell you, very definitively, that if you decided to emulate me and live full time in a motorhome that you would spend less money than you do now. Or not. It really all depends. I'll get to that.

Spending Less Doesn't Mean Motorhomes Are Cheaper

Initially, determining whether motorhome living is cheaper seemed easy. In order to enjoy traveling, I cut back my work hours and now live off of half the monthly income that I used to. So there we go. Living full time in a motorhome has caused me to spend less, so it must be cheaper, right? Unfortunately, I am a wasteful and impulsive creature, and much of that income was spent on whimsical things that are necessary for neither a renting lifestyle nor a motorhome one.

Anyone want to buy a used wi-fi detector t-shirt? I had the money, so I spent the money.

So it seems that simply looking at whether I spend less money now or then is really just a measure of how many novelty t-shirts I bought. That's not a useful piece of information. Let's instead compare the real costs of things essential to living full time in the motorhome with what I used to need in order to survive as a renter outside of Washington, DC. I can do without shirts full of electronics in both cases, so I'll discount such things from the comparison.

Your expenses while living full time in a motor home will vary based on your personal preferences for comfort and travel. My goal is to travel around the country visiting friends and sunny beaches, so I drive a lot. I also have a small motorcycle hooked on the back of the Winnebago for short trips when I'm stopped somewhere for a few days. I almost never sleep at RV parks, preferring instead the parking lots of large chain stores (free!), side streets in residential neighborhoods (free and creepy!), or the couch at a friend's place (who wants me next?).

Tweleve Months Of Living

Here are approximated expenses for 12 months of motorhome living:

$7000 - Motorhome Depreciation: This is a better measure of expenses than my loan payment.
$1500 - Motorcycle Depreciation
$1200 - Motorhome Insurance
$550 - Motorcycle Insurance
$7000 - Gasoline: I drive a lot, and only get about 9 miles to the gallon.
$200 - Mail Forwarding Service
$350 - Propane and Sewage: I use about one tank of propane ($25) per month, and occasionally pay to dump sewage ($5-$10).
$4900 - Motorhome Service and Repairs: Things break. Alot. Wait, what was that noise?
$1200 - Campground Fees: RV parks cost $20-$60/night, but I rarely stay in them.

For a total of about $24,000/year, or $2,000/month.

Compare the above items to the following ones that apply to me as a former renter:

Rent
Gas, Water, Electricity
Auto Insurance
Car Depreciation
Car Service
Gasoline

In my case, these items totaled about $20,000/year, or $1,600/month. Obviously, you should compare to your own situation.

Conclusion

Consider this article our conversation on the subject; now we can be friends! I've discovered that living in a motorhome isn't an instant path to frugality. In my case, I actually spend more on 'living expenses' than I did when I rented. However, the difference isn't very large, and my total expenditure is reduced because I chose to change many things about my lifestyle that have nothing to do with living in a motorhome. There's a lesson there somewhere, but I'm parked outside a casino, so I'll leave its discovery and explanation as an excersize for the reader (submit your homework in the comments, below). In conclusion to the conclusion, I theorize that no matter what your income is right now, you'd be able to live on it in a motorhome.

My motorhome is a cantankerous old man. It enjoys playing tricks on me, but even more importantly it loves the warmth of the southern United States. That means that while I've gone home to Minnesota for Christmas (4' snow drifts!), the 'bago stayed in balmy San Diego. Where did I put it? Can I park my rv at the airport?

Earlier in the summer I took a plane from Portland for a weekend, and just left it in a residential neighborhood. However, this trip is several weeks long, and I figured that if I leave it parked on the street I might as well plan on taking a taxi directly from the airport to the local impound lot when I return. Some airports will let you park in their long term parking lot - if you pay for all of the spots you take up. In my case, that would have been about $600.

My solution is to put the Winnebago into a lot at a monthly storage facility. You are probably more familiar with them as the kind of place you go to if you're moving and need to store funiture for a little while. Next time you go to pick up that dusty old couch in storage, check around back and you might see a motorhome or two parked somewhere. These places have names like "U Store It", "Sav-On Storage", and "My Dad's storage is better than your Dad's storage", and can be easily found by searching for 'rv storage' on google maps. The key is that most don't have a minimum stay requirement, so you can pop in and out in 2 weeks if you want. Many will even give you a discount on the first month. It pays to call around.

