NotSoObvious Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 We may need to find a place for 3-4 months after our lease is over, before making a bigger, permanent move. We're trying to figure out the best way to do this without breaking the bank. Hubby travels 50% of the time for work and we can live anywhere from VA to ME. We have a dog and twin 10 year olds. Ideas we've bounced around: -Move into a month to month rental with all our stuff (least desirable, but probably most likely) -Put everything in storage and rent a furnished place for three months (blah, not appealing) -Put everything in storage and take some sort of adventure??? Camping?? ***Whenever I try to make traveling work, it always seems SO expensive!!! Any advice on any of the above? Any other ideas? We are up for something different, knowing it would be short term. It's the cost that has us worried. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dandelion Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 I love your travel idea! :thumbup1: Would house-sitting be a way to experience other places while keeping your costs down? Just for fun, I googled house-sitting opportunities and found this article: "See the world by house sitting" (http://www.marriedwithluggage.com/2011/08/12/see-the-world-by-house-sitting/). I have zero experience with this (other than house-sitting for a friend here or there) but a cursory glance at the article makes it sound like quite the adventure - and very doable. You might have to find a temporary home for your dog, but maybe this could be an option for you. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
athena1277 Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 Could you buy a small camper? You could put all but the bare essentials in storage and live in the camper wherever you wanted. Having a place to cook will make it much cheaper to travel. (Edited to fix my grammar mistake. Wouldn't want to kill any kittens. :D ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotSoObvious Posted February 17, 2013 Author Share Posted February 17, 2013 Could you buy a small camper? You could put all but the bare essentials in storage and live in the camper wherever you wanted. Having a place to cook will make it much cheaper to travel. (Edited to fix my grammar mistake. Wouldn't want to kill any kittens. :D ) I keep looking at this option, but campers are dang expensive! I'm not sure how to do this on the cheap. Plus, we'd have two cars, neither of which could pull a camper. One car is the perfect camping car though and we are good tent campers. Although, I really can't see us doing that for more than a week at a time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lea1 Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 How expensive is it to rent a camper? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotSoObvious Posted February 17, 2013 Author Share Posted February 17, 2013 How expensive is it to rent a camper? Super expensive through Cruise America, unless there is some way to get a deal that I am missing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
babs Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 House sit! Have an adventure! Those 10 year olds are going to start growing up exponentially...this time is perfect to do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 What about looking into campground memberships that have cabins? Some let you travel to different campgrounds every couple of weeks, and if you had a cabin, you might also have some basic cooking facilities. Tent camping for three months might get a bit old. But yeah, with two ten-year-olds, what a great time for an adventure! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harriet Vane Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 Go camping. Seriously--hit some major national parks. Get a bike rack so you can bring bikes along. Goof off in nature and little local history museums during the day, and then play cards and do read-alouds in the evenings. I'd do it in a minute. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoundAbout Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 We will be in a similar situation this summer. Our plan is to visit relatives and camp. I say go for adventure! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giraffe Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 Drive across country. Look into staying on the cheap near national parks and seeing everything. My family did this when I was 9 almost 10 and it was wonderful. I like to joke that we saw every national park, forest, and scenic view between the Pacific and Atlantic, but boy did we have fun (and killed three months between assignments for my dad). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotSoObvious Posted February 17, 2013 Author Share Posted February 17, 2013 OK, with camping... Besides KOAs, what are other groups to look at? Also, I've done camping with just my girls and the dog by myself, but only once. It was totally fine. But, my husband will be gone quite a bit. Would you still camp?? Do any of you camp alone as a mom with kids? I'm not sure what kinds of safety features to look for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotSoObvious Posted February 17, 2013 Author Share Posted February 17, 2013 Drive across country. Look into staying on the cheap near national parks and seeing everything. My family did this when I was 9 almost 10 and it was wonderful. I like to joke that we saw every national park, forest, and scenic view between the Pacific and Atlantic, but boy did we have fun (and killed three months between assignments for my dad). So...this was actually the plan for this summer before we knew we were moving. All of our family is in the west. The catch is, if we don't have our place here, then my husband has to find a place to live when he isn't traveling for work, plus pay for storage for our stuff. Hmm. I'm also not sure I want to leave him for that long. I've romanticized that scenario before and after a month with my mom, I was ready to burst! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotSoObvious Posted February 17, 2013 Author Share Posted February 17, 2013 We will be in a similar situation this summer. Our plan is to visit relatives and camp. I say go for adventure! Are you putting all your stuff in storage? If we go this route, we'll get a POD, we think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotSoObvious Posted February 17, 2013 Author Share Posted February 17, 2013 Oooh, I just saw we can volunteer to be hosts at a campground. I wonder if there are other volunteer things we could do... