5 Tips To Convince Your Spouse to RV Full Time

FAQ, Mindset and Motivation, RV Advice, RV Life

In this video, I’m going to give you five ways that you can convince your spouse to go RV with you full time.

How do you convince your spouse to go RVing with you? Especially, if you want them to go RVing full time? This is a very common problem to have. And one of the biggest questions I get asked is “Brandi, how do I get my husband to go RVing with me or my wife or my boyfriend or my girlfriend to go RVing with me? They don’t want to go!”

Personally I’ve struggled with this for at least five years. I sold my condo and bought and RV. BUT My boyfriend still has a condo and doesn’t full-time RV. However, I’m gonna tell you how I’ve managed to make it work!

These are five ways that maybe you can convince your significant other to come on over to RV life.

TIP #1 – Rent an RV or Buy “The Right” RV

So the first way that you can convince your spouse to RV full-time with you is to rent an RV or buy the right RV. Renting an RV may be more expensive than buying one in the beginning, but you’re able to try out different types and sizes of RVs. If you rent them without actually purchasing the RV and dealing with all of the things that come along with owning an RV and maintaining an RV for yourself, you just pick it up and go, or of course you can buy “the right” RV.

When I started RVing one of the reasons that my boyfriend probably didn’t like the idea of RVing had to do with the type of lifestyle and RV I had chosen. The first RV that I had was a travel trailer, we had to do a lot of towing, it was expensive, and there was a lot of setup involved. Plus, when I bought my travel trailer I didn’t know that you needed a generator to have electricity, or pretty much what an RV was. I didn’t really understand what I had bought and what it was capable of.

Within the first 6 months of purchasing my travel trailer I got into a horrible accident and lost my travel trailer. So I totaled my trailer and tow car, and I really was starting back over and it wasn’t fun for anyone. To sum it up, the first travel trailer was just a nightmare in general to set up and it was new (so it came with A LOT of newbie issues).

After my travel trailer accident, I bought a brand new 2016 Mercedes sprinter van, which ended up having so many issues with it that it ended up being a lemon. I worked something out with the manufacturer and the dealership to do a collateral swap and ended up getting a 2018 Mercedes Sprinter Van. It was a trade-off, had a little bit different technology, so it hopefully wouldn’t have the same issues from the year prior. It was an upgrade but… we were trying to fit three dogs, two adults, and run two businesses from this van — that turned into a nightmare! We didn’t have an extra car if we parked and set up, so we had to buy an extra car. That was another thing that was added to the list. Then we had to buy a trailer to tow the car and then we had to strap things down — it was all more work. (And then someone stole my trailer).

My Van life all led me to the motorhome that I have now, I don’t have to tow anymore, my smart car goes inside and our life is super easy! We don’t have a lot of setup. We don’t have to do much. And we can kind of live in the RV probably for at least a week or longer without having to connect to any kind of external power sources or water supply.

Another option for finding an RV you and your spouses would enjoy is to you gog to an RV show or an RV dealership so that you can take a look around at all the different amenities, see the different types and sizes and lay in the beds and get a feel for what it would be like to be in these RVs. You’ll need to decide: Do you want all kinds of fancy features in the RV or not? All of these things play a role in your comfort level while you’re RVing. I bought my RV for my comfort level as well as my lifestyle needs and budget, but I wanted to be comfortable because I was buying a home not a weekend, or hotel getaway.

Tip #2 – Try Stationary RV Living

The second way to convince your spouse to go RV full-time is to try stationary RV living. Living in an RV park or staying stationary somewhere on land, maybe boondocking, but not moving around. Because moving in an RV 24/7 can make it really hard when you’re first getting started RVing. Trying to work, get anything done in your life or on the actual RV itself can be hard while you’re moving. Plus, you’re learning about this new RV and having to adjust this lifestyle, so you don’t want to be moving 24/7. You’ll want to stay stationary so that you can learn about the scenery and the places that you’re at and actually enjoy the places that you go to visit.

When I started living stationary in my RV, I actually learned more about my RV than I knew before. I’ve developed a way different philosophy of how I would go out into the RV world now.

