Speaker 1: Episode seventy eight, Save money by living in an RV.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 1: save money, embrace simplicity, rights, and live with your life.
Speaker 1: Here your host Jen and Jill do Do. Hello. Hello,
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen,
Speaker 1: my name is Jill, and I am just a guest
Speaker 1: on today's show because this is really the Jill Show.
Speaker 1: Today we're talking r V living to save money, uh
Speaker 1: and to for a minimalist lifestyle. Yeah, thank you, Jen,
Speaker 1: But also, why did it take so long? I had
Speaker 1: to be sure you were really in this for the
Speaker 1: long haul because I didn't want you to get a
Speaker 1: big head like at first. Right. Yeah, no, that's a
Speaker 1: good thought. Yeah yeah, I'm really excited about this. I
Speaker 1: finally feel validated that I get to talk about my lifestyle.
Speaker 1: But let's be clear, it did take a year and
Speaker 1: a half. I see you, I hear you, and I'm
Speaker 1: apologizing to you. But let's not dwell in the past.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about Okay, present sponsors, so we can get
Speaker 1: into this. Let's not waste any more time getting into this.
Speaker 1: Also brought to you by Genie in a Bottle not
Speaker 1: the Christina Aguilar version, but the Alatin version, reminding us
Speaker 1: of phenomenal cosmic powers. Eighty pitty living space, You too
Speaker 1: can experience all the financial cosmic power of small spaces
Speaker 1: while living every pitty genie in a bottle, don't have one,
Speaker 1: b one. I had to go far away from the mic.
Speaker 1: When you said that, I saw that you were prepared
Speaker 1: for that. Clearly you didn't. You didn't read my notes
Speaker 1: before we started. I didn't read it. I tried to
Speaker 1: go in with as little information as possible to these things,
Speaker 1: and I'm always pleased when I do that. Oh man,
Speaker 1: it's fun for us. At least I don't think about
Speaker 1: it too much. But I kind of thought about that,
Speaker 1: like space. I am so excited to talk about your
Speaker 1: adi bitty living space. I met you when you were
Speaker 1: living in your first motor home that you renovated, and
Speaker 1: literally I didn't know what to expect when you were like,
Speaker 1: we live in a motor home, and I was like, okay,
Speaker 1: and then why are we hanging out? Right? You invited
Speaker 1: us into it and I walked in and my mind
Speaker 1: was alone. It was gorgeous and so cute, so perfect,
Speaker 1: And then you did it again you I've seen the
Speaker 1: pictures of this one, I have not been in it,
Speaker 1: but it is just as beautiful and I am so
Speaker 1: excited for you to share your wisdom on it so
Speaker 1: that people know all of the things that are available
Speaker 1: to them if they choose to live in an r V.
Speaker 1: Thanks Jen such kind words. So yes, we have lived
Speaker 1: in an r V. Both of them are r vs,
Speaker 1: but a motor home first, which was thirty six ft
Speaker 1: and did some other non traditional living which you've heard
Speaker 1: me talk about in other episodes. And now we are
Speaker 1: in a camper trailer, so this is the kind of
Speaker 1: you have to hook up to a vehicle and pull
Speaker 1: it around. So I'm excited to share what I've learned
Speaker 1: through this and if other people are interested in some
Speaker 1: version of tiny living or specifically r V living, this
Speaker 1: is the one for you, even if it isn't though,
Speaker 1: I'm really hoping that we can make some of these
Speaker 1: tips uh feasible for those who are living in more
Speaker 1: traditional setups that might help you to just live more
Speaker 1: intentionally and still get at some financial goals regardless of
Speaker 1: the space that you live in. So hopefully this is
Speaker 1: one for everybody, but definitely really for you that are
Speaker 1: thinking about doing this. So we will still go through
Speaker 1: our articles, but then I'll also give some feedback from
Speaker 1: my experience. So the first article comes from accel addict
Speaker 1: talking about can you save money living in an RV?
Speaker 1: And I really do love Their answer is it depends.
Speaker 1: So at first glance you would assume, of course you'd
Speaker 1: save money, but there there are ways to spend a
Speaker 1: lot of money in r V living, just depending on
Speaker 1: what kind of our V you buy. You can buy
Speaker 1: a motor home for a million dollars, so it's possible
Speaker 1: that you could spend a lot of money. And even
Speaker 1: if you're not going crazy with it, you could spend
Speaker 1: a hundred hundred fifty hours on an RV, so that
Speaker 1: that definitely depends. But there's some other nitty gritty things
Speaker 1: that we can go through. This one. It begins by
Speaker 1: talking about if you're considering doing this, if it's something
Speaker 1: that you're wondering, hey, could I do this? There are
Speaker 1: some simple ways to begin, and so one thing that
Speaker 1: they tell you to do is to set up a
Speaker 1: cost comparison, and you can do this by first making
Speaker 1: a list of every expense that you currently have and
Speaker 1: then going back through making another list of what expenses
Speaker 1: you anticipate will remain in living in a tiny home
Speaker 1: or an RV or a camper, and then obviously subtracting
Speaker 1: and looking at what's what's left over. Will you actually
Speaker 1: save from what you were spending to what you think
Speaker 1: you will be spending and will it actually save you money?
Speaker 1: So that's a great place to start, is just looking
Speaker 1: at the finances. Yeah, I was surprised about the camping fees.
