Living in an RV for just over two years now sounds nuts. The reason it sounds nuts is because it is. The RV is 26x8.5 feet; it's a rolling house with a 221 square foot footprint. The smallest apartment I have ever seen is just under 400 square feet. The only common American living spaces smaller than my domicile are dorm rooms, but even then, the dorm room doesn't house bathroom, kitchen, bedroom, and the moving truck. After two years in my RV, I have learned a lot, lived even more, and have changed so many of my perspectives.
One of the things I have learned by living in an RV is that RV's are the most fragile, non-durable, and most poorly designed devices in existence. There is a reason a $100,000 RV sells for only $10,000 only 10-15 years later. The reason is that all of the systems will be degraded, in need of repair, and will be expensive to fix. I have had to repair the furnace, water heater, refrigerator, waste tank valves, toilet, and electrical systems. Sure, I've been full-timing in the beast for two years, but it was barely used for the first 12 years of its life. Being handy and all-seasons-durable has been a requirement of full-timing in an RV.
Another thing I have learned about RV'ing full time is that it is not as cheap as one might think. Rents are slightly cheaper than apartment dwelling and there are no leases involved. That's great and worth its weight in gold as a post-graduate graduate looking for work and doing contract work. But rent is still needed and it is still based on the value of the place being rented from. If an RV park is in a desirable location, the rent will be based upon the economic potential of the park to sell its land to a developer to put apartments on. What that means is that an RV park will rent you a parking space with a water spigot, open sewer hole, and an outdoor electrical plug for about the price of a super-cheap apartment. In a short: RV rent is a colossal ripoff.
Before I moved into the RV, I believed that owning is always better than renting. Bullshit. As a landlord on the side, I can tell you that owning is almost always the ripoff. As a homeowner renting out my property, I can tell you that my tenants have it great; They pay exactly what I pay in mortgage, insurance, and HOA, yet they don't have to worry at all when something goes wrong. If the water heater breaks, their cost is a phone call and a little time; My cost is a new water heater, time, installation, and removal of the water heater (aka. $1,000 down the shitter). Sure, they don't get the deed to the property in 30 years, but chances are pretty good that I won't either. Owning is better than renting? Nope. Not if time, flexibility, and lack of responsibility are qualities of life one wants.
Another important lesson that has come out of RV-dwelling is that nothing in America is free. I mean "free" and free and free. Nothing. The homeless of this country are frowned and crapped upon for their situation. "Why not get a job and an apartment," we all say. Well, here's the thing, you first have to get the job, then keep it without having the apartment. That's hard. As someone living in a tiny house, I'm nowhere near the homeless, but after floating from curb to curb for a summer, I can tell you with expert experience that... nothing is free. There is no socially acceptable way to live in a van on a street; the cops will hassle you and neighbors will call them out of fear if discovered. There is no way to exist without paying for your existence. Every square inch of land belongs to someone, or everyone in the case of public lands, and our social system does not kindly allow exceptions. Every parking space, forested acre, and structure is owned and financially quantified.
While I have received nothing but support for my decision from friends and family, every new person I meet and explain my living situation to results in an uphill battle to prove that I am not a non-productive derelict and that I am not dangerous with a shoddy past (because only a criminal would live in an RV at 30-something, right?). Another uphill battle is proving that I am a productive member of society. You cannot experience a culture until you approach its fringes and find out the tolerances that bind all of us through expectation and hierarchy.
Despite some of these oddities, I still love it. After grad school, my work has been temporary research gigs with huge national research programs, but I am still not "gainfully" and traditionally employed. I am still super happy with the decision to be in an RV and very thankful that I have many years of tinkering with mechanical and electrical systems so I can fix every piece of junk the RV company built into this rig.
One of my perspectives that has remained constant is that living in an RV has changed my economic potential. While those living in apartments think I'm living on the edge, others think I must be poor, and yet others think I'm extreme, my economic position is fundamentally different from those living under traditional housing rents or mortgages. One fundamental difference exists that gives me a great advantage: I own the roof over my head outright. It's a glorified van, an RV, or a tiny house, but I own it outright. When the income stops, the roof over my head doesn't go poof. I have done what others thought impossible and that makes me mighty.
After two years in the RV, I plan to continue doing it for as long as I can, but I can see the day when I won't. It has been the perfect young-man's adventure --- one I wish I had realized much sooner and far younger. Despite the system's imperfections, it is still economical and saves me money on living expenses. Some day, the RV will either be sold for lint or it will make a great summer cabin in a new community each summer. Of all the repairs, new inventions, and details that have needed tending to, the RV has granted me the mental space to find out what I want in life and most importantly, how little I actually need. After two years, I can think of few better ways to have done grad school and come out ahead and safe on the other side.
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