I’ve been stationary for probably about a year now when COVID hit. But before that I was traveling 24/7 with different RVs. However, stationary RV living has actually allowed my spouse (my boyfriend) to enjoy the RV life and adapt to it a lot more.

Try finding an RV park that is close to your home so that you can get the hang of this. Maybe it could be like your second home or your a little getaway until you decide to really dive in full time RV life. Or maybe if you have a spot in your yard that you could use your RV. You could hook it up, run power to it and water. At least, try some of the things that you might do if you were out in the RV. You are just camping in the backyard to get the hang of things before you actually venture out.

Also, when I mentioned finding a place close to home — I want you to know when COVID happened, I settled down in the RV about an and a half to an hour and 45 minutes. It could be two hours away from the condo or my boyfriend’s house. I’m in between family as well. I’m off of a main interstate and I can go where I need to go, but I’m on a beautiful lake, it’s just kind of like a getaway. We call it the lake house, but really it’s Brandi’s house. My boyfriend does come a lot and he’ll be here for two weeks and then maybe go home for a few days or home for a week and then come back.

Then, Sometimes I will venture into the city, back to foreign land, normal life, I guess you would call it… And then I’m in a hurry to get back to my RV! lol But I do try to make sacrifices. So I try to put a smile on my face and go into the city and enjoy the condo every once in a while, because he does make the effort to come and enjoy my RV life. So it is a little different but having a stationary RV and a stationary setup has allowed me to do that.

Tip #3 – Go on Shorter Trips or Mini Vacations

The third way that you can convince your spouse to go RV full-time with you is to go on shorter trips or mini vacations. Whether you take your spouse out, RVing for a weekend, a week or longer can make the difference to if they’ll actually enjoy this life because let’s face it RV life is different! It is not normal! Learning to live, experience and adjust to RV life in smaller doses will probably make the process go a lot smoother.

I would suggest taking shorter trips, mini vacations, weekend trips, or a week not month long expeditions and excursions away from this normal life that you have with your spouse — because it’s going to take time for them to adjust. As much as you might be excited to dive into RV Life, they may not be as excited to go RVing. I know some people are weird about pulling the poo levers and emptying your sewers to hooking up at RV parks — that takes some time to adjust to the process.

Keep in mind, If you decide to do shorter or mini vacations, you’re going to be setting up in taking down the RV a lot more. That is going to make things potentially a little bit more stressful. So if you’re just doing a weekend trip and you’re having to set up a whole trailer and you’re only there for two days, it wouldn’t be that fun. That’s why when I go places, I usually have rules about how long we have to stay there. Two or three days minimum before we can move again, because I don’t want to set up and connect my water, power and sewer etc… until I’m actually settling down. I don’t feel like doing all that work over and over and over!

Also, When I had a travel trailer, it was a lot more work than when I had a van. But the van had smaller tanks so you could not travel for as long on your tanks between trips. Then we had to have a smart car and a trailer… Until I got my motorhome.my life changed and things got a lot better because it fit “our lifestyle” and our needs.

Tip #4 – Go RVing Alone

The fourth way that you can convince your spouse to go RVing with you or go RV full time is a little bit different, but to go alone. Yes! To go RVing without your spouse! It may seem scary and weird and maybe a little lonely to leave your poor little spouse behind your boyfriend, your girlfriend, your wife, your husband behind — but you should not be bound to a landlocked life!

If you have the resources to take off on an RV trip of your own, maybe for a weekend or a week, just a mini vacation, it might be a good idea because then your spouse will start to miss you. You know, they say that whenever they’re away, they start to miss you more. And that is true. You actually have a longing for that person, versus when you’re in the RV with them, they’re on you all the time, 24/7. You got to give your spouse time to get used to being with you like that!

So… if you’ll go out and do your own thing, your spouse is going to see you having all this fun and doing all these things (going to the beach, checking out foreign destinations, etc..) — And they’re going to say, “I want to do that.” Go out, do your own thing and they will follow! If they don’t, at least you’re having your own fun.

