Life in an RV
So what's it like to live in a 34 ft RV you may wonder. Well, its not for everyone, that's for sure. Like most people, I was pretty attached to all my stuff, especially my clothes and shoes. OK, I'm still attached to clothes and shoes! When my apartment flooded, I lost all of my furniture. Once that was gone, it was easy to look at the rest of my belonging and decide just how much of it I didn't need. I ended up giving most of it to Good Will, but some went for a yard sale next summer and the good stuff to a local consignment store. It is surprisingly freeing to only have 'stuff' you need.
My RV is big enough to be quite comfortable for one person to live in. I have tons of storage in the form of cabinets, drawers and a large storage space underneath. In fact, I have a few empty cabinets still. I have a full size closet in my bedroom so all my clothes fit. Shoes were a problem, so I hung up a shoe hanger and added a shoe rack along the wall.
The kitchen is pretty small, but since I don't cook anyway, its not a problem! There are plenty of cabinets for food, dishes, pots and pans. The hardest part is a small refrigerator and freezer. But even that is easy to get used to.
Initially I wanted to get a gently used RV, so all the bugs were worked out. But my head was turned by the great deal I got on a brand new one with tons of upgrades. So I had some tweaking to do. The biggest problem was with the heat. I am actually pretty well insulated, but I added some extra sheets of insulation up under the 3 slide outs. My mom and brother spent one night with me, that just happened to be the coldest night thus far. At some point in the early morning, the furnace went out for the first time ever. I was convinced they were blocking the vents with the fold out couch and air mattress and the furnace just got overheated. After they left, it worked just fine - until the next time it got below freezing. There are 4 heat vents, 2 in the living room and 2 upstairs in the bathroom and bedroom. I never had much air flow upstairs, but since the RV is so small, it was always warm enough. The storage compartment below the bedroom and bathroom was also very warm. There is a vent in the storage compartment meant to keep my water tanks from freezing. As it turns out, there is a design flaw with this model. The furnace was busy pumping half the heat into the storage compartment and had to work overtime to keep the inside warm enough. On really really cold nights, it just couldn't keep up and shut off to avoid over heating. I called Forest River and they told me to close off most of the vent into the storage compartment. I now have heat in my bedroom and bathroom and it hasn't shut off again.
Traveling with me is my 16 year old little toy poodle mix named Brutus Beefcake. He doesn't take up much room at all, since he insists on sitting in my lap the whole time I'm home. I also have Sammie the black cat. She is loving all the windows, her favorite place is on the back of the couch keeping an eye on the birds and squirrels using the bird feeder. Last but not least are my two cockatiels.
I have added some pictures so you can see for yourself where I live.
My RV is big enough to be quite comfortable for one person to live in. I have tons of storage in the form of cabinets, drawers and a large storage space underneath. In fact, I have a few empty cabinets still. I have a full size closet in my bedroom so all my clothes fit. Shoes were a problem, so I hung up a shoe hanger and added a shoe rack along the wall.
The kitchen is pretty small, but since I don't cook anyway, its not a problem! There are plenty of cabinets for food, dishes, pots and pans. The hardest part is a small refrigerator and freezer. But even that is easy to get used to.
Initially I wanted to get a gently used RV, so all the bugs were worked out. But my head was turned by the great deal I got on a brand new one with tons of upgrades. So I had some tweaking to do. The biggest problem was with the heat. I am actually pretty well insulated, but I added some extra sheets of insulation up under the 3 slide outs. My mom and brother spent one night with me, that just happened to be the coldest night thus far. At some point in the early morning, the furnace went out for the first time ever. I was convinced they were blocking the vents with the fold out couch and air mattress and the furnace just got overheated. After they left, it worked just fine - until the next time it got below freezing. There are 4 heat vents, 2 in the living room and 2 upstairs in the bathroom and bedroom. I never had much air flow upstairs, but since the RV is so small, it was always warm enough. The storage compartment below the bedroom and bathroom was also very warm. There is a vent in the storage compartment meant to keep my water tanks from freezing. As it turns out, there is a design flaw with this model. The furnace was busy pumping half the heat into the storage compartment and had to work overtime to keep the inside warm enough. On really really cold nights, it just couldn't keep up and shut off to avoid over heating. I called Forest River and they told me to close off most of the vent into the storage compartment. I now have heat in my bedroom and bathroom and it hasn't shut off again.
Traveling with me is my 16 year old little toy poodle mix named Brutus Beefcake. He doesn't take up much room at all, since he insists on sitting in my lap the whole time I'm home. I also have Sammie the black cat. She is loving all the windows, her favorite place is on the back of the couch keeping an eye on the birds and squirrels using the bird feeder. Last but not least are my two cockatiels.
I have added some pictures so you can see for yourself where I live.
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