Speaker 1: There are different prices, like per area you're in, Like
Speaker 1: the area we're in is pretty expensive, so not really
Speaker 1: conducive to full time r ving. But there are other
Speaker 1: places where you can stay for completely for free, and
Speaker 1: they change depending on how often you move right, Yes,
Speaker 1: so another thing to consider and they make some good
Speaker 1: points in this article is where you park. So a
Speaker 1: lot of r V parks will charge you either a nightly, weekly,
Speaker 1: or sometimes monthly rate, and usually you get your best
Speaker 1: deal at a monthly rate, but it still can be
Speaker 1: quite a lot. This of course depends on the area,
Speaker 1: but I know in our area you can spend as
Speaker 1: much as eight hundred to a thousand dollars a month
Speaker 1: just to park at an RV park. And and that's
Speaker 1: not even including sometimes utilities or whatever you might be
Speaker 1: paying on your actual home if you have gotten a
Speaker 1: loan out for it or whatever the case is. So
Speaker 1: in that case, it may not be cost effective if
Speaker 1: you're gonna park in a trailer park or an RV
Speaker 1: park that's charging that amount versus what you might be
Speaker 1: able to rent an apartment for a condo for. So
Speaker 1: that also is something to be looking into, is where
Speaker 1: can you park and how much are those fees going
Speaker 1: to be? So some other important considerations. Again, if this
Speaker 1: is something that you're considering, another thing to ask yourself
Speaker 1: is the type of RV. So there's all sorts of options.
Speaker 1: There are the tiny homes, right, which is what you
Speaker 1: see on h G TV with the beautiful siding. They
Speaker 1: literally look like small homes that have been built onto trailers.
Speaker 1: They are mobile, but they're not something that you're going
Speaker 1: to be constantly carting around down the road. The idea
Speaker 1: is to move it to a location and basically have
Speaker 1: it stay there. Uh, then you've got your motor homes,
Speaker 1: which is the vehicle and the home combined and all
Speaker 1: different sizes Class A, class B, class C. Then that
Speaker 1: just kind of talks about what size it is. Then
Speaker 1: you've got your trailers or your campers. That would be
Speaker 1: a pull behind, that could be a fifth wheel which
Speaker 1: kind of comes up over the cab of the truck,
Speaker 1: or more of a camper that is just like on
Speaker 1: the hitch and it doesn't come up over all different sizes,
Speaker 1: And then you've even got your mobile homes, your park models,
Speaker 1: and you can do all this research. Those are all
Speaker 1: kind of the different types at a glance, but all
Speaker 1: of them are different sizes, require different types of vehicle
Speaker 1: or no vehicle at all, So there's all different types
Speaker 1: of points of entry here. But another thing to consider
Speaker 1: is what size would I want? What kind of vehicle
Speaker 1: would I would I want to have with it? And
Speaker 1: this article links to another article that can help you
Speaker 1: kind of figure out what type would be best for you,
Speaker 1: So if you free to check that out. Another important
Speaker 1: consideration that I agree with is knowing how to repair
Speaker 1: and maintain. And this also depends on whether or not
Speaker 1: you're trying to do this to save money or if
Speaker 1: you're trying to do this just for adventure. But if
Speaker 1: you're doing this to try to save money, and be
Speaker 1: important to know how to do these things to make
Speaker 1: it as economical as possible. I would say that is
Speaker 1: one of the biggest things for us. I'm not sure
Speaker 1: that I would be able to do living in an
Speaker 1: RV or a camper without Eric. He does a lot
Speaker 1: of the repairs, He's got a lot of the know how,
Speaker 1: not that I couldn't learn, but I just don't know
Speaker 1: that it'd be worth it for me. Uh So that's
Speaker 1: something to consider that it's not your typical apartment. There
Speaker 1: are things that you have to be doing and paying
Speaker 1: attention to that are different from home ownership or living
Speaker 1: in an apartment with a landlord, and we'll get into that.
Speaker 1: Of course, you cannot have a conversation about living in
Speaker 1: an RV without talking about septic I will give you
Speaker 1: a warning if you are sensitive to those kinds of conversations.
Speaker 1: But that's part of this And if that's something that
Speaker 1: you don't want to be a part of your regular conversation,
Speaker 1: then then this is definitely not for you. If you
Speaker 1: can't marry rich Mary capable and exactly make Eric take
Speaker 1: out the step, don't let him handle that affordable parking.
Speaker 1: We've already talked about that. So they definitely have some
Speaker 1: great considerations. They also talk about safe driving habits. I mean, okay,
Speaker 1: who wants to get a speeding ticket at their house?
Speaker 1: That's true, Yes, that's kind of a no brainer. And
Speaker 1: then they also list which I don't know how important
Speaker 1: this is, but putting your RV close to shopping and
Speaker 1: other services that are convenient. I don't know. That's sure,
Speaker 1: but doesn't really matter to me. You can drive, You
Speaker 1: could drive to what you want or get it online. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you had a little vespa that you took around when
Speaker 1: you had the motor home, which is the one that
Speaker 1: you drive. But now it's much easier. You have the
Speaker 1: trailer that you can just unhitch from the car and
Speaker 1: and go just normally. Yeah, exactly. It was fun when
Speaker 1: we had our motor home. Rather than tell a car,
Speaker 1: we just put a little scooter on the back on
Speaker 1: on the hitch, and so we went from driving the
Speaker 1: biggest thing on the road driving the smallest thing on
Speaker 1: the road, which was fun and allowed us to get
Speaker 1: around that way. But yeah, now we just have normal
Speaker 1: vehicles and our home is parked. We don't we don't
Speaker 1: drive it around places. That's a common question that we
Speaker 1: get is, so where are all the places you're going
Speaker 1: to go. And we literally are doing this to save money.
Speaker 1: That's the first goal. It's it's not to travel a lot.
Speaker 1: So I know a lot of people will buy campers
Speaker 1: or motor homes to travel. That's the goal, and that's
Speaker 1: perfectly fine, and and I would say a great idea,
Speaker 1: but for us, it primarily stays parked. But it's nice
Speaker 1: to know we can take it wherever we want. Yeah,
Speaker 1: like you can take it to Florida in the winter exactly.
Speaker 1: I'm really looking forward to that. Actually I am as well. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's nice to know that I can change the view
Speaker 1: outside of my window. If I don't like it, I'll
Speaker 1: just go find another one. And then another good thing
Speaker 1: that they point out in this article. There's plenty other
Speaker 1: things that they point out, so feel free to check
Speaker 1: it out in our show notes. But limited possessions equals
Speaker 1: lower expenses. So I will say, regardless of your point
Speaker 1: of entry into our v living, whether you get a
Speaker 1: big one or a small one, it is going to
Speaker 1: limit the amount of possessions that you have. And so
Speaker 1: that's something that I have found. I know that in
Speaker 1: previous episodes, I've talked about how I love to go
Speaker 1: thrift store shopping or hit up yard sales, and that
Speaker 1: has shifted in tiny living. I don't go really ever
Speaker 1: or as often as I used to, because I don't
Speaker 1: have space for anything else. I feel as though I've
Speaker 1: gotten I've collected the things that I need to live
Speaker 1: well in my tiny space, and beyond that, there isn't
Speaker 1: room to collect more unless I get rid of something.