I've used two different facilities. The rates were around $100/month, pro-rated to the length of my stay. In each case, I then simply took a bus to the airport after parking and filling out some paper work. In one case I didn't even bother to call ahead. Who knew it would be so easy?

My current mailing address is, "That Winnebago sitting at the corner of 28th and Quintara, Texas plates, San Francisco, CA 94116." Or at least I wish it were. The US Postal Service has an amazing delivery record, and might even exhibit an organization-wide sense of humor, but it probably won't deliver to that address. Furthermore, Credit card companies and the IRS don't even know what a joke is, so you need something more concrete to tell them. In this post, I'll describe how to placate the Tax Administration, get your mail when you're not quite sure where you'll be next month, and even have packages delivered to you.

Nowhere Man

You've sold most of your belongings, packed the remainder into a motorhome, and visited 30 states in as many days. As far as you and I are concerned, you don't live anywhere in particular. More importantly, there's no particular state you call your home. The IRS disagrees. In the US, you MUST have exactly one address that you can point to and say, "Here I am," because the states want your tax dollars. The legal term for this special location is your 'domicile', and the government takes it very seriously. You can incur large fines or jail time for trying to use more than one state as your domicile in order to avoid sales or income tax.

Adding to the confusion is the fact that there's no strict set of criteria for establishing your domicile. You must show an 'intent' to live there. For instance, I've switched my credit card address, health insurance, RV loan information, and other services to a mailing address in Texas, registered both my motorhome and motorcycle there, paid Texas sales tax, made Austin the first destination in my trip, and will soon have my Texas Driver's License. Did I show intent? I hope so. Only the IRS knows.For an even better explanation, check out this guide from the Escapees RV Club: How to Become a Real Texan.

Remailing Service

The very first step in establishing your domicile is going to be to acquire a real mailing address, and because you don't have a long term presence anywhere, the best way to do it is to use a re-mailing service. Such a service will provide you with a real address, collect your mail for you, and then forward the mail on to an address you choose, whenever you choose. This is not the same as having a PO box, not only because the mail can be forwarded on, but because the address can often receive packages and other items that could not be sent to a PO box.

I use the Escapees Mail Forwarding Service, because it seems very well regarded on RV forums, and has been around for quite a while. They gave me a specific address where they will receive mail for me, and then when I want my mail, I just call their number and leave a voice mail with instructions as to when and where I want sent. The mail arrives a few days later, bundled in a large white envelope. They offer additional helpful services too; when I was waiting for my Texas license plates to arrive, I would call and ask them to check to see whether the plates were in. In fact, if you're waiting for an urgent letter, you can even authorize Escapees to open a piece of mail and read it to you over the phone. The best service, by far, is that they will automatically shred junk mail for you. The service costs $85/year, and you must be an Escapee's member as well, which costs $70/year. You pay postage; in my case, $4.50 per mailing. If you get your mail once a month, you can estimate the total cost of the service at $200 per year.

I also considered the mail forwarding service at St. Brendan's Isle in Florida, because that service will open, scan, and email pictures of your letters. The price is about the same, but I ultimately rejected it in favor of a Texas address.

Receiving your mail

So now you have a remailer, a real address, run afoul of no tax laws, and your employer can send your pay stubs somewhere. How do you get your mail? Some day I'll try to actually send a letter to an address like the one at the top of this post, but until then I'll take advantage of a service offered by the Post office called General Delivery. Mail should be addressed as follows:

Your Name
General Delivery
Post Office Address

The picture of mail from Escapees, above, shows an address I used recently. It will then be held at the post office you specified for at least 30 days. To pick it up, you just go to the counter and show an ID. All cities have a post office that holds items for General Delivery, though cities with several post offices may only hold it at the main office, wherever that is. Call ahead to verify, or just guess and if you're wrong, the mail wil be held at a nearby post office and you'll be told which one when you try to pick it up.

FedEx

In order to get a Visa to visit India, I needed to send and receive my passport via FedEx. To my suprise, FedEx offers a service just like General Delivery. You can have a package sent to a FedEx Mail and Print shop, and they'll hold it for you to come in and pick up. I assume the other delivery companies offer this service as well.

