Right before I retired, I started making digital download products for fellow elementary principals to help motivate, encourage, and celebrate their staff. At the time, I had plenty of room for an office area at home (i.e., a laptop, printer, paper, supplies, camera, and a photo shoot area) to produce the products. I never dreamed I’d be taking the show on the road…literally. Since 2018, my husband Gene and I, have been living full-time in an RV!
I knew that once we transitioned to the RV, I would need a focus while my husband was doing contract work. I absolutely LOVE making products and can get lost for hours during the creating process. So it was a no-brainer to continue making products and begin my business here at leadjoyfully.com. I post my ramblings and my products that I believe provides leaders with time-saving ideas and staff appreciation/activity items.
So let me share first of all what the space for an office looks like. Hang around (or skip to the end) if you are interested in a few ideas on how to work from the road. Update: Our RV space has been updated and remodeled! Check it out here.
Double-duty Office Space
The dinette area of our RV doubles for my laptop placement. I had a little problem trying to downsize my office supplies. Okay, I still have a problem minimizing in this area! I’m an ex-educator and most of us have an affinity for officey stuff!
I like organization so I went to the local building supply store and had them cut two pieces of board to fit under the dinette to make a shelf that would utilize that space. As you can see in the picture, a basket holds most of my supplies plus a notebook planner, journal, etc. (I do have some more supplies stashed away in the back!)
I take product pictures to put on my covers and or Pinterest pins, so the dinette/office area doubles (or rather triples!@!?) for a photoshoot area on days when there is not enough sunshine. I remove the cushions off that side of the dinette for stability and try not to hit my head (which I have done several times now). On sunny days, I can put items on the floor and snap away. However, this make-shift photo box/foam board doubles as something else, too! Can you guess?
Back at the local building supply store, I picked up two white foam boards, L-brackets, and a roll of masking tape. Positioning the open side along the window, I can get plenty of light for shoots even when it’s cloudy outside. The foam boards are showing a little wear and tear because they also doubled for insulating the windows when we were experiencing COLD weather in northern Missouri. (More about this later.)
I finally bought a new printer that is Instant Ink compatible and now I can’t believe I waited so long to do so. The high cost of ink for my old printer was ridiculous and it inhibited me from printing out my products as much as I should. I was slow to jump on the bandwagon, so most of you probably already know about Instant Ink. Good for you!
For those of you that don’t know – Instant Ink has plans as low as $2.99 a month for occasional printing (up to 50 pages), $4.99 for moderate printing (up to 100 pages), $11.99 a month for heavy printing (up to 300 pages) and so on. I thought originally that you pay for ink or shipment of the ink in addition to the monthly plan. You don’t do either! The price/plan is all-inclusive. There is no difference if you’re printing all your copies black and white or all in color.
Lots of great features, but the biggies to me that I haven’t mentioned;
1) they roll over the number of copies you don’t use for future use, 2) they ship the ink to you before you run out, and 3) you can change your plan anytime! I’ve switched about three times already. 🙂 If you are interested, here is a referral link. It will definitely save you money!
The View Out the Window Changes
If you’ve read our story of how we ended up as full-timers, you know our first RV home was Saint Joseph, Missouri. The view out the window of our RV was beautiful…when we got there. It was the end of August and the temperatures in St. Joe were moderate. After living through the 110 degree days (<—plural!) in North Texas, it was a pleasant time. Gene works as a catastrophic insurance adjuster (CAT adjuster) and the initial two-month deployment turned into seven months. That meant we were in MO during the winter! The view out the window definitely changed!
My husband grew up in this area and had a 120-gallon propane tank delivered and set up behind our RV right after he arrived. Thank you hubby…and thank you, Lord! We were nice and warm most of the winter however, we did end up spending one week in a motel when the temperatures got down to -10 degrees. We didn’t want the pipes freezing and busting!
Yes, the view out the window changes. Gene finished his contract work and for the last three months, we’ve been able to travel across six states, visit family, and see a few sights we wanted to see.
And It’s Back to Work!
The best-laid plans have a way of changing. We had a few more places we wanted to visit; however, Gene received the call for a three-month work deployment. This time in Mobile, Alabama. We had three days to get from Texas to Alabama so it was a good trip. And the view from the window now is pretty amazing. 🙂
Are You Looking to Work From a Mobile Base?
Before we ended up working as we do now, Gene and I talked about other possibilities. There are several options out there. Here are just a few:
*Seasonal Workamping (work camping) is a fast-growing trend in the American work market. Check out the Workamper News for a vast amount of information. They do include part-time, full-time, and seasonal work. Basically, if you live in an RV and work…you are considered a work camper! This could include a wide range of occupations like construction workers, traveling nurses (we’ve met many) and the like. But when the majority of RVers hear “work camping” they will be referring to people whose activities relate primarily to outdoor hospitality. Campgrounds, resorts, theme parks, marinas, guest ranches, wildlife preserves. Don’t forget state, national, and regional parks/forests.
*Campground Hosting Jobs– We met a couple that worked at the Grand Canyon during seasonal months and they tried to talk us into that. (Tempting!) We also were asked if we wanted to work the gate at an Army Corp of Engineer Park where we stayed one time. They were short-handed! A simple Google search for “camp hosting” pulls a multitude of sites.
At http://www.camphost.org/ they share the history of camp hosting and explain more about it. You can also apply from that site. If you want to narrow down the jobs by state here is a site.
As a final note, you don’t have to be retirement age to work from the road! The median age for work campers is 53!
Happy Camping!
Gail Boulton
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