Speaker 1: So there have been times where I think something might
Speaker 1: be a bit more functional for me, I'm gonna purchase
Speaker 1: that thing and then get rid of something else. But
Speaker 1: otherwise it has really trained me in contentment and not
Speaker 1: purchasing new things. That, of course is as much as
Speaker 1: you let let that happen. But there is limited space,
Speaker 1: so you can't just collect. And I'm not doing all
Speaker 1: the different decor for the different seasons, And there's a
Speaker 1: part of me that's like, oh, I wish that I
Speaker 1: could buy some mums and put some mums out for
Speaker 1: fall or pumpkins. But then I'm like, I'm glad I'm
Speaker 1: saving the money. I have a three bedroom house and
Speaker 1: I have no holiday decor, so love it. You could
Speaker 1: just be a grump and not celebrate holiday. I'm thinking
Speaker 1: for Christmas about just taking a picture of my favorite
Speaker 1: pine tree and putting it as the background on my
Speaker 1: phones and that'll be my Christmas. I saw a picture
Speaker 1: of one RV that was like do it yourself RV
Speaker 1: fireplace and it was like step one, search YouTube for fireplace,
Speaker 1: step two hit play exactly yes, and it'll train you
Speaker 1: in contentment. So those are longs to consider if this
Speaker 1: is something that you honestly would want to do, and
Speaker 1: feel free to check out that article anything else here
Speaker 1: for you. Jen that stood out I want to point
Speaker 1: out because this is not something I knew before, but
Speaker 1: you are actually on your in laws proper. That's where
Speaker 1: you park, so that's like free free you. So that's
Speaker 1: an ideal way to spend money is to have a
Speaker 1: place where you can park for free. Um ye. So,
Speaker 1: or there are some campgrounds that if you do some work,
Speaker 1: maybe like twenty hours a week, then you can get
Speaker 1: discounted or free stay there. So that's another option because
Speaker 1: parking that RV is usually is one of the biggest expenses.
Speaker 1: Buying it, renovating it, if that's what you're gonna do,
Speaker 1: and then parking it are the Biggins great point. Yes,
Speaker 1: So if you could find somebody's property to park on,
Speaker 1: that's great. If you can find an inexpensive RV park,
Speaker 1: that's great too. I know that I mentioned some parks
Speaker 1: are eight hundred to a thousand dollars a month, but
Speaker 1: you can find them between three hundred to six hundred
Speaker 1: dollars a month also, So again that just depends on
Speaker 1: the area that you're in, and they they do often
Speaker 1: provide a lot of perks, and like Jen said, sometimes
Speaker 1: you can work there and then you can park for free.
Speaker 1: So if you've got flexibility and time, that's a great option.
Speaker 1: Another thing that we did that this depends on your
Speaker 1: comfort level, but we did post on a local Facebook site,
Speaker 1: facebook group site that we were looking for a place
Speaker 1: to park. I think it was on the yard sale
Speaker 1: our local yard sales site that we were looking for
Speaker 1: a place to park. Listed out the things that we
Speaker 1: would need in order to park, which is basically a
Speaker 1: twenty amp outlet, garden hose, and accept it clean out
Speaker 1: within a hundred fifty feet. Most places will have that,
Speaker 1: most homes have that. And so we received quite a
Speaker 1: lot of feedback. There were about fifteen to twenty very
Speaker 1: viable options of of people responding to us through direct
Speaker 1: message saying hey, you could, so we did check out
Speaker 1: a few places. They are still on our list of
Speaker 1: possibility is if we ever decide to leave my in
Speaker 1: laws property, so just so you know, you can get creative. Again,
Speaker 1: depends on comfort level, but it's possible to even find
Speaker 1: somebody who's looking for an extra two to three hundred
Speaker 1: dollars a month, so it's less than what an RV
Speaker 1: park might be. But yet the people's property that you're
Speaker 1: staying on, they get a little bit of money every
Speaker 1: month for basically doing nothing, so there's options as far
Speaker 1: as parking goes. And moving on to our next article.
Speaker 1: So this one comes from Heath and Alyssa, So they
Speaker 1: motor home full time. They looks like from their blog
Speaker 1: that they travel quite often and that's kind of one
Speaker 1: of their main goals with living in an RV. But
Speaker 1: they go through twenty one questions that everyone asks them
Speaker 1: about living in an r V. We're not going to
Speaker 1: go through all twenty one, but we've picked out some
Speaker 1: of our favorites and also some of the questions that
Speaker 1: people often ask me in living in a camper, so
Speaker 1: we'll kind of go through those. The first one that
Speaker 1: I like, and I do also get asked a lot
Speaker 1: is do you ever get tired of living in a
Speaker 1: small space? And I like their answer and I agree
Speaker 1: with it. They say no, they really enjoy it, but
Speaker 1: there are luxuries that they miss. So for the for
Speaker 1: the guy Heath who is writing this article, he says
Speaker 1: that he misses baths, that he really enjoys them, doesn't
Speaker 1: care what people think about him. He misses bathtime. So
Speaker 1: for me, similarly, I think, well, the shower is great,
Speaker 1: and I think it's a great size. But I will
Speaker 1: say that when we go stay at other people's houses
Speaker 1: or when we're in a hotel room, I do notice
Speaker 1: the difference. So there are times when those experiences will
Speaker 1: highlight that, oh, this is a little bit nicer have
Speaker 1: a shower than what I have in my home. But
Speaker 1: on a day to day basis, it's not something that
Speaker 1: I'm regularly thinking about, and I'm fine with it. Eric
Speaker 1: found an amazing hot water heater, so that's worked out
Speaker 1: perfectly for us, and we'll talk about that a little
Speaker 1: bit later in the episode. But little luxuries I would
Speaker 1: say I miss, but overall, I really enjoy tiny living
Speaker 1: and if this is something this is just a side tip.
