It’s crazy to think we’ve already been full-time RVing for FOUR full months! We’ve travelled from Texas to Michigan, and Ohio to California, and back to Texas with many bucket list stops in between. We started this journey with very little knowledge of RV life, and have just been figuring things out as we go. Isn’t first hand experience the best way to learn, after all?

We never want to show our journey as an unrealistic, picture-perfect life. We’ve had our share of problems: we’ve had repairs, bad weather, and we’ve had to change plans a few times. It’s all part of the game. I thought I would share a list of tips we’ve gathered so far on our journey from our first four months of RV travel. Hopefully these will be helpful to you as you start your journey!

1. Do a Thorough Walk-Thru before Taking Delivery of your RV.

We had to rush through our PDI (pre-delivery-inspection) process. Our RV came three weeks later than we anticipated. We actually had to just take our RV from the dealership because we had to move into it, since we were closing on our house two days later. With the warranty that came with our RV, we knew that we could get anything fixed that wasn’t working or broken, so we didn’t worry too much about it.

In the PDI, turn everything on and off and on again, test appliances and switches, check the leveling system. Take your time inspecting it all. The dealership will write down everything that isn’t working or broken and start the warranty repair process. I stress: TEST EVERYTHING! Do not trust the dealership to have tried or tested anything. They are human too, and things sometimes go overlooked.

2. Stay Stationary for a Period of Time.

When we moved into our RV, we decided to stay in a local RV park for almost a month in order to settle in before setting out on our travels. This was so necessary for us! Staying stationary gave us time to organize the space, do our toy-hauler garage renovation project, and wrap up some of the loose ends involved in selling our house and going full time. It’s helpful to choose a place close to your city, so you are familiar with the area and stores you may need to get to. Stationary living will give you a chance to find out what is wrong, broken, mis-wired, etc. with your rig while you have no obligation to move.

3. Go on a Few Short Trial-Run Trips.

We decided to do two short trips during the first month of travel, one was right down the road, and the other was a few hours away. It was also helpful for practicing towing, maneuvering and parking our new RV! Choose a location or two, not too far way, to go camping. You want to be close enough to conveniences in case you need supplies. Doing this will help you figure out what you need to do or buy to help make travel as easy and organized as possible.

4. Buy a Quality Water Filter.

Having a quality water filter is so important! The RV will be hooked up to city water sometimes, and you may also fill up your tank with water from random places (RV parks, gas stations, etc) We installed our Clearsource Ultra RV Water Filter in our storage bay to have super-clean water 24/7. We never have to worry about scary bacteria in our water (whether for drinking, bathing or doing dishes!) All of our water is filtered down to .2 microns, giving us the purest water we’ve ever had!

We highly recommend Clearsource for your onboard water filtration system. You can buy your Clearsource Ultra RV Water Filter here. And, Clearsource just released their new VirusGuard water filter that removes or reduces not only bacteria and cysts, but VIRUSES too!

You can buy a Clearsource Ultra Water Filter here, and replacement filters here.

You can see our unboxing and install video of our Clearsource filter here.

5. Change the Door Locks.

I heard a rumor that most RV’s have a universal key…which is scary! Since our sticks and bricks house was robbed several years ago, home security is an important feature to us. We just installed our RV Lock on our front door and we love it! It’s a quick and easy swap, but provides an added level of security to our home on wheels. We also love the convenience of having a keyfob to control both doorlocks!

To get one for your RV, order here.

You can see the complete unboxing and install video of our RV Lock here.

6. Establish a Routine.

(…and try to stick with it)

If traveling with kids, set up a daily schedule and school routine. This will help get school work or work done efficiently and help maximize time spent doing other things! If you are working while traveling (however that may look) establish a routine that everyone in the family understands and respects times and boundaries.

For us, we have breakfast and start school work right away. We try and get all of the work finished before noon so that we have the rest of the day to spend exploring or play time. Sometimes, we have to do school work in the car because we are driving to a new destination. Having a routine and schedule helps the kids know what to expect and reduces the stress for all.