Worry Free

Sending and receiving mail should not be stressful, though I was fearful at first that it might be. I've used all of the services above several times, and each time it worked perfectly. It turns out that you and I aren't the first people to want to live in a Motorhome or get mail on the road, so there's an entire infrastructure set up to support us. Now get out there, and send me some free stuff!

For more consicise information, I was pointed to this post at motorhome-modification-usa.

 

Road trips are exciting, but sitting silently next to your companions for 8 or more hours can lose its fun. When this happens, I bust out my three favorite road trip games to break the monotony: "I Spy", "License Plates," and "Who can bear to hear me sing 'Yellow Submarine' the longest?" Now though...NOW I live in a motorhome, and I've invented several games specific to that vehicle. Here you go. Learn the rules so you can play along:

1. What broke today?

The first player to find something newly broken in the motorhome wins! This game is ongoing, but there's usually one winner per day. Don't feel too bad if it's not you, though. In this game, even when you win, you lose...

Examples:
Take everything you own and put it into a 8' by 20' wooden box, then slightly twist and shake it thousands and thousands of times. What wouldn't break eventually? Nothing is out of the realm of possibility! I've had a broken wine bottle, mirror, cigarette lighter, window latches, compartment holders, toilet bowl, table leg, car battery, and even a popped tire.

2. What was that noise?

Closely associated with the previous game, the goal here is to identify the source of an unusual sound. In the case that two people have proffered a correct identification, the winner is the person with the more specific description. Thus, identifying a loud thud as, "a laptop falling on the ground," will lose to, "Omar's laptop falling on the ground from an overhead compartment."

Examples:
After putting in my wood floor, which required the removal and replacement of all interior furniture, I won this game several days in a row by correctly identifying that, "TINK! Tink..Tink.Tink.Tinktinktinktink..." is the sound of screws falling onto the floor. And Omar won the previously mentioned thud identification...

3. Is the Motorhome still there?

This game is unique among motorhome games, in that it's not played while driving the Motorhome. Specifically, the first person to verify that your Motorhome is still parked where you left it, wins. In fact, this is a very social game. Everyone wins or loses it together.

Examples:
When visiting Colleen in Chicago, I discovered that the only available parking in her neighborhood was next to an abandoned building, across the street from a cemetary, so I won this game every day. I wonder why those parking spaces were open?

4. Motorhome Jousting!

Just kidding. Jousting only works from limos.

Now get out there, and start playing!

The other day a friend asked me, "Where does the toilet lead?" If you have the same question, then get ready: you came here for sewage, and I intend to deliver.

Overview

There are three holding tanks in my Winnebago: the fresh water tank, the grey water tank, and the black water tank. The first contains 39 gallons of clean, drinkable, water. If that water flows through the sinks or shower - basically, if it can get soapy - then it ends up in a 35 gallon grey water tank. If it is passes through the toilet, then it ends up in a 37 gallon black water tank. The tanks are named by the predominant color of the waste water in each tank, which makes it rather surprising that the black tank isn't called 'heiniously disgusting black'.

Eventually these tanks fill up and need to be emptied before something unpleasant happens.

Find a dump site

There are dump sites for sewage scattered across the United States as part of the hidden motorhome support infrastructure that you've never noticed. The dump sites can be anything from a truck-stop to a camping facility to a hole in the ground next to a rest stop. Usage fees range from free to $10, and are often \waived or reduced as a result of patronizing the associated business. For example, a gas station I visited in NY charged $5 to dump, but waived the fee if you fill up on gas. Camp sites with hookups for motorhomes also provide sewage as part of the overnight fee.

I use two websites that help me find a place for my motorhome to mark its territory. If I'm on a trip, I use a site called RVdumps that has dump stations organized according their location on major highways. You look up your state and as long as you're on a major highway you can find the mile marker for the next station. If I'm staying in an area for a while then I use Sanidumps, which features a google map based presentation of dump stations across the country.

How-to

There are several resources online that give step by step instructions for dumping your holding tanks. Among them are pages at eHow, Sanidumps, and RVdumps. However, I'm the only one willing to bring you pictures, so keep reading!

