So with so many different types of RVs out there how do you really know which
one is the best one for you your family your particular travel situation in this
video we're going to talk about four things that you absolutely 100 percent must do
before jumping into RV ownership so you're going to want to stay tuned for this time
security and if you're new to the channel here myself my husband Ben our two kids our two cats
and our dog we've been traveling at the us in our RV for five years now and we have learned
a ton along the way so we developed this channel to talk to you about all of the tips the tricks
the hacks the fails the good food the places that we've been so if that sounds like something that
you're interested in and make sure that you hit that subscribe button so that you can get
notified every week when we drop a new video so with all of the RV choices out there how
do you really know maybe what is the best one and there's some things that you need to do before you
buy your first RV we're going to talk about that in this video but before we get started we want
to talk just a little bit about the different types of RVs that are out there RVs can really
be broken down into one of two categories the first category being drivable RVs meaning that
that particular RV has a motor and you drive it and then towable RVs that's where you have travel
trailers fifth wheels teardrop campers things like that that you would tow behind a vehicle
lots of pros and cons to both types of RVs and this is where we're going to talk about some
things to do to know which one is the best fit but just some of the overview pros and cons that we
have found is with our class a Motorhome is that while it's nice for those travel days we're able
to actually tow a smaller vehicle which makes zipping around town and exploring a little bit
easier than having to maneuver a large truck you also don't get the same space or maybe the same
homey feeling that you would get from a towable because you've got your driver's cockpit right
there all the time so one thing to consider there with a towable usually you get a little bit more
space things can feel a little bit more homey and one advantage that we have learned with a
towable over a drivable is unlike our drivable that on travel days just tends to get a little
bit chaos attic it feels like that there can be a lot of kid trash or food crumbs or things like
that with the towable because you're not actually traveling in it well when you set up at a campsite
it can kind of just feel a little bit more like you left it when you packed up the last time
pros and cons you're going to have to ask yourself some of these questions that we're going to talk
about so let's jump in with the first thing you absolutely must do before you buy an RV
thank you so the first thing that you need to do before you buy an RV is ask yourself this
question do you see yourself going full time or do you see yourself going on extended time
basis so this means that you're either going to be living in the RV full-time or maybe you're
going to be living in the RV for months at a time are you going to be more of a weekend
warrior where maybe your job situation isn't such that you can work remotely and so you're going to
be taking it out more for just the weekends or maybe a week or two on vacation here and there
this particular question is going to be key in choosing the right RV with the things that you
need full-time living or extended time living is much different than the weekend warrior as
far as what type of RV that you need so make that determination up front before you buy
the second thing you need to do before you buy an RV is ask yourself what kind of camping style
are you wanting or are you looking for this is going to factor greatly into making sure that
you purchase the right type of RV for the camping style that you want are you going to want to be
off-grid boondocking kind of out in the middle of nowhere where there's limited resources or is
it more a style where you want to be able to use your RV as that vehicle to get from destination
to destination where you'll be maybe closer into civilization and utilizing campgrounds so this is
going to factor greatly in the type of RV that you purchase to make sure that you purchase the right
fit for your camping style the last thing you want to do is buy the big fancy Class A Diesel Pusher
and then try to take that off-road and get stuck in the sand somewhere out in the middle of Arizona
so asking yourself that question making that determination up front will help you greatly and
not making a mistake regardless of what type of RV you choose to purchase you will find something
that pretty much every RV has in common and that is the mattresses that they put into RVs from the
factory are not very comfortable in fact the most common upgrade people make right after purchasing
an RV is a new mattress and the mattress that we chose to replace the Factory Mattress in our RV
with is a mattress from rvmattress.com by Brooklyn Bedding their mattresses are made right here in
the US and shipped conveniently to you for free we went with the Aurora Lux hybrid mattress and
it has been great having a mattress that feels like a real bed and not like an RV bed and since
they offer different firmness options Heights Dimensions rvmattress.com is a great resource
for betting needs for RVs Vans campers and even home as well we were sleeping so well in our RV
that we got another RV mattress for our bed at our glamper Hideaway as well their mattresses
come in three different firmness options and have a 120 sleep night guarantee and speaking of this
guarantee when we went to order our mattress we thought after looking at the website we
would want the Aurora Luxe hybrid mattress in a medium firmness so that is what we had sent
to us however after sleeping on it we did feel it was a little too soft for our liking so they sent
us a firm one and it has been perfect since the process to have our mattress shipped to us and
then get it in the RV was super simple their mattresses come rolled up in a box wrapped in
plastic so when the mattress arrived we hoisted it in the RV now they are heavy when they come
it's a two-person job unwrap the plastic and it poofed right up all of their mattresses
come with a 10 year warranty so we are set for a very long time one of the things we really want
to do is be a resource for the RV community and so we take time to share about products that we
love and use ourselves so we've partnered with RV mattress.com for 20 off for our viewers so
if you're looking for a mattress check out RV mattress dot com you can click the link below
or go to rvmattress.com forward slash grateful and get 20 off of your purchase with the code grateful
so the third thing that you want to do before you buy an RV is ask yourself how much space do
you really need are you a family with kids and you're going to be in the RV is it just you are
you going to want to bring the grandkids along one of the things that we're kind of considering
with RV life right now and our kids and the ages that they are coming into the teen years A lot of
times they want to bring friends along so we want to make sure that we've got ample space
ample sleeping space the other thing with interior space is you will never ever tell yourself oh my
gosh there's too much space in this RV you can never have too much space but things can start
to feel cramped rather quickly especially if you have one of those rainy days and you find yourself
inside your RV at the campground it can start to feel a little cramped so consider the space
that you need how many people that you're going to be traveling with and again your
ultimate destination if you see the campground is your destination where you're going to be
hanging out out and enjoying the things to do at the campground well you're probably going to
be in your RV more than you're going to maybe be outside of the RV if your ultimate destination is
boondocking where you're going to be outside more than maybe what you might be inside ask
yourself how much space do you really need and you'll avoid a costly buying mistake
so thing number four that you absolutely must do before you buy an RV is put yourself in a solid
financial position RVs are not cheap to begin with even if you purchased used versus new and let us
tell you from experience things are going to go wrong and things are going to break and you're
actually going to want a emergency savings not just for the rainy days that can happen in life
but actually for the RV itself things like tires that can need replacing from time to time and will
need replacing from time to time little things that will come up on the road every time that you
take an RV down the road whether it be a drivable or a towable things get shaken up literally the RV
flexes and twists on the road and this just means that things are going to wear out and things are
going to go wrong more often than in a Sticks and Bricks type of house environment so having some
sort of emergency savings to be able to make those repairs as they come up because they will come up
we'll make rving feel a lot less stressful than if you're in a financial spot where things are tight
and you don't have the resources to be able to make those repairs when needed one kind of bonus
thing that we would always recommend is with the RV share platforms that are out there before you
jump into RV ownership consider renting one take a look at what RV you're considering and then rent
one of those RVs check it out for the weekend or for a week make sure that you actually like
that that it's got the room that you need a lot of people find out after being in an RV for a
couple of months that they actually bought the wrong RV for what they were really wanting and
that can get pretty expensive so doing some due diligence making sure you take care of these four
things before that you jump into RV ownership can definitely keep you out of a precarious situation
and just make RV life that much more enjoyable I'm going to put a video right up here for some
really fun places that you're going to want to probably visit this summer or make your travel
plans to this summer as you travel in your RV if we don't see you out on the road or around
the campground we'll see you in the next video for the last five years by Brooklyn Bedding