Speaker 1: If this is something that you are heavily considering but
Speaker 1: you're not quite sure if it would work for you
Speaker 1: and your family, I would encourage you to try it out.
Speaker 1: You could either airbnb a tiny home and see what
Speaker 1: tiny living is all about for a week or two,
Speaker 1: or even consider buying a trailer off of Craigslist or
Speaker 1: Facebook marketplace for two to six thousand dollars and live
Speaker 1: in that for a short time and see do I
Speaker 1: want to do this? It's a low cost investment to
Speaker 1: try it out and then maybe work your way up
Speaker 1: to something that's a little bit nicer or a little
Speaker 1: bit more expensive. You could also if you're looking for
Speaker 1: like an Airbnb type for r vs, rv share is
Speaker 1: exactly like Airbnb, but it only has all types of
Speaker 1: r vs, So you could probably negotiate like a month
Speaker 1: rate with someone and give it a try for a
Speaker 1: month and see how it works for you. Awesome, good tip.
Speaker 1: I have a question on here that I wanted to
Speaker 1: ask you. Go for it, Jen, How do you get
Speaker 1: your mail and internet, TV and phone service? That he'th
Speaker 1: answered this one in here, but I want to hear
Speaker 1: it from you. How it differs are similar, sure, so
Speaker 1: similar to what they say in this article. They get
Speaker 1: their mail to their in laws, so we do that also,
Speaker 1: but that's because we live here, so this is our
Speaker 1: home address. And if you are living at a campground
Speaker 1: or on somebody's property, you can just have your mail
Speaker 1: sent there. Especially campgrounds and r V parks, they will
Speaker 1: have a system for mail. If you are on the
Speaker 1: road a lot, you can forward your mail or get
Speaker 1: a p O box. So they list a great resource
Speaker 1: in there of escape ees. It's a RV motor home
Speaker 1: magazine and website, which is kind of funny that it's
Speaker 1: called escape Ease, but they talk about that as well,
Speaker 1: So you can also check out their article and their links,
Speaker 1: but information on how to get mail forwarded if you
Speaker 1: are going to be on the road a lot, or
Speaker 1: like I said, doing a p O box. So there's
Speaker 1: all kinds of options as far as internet goes. As
Speaker 1: they mentioned in the article, a lot of campgrounds will
Speaker 1: have WiFi. It may not always be the best, so
Speaker 1: keep that in mind. For us, Eric did a lot
Speaker 1: of research and we've got a really awesome set up.
Speaker 1: So he told me that I have to give a
Speaker 1: shout out to this guy on YouTube. His name is
Speaker 1: David Bott and he is a full time RV and
Speaker 1: I will link him in our show notes. He's got
Speaker 1: a ton of resources on the types of things that
Speaker 1: you can do in an RV, different text stuff that
Speaker 1: can help make it as feasible as possible. But through
Speaker 1: him we learned about this high power directional antenna that
Speaker 1: supposedly can pick up Internet within a five mile range.
Speaker 1: That has not been our experience, but we haven't needed
Speaker 1: it to go five miles, so we do pick up
Speaker 1: Internet off of his parents. So you do have to
Speaker 1: know the the Internet code, so it's a bit better
Speaker 1: than just a WiFi extender, and so you could do
Speaker 1: that in whatever area you're in. So if you are
Speaker 1: parking on somebody's property and able to give them a
Speaker 1: little bit of money for the Internet and get their
Speaker 1: their pass code or pick up free internet, if there
Speaker 1: is such a thing within that five mile radius of
Speaker 1: wherever you're parked. So I will link David in the
Speaker 1: show notes, but also which he'll tell you about this
Speaker 1: specif a thick high power directional antenna. And that's about
Speaker 1: as many nerd words as I'm going to use. I
Speaker 1: probably need one of those in my bedroom. Yeah, our
Speaker 1: internet is shoddy in our bedroom, so it's install antenna,
Speaker 1: so a WiFi extender would probably be all that you
Speaker 1: would need. Jen, This thing is pretty complicated, but it is.
Speaker 1: It's working like a champ, so I'm very grateful for it.
Speaker 1: That's awesome. Yeah, and as far as TV goes, I mean,
Speaker 1: we just use our internet, but usually we don't do cable.
Speaker 1: A lot of millennials don't. I would encourage everybody not
Speaker 1: to do cable anymore since there's so many other options.
Speaker 1: But you can use phone, we use our laptops. We
Speaker 1: also do have a TV that we just connect to Roku, Roku,
Speaker 1: do Amazon Prime, Netflix, all that, so I really have
Speaker 1: not missed out. I think it's very similar to what
Speaker 1: it would feel like in a home. Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 1: So then the next question that stood out to me too,
Speaker 1: which I think I hear a lot of people asking,
Speaker 1: is r V versus tiny house. I call my little
Speaker 1: camper a tiny home because it is, it's my home
Speaker 1: and it's tiny. I think it throws some people off.
Speaker 1: And then they picture HDTV, which I'm fine with that,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm trying to Yeah, exactly, looks pretty great,
Speaker 1: thank you, and I love what they say about this,
Speaker 1: and I would agree is it really depends on what
Speaker 1: you want to do with your tiny home. So if
Speaker 1: you are planning on primarily being stationary, then a tiny
Speaker 1: house is great, as in, you know, the one that
Speaker 1: actually looks like a house but it's just tiny, versus
Speaker 1: the more vehicle looking option. So if you're going to
Speaker 1: be traveling a lot, definitely go for something that's built
Speaker 1: for that, like a motor home or a camper. I
Speaker 1: will also say that tiny houses are a lot more
Speaker 1: expend if you're going to build one or buy one
Speaker 1: off of somebody, you're looking at spending at least sixty
Speaker 1: thousand dollars, if not all the way up to a
Speaker 1: hundred fifty thousand dollars, especially if you wanted to look
Speaker 1: really beautiful and like your home. Whereas r vs and
Speaker 1: motor homes campers, you can buy them used for as
Speaker 1: low as five, six, seven, eight thousand dollars. Certainly you
Speaker 1: can get higher than that, but you can get a
Speaker 1: really nice one in the thirty to fifty thousand dollar range.
