Top Ten Downsides of Life on the Road

There are some things that are inconvenient about living on the road. I've listed them least bad to most bad; spoiler: black tanks aren't on the list!

10. You will need to conserve water.

When living small, you need to be aware of how much water you are using. As someone who loves long hot showers, I only do this when we have access to a campground shower. In the RV, it's only quick showers.

9. You won't have certain luxuries, like a dishwasher.

Yes, we wash all our dishes by hand. I do miss having a dishwasher.

8. It's hard to keep plants alive with constant change in rain and sunlight conditions.

I love plants and started RV life with a few indoor plants and a few outdoor plants. They all either drowned or froze. Except my bamboo shoots. Those are living their best RV life. I also started RV life with a small 5 gallon aquarium, and it didn't make it past the year mark with us.

7. No back yard for your dog or dogs.

If you are a dog lover and someone who does not want to walk your dog multiple times a day in all weather conditions, this may be an issue for you. Taking the dogs out on a walk is more of a chore than just opening the door to the back yard, like we were able to do when we had a house.

6. If you don't love laundromats, you may dread laundry day.

I used to hate this part of RV life a lot more, but it has grown on me. I don't mind laundromats anymore, but it's still a chore.

5. You will not be able to buy in bulk the way you would in a house.

Me and my partner prefer to have stock pile of certain items we use a lot. Moving into the RV, we had to change this habit.

4. It is difficult to order packages from small businesses.

I love Etsy. I haven't been able to order anything from Etsy except as gifts to other people, as I can just order it directly to them. I am usually not in one place for very long, and if shipping is taking longer than usual, I could be gone. We do use Amazon and Amazon lockers for packages.

3. You give up "being a regular".

No, I don't just mean at your local restaurant or coffee shop. Think about all the places you regularly go to. Maybe you have a certain hair dresser or barber. Or doctor or dentist. A favorite tattoo artist or dog groomer. You will need to find a new one every time you need one. I used to have a lash tech when I lived in my house, I had to stop going to her. And as someone terrified of the dentist, always having to find a new one is stressful.

2. Not being close to friends and family.

If you're not someone who is very good at keeping up with people, you may have to learn to call or text or send postcards. It's hard to not see my parents as often. It's sad to miss holidays. And sad not being able to just pop over to a friend's house.

1. Not having as much space inside for hobbies.

If you aren't able to spend time with your friends and family, you better come up with some way to spend your time! A lot of RV-ers and van lifers have hobbies that are outdoorsy. I love hiking, and we recently got some Oru Kayaks that origami fold into a bag. But there are some hobbies we gave up to live in an RV. I had a ten gallon aquarium in the house that definitely could not come on the road with us. I also had plants and you can't garden on the road. I'm into flow arts and have several hoops that I brought with me. In the house, I had a big living room with high ceilings and I could hoop inside if the weather was bad, and I also had a back deck I could hoop on. I can't really hoop inside the camper. I can hoop outside the camper, but at RV parks and trailer parks there is very little privacy which is a deterrent for me dancing outside. My boyfriend had a office set up for gaming at the house, and while we were able to bring his stuff with us in the camper, he doesn't really game as much as he used to.