You don’t have to have a spouse along to make the RV experience something that you want it to be. If you really want to get into this RV thing, try it alone, go do your own thing. And then hopefully your spouse will join You!

Personally, I’ve even made sacrifices in my own relationship. I remember when I first got my motorhome, I would park the RV in Florida. I had a thousand trails, camping pass membership I could use for two weeks at a time. So I would go to an RV park and stay there for 2 weeks then sometimes I’d put the RV in storage for a week and I’d go back home (to the condo).

Then I would come back and get the RV out of storage and go hook back up at another park. Some of this had to do with the TT membership and just how it worked, but it was free with my motorhome purchase. I just decided to use it since I was camping literally for free. And the only thing I was paying for was storage.

But, when I parked my RV in Florida that was four to six hours away from my boyfriend. I would have to drive back to see him, family or friends. I would just leave the RV either at an RV park or in storage and drive my smart car back and forth instead of my RV.

Tip #5 – Be the RV Expert

So my fifth way to convince your spouse to go RV with you full time is to be the “RV expert”. Don’t make them have to learn everything. You want to know everything you can about the RV.

Take the time to learn about the RV, how to drive it, The RV parks that you’re going to visit, the roads that you’re going to be traveling on. At the destinations that you are headed to: what is there to do around there? Where can you go eat (and park the RV if need be)?

Make the idea of RV living super easy for your spouse. This includes being knowledgeable about the maintenance on the RV, any kind of emergency phone numbers that you might need for things (i.e. AAA) — If you’re on the road and you have a breakdown, or if there are some issues with the RV and you need to call somebody… who do you plan to call?

I’ve joined RV related Facebook groups online, invested in RV maintenance service providers that will either provide technical knowledge over the phone or that will come out and service the RV wherever we’re at. I pay for that and have spent a lot of time creating my own system for handling these RV issues as they’ve unfolded.

I try to make sure that I have any numbers, or necessary information in case we are ever stranded somewhere and we do need help. I didn’t want it, and don’t want it to be stressful on my spouse. It causes problems when you have issues. And one person doesn’t know what to do, and the other person doesn’t know what to do. But if you’re like,” Hey, don’t worry. I got this. I know what to do” this makes things less stressful on your spouse!

Watch YouTube videos, learn everything you can about your RV, the RV life, and where you’re headed before you head out.

Also, make your RV life just like home or work. However you plan to be RVing. Especially if you’re taking your office on the road make sure the internet is working, the office is set up, you have a printer, paper, etc… To make it just like home, set up the kitchen with utensils, and whatever you need food on the road. Make sure you have everything you would have at home or the office because no one wants to add more stress knowingly to their life.

If you want to take the burden off of your spouse in this new lifestyle, the best way to do that is to make it feel like home. You are trying to tell them to come over to this new life, change their lifestyle, and you really just don’t want it to be stressful. Let me repeat you don’t want them to knowingly feel like they’re diving into this extremely stressful craziness, chaotic life so be the RV expert and make it easy for them.

What’s Next?

Now, you know, five ways that you can convince your spouse to go RVing with you. When I started RV life, I had no idea what I was diving into. I wasn’t even sure if my boyfriend was going to come along with me! So, I know exactly what you feel like and what it feels like to go through this process. My RV life turned into something way bigger than I ever could have imagined, which is why I say just “do you boo”, embark on your dreams, and they will follow!

TRUST me, I know it can be scary getting started so if you want someone to guide you, you want community and support and help planning and preparing and getting your RV life started, then you can book a call with me and I will help show you the way! We can talk about what kind of RV life you want to have and start planning your RV life (whether your spouse wants to come or not). Learn more visit https://rversity.com/join

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Hey, I’m Blogging Brandi! Over 5 years ago, I traded my sticks & bricks lifestyle for a life on wheels. Quit my job, sold my house, and everything else, then bought an RV! First, was a Travel Trailer, then Van Life then Motorhome Living. Now, I help people go from feeling overworked, underpaid, and undervalued to living a life of freedom & financial security they love from the comfort of their home on wheels aka Full Time RV Living!

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