Pull up to the dump station and open the compartment with your sewer valve. The dump station will be a covered hole in the ground with a nearby hose. If you have a choice, try to slope your vehicle towards the hole to help your tanks drain.

Your goal at a dump station is to leave your worries behind, so put on gloves in case you end up touching something 'wet'. Now that you're protected, take the cover off of the dump station hole.

Next, you're going to put your sewer hose into the dump hole and attach it to your sewer valve. I also have a clear plastic section of hose that I use to monitor the flow. I am very particular about the order that this is all connected: First insert the end of the sewer pipe into the dump hole to make sure that there is no possibility of waste water trickling out on the ground. Attach the clear plastic section to the Motorhome side of the hose and hold it directly underneath the valve. Only now should you remove the cover from your sewer pipe, because the hose is below it to catch any drips. Attach the hose to the end of the sewer pipe.

In the picture above, the red pipe is the sewer hose, the black pipe connects to my holding tanks, and the clear plastic pipe spans them. I store a pile of disposable green plastic gloves on the left side of the compartment. Next to the gloves is a purple device that holds the toilet open in case I want to run a large amount of water into the black holding tank. On the right hand side are two handles that open valves to the black ('sewage') and grey ('waste water') holding tanks.

Simply pull the handle of the black holding tank valve towards you, and sewage will begin to flow out. Do not open the grey water tank while the black water tank valve is open or you risk having sewage flow back up into the grey tank. Once the flow slows to a trickle, push the handle back in to close the valve again. Now repeat the same procedure for the grey water tank; open the valve, wait for it all to flow out, close the valve. You should always empty the grey tank second because the soapy water helps to clean out any sewage from the pipes.

Disconnect your sewage pipe from the Motorhome and replace the valve cover, again using the pipe to catch any drips. There is still probably some liquid left in the pipe, so raise the end until it all drains out.

Now you just need to rinse the pipe and any spills and you're done. There should be a water hose nearby that is specifically meant to use for this cleaning. As you can see in the picture above, I connect this hose to my pipe with a little plastic device that and sprays water onto the walls of the pipe. If you don't want to use one, you can just spray water into the pipe opening directly. After everything is rinsed, put it all away and re-cover the dump station hole. Throw away your gloves and wash your hands.

Finally, add any holding tank treatment chemicals that you use. I usually hold the toilet open for half a minute to flush a layer of water into the holding tank and then drop a packet of some blue chemical after it. That packet holds a magic powder that can convert the foul smelling odor of human waste into the sweetish-foul smelling odor of treated human waste. You can pick some up at any rv or marine supply store.

Refill the water tank

Without water, how will you generate sewage? You'd better fill up your fresh water tank.

Be safe. Don't fill your tanks from the cleaning hose at the dump station! It might have some contamination which could get into your water supply. Only use a water source that's been marked as 'fresh', 'drinkable', or 'potable', and if there's no hose, then use your own hose that you store for this purpose only. Some dump stations will have a second hose further off, or you may have to hunt it down somewhere else. If there's nothing, and you're desperate for water, you can call some nearby campgrounds and see if they'll let you fill up (it cost me $5 the one time I did it), or you can stop by a nearby friend's house.

While filling, I clean my water with a carbon filter to further protect my supply and remove any weird flavors. In the picture above, it's the blue canister going into the motorhome. The pictured canister will last about 3 months and costs around $20. You use it by simply attaching the hose on one end, and then water comes out the other.

Tips

Get thick gloves and just wash them. My disposable gloves would lose a tug of war contest with wet tissue paper, so they provide more psycological value than actual feces blocking ability. If you use disposables, don't just drop them into the dump station, as it's not equipped to handle non-biologic material.

It's a rare problem, but be very careful that your sewage pipe doesn't dip down a few feet below the dump station hole. If the pipe goes upwards in order to reach the hole, then there's going to be some pressure inside. In my case, this situation resulted in the hose rupturing at the motorhome end. I learn from experience so you don't have to.

Lather, rinse, repeat

I dump about once a week and spend less than $20/month on fees. Unless I fill the fresh water tank, it usually takes me about 10 minutes.

Now, if you don't mind, I need to go take care of some business...

