15 Pros & Cons of RV Living: What I Learned in the First 6 Months

Pro - no clock watching

The first thing is you don't have to be a slave to the clock. I found out I am such a clock slave, and I still struggle with it. I wake up in the morning and think I need to figure out if I had enough sleep. 

Pro - no schedule 

We don't live according to a schedule. We get up when we've had enough sleep. We eat breakfast sometimes at noon and we end up having a later lunch and a later dinner. We keep a different schedule than most people. It works out great for us, and I love it. 

Pro - no rushing

Another pro is that you don't have to be in a rush. There's no stress unless I stress myself, and I do that sometimes. I'm guilty of that, but you don't have to be in a rush to do anything. It is a great lifestyle to slow down and enjoy every part of it. 

Con - dry camping short showers

One thing I was afraid of before I started RVing was dry camping. It means you don't have full hookups of water and electricity. 

One thing I don't like about dry camping is the short showers. When you're dry camping, you don't have a water hookup, so you have to take really quick showers. It's not my favorite, but it's one of the few cons looking at the big picture. 

Pro - simplifying

One thing I like is simplifying. You don't need as much as you think. When you simplify, it just gives you more freedom. You have less stuff to take care of, less stuff to clean, and less stuff to worry about. I love it. 

Pro - saving money

One really good thing about simplifying and living smaller and in a smaller space is when you go shopping. You end up saving money. After all, you don't spend as much money because you don't have anywhere to put things. So I think long and hard before I buy anything. 

Pro - going with the flow

One thing Tom and I like to do is just go with the flow. A lot of times people will say, where are you going next? Or where are you going this year? 

We're like, we don't know. We have a general idea of what we want to do, but we tend to just go with the flow and we plan our next move when it's time to make that move. 

Pro - unexpected adventures

Another aspect of that is when we're on the road, when we take off in the RV and we have a destination, it could take three days to get there, and we don't plan where we're going to stay any of that time in between. 

We always just try to plan about an hour before we know we're going to stop and figure out what's there, and we'll stay there. We've stopped at some pretty amazing places along the way on our journey and have explored some awesome little towns and communities. 

Pro - learning to be adaptable 

Another thing I learned is that I'm more adaptable than I thought. I thought, oh, how am I going to live in such a small space? It's worked out beautifully. One thing, we don't have a dishwasher. I've always had a dishwasher, so I adapted to that. I don't have a regular oven, so I've had to learn to use a convection oven, and I've pretty much mastered it. You're more adaptable than you think. 

Pro - clotheslines

I've learned that I like using clotheslines. I know that sounds kind of strange, but I've never used one before when we were camping somewhere without full hookups. We had the option to use the dryer that time, but I ended up hanging my clothes on the clothesline, and I prefer that. 

Pro - friendly neighbors 

I love our neighbors. Wherever we go, we have the friendliest neighbors. People who RV are so laid back and so friendly, and it just really makes for a nice environment. 

Pro - getting good at organizing

Another thing about RV life is you have to be pretty good at organizing. We have very little cabinet space, so you want to utilize all your space as much as possible. In the closet, everything is just on a smaller scale. So you have to get good at organizing. 

Pro - comfortable clothing

Another thing that I learned is I don't need a business suit. I work from home and I can wear pajamas all day if I want to. I sometimes end up staying in my workout clothes while I work. We don't have to be in a rush to get dressed and there's freedom to that. 

Cons - unstable foundation 

One of the cons about RV life is that it's not on a real stable foundation and tends to have some movement. I always joke around Tom because it seems like as soon as I start putting on mascara, he starts walking around and I can feel the movement. The RV does move a little bit and it's just part of it. 

Pro - yoga

The last thing finally, is a pro. I have room to do my yoga in this small space, and that makes me happy. 

Pros and cons of RV living

So that's my list of pros and cons of living in an RV so far in the first six months. Maybe I'll learn a few other things in the next six months and I'll do another video. What are your pros and cons if you live in an RV full time? Share your experiences in the comments.