Speaker 1: And then of course you can do renovations, which we
Speaker 1: did on both our motor home and our camper, which
Speaker 1: I'll also link that in the show notes. We've got
Speaker 1: a little walkthrough video on YouTube of our motor home
Speaker 1: that we lived in a few years ago, and I've
Speaker 1: just got some pictures of the current camper that we
Speaker 1: live in, so I'll put both of those in our
Speaker 1: show notes. But i will say probably the biggest benefit
Speaker 1: of a tiny home is the potential for installation value.
Speaker 1: So if you are parking in a colder climate area,
Speaker 1: tiny homes you can make more insulated like a house.
Speaker 1: Although a lot of motor homes and campers come with
Speaker 1: winter packages and have some great insulation value. So we
Speaker 1: we just chose to go this route because we felt
Speaker 1: like it's already built for being able to be on
Speaker 1: the road. They are less expensive and we can do
Speaker 1: the renovations to make it look like how we want.
Speaker 1: So on the inside it looks beautiful. On the outside
Speaker 1: it looks like a camper. If that's important to you,
Speaker 1: the aesthetic of the exterior, then of course you might
Speaker 1: go to tiny house route. Any other questions here, Jen
Speaker 1: that you, I have one. So their question that they
Speaker 1: got was what do you guys do for groceries and cooking?
Speaker 1: Mine is similar but like do you meal plan like
Speaker 1: I guess it's the same, Like what do you guys
Speaker 1: do for groceries and cooking because you have such a
Speaker 1: small refrigerator. We do have a small refrigerator, but I
Speaker 1: have not lacked for space in that regard. Now it's
Speaker 1: just Eric and I, So even when we lived in
Speaker 1: an apartment or even when we house that and had
Speaker 1: a large size refrigerator, we never used the whole thing.
Speaker 1: So I know that that would be different for families
Speaker 1: and you'd probably have to be a bit more creative
Speaker 1: or buy a model that allows you a more full
Speaker 1: size fridge, which do exist. So we have not lacked
Speaker 1: for space, but I have had to be a bit
Speaker 1: more creative in paring down what we choose to buy
Speaker 1: the condiments that we want to keep on hand. So
Speaker 1: I am not buying some of these one off ingredients
Speaker 1: for a specific recipe, which I think even our episode
Speaker 1: gen that you and I recorded where we did the
Speaker 1: interview about a minimal kitchen cupboard and kind of how
Speaker 1: to decipher what are my staples and what am I
Speaker 1: not going to keep around that that was very helpful
Speaker 1: for me and pairing those things down. I will also
Speaker 1: say that in our renovations, we focused a lot on
Speaker 1: trying to get as much space as possible, which is
Speaker 1: really fun for me, like creativity in organization. So we
Speaker 1: took out our microwave. I realized that the only thing
Speaker 1: I used the microwave for is to reheat my coffee.
Speaker 1: So we just got good thermosis and that's how we
Speaker 1: keep our coffee warm, and otherwise we heat things up
Speaker 1: in the oven or on the stove. So that got
Speaker 1: me a lot of extra space for some dry ingredients
Speaker 1: and otherwise r vs, particularly you know your motor homes
Speaker 1: and campers, they come with a lot of cupboards. It's
Speaker 1: it's shocking, actually, and I have empty cabinets in my
Speaker 1: hundred seventies square feet. That might sound a little extreme,
Speaker 1: and I will say I love minimalism, but we really
Speaker 1: have everything we need, and so I think some of
Speaker 1: this is just trying it out to really see how
Speaker 1: much do I actually need or use. So we we
Speaker 1: do have everything that we need and use, and I
Speaker 1: have not lacked for space, but I will, like I said,
Speaker 1: it's I'm not purchasing random ingredients and keeping a ton
Speaker 1: of extras. I am buying and I'm not. I'm not
Speaker 1: buying in bulk. I am buying, you know, the medium
Speaker 1: sized bags at the grocery store of rice and pasta
Speaker 1: that can fit into the large ball jars versus. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so I'm not doing the wholesale clubs nice. And then
Speaker 1: last question that I know has been on everyone's mind
Speaker 1: all episode, what do you do with your poop? You
Speaker 1: went there? Oh, and as I told them that we
Speaker 1: would warn them, I'm I'm sorry. You must have cut
Speaker 1: out for that part. I didn't hear it. Maybe your
Speaker 1: your internet isn't as strong as you thought. I don't know. Yes,
Speaker 1: so septic, I will call it septic so it can
Speaker 1: sound a little bit like it's not what it actually is. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we have a toilet that goes into a tank that
Speaker 1: the tank does need to be emptied. So this is
Speaker 1: another thing to consider with where you're parking. If you
Speaker 1: park at a campground, a lot of times you can
Speaker 1: have your septic directly connected to a septic clean out
Speaker 1: and rarely have to think about it. You don't ever
Speaker 1: have to do anything with it. It's already going into
Speaker 1: the ground. That's fantastic. We do have to clean it out.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of different options. I'm just going to
Speaker 1: cut to the chase on what we have done because
Speaker 1: it's fantastic and if you are living in an RV
Speaker 1: 're thinking about it, this is especially for you. I'll
Speaker 1: put a link to what we use. But we have
Speaker 1: a mass rator pump which we hook up to the
Speaker 1: septic tank and it grinds everything down to a garden
Speaker 1: hose and that can shoot to a septic clean out,
Speaker 1: which is basically like I don't know if you've ever