 

I didn't need to move my motorhome for several days during my recent trip to the Jersey Shore. Because I was in a residential area, I didn't run my generator, and as I also didn't need to drive much, the batteries never got recharged. After a few days I ran them empty, but batteries are fickle creatures, and they were so low I couldn't even turn the generator on. Even driving around with the engine trickle charging didn't solve the problem.

My motorhome has two sets of batteries. One is a normal car battery, and helps start the engine and power the headlights, CD player, etc. The other set provides power for the living area, and runs the fridge, lights, water pump and other home comforts. Many motorhomes have a switch up near the steering wheel that lets you use the living area batteries to jump your car battery if you leave the lights on, and I realized that the solution to my problem was the opposite: Use the car battery to jump the living area batteries. The switch won't do this for you, but your jumper cables might reach; as mine did, fortunately.

I've spent a long week living, working, and surfing the northern end of the Jersey Shore, and you can too. Before last week I'd barely set foot in New Jersey, and with visions of Snooki and The Situation running through my head, I didn't expect that a RV would be very welcome, especially on the 4th of July, a major beach holiday. There were some problems.. but going to the 'shore in a motorhome is surprisingly easy.

Parking is easy and the beaches hard...

The first day at the Jersey Shore I set my alarm for sunrise; 5:30 in the morning. I wanted to make sure that I could find a parking spot within walking distance of the beach, and figured that early in the morning, with very little traffic, would be the best time to read the parking signs and negotiate the spaces that I hoped to find. To my surprise, I was able to find a spot without any kind of parking restriction within a block of the shore. The shore is dotted with little towns, and each has a different set of rules. If one place meters all of their spots, then a just few blocks later there will be another town that you can park in for free and without restriction. During the week, and the weekend before the holiday, I was always able to find a spot big enough for my 24ft home. There were even many spots available for something bigger. By the end of the week I began getting bold, and found you can just stay near the beach overnight, without hassle.

New Jersey beaches make up for in complexity what their parking laws lack in rigor. Once you've found your parking space near the beach, you probably can't go onto it. All those little towns provide life guards and cleanup facilities and pay for it by charging a $7 or $8 entry fee. Get on the beach before they 'open' at 8am, and someone will come wake you to find out whether you have a beach badge. If you happen to be on a surfboard at the time, they might just miss you... But say you're caught, you want to get on or stay on the beach and need a beach badge. Somewhere within a few blocks will be a small house - universally run down, painted white, and manned by a pleasant old lady who feels your pain at how simply annoying the entire process is, but just can't do anything about it while she takes your money. Buy your badge there. It is likely to be several blocks away.

The beaches are beautiful.

Motorhomes are the new yellow VW Bug

Drive a yellow Volkswagon Bug around, one of the friendliest looking cars made today, and people will assume that you are also a friendly person. They will wave as you pass and strangers will strike up conversations in parking lots. So too does a motorhome have a similar effect when on the Jersey shore. Everyone is on vacation, so everyone is friendly, but even the locals warmed up once they found out that the motorhome sitting on the street was mine.

On the 4th of July weekend, my friends, Daniel and Kristin, came to stay with me. We wanted to grill, and asked the owner of a boat store if he knew of a nearby place where it's allowed. He said we were welcome to his parking lot, under the tent, and that if we could use a 15 Amp power hookup, we were welcome to it. He came back a few hours later to see how we were doing, and opened his store to give us local guide books. Another local, a restaurant owner, gave us detailed parking advice. Still a third kept me company while I fixed an electrical problem.

Can I really stay there?

Daily and overnight parking is easy. Here is where Daniel, Kristin and I stayed, three blocks from the water, in the middle of a holiday weekend, while all around us motel rooms cost over $600 for the same experience:

Not pictured are the two swans that swam in front of our windows each morning. Parking is a major concern when you drive something over 8ft wide and 24ft long, and the Jersey Shore takes those worries away.

