Instructors: Joe & Vicki Kieva
This is not a course on fulltiming, but one for those who will be gone for several weeks or months. Since you will be returning to your home, what do you do to simplify the care and maintenance it will need? Consider easy care outside plants, which will not need unusual feeding or spraying. A lawn service should be considered, since an overgrown lawn is a sure sign no one is at home. Do you really need those indoor plants?
Take security precautions as needed. Should you have an alarm system?
Find a home "overseer". This could be a friend or relative, or if necessary, someone can be hired. This person periodically checks the house, can contact you when it is necessary, arranges for emergency repairs and may forward mail and messages to you.
If possible, use one financial institution, be it a bank, credit union, or brokerage house. This way you get one monthly statement which needs one response, one piece of mail. Minimize the need to go to the bank by banking by mail, and using electronic deposits. Overdraft protection for your checking account is useful in emergencies.
For bill paying, minimize the amount of cash needed. Be sure your ATM card is Cirrus or plus network associated (these are internationally used). As much as possible, use credit cards or checks for purchases. But keep the number of credit cards to a minimum. Most places will take Visa & Mastercard.
To minimize the number of checks you need to write, pay by telephone or have payments automatically deducted from your account.
To minimize the number of bills you have to pay, reduce the number of credit cards you use. Pre-pay your bills before you leave, or have them forwarded to you.
Regarding mail and mail forwarding, you have several options. The Post Office will hold your mail, but only for 30 days. If you are gone longer than that, you may have your "caretaker" retrieve and hold your mail or forward it to you. If you choose to have it forwarded, have it sent to you c/o General Delivery, in a small town. If a town has only one zip code, it will only have one post office. Thus you will not have to guess which of many post offices is holding your mail. Also, a small town will not have as much general delivery mail to sort through to find yours. Have the mail sent "Priority Mail". While this costs $3,00, you will get your mail much more rapidly.
Telephone communications. Calling cards and pre-paid phone cards are often cheaper for long distance calls. The Kievas have two cards. On one of their longer trips, the number off one of their cards was stolen, and the phone company canceled the card. If you have two, you can use the other while the first is being replaced.
Answering machines. This is not a place to save money. Get a good one, preferably with a "toll saver" feature. This means that when you call in, if the phone rings more than once or twice (depending on the machine's setting), you can be assured that there are no messages and hang up, thereby saving toll call money. There is also phone company voice-mail service, and RV club or commercial voice mail service.
For emergencies only, the Kievas use their cell phone. It doesn't work in all areas, and the roaming charges (whenever you are not in a small area close to home, which is usually) are expensive. [Tom & I leave ours on every night for two hours when we travel (5-7pm), and our family has instructions not to call unless it is really an emergency].
Before leaving home, check your medical insurance, get copies of your medical records and prescription medication. Sometimes you cannot get a prescription filled in another state. You can use a mail order pharmacy or a nationwide chain pharmacy. For medical care on the road, you can use the local hospital emergency room, or a walk-in medical clinic. Often the campgound host can give you recommendations.
You will find that ,"what do you do?" is no longer important, but "where have you been?" and what have you done?", is. Make your preparations now for some enjoyable weeks or months of extended RVing.