Speaker 1: noticed on people's properties they have these little pipes kind
Speaker 1: of sticking up out of the ground. Assuming you know
Speaker 1: what I'm talking about, that's the septic clean out. But
Speaker 1: definitely don't go like shoving stuff in there if you're
Speaker 1: not sure what that what that pipe is that's sticking
Speaker 1: up out of the ground. But on most properties, people
Speaker 1: have them in their front yards or their backyards, and
Speaker 1: so that allows us to just hook it to a
Speaker 1: garden hose and shoot it through to the clean out,
Speaker 1: so you don't have to get your hands dirty, um,
Speaker 1: but you do have to think about it. So Eric
Speaker 1: cleans that out about every other week and it takes
Speaker 1: maybe thirty minutes. Yeah, it's not as intimidating as I
Speaker 1: thought it was going to be when we had our
Speaker 1: v and Travis did it, it was you didn't even
Speaker 1: really see much. Yeah, there was a time when we
Speaker 1: had a suitcase. So that was devastating, needing to shop
Speaker 1: for a suitcase for our excrement. That he literally would
Speaker 1: empty it into this plastic suitcase looking thing on wheels
Speaker 1: and card it across the property to the septic clean
Speaker 1: out and tump it in. And at that point he
Speaker 1: did need to wear gloves and it was scary. Um. Eric,
Speaker 1: he did it. I never had to touch it, but
Speaker 1: that was bad. Um. So we have found a much
Speaker 1: better solution. Just the thing you need to think about
Speaker 1: when you're going into this, Like you don't think about
Speaker 1: how the poop goes out, and there are multiple ways,
Speaker 1: some are better than others. Yep. And then you know
Speaker 1: you've got your gray water and you can either dump
Speaker 1: that you know, figure out for that. Yeah, that's like
Speaker 1: sink water and all that. We use all eco friendly
Speaker 1: plant based soaps so that we are able to just
Speaker 1: put directly onto the ground. Cool. Yep. You know what else,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna put in a suitcase and carry with me
Speaker 1: all the time. Oh, I know that was a horrible transition.
Speaker 1: I loved it, though. No better way to transition to
Speaker 1: the bell. That's right, it's time for the best minute
Speaker 1: of your entire week. Maybe a baby was born and
Speaker 1: his name is William. Maybe you paid off your mortgage,
Speaker 1: maybe your car died, and you're happy to not have
Speaker 1: to pay that bill anymore. That built buffalo bills, Bill Clinton,
Speaker 1: it's the bills of the week. Hi. My name is
Speaker 1: Emily and I'm from Anna Hunt, California, and my bill
Speaker 1: of the week is I speaking in the month. And
Speaker 1: I went to pay my credit cards because you ain't
Speaker 1: paying them off each month. And I went to go
Speaker 1: pay my second credit card and I looked at it
Speaker 1: and I had and maybe the balance of like three
Speaker 1: d dollar. I panicked his first so I thought maybe
Speaker 1: I made a payment before and I didn't realize. And
Speaker 1: then I was picking through my bank statements and things,
Speaker 1: and I looked out the credit cards. Himmith yet again,
Speaker 1: and I realized that my husband, who is volunteering at
Speaker 1: a campus summer, they refunded the money because instead of
Speaker 1: helping out just one weekend, he was up there aw
Speaker 1: summer long. So essentially we got paid for his volunteer work. Yea,
Speaker 1: and we got paid so much. They paid off the
Speaker 1: whole bills of a credit card for the month. Plus
Speaker 1: we have a credit of over three dollars, so my
Speaker 1: bill of a month is one that I didn't have
Speaker 1: to pay. So yes, amazing, Emily, thanks for sharing that
Speaker 1: story with us. We love bills that we think we
Speaker 1: have to pay that we end up not needing to pay.
Speaker 1: That's amazing. I'm so glad that that happened to you
Speaker 1: and that he got paid for volunteer work. That's great.
Speaker 1: Sounds like unexpected, I know, so fun. I've never been
Speaker 1: to like a real summer camp, and so I always
Speaker 1: have these ideas and so it just sounds so fun.
Speaker 1: Eric and I went to an adult summer camp. I
Speaker 1: kind of want to do that. It was the weirdest
Speaker 1: thing I've ever been a part of. Okay, I mean,
Speaker 1: go for it, Chen and report back. But I feel
Speaker 1: like we feel like we talked about this before. Actually
Speaker 1: we probably did. I think we did. Yeah. Eric was
Speaker 1: playing music at this adult camp, That's why we were there,
Speaker 1: and I was just like, what is happening? But I
Speaker 1: mean it was carefree, summer, fun, summer fun. I don't
Speaker 1: know if that's what your husband did, Emily, it sounds
Speaker 1: like more traditional summer camp for kids. So that's great
Speaker 1: that he volunteered, and then was that they took care
Speaker 1: of him financially. That's fantastic. Awesome. If you have a
Speaker 1: great bill of the week or month, one that you
Speaker 1: paid or didn't pay, we want to hear about it,
Speaker 1: and you can submit it to Frugal Friends podcast dot
Speaker 1: com slash bill and leave it for us. We are
Speaker 1: so excited to hear them. Did you go to a
Speaker 1: summer camp where they drank or where they did not drink?
Speaker 1: They were drinking? Yeah, because I feel like both have
Speaker 1: their downtown. They were drinking, Okay, I feel yeah, it
Speaker 1: was weird. I feel like that can make it, but
Speaker 1: that can also break it. Yeah. I mean, thankfully no
Speaker 1: one got too too crazy, but it was definitely weird. Yeah.
Speaker 1: The ones where you don't drink seemed like they could
Speaker 1: be just as weirdly. I don't know, you can't win
Speaker 1: either way. I don't know which one I would pick.
