So this past sunday night i was doing what probably many in the rv community do on sunday
evenings and that is watching some of my favorite shows on youtube and hopefully our channel is one
of your favorites as we do release a new video each week on sunday evening and probably like
many of you one of the channels that we love to watch is keep your daydream and i'm sure
you have probably found out if you've been in the rv community for any length of time that
mark and trish leach from kyd are very inspiring and we have been watching them for years however
this past sunday night i feel like my respect for them went to a whole new level is they shared
some things about what i'm going to call rv trends and just a quick note as we start to jump in this
video is sponsored by unique camping and marine and i'll share more about them later in the video
so in short kyd was sharing something that makes them nervous and quite frankly the
same thing not only makes us nervous but it makes us downright afraid for some people
and we'll talk about what that was in just a few minutes first i want to say one thing we
learned early on from kyd was the philosophy of start small start now just let that sink in for
a minute because whether it's the weekend warrior style of rving camping or travel the idea is to
start where you can without necessarily having to just jump all in now this idea that you can
start living the rv lifestyle on a smaller scale to start kind of goes against the whole instagram
and youtube trends of sell it all and move into an rv full time i mean just open up any of the
popular social networking apps and you're going to see dozens of posts and videos about family
sells it all and hits the road with no plan b in fact i ran across a trending sound on instagram
a few weeks ago insinuating that investing in memories and not investing in a 401k was
the better option now don't get me wrong one of our core values is experiences over
things and we value making memories but we don't want those memories to be the ones that could land
our kids on a therapist couch someday we want to model what responsible adulting looks like for our
kids and when it comes to finances we do practice and teach our kids about the three things that we
do with money and that is spend save and give back to what mark and trish said in their video
this week that makes them nervous i do think it's important not to get too swept up into the youtube
titles and the instagram titles and the articles that say you know family sells everything to go
hit the road implying like they sold everything and they're living on their savings yes um
selling appreciating assets to buy depreciating assets and not having a plan b is something that
always makes us nervous when people write into us so did you hear that it's when people sell it all
go full time living off of savings from a house sale with no plan b now this idea might be trendy
but like many other trends this trend lacks some basic wisdom in trading and appreciating asset
home for a depreciating asset in rv we have seen many in the RV community start to talk
about some regrets they've had when it comes to doing just this if you scroll through instagram
or youtube you're going to see plenty of stories with the titles of family sells it all to go full
time but what happens when that family is ready to come off the road for a season and if you've
been around the full-time travel community for more than a few years let me tell you something
we've seen personally in the last five years and that is the majority of families that choose a
full-time travel lifestyle end up doing so for a season a great example of this is our friends john
and kristen over at no ordinary path and kristen has shared about the struggles that they faced
after selling it all to go full time when it was time to come off the road for a season when i
asked kristen her thoughts on this she shared and i do quote if we could go back though i would make
every effort to keep our house we found we longed for a true home base to return to when traveling
got to be too much for a season we finally bought a home in phoenix this year four years into full
timing but it was very difficult and we dumped literally tens of thousands into furnishing and
stocking it we are now truly successfully renting it while we're away being able to return when we
need a break and still get to enjoy the travel lifestyle we wish we would have done this from
the start while rv life is fun and amazing the rv experience is enhanced and stays even more fun and
amazing when you can take a break every once in a while even kyd shared this very thing in their
video on sunday having a home base regardless of if it's a long-term rental or short-term rental
has somewhat improved our life on the road it's just kind of nice to know that you do have a place
to go back to even if maybe it's being rented in your mind you have an option and that and
that does provide some level of peace of mind when you're on the road this is the exact same approach
we have taken to rving in 2020 we were full-time for most of the year and we decided we wanted to
have a place to take a break when we wanted to regroup be able to clean out the rv just all
of those things so we sold our home in colorado traveled for a while and then purchased a home
in florida that we use as a vacation rental when we're traveling having a home base has enhanced
our rv experience and made it much more enjoyable as we now get to rv and we never feel like we have
to rv one thing we have learned is the wise saying that there is safety and a multitude of counselors
and something we do when we're faced with large life decisions is we always like to talk to
several of our mentors and we ask them about their thoughts regarding the decision we're considering
we've learned that others around us can sometimes see those blind spots that we would have missed
otherwise and save us from making a potential large mistake we always suggest this when
considering a large life decision such as selling your house buying an rv and choosing to live this
lifestyle seek counsel from those that are around you that you know that are older and wiser and
chances are people in your life can help you look at things from all angles and maybe even help you
to have that plan b to fall back on in true kyd fashion mark and trish shared some great wisdom
when they mention something that they love to hear in regards to making a decision when people
are choosing the full-time rv lifestyle one of the things we love hearing is that someone sold their
house that served a wonderful purpose when they were raising their family yes and they have taken
some equity out and they have purchased a smaller home maybe correct size for them so that they
are more flexible to hit the road and then they long-term rent out that home if they live in an
area that's not a vacation rental they long-term rent that smaller home while they hit the road and
then they know they've got this place to come back to so what's the best option for you we hope this
video provides just some food for thought as you consider and decide for yourself for your family
and your situation what the rv life will look like for you one question to consider in decision
making as it relates to the rv lifestyle is what will bring not only inner peace but financial
peace for you in the long run i love this quote from benjamin franklin by failing to prepare you
are preparing to fail I do want to thank unique camping and marine for their continued support of
this channel and since we have started using the unique toilet cleaner and drop-in pods we have no
more smells in our waste tanks including our black tank a question we're asked often is how to keep
those dreaded black tank smells away and we're so happy to recommend unique because it actually
works we found other tank treatments we were using would actually kill bacteria or just mask smells
and the unique products are different because they don't kill the bacteria and it's important to have
a healthy colony of bacteria because that's actually what helps in keeping the smells away
not to mention keeping black and gray tanks clean we have partnered with unique for a 15 off
discount for our viewers on their complete lineup of products at the link below so you'll have to
let us know in the comments below your thoughts on this topic and where you find yourself today
in the rv journey we love hearing from you but one of the things we have seen over and over is how
great the rv community you guys are with sharing ideas with each other in the comments section of
our videos if we don't see you out on the road or at the campground we'll see you in the next video