7 Tips to Get the Most Use Out of Your RV

We've done a lot of RV walkthroughs on this channel and the one comment we always see is, why is that so expensive? RVs are expensive. There's no getting around it and if you're going to put your hard-earned money into one, why not get the most out of it? An RV should be able to be used for more than just camping. I'm going to give you seven different ways you can get more use out of an RV. First on my list is using your camper as a daily driver. We're not talking about trailers because you can't drive those and a full-size class A motorhome or class C motorhome might make a difficult thing to daily. If you have a small camper van, truck camper or something similar, that can be a great vehicle to drive on a daily basis. Kate loves taking our class B camper van to the grocery store because let's say we're going to go out for the day and she wants to pick up things like ice cream and perishables, well she puts the ice cream in the freezer, everything else in the fridge and we don't have to worry about rushing home. If we're going to the hardware store and we need to pick up some lumber, well we have a camper van so we can open the back doors and stick that in the garage area and use it kind of like you would a pickup. A lot of people going to kids soccer or football games for example would really benefit by having a small camper to take along with them because you can store all your kids gear in there. Usually there's seating for four or more in a camper van for example or a truck camper with four doors and when you get there you have all the gear on hand, you have a small kitchen, you can go in make meals, grab stuff for the kids, even changes of clothes and you can keep some cold beverages in the fridge for yourself or make a cup of coffee if it gets cold. Those of you with pets can also use your camper for day trips. Let's say you want to go out hiking for the day and you take your dog with you. It's hot out, the dog is tired but you want to keep going. You can take the dog back and let the dog hang out in the camper, put the AC on for them, let them relax, have some water while you go and do your thing. It's also nice if you're going out for the day and you want to take your pup along just on your whatever your adventure is and you get to a place that isn't dog friendly. Again you can turn on the AC, they can be comfortable while you go in and do whatever you need to get done. And the best part about small campers is they typically fit in a single parking spot so you don't have to worry about where you're going and where you're going to have to park. Typically the only thing you do have to worry about is the height, so no drive-thrus. Number two, use your camper for day trips. If you're going to a theme park or a national park for example, consider using your camper as your kind of home away from home while you're there. Now at a theme park for example, let's say you go on that water ride, you get absolutely soaking wet. You now have a home base that you can go back to, relax, change your clothes, get dry and even have a snack or something out of the fridge, make yourself a cup of coffee again. Notice I'm on the coffee kick. A few years ago we took our camper van to Universal Studios and it was an extremely hot day so we had the AC running in there and used it as a way to get away, have lunch, relax and cool off. Now if you're interested in seeing that video we will link to it up above. The other thing is if you go to a national park, a camper is great as you're driving around especially in those pull-outs where again it becomes that home away from home. You can relax, you can take a nap, you can make a meal all in the comfort of your own little area. You don't have to worry about you know what do I do if I need to go to a bathroom because most campers have the bathroom built in. You don't have to go looking for that disgusting pit toilet. Third, turn your RV into a hobby vehicle. Now you could use any type of RV for this trailer, motorhome, whatever as long as you can get to where you want to go. There are a lot of people out there who are mountain bikers, rock climbers, kayakers, horse people, those types of things and they use RVs on a regular basis to go to events or just get out into the wild and have a place they can stay and use that as a base while they're doing whatever their activity is. There's actually a great video that we'll also link to up above of a guy that uses his with his paramotor. He's in a storyteller and goes all over the place and uses that as his base of operations. Number four, turn your RV into a mobile office. With more and more people working remotely this becomes a very viable option for a lot of you that you can go into your RV and work. We've actually talked to a number of people who have a camper van or something similar and they actually use it to get out of the house to work for the day. For example, a friend of ours who has kids every now and again just has to get away from the kids, needs some quiet especially for those zoom calls so she'll go out to the camper van and work there while the kids are being looked after in the house. You can also take your camper to a great location to work for the day. Kate and I once took our camper while we were visiting family down to the beach. We drove right up to the sand, parked the camper and we had the ocean as our backyard for the afternoon while we worked. Once we were done we took a walk and I even went for a dip in the Pacific. So there are all sorts of ways you can use your camper as your office. Fifth, use your camper as a guest room. This is great because it gives you and your guests some extra privacy plus they get a unique experience. When you have guests that let's say they're sleeping out in an RV, they can get up whenever they want to. You can get up whenever you want to and you don't have to worry about intermingling until everybody wants to come together. It's nice because they'll have their own bed, usually a kitchen area, toilet and all that stuff. Plus it's a cool story for them to tell their friends when they get back home that they stayed in an RV for however long they were visiting. We actually know someone who uses their small travel trailer as a guest bedroom when the weather is nice and they have mountains. So they go out, park the trailer out in the field and they have this beautiful mountain view for their guests to enjoy while they're staying with them. We also have friends who got a trailer when their daughter had to come home and do virtual classroom work while she was in college. So she stayed in the camper while they stayed in the house because they didn't have room for her in the house. Number six. Want to earn some extra cash? Rent your RV. There are a number of services out there like GoCamp where you can rent your RV for extra cash. We actually know a couple people who are making a business out of this because it can be so lucrative. But if you're just looking to make some extra money on the side while you're not using your camper, this could be a great option for you. And finally, number seven. Use your RV as an emergency backup or bug out plan. When I was living in Los Angeles, I was there for the big 94 quake. This took out power, water, and some homes were even unlivable. But I had a lot of neighbors who had RVs and some of them went in and used the RV as their home because they had generators, they had water, they had power, and they were able to essentially live life like they were in a house while the rest of us were scrounging to eat all the food out of the fridge before it went bad. For us living in southern Indiana, we often get heavy storms with a lot of wind that'll knock down trees and take out power. We can use our camper van as our essentially our home if we need to. We can go in there, we can cook, make coffee, have a fridge that's running. But if we need to, we can run extension cords from our van into the house to power the fridge and the chest freezer to keep our food from going bad. Finally, you can use it as your bug out vehicle. Leave clothes and things in there, non-perishable food, and if something happens and you need to leave the area for something like a hurricane, let's say you live down in Florida, you can take your second home with you and bug out of the area and not have to worry about trying to find a hotel that might be full or expensive and those types of things. Now I know these seven ways to get more use out of your RV is not to end all and be all. In fact, as I was going through all the different points, you may have noticed that I referenced a lot of people that we know or have met on the road. So I would actually love to get your experiences and how you use your RV when you're not camping. Is it in storage or do you actually use it for other things? I would love to hear because I know we forgot a few things or just don't know about them. So leave comments down below and that is it for this video. Thank you so much for watching. If you enjoyed it, as always, please give us a thumbs up, subscribe if you haven't already, and if you want to learn more about RVing and just things in general with the lifestyle, head on over to our website at weretherussos.com and we'll see you next time. Bye!