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoundAbout Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 Are you putting all your stuff in storage? If we go this route, we'll get a POD, we think. Yes, a POD is exactly what we were thinking! We have a Subaru Outback so are also thinking either a roof rack or small utility trailer for camping stuff, bikes, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotSoObvious Posted February 17, 2013 Author Share Posted February 17, 2013 Yes, a POD is exactly what we were thinking! We have a Subaru Outback so are also thinking either a roof rack or small utility trailer for camping stuff, bikes, etc. Ha! We'll be in the Tribeca with the roof rack. My husband will have his Legacy. He'll still have to work, so we'll need to be able to go somewhere with wifi during the week days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest inoubliable Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 Have you looked at http://workamper.com for campsite jobs? I think it's $30/year to search out jobs. I've found some on there that give you the lot rent for free, plus a nice bit in an account at the a campsite general store. With having a car, could you get a small popup camper? We have a small, old popup camper that we pull with our minivan but we know that a Subaru Outback or Volvo wagon will do just fine with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 I'd put our stuff in storage, and look for a cheap furnished apartment on www.airbnb.com. Preferably, in an interesting location! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tess in the Burbs Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 Oooh, I just saw we can volunteer to be hosts at a campground. I wonder if there are other volunteer things we could do... My mom hosts at a campground and there is a wait list to get that volunteer job. She doesn't get to pick how long. They give her choices of months but they dictate how many. One year was 2months but got extended to 3. Nextbyearvthey started later and only had to do 2. You work and need your own camper at most places. Mom checks people in, daily trash zone, camp store and more. The best places have wait lists. Check state rec sites for more info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amira Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 I'd just tell you to take over our lease if the timing worked out, but I bet you're not planning on moving in a few weeks. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giraffe Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 ABF has a great "POD" service that is cheaper than actual PODS. I've used them more than once and they are great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starr Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 Check on off season house rentals in a different part of the country. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephanieZ Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 If you are doing this soon, you could get off-season rentals at some places really cheap. We love the island of St George Island in Florida. Off season (Nov-Feb especially, but some houses as far as Oct-Mar/Apr?) can be SUPER cheap. There are nice houses for $1200/mo or so. Maybe less. If you want on the beach, it'll be more like $2000/up. I swear I've seen some under $1200/mo. CHEAP considering that includes utilities, etc. We rent a prime ($4500/wk in the summer) house for $3500/mo in October (when it is still in the upper 70s to upper 80s), and that same house is around $2200 or so Jan/Feb I think, The beach can be really fun off-season. You can enjoy so many things, and if you get shortie wetsuits, you might even brave the ocean. Lots of beach houses have hot tubs, too, which I would want if it's cooler than 70s. I am sure there are other off-season places to rent. I'd browse VRBO for places you are interested in. Also, know that most VRBO places, you are dealing directly with the owner, if they have it available for the next 2-3 months, they might make you a great deal, even if they don't offer monthly deals on their site. Typical "good" monthly pricing (off season only) is 1.5 to 2 weeks rent for the entire month. So, if they don't offer monthly pricing, I'd offer the equivalent to 1.5 to 2 weeks rent for each month, and see how that goes. If it's right now that you need it, and they have it totally open, I'd offer on the low end, since they'd probably jump at it. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephanieZ Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 ps. Watch out for "Spring Break Pricing" which can kill you in the spring. Some beach places charge summer rates for 4 to 6 or more spring weeks, even though the weather is still cold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotSoObvious Posted February 18, 2013 Author Share Posted February 18, 2013 I'd put our stuff in storage, and look for a cheap furnished apartment on www.airbnb.com. Preferably, in an interesting location! YAY!!!! Thank you SO much for this site! It's exactly what I've been looking for, as VrBO is too expensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotSoObvious Posted February 18, 2013 Author Share Posted February 18, 2013 I'd just tell you to take over our lease if the timing worked out, but I bet you're not planning on moving in a few weeks. :) We're are you going already?!?! You just got here! did you buy a house? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotSoObvious Posted February 18, 2013 Author Share Posted February 18, 2013 Thanks Stephanie. It would be starting in July. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amira Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 We're are you going already?!?! You just got here! did you buy a house? New job. It was always a possibility we'd just be here for a short time, and that's how it worked out. But we didn't plan on it being this short! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotSoObvious Posted February 18, 2013 Author Share Posted February 18, 2013 New job. It was always a possibility we'd just be here for a short time, and that's how it worked out. But we didn't plan on it being this short! Wow! Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephanieZ Posted February 19, 2013 Share Posted February 19, 2013 Thanks Stephanie. It would be starting in July. Surprisingly, some of the houses in fl beaches get super cheap starting min early August! Look into it for August, onwards! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TammyS Posted February 19, 2013 Share Posted February 19, 2013 I love all the ideas that you've had so far. They are inspiring me to break out the camping gear that has been dusty for a couple years now. Anyway, I just wanted to suggest that you consider whether you can add visiting friends and relatives to the list. It might be too expensive to do some of these things for all of the weeks you need to fill, but if you could break it up with staying a week here and there with relatives that you don't get to see a lot, that could take a lot of the stress off. You'll get to visit, and people don't mind guests for a week, usually. Plus it will break up the hard work of camping and bath house showers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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