Speaker 1: If you've been to an adult summer camp, let us
Speaker 1: know about it. Tell us what they're like, what your
Speaker 1: experience was like, whether it was like really good or
Speaker 1: really weird. Yeah, I really want to know. There's only
Speaker 1: two options, yeah weird or good. That brings us to
Speaker 1: our next segment, soightening round, mind blown? All right, that's
Speaker 1: literally is actually brought to you by me, Jill and Eric. Yes,
Speaker 1: I took myself out of the Lightning Round, so every
Speaker 1: single point is Jill's in a aim. I'm not on
Speaker 1: here um and I'm just gonna make snyde comments that
Speaker 1: will be helpful. Yeah, we're all gonna love that. You're
Speaker 1: still welcome to be part of this, Jen. So I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go through some top tips for r V living,
Speaker 1: but hopefully this can also be helpful some of them
Speaker 1: for regular living, normal people living. So we've already mentioned
Speaker 1: the macerator pump for our septic because we are more
Speaker 1: obsessed with it than we should be. But again, i'll
Speaker 1: link that so that if you are all because no,
Speaker 1: you don't want that, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: help you with that, just so people can see it, Okay,
Speaker 1: so people can see it. So also, quality over quantity
Speaker 1: is super important when living in an r V or
Speaker 1: living tiny, but I would also encourage you regardless of
Speaker 1: your living situation, that to find what is helpful, what
Speaker 1: is functional, even if it means spending a little bit
Speaker 1: more money, because it's going to be more quality versus
Speaker 1: having a ton of stuff. And I don't know why
Speaker 1: I always use knives as an example, probably because it's
Speaker 1: my pet peeve when I'm working in the kitchen and
Speaker 1: knives don't work. I've had this experience and living in
Speaker 1: other people's homes, like living with my grandmother or how
Speaker 1: sitting and you've just got this drawer full of knives
Speaker 1: clanking around, none of them working. All I wanna do
Speaker 1: is slice some bread or cut up a tomato, and
Speaker 1: you just get shot with juice and it doesn't work.
Speaker 1: So I've really loved that I've been able to find
Speaker 1: some really good This is this is not even a plug.
Speaker 1: I know this sounds like I'm like I'm reading off
Speaker 1: the sponsor. I'm not. I am. I'm just so pleased
Speaker 1: that I have found two really good knives that work,
Speaker 1: and that's it, and I take care of them. That's
Speaker 1: the other thing. You're not supposed to have your knives
Speaker 1: clanking around in drawers with other things. I will link
Speaker 1: my knives just for you. Guys, but other things too,
Speaker 1: like we have four cups before we go on, I
Speaker 1: just want to let I just want to remind everyone
Speaker 1: that on a previous episode we dubbed you the knife Ninja.
Speaker 1: So your passion for knives this isn't new. It like
Speaker 1: Jill knows her knives. I mean, I'm not that much
Speaker 1: of an expert, but I mean you could call me
Speaker 1: a knifeer. Oh goodness. There's other things that I choose
Speaker 1: quality over quantity on, but I really this is part
Speaker 1: of I think why I like tiny living is that
Speaker 1: I love everything I touch and look at because it
Speaker 1: serves me. A purpose is quality, it's functional, uh, And
Speaker 1: being able to have that in a small space I
Speaker 1: have found so vital and also cuts out the clutter.
Speaker 1: Like I think my mind is more free because I'm
Speaker 1: not so overwhelmed by all by just a drawer full
Speaker 1: of junk and none of it works. No, I've got
Speaker 1: a drawer full of a few things and all of
Speaker 1: it works, So you're welcome. Also, moving on to some
Speaker 1: more technical things are tankless water heater has been phenomenal,
Speaker 1: So I know in the one article that we referenced earlier,
Speaker 1: the guy said that you know, he has short showers.
Speaker 1: It doesn't have to be that way in an RV,
Speaker 1: so i'll also link to this. We found a fantastic
Speaker 1: water heare. It's not a normal water heater, but it's great.
Speaker 1: Once you get used to it. It never runs out.
Speaker 1: I know sometimes with tankless they can be spotty. This
Speaker 1: one has been great. It just you you have to
Speaker 1: set it to a certain temperature and it will only
Speaker 1: get to that temperature. It won't fluctuate, which is really nice,
Speaker 1: but um might require some finagling to get it to
Speaker 1: the temperature that want. But once you do that, that
Speaker 1: is the temperature that it's always going to heat too.
Speaker 1: So again we'll link that. That's been great. I can
Speaker 1: take as long as showers as I want. What temperature
Speaker 1: do you like? Well, lately, as it's been getting cold,
Speaker 1: I said it to one third team, but in the
Speaker 1: summer one eleven was where we had it. But Eric
Speaker 1: also installed it right outside of our shower door, so
Speaker 1: that if it is at a temperature that's not comfortable,
Speaker 1: we can easily readjust so that's also a thing. Depending
Speaker 1: on where you install it, you can get to it
Speaker 1: more easily. Nice and also another tip less technical make
Speaker 1: it beautiful. Again, this can apply for anybody living anywhere.
Speaker 1: But I will say I don't think I could live
Speaker 1: in a small space if it was ugly or dingy
Speaker 1: or felt really gross. So us having done our renovations,
Speaker 1: I like being in this space because I find it
Speaker 1: beautiful and making it useful along with that, so organizing,
Speaker 1: getting at some minimalism, figuring out what you use, what's functional.
Speaker 1: If it can be beautiful and functional, Holy emoly, you've
Speaker 1: found the mecca. That would be another tip for any
Speaker 1: space that you have difficulty being in. Make it beautiful,
Speaker 1: whether that's your you know, we talked about that with
Speaker 1: cooking for doing the Cooking Challenge this month, or or
Speaker 1: maybe your laundry room or wherever it is. Find ways
Speaker 1: to to make it beautiful so that you can enjoy
Speaker 1: being in that space more. Yeah, and it doesn't take
Speaker 1: a lot of money to make it beautiful. You use
Speaker 1: the least expensive flooring, which is vinyl, and you just
Speaker 1: put up some white paint, some thin wood paneling like
Speaker 1: you're using all of the inexpensive materials. That's the beauty
Speaker 1: of an o V. Right, Yeah, exactly, And you're not
Speaker 1: doing that much. It's not that much square footage, so
Speaker 1: even if you are getting an expensive product, it's not
Speaker 1: gonna be nearly as much as doing it in a home.
