Mandy had a remote job long before the pandemic, and she loved to travel. However, she didn’t love living out of a suitcase and leaving her dog, Opal, behind. So she decided camper life would give her the best of both worlds: A home base, and the chance to travel the United States.
So for the past three years, she’s gone up and down both coasts and across the southern US, and even into Canada where her pile of blankets came in handy. She says the best and worst part of camper life is the freedom: She can go wherever she wants, but she has to decide where to go!
You’ll love seeing her gorgeous RV renovation in her video interview with Tiny Home Tours. Check it out below, and follow Mandy on Instagram here.
Meet Brooke: She has a doctorate in physical therapy, but ultimately found herself longing to spend more time with her kids. That’s when she got into crocheting hats. A hobby soon became a successful business, and now she and her family travel around the country spreading the word about her amazing bobble hats, running her business, homeschooling and exploring the US.
So basically she’s amazing! Her husband, Jeff, is the director of sales for her business, so her amazing hat-crafting is enough to support the family of 5 — and they are completely debt-free, which is even cooler.
They didn’t do a ton of renovations to their brand new Grand Design 3740BH, but they have made it a home (and business!) worth admiring. Read our Q&A with Brooke at the end of the post, and buy one of her hats here!
High school sweethearts Alicia and Daniel decided it didn’t make sense to work full-time while in college to pay rent in two different places, so instead they pooled their money and purchased a used RV for $8,000 cash, and put another $4,000 into renovations (including an unforseen mold issue that ate up a lot of time and money).
The couple, now engaged, are living in an RV park while doing their college coursework and building a life together. They did a wonderful job with their renovation, including creating a special office workspace where they can both do schoolwork. There’s a daybed/couch in their living area, and an awesome coffee cabinet!
Mike is a travel nurse and Katie is a stay-at-home-mom doing online college (she already has a Bachelors’) from their amazing fifth wheel renovation! They went with an older camper to save money, and then spent 6 months gutting it and making it a true home for their family of four. All in all, they spent about $5,000 on the renovation portion.
They have two kids, ages 3 and 2, who share an epic bunkroom over the fifth wheel portion of the RV. While the family first set out thinking they’d move every 3 months, they later decided to spent a year in Florida closer to family in order to have more support. Still, they can take their home anywhere jobs or life take them!
The RV life has allowed them to get close to paying down debt, and they hope to start saving for a homestead. Being on the road allows them to get a feel for just where they might want to settle down. We got to interview Katie about their tiny adventure, so be sure to read that after the photo tour!
Here’s another family proving you don’t have to live paycheck to paycheck to afford a pricey mortgage on a large home! They downsized from 2,500 square feet and have been living in an RV for two years now. In 2020 alone, they saved $30,000!
Mom Shannon says they won’t live in an RV forever, but it’s allowed them to follow her husband’s military jobs across the country, as well as travel with the family and sightsee all over the United States. They have far more time together, and are learning how to live minimally.
She’s done some beautiful work renovating their RV to make it feel more like their home, and we got to interview her about her tiny life! Be sure to read the Q&A after the photo tour below. And follow the family on Instagram here.
Six years ago, Cortni’s life was falling apart: Her father had a stroke, she was trying to save his two faltering businesses (while hardly taking home a paycheck) and her roommates had made new living plans without her…When a family friend offered her a job at his campground, and a fifth wheel to live in, she reluctantly agreed and tried to keep her new “tiny life” a secret.
But in time, she fell in love with living in 350 square feet! She searched for a camper with a layout she loved, and decided to renovate the dingy interior into something a 20-year-old bachelorette would want to own. From there, she had the idea to start renovating RVs for a living with her business partner mom!
The dynamic duo (The Flipping Nomads) has now done 15 complete RV renovations, as well as working on upgrades for nearly 45 other RVs. She was recently asked by Keystone to design and build a concept RV — with pretty much no limitations to her creativity or budget! What an inspiration!
Check out a bunch of amazing before and after pictures below, and a huge thanks to Donald Campbell for sending us this great story.
This is a fully-renovated fifth-wheel RV for sale in Sugar Hill, Georgia for sale for $26,000 (sold). While the owners bought it and overhauled it with the intention of living in it full-time, they had trouble finding an affordable full-time parking opportunity (one of the toughest parts of tiny living!) and are now selling.
That said, it would make an awesome tiny house for a couple or small family, especially for one interested in full-time travel. RVs are built to be frequently towed around and are usually lighter than their tiny house counterparts.
The inside got a major facelift, with all the dark trim painted, extra cabinets removed to create visual space, and new furniture added to make it feel like home. Take a look at the photo tour below.
Vintage vacation? Enjoy stepping back in time in this lovely renovated 1955 travel trailer at Asheville Glamping! She’s called the Silver Bettie.
The trailer sleeps 4 (one bedroom and one pull-out couch) and stretched 31 feet. The best feature? A four person hot tub! Even though the trailer is a piece of history, they added modern touches like a tiled shower with excellent water pressure and air conditioning to keep you cool.
You can book your stay in this old-fashioned RV here.
When Darcy’s sister was diagnosed with Leukemia, she decided to forego chemo and travel the country by bus instead. Darcy didn’t want to miss out on that time with her sister so she and her husband quit their jobs, bought and renovated an RV and have been traveling full-time with their children McKenzie and Maxwell following Darcy’s sister around the country.
The RV itself only cost $5,000 and the family gutted it and renovated it to make it home, reusing and re-purposing anything and everything they could to save money. While their story started in the midst of tragedy, it’s been a great experience for the family and has actually made the pandemic easier to deal with because they were already distanced in many ways and homeschooling.
Take a tour of their amazing home and watch their interview with Tiny Home Tours below!
