October 2012 – Looking for our RV, staying in our friends RV, and our second garage sale

Like I said originally, our plan was to sell the house and everything in it, buy an RV, retire and hit the road. The order of our plan was now changing because of two things. First was we began to realize how much time would be involved in preparing the RV and our Toad (the vehicle we pull behind the RV) for full-timing. And second, was knowing that once the house sells we will only have a month or less to do this preparation, all while still working full time. So now the plan is to buy an RV, sell the house and everything, retire and hit the road. Because of this, we started becoming serious about purchasing an RV, BEFORE we sell the house.

Some very kind friends of ours let us bring their really nice Class C motor home to our house to live in it for a few days. Of course, their stuff was in it but we brought our clothes, our food, etc., and tried to make it our home for a few days. We slept well, ate well, watched TV, and enjoyed ourselves. They use theirs for short and long trips and we will be living in ours. We pretty much decided we could do this RV thing but if we were going to be living in one full time we would like to do it in a Class A motor home. I learned that cooking in one isn’t that much different than cooking in a sticks house and also got to see that they had fewer utensils and other kitchen stuff than I was used to. That’s the way all RVers are but it was a great help to have the actual experience of living in it. We really appreciate John and Donna giving us this opportunity. John offered to check out any RV we were seriously considering buying since we’re such newbies and he has lots of experience with RVing. It’s wonderful to have friends like that who care about you and want to help when needed.

In early October, right after John and Donna’s RV went back to their home, we had a second garage sale. We focused mostly on things we could not take with us in the RV and wouldn’t need between now and the time we sell the house and leave. There seemed to be a lot falling into that category. By this time Roy was a little more willing to get rid of a few of his tools and other toys. I had several large containers of Christmas and other holiday decorations that filled 6 tables. Can’t take all that with us in the RV! We did well again on this one making about the same as we did on the first. We tried something new this time. I gave each buyer, after their sale was complete, a slip of paper telling them about a 50% one hour sale that afternoon and a 75% off sale one hour the next day. We made a couple hundred more dollars that way. We then let all our co-workers and friends know we had a bunch of things left and they could come to take whatever they wanted for free every evening that week. That really reduced what we needed to give away to a manageable load. I met a lady at this last sale that told me about a local Facebook page where people buy, trade, and sell items. After checking it out and joining the group I’m thinking this might be a possibility for selling some of our future items.

We need to take a break here from our October adventures to tell you about our trip to Conroe, TX which I’ll describe in the next blog!