Speaker 1: And lastly, again on the more technical side, and all
Speaker 1: in one washer dryer, so we did my mind. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's amazing. We did not have this in our motor home,
Speaker 1: but we found space for it in our tiny camper
Speaker 1: and that has helped us to be more self sufficient
Speaker 1: rather than needing to go to a laundry map or
Speaker 1: go to friends or families houses. And people who live
Speaker 1: in Europe you're probably a bit more familiar with this.
Speaker 1: It's again it's all in one. It's what it sounds like.
Speaker 1: Once it's done washing, it switches over and starts drying
Speaker 1: your clothes. You kind of course stop it if there's
Speaker 1: things that you want to take out and line dry.
Speaker 1: But it has been just a life saver. I am
Speaker 1: also linking this. A lot of people have complaints about
Speaker 1: these all in one I think they're just not using
Speaker 1: them correctly. Some quick tips on it for those of
Speaker 1: you who might have one or be thinking about it.
Speaker 1: You do have to do smaller loads so that I
Speaker 1: think sometimes if people are saying it's not drying all
Speaker 1: the way. It's because you might have it to cram
Speaker 1: jam packed. And another thing is we don't think that
Speaker 1: the that the water heater can keep up, so we
Speaker 1: just have it on tap water. So that might be
Speaker 1: another issue is if you are having it on hot water,
Speaker 1: it might not dry as effectively for that reason. But
Speaker 1: otherwise it has been fantastic. I don't know why houses
Speaker 1: don't have these. People just started where Yeah, we're we're
Speaker 1: so used to big and a lot and maximalism. I
Speaker 1: but you can have these in your home. They're they're
Speaker 1: not specifically for motor homes that I mean, yeah, again,
Speaker 1: I'll like it in the show notes, but certainly you
Speaker 1: can have this in your home and save space in
Speaker 1: your laundry room. Yes, how often do you do laundry
Speaker 1: About once a week, so nothing crazy and usually two
Speaker 1: loads back to back. But it's so nice because I mean,
Speaker 1: I could do it whenever I want, because you can
Speaker 1: even leave the house and you don't have to be
Speaker 1: there to switch it over. Assuming everything that's in there
Speaker 1: is okay to dry, it will you'll come home and
Speaker 1: the entire cycle will be finished. I love that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I like my favorite thing. It is so nice instant
Speaker 1: pots all the pots. Yeah, exactly, well, Jill, thank you
Speaker 1: for sharing all of your thanks for having me on
Speaker 1: the podcast, Jenks fun please come back again and I'm
Speaker 1: sure our listeners will love to have you. Thanks, I hope.
Speaker 1: So we'll see what the reviews say. Yeah, we'll see.
Speaker 1: We are reading a book for this month's book club
Speaker 1: called Retire Before Mom and Dad by Rob Berger, who
Speaker 1: we recently had on the show, and we're loving it.
Speaker 1: He's such a great guy, Rob, that Rob. And you
Speaker 1: also get to to listen to his interview. So if
Speaker 1: you want a free copy of his book, leave us
Speaker 1: a review on iTunes or Stitcher, Screenshot that review and
Speaker 1: email it to us at Frugal Friends Podcast at gmail
Speaker 1: dot com. We pick one winner for every five reviews
Speaker 1: that's submitted to us at the end of the month,
Speaker 1: and then you get your free book. Yes, if you
Speaker 1: are a winner, winner chicken Dinner. And if you want
Speaker 1: to know a great example of a helpful review, here's
Speaker 1: our review of the week. It's from s mh Um,
Speaker 1: which I'm going to assume does not need so much hate,
Speaker 1: but is maybe this person's initials shaking my head. They say,
Speaker 1: new listener, love the show gave it five star ours,
Speaker 1: and the review says Jenn and Jill are awesome. I
Speaker 1: stumbled onto this podcast a few months ago, but just
Speaker 1: recently started listening. The episodes have been very relevant and
Speaker 1: encouraging to me on the journey to become debt free.
Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to new podcasts each week. I'm so
Speaker 1: happy to have found these great episodes. So thank you
Speaker 1: s MH. And if you want us to read your review,
Speaker 1: please write it and send it see it first. You
Speaker 1: got to write it and then send it. Yeah. Nice,
Speaker 1: Thank you, See all next week. See on the Road
Speaker 1: Herugal Friends is produced, edited and mixed by Eric Syrian
Speaker 1: m HM. Hit the row Jack and don't you come?
Speaker 1: No mo, no mo no. So so you're saying I
Speaker 1: could charge you eight hundred too dollars to stay? You could,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't park there, Okay, well we'll negotiate. We're having
Speaker 1: the papers put down for your arrival, well actually for
Speaker 1: for us, but like also for your arrival. This amazing. Uh,
Speaker 1: that's gonna be epic, the most epic. Oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: Frugal friends do Florida. It's gonna be frugal friends live
Speaker 1: on the same property in Florida? Do you think our
Speaker 1: friendship can withstand that? It should be we should live
Speaker 1: stream it like a reality show because everyone's going to
Speaker 1: be interested to see how we do? Uh we what else?
Speaker 1: And we do? We can have a confessional booth um
Speaker 1: that don't get released until after we're done living together
Speaker 1: and then be like, I can't believe you said that,
Speaker 1: And then all of the remaining episodes of our show
Speaker 1: are just going to be repeats because we can't bear
Speaker 1: to record anymore. How often are you going to anticipate
Speaker 1: that we watch kai um most of the time? Oh,
Speaker 1: all of the nights that's going to be included in
Speaker 1: the thousand dollar a month rent. Right, I'm going to
Speaker 1: just put a pack and play in the trailer and
Speaker 1: then he's just yours for a few weeks plus utilities.
Speaker 1: I think we'd be fine with that. He is so
Speaker 1: stinking adorable and Eric loves him, which that's a feat
Speaker 1: in and of itself. I loved Eric. I mean they're boos.
Speaker 1: They were bumping by the end. Um there are bros. Yeah. Oh,
Speaker 1: you'll just have to wait and see, wait and see
Speaker 1: how that goes. See see you soon, coming with coming,
Speaker 1: bringing our home, bringing everything we own to your house.
Speaker 1: A