we have dreamed of full time rving for years. we have a little savings,we will have a little social security. we plan to sell our house in the spring. we will use the proceeds from the sell to purchase a truck and 5th wheel. we are apprehensive about aquiring jobs, we will NEED to workamp. my husband has worked in home building for years and now picks up extra monies by doing handyman work. I have worked in production manufacturing with parttime work in waitressing or checking groceries.

Welcome ! If you will look at some of the other topics on this forum, you will find other potential workampers with similiar dreams ....and concerns. Be sure to read thru those other topics.
Yes, the economy is not good but there are still jobs available... you worked on an assembly line (??). [removed] might be an option for you. [removed] You just need to be creative in your job searches
Best Wishes !

I feel that unless this is something that you MUST do at this time, I would wait until the economy gets better. There are way more workampers right now than there are jobs. Even living in an rv park now and working outside for a living is difficult since jobs are being cut all over the country. I'm not trying to be negative and if this is something that you have to do NOW, than as the last poster said, be creative in your job search.

We are doing the best we have ever done financially. Partly because we do not feed into this idea that we are in an economical issue and we are constantly going out of the box and our comfort zones finding work.

We say...follow your heart. If we would have listened to all the naysayers that told us we could and would not ever make it out here without a steady income, we would have missed out on the best 4 years of our lives. Life is way too short to wait for the perfect time that may never come.

The only person/s who can make the decision for you is YOU. All others can do is relate what they did or would do in similar situations. We did not start full timing until we were retired with sufficient income to support ourselves in this lifestyle, but others do every day.

We did not/do not Workamp much because we don't need the money, (not to say extra money would not come in handy, but the bills are paid), and we enjoy volunteering and giving back to this country and others by doing so. Actually I would never try to make it on Workamping money alone, and I am talking about general Workamping, not just working in RV parks and Campgrounds. I do not believe it would provide the type of life we want while traveling, and I had no desire to exchange one rat race for another possibly worse.

YES, the economy is bad right now, or so we are told. Fortunately we have not seen a reduction in our retired pay (yet) nor have any of our investments went belly up, but we always put our money in guaranteed investments, not in iffy, or maybe ones. We probably could have made better money at times on investments, but we still believe the old "Bird in the hand being worth two in the bush" phrase. Most everything we buy has been increasing in price for many years, so not all that much difference noticed by us. I understand there are fewer jobs out there right now, but as I said earlier we do not need to work to make ends meet, so that has not been a problem, and there are still plenty of places that need volunteers and provide full hook up sites for them.

As far as jobs being scarce, I have been told that my entire life, but have never had trouble finding a job when I wanted or needed to work. We currently have more discretionary income than we did while working full time so we feel our retirement plan is paying off well. Of course there are so many things we no longer feel the need for that we thought were needs when we were in our sticks n bricks lifestyle when younger. Whatever you do, do it for you and may you enjoy this lifestyle immensely if you come into it.

Happy RVing.

Welcome.
For the first time in 11 years, we have seen many changes within the Workamping community this year. Unfortunately none good
As you said; you plan on selling your home. That in itself, with the current situation in the housing market can take quite awhile. Who knows, the economy may start to change by then.
Whatever little savings you have, (your words) can be consumed in one or two breakdowns depending on how mechanically inclined you or your husband are.

Naturally your traveling lifestyle will be regulated to some degree by whatever work you find. Living paycheck-to-paycheck is not fun when those few bills roll around. I'm not saying it can't be done. From what I've read on this Forum over the past few weeks, you will have a better financial start then some of the newer folks on here. More then likely they will have something to add. I will say that we started out with much less then you have, and are still going strong
Good Luck

Another consideration is the area you are currently living in ......and the area you want to visit.
If you are currently living in Detroit then, IMHO, it's time to go
If you are in an area with a large influx of tourists, will you really do any better to move on ???

pjlady, in your resume, emphasize your strengths that apply to campgrounds, if that is where you are focusing. My DW has a strong retail background, and I was a homebuilder, so we emphasized those attributes in our resume, and have had no trouble at all finding paying jobs when we wanted them. Many private campgrounds/RV resorts have small stores/shops that need retail skills, and we have not found a campground yet that didn't need good skilled maintenance people. Go for it!!

I suggest you look for a used truck & 5th wheel. We winter in Fla and the RV parks all have a bulleting board with units for sale. Money-wise you might do better working in the community rather than for a free site in the RV park.

The only way to know if Workamping lifestyle will work for you is to try it ... but be sure to have a fall-back plan if it falls short financially. Put it on paper and be sure you and your travel partner agrees with the plan!

And write it in pencil with a large eraser

This topic keps coming up and I feel I have to keep giving the same answer because I worry about folks. We have workamped in summer for 7 years and its a great way for senior retirees to have a little adventure and supplement their income a little bit. But, typical, average workamping jobs- terrible way to try to make a living. Low pay, temporary and no paid benefits; especially, no health insurance. Our jobs are good as workamping goes and we clear about $500/week, total; or $5,000 for 10 weeks. That's nice but not much if you really need an income. If you really couldn't survive without jobs, then I wouldn't recommend it.

We have workamped for 9 years. We save every penny we can while we are working, so that when we aren't working we will have some money in the bank. We started out when we were 49 and and 51. We do not have health insurance, but we did not have health insurance when we lived in our house. Can't get it due to pre-existing conditions, and refuse to worry about something that is out of my control.

The first 7 years, we worked at privately owned campgrounds and resorts, and picked places that paid for every hour worked, and had a long season. Some places have a 9-10 month "season", some have shorter 5-6 month "season". If we worked for 9-10 months, that meant we were not working 2-3 months. We looked for volunteer positions in state parks during the "off" season if we couldn't find a paying job during the winter. That would at least give us a free fhu site to live on while we looked for a job for the next season.

We have worked for the National Park Service for the last two summers. They pay very well. We have to pay for our site, but it is not much.

Even when we were working at low paying jobs at private campgrounds, we had more money than we did when we lived in our house. Since we sold the house, we no longer have the mortgage, the upkeep, the utilities and everything else associated with owning a house. Our expenses are way less, so we need less money to be able to live comfortably.

As for whether workamping is a "terrible way to try to make a living" or not, that is up to the individual. We love our life, have more fun, more money, and less stress than we did while living in a house we could no longer afford when I was laid off after working at the same place for 20 years. Workamping is a viable alternative if you are frugal, can be happy living in a small space, and are an adventurous couple.

Right on target FabGrandma!

Living this lifestyle has definitely been the best for us, may not be for everyone if you NEED lots of things, we do not. We travel and see more things than we would have ever seen if we were still stuck in the lifestyle we were not happy with.

It never hurts to try something, if you don't like it, then go back or try something new!

thanks to everyone that replied to my post. a whole lot of good advice and ideas. i think we are leaning closer to taking this huge step. this workamper web site has been a great find. we want to head out to California when we get our rig, so if you have any suggestions for places out there, i will be glad to hear from you. of course close to the coast is where we want to be. our granddaughter lives around Sacramento.