Do You Think We Can Full-Time with Kids?

We received permission from the people asking us questions. If you have a question, please send us an email: Email@Laura-n-Sasha.com

September 2009: We had a question sent to us via email, here it is:

I was looking at your website and I had a couple of questions for you if you don't mind. I plan on coming back to your site and looking at it more in depth and I also want to show it to my husband.

We have actually toyed with the idea of getting a camper for some time as we would like to travel but there are some concerns that have held us back and I was hoping you could provide us with some info from your own experiences. I am a nurse by trade and his background is mostly construction. Right now he is working as an Assistant Warehouse manager for a moving company. We have two children ages 9 and 4. We are homeschooling this year and plan to do so again next year, so the kids being in school really isn't to much of an issue.

Our long term goal is to buy some land and establish a permaculture center. However, we have not really decided where we would like to end up and we would like to do some traveling with our kids so they can see different parts of the country. One of our biggest concerns is what we would do about work. I could actually work as a travel nurse but I am very burned out on nursing and I would actually like to get out of it completely. The problem of course is I make the most money so we are dependent on what I make. After looking at your site I have considered doing travel nursing part time, a few months here, a few months there  and working at a campsite or something in between to supplement.

I guess my biggest question is does this seem doable? What suggestions do you have if we decided to take the plunge? We rent so we do not have the issue of having to sell a house right now. Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Lisa Rodgers
 

Our Response:

Hi Lisa,

First off, sorry it took a while to respond back, being busy makes it tough sometimes to respond, especially since we do not have kids. I did a little research into this one.

First off, regarding the kids, the fact that you home-school will make this a bunch easier. We have met many families on the road, and especially at the National Parks where I worked. What is nice about the National Parks (and other places of course) is that they are very geared for kids, for the learning experiences, to experience nature and history in its truest forms, by being there and doing it. While the experience is not for everyone, there are many kids that are home-schooled and do very well in this environment.

The hardest part for the kids might be their attachment to either other kids, other family members, or their things. You should make sure to have the family conference to make sure the kids fully understand AND want to do this too. A miserable kid, even just one of them being unhappy will make the rest of the family miserable.

Now regarding you and your husband's working or not working. Construction is hard right now, so you being a nurse is a great thing. I know lots of nurses get burnt out, but your services are needed! And traveling nurses are in big demand. You can just go to Google and type in Traveling Nurse and tons of possibilities. When I was working at Prince William Forest Park, the husband was the volunteer camp host and the wife was the nurse. They had two younger kids. This way the husband is still contributing to the household expenses by holding down the "job" of being a campground host. What is cool is this, you could get the job for 6 months, he could get the volunteer gig for 6 months, and then after that, you could travel.

Now this all depends on your finances as well. You do not say on this, but I am constantly mentioning the Your Money or Your Life Book because it is important. How will you know if you can do this if you do not know your expenses? You have to figure out your monthly expenses, and then figure, probably traveling as the same as your commute to your job, renting a place to the campground fees, and food and fun being about the same. Your clothing expenses goes down, but other things will go up. You do not mention if you have an RV, if you do not, well, that is a BIG expense. Do not get a loan for it, make sure to pay cash. It is not worth paying interest on a depreciating asset. 

If you decide to take the plunge after you have talked to your family and they are all for it:

1. Get the expenses in order - at least figure out your expenses like the book, for a couple of months;

2. Sell everything that you will not need in the RV, furniture, TV, electronics, all the stuff that I talk about on the page: Checklist for Full-timing.

3. Move all your music, files, paperwork, onto digital formats that you can have on a computer;

4. If you do not have a RV, start researching while getting the expenses in order. If you have an RV, start checking it over - will it work for the full-timing adventure or do you need something with more space;

5. Check with your home-schooling program to make sure you have the lesson plans and everything you need for say a year on the road.

This is just a short list, but still necessary to do. There is still some work involved, and it is not easy. BUT can you do it, YES you can, others have and I do not see why you can not. It just takes planning and it does take some finances to make sure it can happen. You might not be able to work for a while, would your family come into harm if you could not work? Or who would look after the kids if both of you had to work? Sometimes moving around can be stressful for children, again, you will have to take them into consideration here especially. I do not know your children, you and your husband know them best. So these are just suggestions, but again, based on what you have told me, I believe it can be done.

Good Luck,

Laura & Sasha

Any other questions, Send us an email: Email@Laura-n-Sasha.com