Pros and Cons about Living Full-Time in a Camper
- Jennifer Evans
- Nov 6, 2024
- 6 min read
Selling our home and moving into a camper with our toddler and two dogs is a massive transition that we are still finding our way through.
We’ve hit a ton of hurdles with our truck that was supposed to be hauling our camper but when we remove that part of the equation - camper life itself has been a wonderful experience so far.
We’ve learned a lot of lessons so far, we’ve overcome a lot of obstacles, and after two months, we are finally starting to feel more comfortable with it.
With that being said, here are my top five favorite things about living in a camper and my top five things I don’t like about living in it.
Pro #1: We have everything we need
We have an indoor kitchen, an outdoor kitchen, and a full bathroom, a master bedroom, and our son even has an entire bunkhouse for his bedroom.
Prior to moving into a camper, we lived in a 2,200 square foot house that had four bedrooms and three bathrooms for three people and the only thing that actually did for us was give us more space to store junk and more space to clean.
We didn’t have any true benefits from having all this extra space.
Now that we’ve gotten rid of the space that wasn’t necessary, things feel simpler and more peaceful.
We use the space we have, any item we have in the camper has a purpose, and it feels like a weight has been lifted off our shoulders.
Pro #2: We naturally spend more time outside
In a giant home, it’s easy to spend all day inside if you feel like it. And you definitely can do this in a camper too.
But sleeping and living in a camper naturally comes with a mindset shift that pushes you outdoors which has some incredible benefits.
In a house, I suffered from seasonal depression really badly.
I’d stay inside for days and I noticed myself being angrier, more irritable, and I had strong mood swings.
Since moving into a camper, we just keep our seasonal gear handy so we can go outside no matter what the weather elements are.
Thanks to having an outdoor kitchen, we get to often cook and eat outdoors and we’ve chosen several of our son’s toys to be “outdoor toys” as well.
Being able to spend more time outside feels like we’re able to slow time down and live in the moment instead of wasting away time in front of a television screen (but don’t worry, we’re still able to do some of that too).
Pro #3: Living mobile
Traveling is expensive.
Hotels can add up quickly and the fact that we’re able to pick up our house and bring it wherever we want is such a freeing feeling.
We lost out on more than two weeks of adventure due to our truck hurdles and while that was such a huge emotional obstacle to overcome, I have peace knowing that we can do that again sometime since our home is on wheels and ready to go wherever our heart desires.
Campgrounds tend to be a lot cheaper and programs like Harvest Hosts make it insanely affordable to travel the country on a budget.
Even once we settle into our new home state, nothing is stopping us from taking our camper a few hours away on our days off and it makes exploring the area a lot easier and a lot cheaper than it would be without our camper.
Pro #4: Lowering the cost of living
When we factored in our mortgage, our utility bills, our HOA, our homeowner's insurance, home repairs, and other costs associated with owning a home, we were paying more than $2,000 just to live in a home.
Moving into a camper doesn’t mean that our $2,000 a month turns into $0. But it’s lowered it tremendously.
Our diesel costs are high and we still need to pay for things like gas for our generator and propane for our heat. And parking the camper places typically isn’t free but when you add all those expenses together, it’s still a fraction of the $2,000 we were spending before.
Plus, we found a job at a campground where a lot of these expenses will be covered as part of our employment which means our cost of living will lower even more than it already has.
Pro #5: Professional Freedom
Lowering our cost of living has a direct effect on our employment options.
Prior to living in our camper, my husband was working a very unforgiving job. He was scheduled for 50 hours a week, his hours were never consistent, he’d never get off on time, he’d miss family events, and the stress of this job took a huge toll on his mental health, my mental health, and our overall happiness.
Lowering our cost of living ultimately lowers the amount of hours we have to work to make ends meet and it gives us more freedom for secondary employment or side hustles to make even more money to save.
Having the flexibility with our jobs ultimately gives us more time together as a family as well and time is something that we will never be able to get back one day and it feels like we are finally in control instead of feeling stuck like we had for such a long time.
Now - with all these things being said, there are definitely some challenges about living in a camper.
Con #1: Needing to keep a close eye on utilities
We’ve learned the hard way that if you don’t keep a close eye on your propane levels, gas levels in your generator, or the water level in your camper, you quickly lose your utilities at the most inconvenient times.
I’ve had to get out of the shower before I was done, we’ve woke up freezing cold after losing our heat in the middle of the night, and we’ve had to throw away groceries because our generator ran out of gas while we were away.
As time has gone on, this has become a part of our routine.
But this was a tough part of our transition and we are thankful this has gotten smoother!
Con #2: Bugs, Bugs, Bugs
It seems like bugs and spiders enter our camper way more easily than they ever entered our home.
Right now, we are in the “stink bug” season and it feels like as soon as we get rid of one, we find another.
I’m not typically afraid of bugs or spiders but stink bugs are the one exception to this and I’ve found stink bugs on our toilet paper roll, on our son’s bedrail, on my clothes, and other places that give me a heart attack to say the least.
No matter how hard we try to keep these critters out, they always manage to find a way back in.
Con #3: Dog hair
We are traveling with a Pit Bull mix and a Great Pyrenees mix and the Great Pyrenees sheds excessively.
It’s one thing if you’re in a regular-sized home but being a camper makes it feel like you’re completely surrounded by dog hair and to me, that’s super stressful.
Thankfully, the dogs can spend a lot of time outside. But it doesn’t stop their hair from being everywhere on the inside of the camper.
It causes things to feel a little bit more “dirty” all the time and we need to clean it up more often than we felt like we needed to in our house.
Con #4: Small kitchen sink
When we downsized our items, we thankfully downsized a lot of our kitchen items.
But somehow, we still manage to fill up the sink after every meal.
We’ve always used dinner as an indicator to wind down and we had gotten into the habit of cleaning up our dishes the next day.
This habit simply just doesn’t work in the camper.
It’s funny because cleaning up our dishes right away is actually a great habit to be in - but since we aren’t in that habit yet, it feels like a burden.
When we do clean our dishes, it also seems to be a messier process because water is splashing off the dishes we have in the sink and that’s something we are adjusting to as well.
Con #5: Rocky transports
Before we move the camper anywhere, we have to be careful about securing all of our loose items so they don’t shift or break during transport.
No matter how well we think we secured everything, we almost always find something that we missed.
We had our dog kennel ripped out of the ground by a drawer handle, we had our air conditioner vent cover fall off and break, we had trimming ripped off the wall, and more.
Just like some of the other cons we’ve faced, we hope this gets better as time goes on once we diagnose what keeps causing these random issues.
Conclusion
While this camper transition hasn’t been a smooth one by any means, the pros for us have heavily outweighed our cons.
While things have broken, we’ve fought dog hair and bugs, and we’re having to learn new habits, we ultimately have more freedom, more flexibility in traveling, and more time together as a family.
Making this lifestyle change has opened up a world of opportunities for us and has changed our way of thinking.
And for that - we are very grateful!
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