We Bought a Camper! And Dave Ramsey Would Approve.

THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS. PLEASE READ OUR DISCLOSURE FOR MORE INFO.

We’ve had an idea to move into an RV for about 8 months now. We have been (slowly) decluttering and selling things off in preparation for the move into less space. Robbie has been looking for a 5th wheel travel trailer for us for about 4 months now, and we were starting to get a little impatient with the process since our departure date was starting to stare us in the face.

 God has a funny way of letting His timing show through and making us seem silly for ever doubting Him. This week we purchased a 40ft 5th Wheel Travel Trailer and we are in love with it! But we almost didn’t get this trailer. 

Since our departure date was rapidly approaching and we didn’t have a trailer yet, we were starting to come up with some plan B ideas to make it happen. Those ideas included selling our rental property, which would have worked as our area is growing rapidly, but we would like to keep it as an income property for years to come. We also debated taking out an equity line on our house. I mentioned our area is growing and our property values have gone up in the past couple years, so we could have done that too, but that would have meant more debt to pay off. We also debated maxing out our credit card lines. I know, way worse decision than the previous, but we were starting to get desperate. And we plan to reduce our expenses in the next few months so that would help, but who wants that extra money to go toward credit card debt?! Not us. 

As I mentioned before, we had been looking at travel trailers for several months. We went to some of the local dealerships and looked at some layouts. We knew what layout we wanted and needed in a trailer to fit our family for the next year. Some of the things we wanted made the trailers pretty expensive. We had been watching an online auction for awhile and decided on a few models we would bid on over the past few weeks. Well they all went above our comfort zone for budget and so we had to let them go.

Last week however, was a different story. We got our trailer!!

In our opinion it was completely God’s timing because that week before we had 2 big income sources come in. Robbie sold a large item on eBay (You can see more of his eBay flips HERE), and we received our tax return. The combination of those two thing ended up being $300 MORE than what the trailer cost! WOW. We were so excited that we could pay cash for this 5th wheel and not have any debt on it!

Financing things is not our gig. We have NEVER financed a vehicle in the whole 10 years of our marriage. (Our back up truck that is pulling the camper above was an $800 purchase and was 3 different colors the day before we left for the trip. I asked Robbie to at least paint the side matte black so we could take nicer pictures of the rig. And he did. With spray paint. :))

I think Dave Ramsey would be proud! We have taken his Financial Peace University class several times now, and it has been a huge help! We got completely out of debt 8 years ago, and stayed that way until last summer when we acquired some business debt. We are working hard to get that paid off quickly! We really hate any kind of debt and like I mentioned before, we have never financed anything except for our houses.

Several friends have been asking about what the inside of the trailer looks like. We actually didn’t know ourselves until we picked it up! We had 2 rough pictures of the inside, but didn’t know what the inside would end up looking like. We were very happy when we opened up the trailer at the auction site. 

I haven’t posted pictures on social media yet, so these are the very first posted inside pics of our new HOME! 🙂 We LOVE it!!!

STAY UPDATED ON OUR TRAVELS.

Here is the view of the kitchen from the bedroom steps:

This is the living room:

Here is the bedroom at the front of the trailer:

Here is the bathroom at the front of the trailer:

Here is the back garage of the camper. It has two beds that slide down and also a hook up for the washer and dryer:

There is some damage on the back end of the trailer. Two panels will need to be replaced and then re-braced again. We also plan to add a porch on the back. They are added to the newer models, but this is a 2008, which is before they were used. We also need to add a television, but that is very minor. We are so excited about this trailer!

View of some of the damage:

We are so excited about this trailer and that God provided us with a means to get it without accumulating debt.

If debt is bogging you down, Check out Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University at a church near you!

If there are no classes close-by, my friend Tracie Fobes from Penny Pinchin’ Mom has created an awesome go-at-your-pace online finance course to help you get out of debt. You can check out her Financial Reboot online course HERE.

And if a full class or course is too much, our friend Charissa Quade from Cook With A Shoe wrote an incredible e-book on budgeting on ANY income. Check out her book Budgeting Made Easy: Thriving on Any Income to get a jump start on your finances. 

Tell Us What You Think!

Could you see yourself living in this 5th wheel trailer for the next year? Or would that be completely out of your element? Comment below!

Keep updated on our upcoming travels by dropping us your e-mail HERE.