 

 

Imagine, if you will, a cowboy. A bull shattered his ankle 30 years ago, and our cowboy can tell you all about it. In fact, he won't stop talking; he'd rather comment on how much he talks than let the silence go unbroken. His stories are happy, though he spent much of the last 5 years living in a 24ft motorhome with a dog. One can only assume it was his dog, and his motorhome. He smokes a pack a day, and the interior fabric of this wheeled domicile has a distinctly brown tinge to it. Through the magic of a new legal instrument, called "selling", he's passed ownership to a new owner, and the new owner is unhappy with the interior. We're about to fix that. I'm your host, and this is... Pimp My Ride: Motorhome Edition.

Day 2: Interior, 2003 Winnebago Minnie

Host: Noah, I see you've already taken all of the furniture out of your Winnebago. Can you tell us a little about this process for anyone else who might need to do so?

Noah: Sure, Bob. There were two seats and a couch in here yesterday. It turns out that Motorhome dinette sets are simply a few pieces of wood held together, and in place, with a large number of screws. Just examine the chairs for screws and start taking them out. Eventually the seats will come apart into several flat sections, and a large number of screws. I recommend using a good drill to make the process pass quickly. Or you can do what I did, and laborously hand-remove each one.

I can't overstate how many screws you're going to remove and keep organized. Follow the advice of my helper, Christine, and use painters masking tape to attach the screws to the piece they came out of.

The couch was pretty easy in comparison. It's a hide-a-bed, so we partially collapsed it and could see right through the middle to the 12 bolts that attach it tightly to the motorhome sub-floor. We'll probably have the existing floor out by tomorrow, and the new one installed a couple of days later.

Day 3: Exterior, Lowe's

Host: What condition is the motorhome in now?

Noah: Well, Bob, it's easy to rip all of the carpet and linoleum tile up - you just get a utility knife, cut anywhere and pull - but my carpet was held down by hundreds of staples that need to be removed in order to make sure the floor is level, so we're running about a day behind. The linoleum hid its own secrets, too. There were slashes in the it that make no sense. I could see them occuring if the installer were lazy - the door jambs are tricky to get around - but that can't be it, so the working hypothesis is knife fight.

Host: You think the previous owner was a violent person?

Noah: Oh yes, check out this random hole:

Noah: Bullet.

Host: ...

Host: Let's move on. I see you have a cart full of flooring. What did you choose?

Noah: This is Pergo Laminate Flooring. It comes in long 'tiles' that you place end to end and row after row. Each tile has an edge that clicks together with all of the adjacent tiles and effectively turns the whole floor into one big piece. I won't go into detail, because other people have exhausted the topic. The particular type of Pergo I have here comes with a foam layer attached to the back to provide both water and sound insulation. You may not even need to put anything down under the laminate if you buy this type. It is also extremely tough. I've dropped several tools on it already without a mark of any kind. It should be able to handle beach sand without a scratch.

Day 4: Exterior, 2003 Winnebago Minnie

Host : Noah, I see you're cutting some flooring in half. Does that mean you're almost done?

Noah: Well, Bob, my motorhome is less than two planks of this flooring wide, and every part of the wall is different. There are stairs, wheel wells, angled walls, electrical wiring, screws and other attaching fixtures, the toilet, door jambs, and several vertical places. Nearly every piece that goes in needs to be custom shaped. I rented a laminate cutter - it looks like a giant paper cutter - but have barely used it. Most of my work is done with a jig saw, but if any of our viewers are planning a similar project, I'd recommend they skip the laminate cutter and go straight for a table saw. You'll also need a mitre saw, but that's later, for the moulding. Now, I'm kind of busy, so please let me get back to work.

Day 5: Interior, 2003 Winnebago Minnie

Host: Looks like you're not going to make your target, do you have a new estimate?

Noah: Probably a day or two more work...

Day 7: Interior, 2003 Winnebago Minnie

Noah: Please go away.

Day 8:

Host: ...

Day 9:

Host: ...

Day 13:

Host: ..

Day 15:

Host: .

Day 17:

Host: Hey Noah, this post stopped being funny. Any words before the big reveal?

Noah: Of course, Bob. I'd like to tell our viewers that the floor turned out great and was worth all of the effort. I'm also pleased that the first post on my blog isn't titled, 'How to Keep Your Motorhome Regular.'

 Now, the end result:

And, gratuitously, sunrise this morning:

Host: I hope you've all enjoyed this episode of Pimp My Ride: Motorhome Edition!