7. Make a Checklist.

Do you have a checklist for moving your RV? If not, then you should. We all have a mental checklist, but mistakes can be made (…and RVs might fall on trucks)! It’s a good idea to have one written out (maybe even save it on your phone for easy access on moving days.) In the beginning, it may take you two+ hours to get ready to move, and it may feel exhausting. As you gain more experience every time you set up, tear down and move, you’ll fine tune your checklist and get quicker with it!

We have a checklist for preparing the RV to move for the inside AND outside of the RV. Usually, Chris is the one who takes care of most of the outside things and I take care of most of the inside things. We even give some responsibilities to the kids for moving days (which keeps them busy too!) Here is our Moving Day Checklist!

8. Plan a Route.

How do we plan our travels? We first start out with our travel route: point A to point B (and then C and so on). For us, we’ve learned that we can only handle about 5 hours of driving per day. 5 hours of driving actually ends up being more like 6, even 7 hours in the car due to gas and potty breaks. We use Google Maps to see where 5 hours lands us along the map route, then we search for camping options.

We use memberships like Harvest Hosts, Boondockers Welcome, and Campendium to find places to stay along our route. Harvest Hosts is a membership that gives you access to over 1,400 camping spots at farms, breweries, wineries and museums. You can only stay one night, and most locations do not offer hookups. The yearly membership is only $79, and you can get 15% off by signing up HERE.

Boondockers Welcome is another convenient way to find a place to stay along a route. It’s kind of like AirBnB but hosts rent out space in their driveway or on their property to guests. Some hosts offer amenities like hookups for free or for a small fee. The yearly membership for Boondockers Welcome is only $50, and you can find out more information HERE.

Campendium.com is a fantastic resource that we use all the time. You’re able to find rest stops, dump stations, campgrounds, and boondocking spots along a specific route.

9. Stay Flexible.

This is probably our NUMBER ONE tip for all RVers new and old (and the seasoned ones will say the same!) Things will go wrong. Plans will change. Weather, work, or other events may detour your route. You may have spent hours planning the perfectly timed trip, but it may not go according to plan.

Be open to having a flexible schedule to allow for travel changes. Sometimes, it will lead to even better things!

10. Be Prepared for a Change in Spending Habits.

This was a pleasant surprise. It’s crazy to think that in pre-RV life I would be click-happy on Amazon and just order whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted! We’ve discovered that it’s not convenient to order things and figure out where to ship it while traveling so much. We have almost stopped online ordering all together!

Also, there are only so many places to store stuff in the RV so you can’t just buy everything without careful thought of where it will go. We’re saving hundreds of dollars every month just by not having all of those online orders! Sorry, Amazon, I do still love you!

Aside from monetary spending, we’re spending less in other ways. In RV life, you become more aware of your water and electrical usage. We take shorter showers and are conscious about water usage with washing dishes. We’re also being more aware of power usage so we turn off lights and only use AC/furnace/appliances when we need them!

That’s a WIN for our budget AND the environment!

11. Organize Tiny Spaces Like a Pro.

Once you move into your RV and start traveling around for a bit you’ll find that you’ll become an expert at utilizing every space of storage that you have. We even helped put together an E-Book all about tips, tricks, and hacks for organizing tiny spaces! We, along with 12 other full-time RV families, offer our best tips and advice for organizing EVERY space in your RV like a pro. If you need ideas and tips for storage and organization, you can get your 79 page copy HERE!

12. Laugh!

Things will go wrong, but the best advice we could give would be to laugh about it! As RV newbies, a lot of things have gone wrong already. We’ve made some big, expensive mistakes. Things in the RV will break, but don’t let all those things weigh you down and stress you out. Keep an open mind and light-hearted mood! Some of the best stories come from the most intense, stressful, you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me moments!

We’d love to hear from YOU! What things have you learned from your RV experiences?

**This post contains affiliate links. By purchasing something through these links, we receive a small commission at no cost to you! Thank you for supporting our travels 🙂