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I have found that people who aren’t on the rv lifestyle assume that anyone who is rv living is constantly on a glamping vacation trip.
However, everyone on the rv life has their own reasons why they live in a camper home: from having jobs that require them to travel, saving money for a bigger purchase like a home or land, paying off debt, or maybe they just freaking want to!
So yes, people like us who live in a rv home ALSO leave our home (just like anyone else in a stationary brick and mortar) to go on vacation, visit family for holidays, visit friends, or has to leave for other personal reasons.
Now, if you are NEW to the glamping life, then there are some things you want to make sure of before leaving your rv home, especially if you will be gone for LONG periods of time.
Therefore, here are rv tips to remember before leaving your rv home!
Not many people think to do this since it’s not a common thing to remember to do, especially if you came from a brick-and-mortar home to a rv home.
However, I highly recommend you turn off your water NO MATTER what the weather is or if you think things will just be fine how they are.
This is especially important during the holidays when it’s freaking cold out and your water will be frozen often.
I have heard too many horror stories of people’s camper getting flooded because either their water system burst for some reason OR (if you made this sad mistake like I did) aren’t sure if you remember to turn your faucet off after discovering your water is too frozen to work (and then forgetting to shut it back off).
Hi, that last part was me.
My husband and I have both done this and it was miserable to clean up (luckily, we were home, we just woke up to our camper being flooded).
Just please, make sure your water is off if you plan on being away for long periods of time.
I’d hate to see what kind of mess you run into when you get back from whatever trip you were on.
Why do you need to do this before leaving your rv home?
Good question, I’m glad you asked.
Not too long ago, my husband had a coworker (this was someone who worked in a different part of his workplace and my husband didn’t really know him FYI) who was on vacation.
This coworker had a couple dogs that were being taken care of by some of the other coworkers (again, these coworkers worked a different part of my husband’s work and my husband didn’t know them very well, in case anyone is wondering).
Well, one day, in the rv park we were all parked at, the firetruck came and apparently, there had been a fire at this coworker’s camper.
At the time, my husband and I had no idea whose camper it was, but later on found out it was this coworker’s camper.
Apparently, it was an electrical fire.
Something that was left plugged in had caught on fire and it burned his camper down.
Unfortunately, his dogs didn’t make it.
Ever since then, I have become paranoid of that ever happening to us, so I make sure to unplug EVERYTHING in the camper if we are leaving for long periods of time.
I advise any RVer to do the same because you just NEVER know.
You think this would be obvious, but apparently, too many RVers are far too trusting of where they are staying at because we heard a story from people working in a rv park tell us that people’s campers were getting robbed during the holidays (since most people were visiting family).
For f*ck sakes you guys, lock your freaking doors!
My husband and I recently upgraded to an automatic rv lock due to people just breaking into rv homes.
It’s been great because we had someone watch our cats before while we were away and we didn’t need to give them a physical key. They could just have the code to the lock and get in, so that was really nice!
And just because you may be buddy-buddy with your rv park neighbor doesn’t mean your rv camper is exempt to getting robbed.
In fact, most robberies targeted towards camper homes happen from people who aren’t even staying at the rv park anyways!
This especially happens the most during the holidays because so many people go back to their home state to see family and that becomes the opportunity for someone to rob a bunch of people’s campers.
Please, make sure you LOCK your DOORS before you take off!
Yes, I know, another DUH moment.
But I make sure your pet sitter has everything they need to take care of your fur baby if you are planning on leaving them back at the camper.
Make sure they have enough water, food, and all their essentials laid out for your pet sitter because I’m sure the person who is watching them doesn’t want to go through the hassle of figuring out where all your pet stuff is.
We only had a pet sitter once due to an emergency, but for the most part, we bring our cats to a relative’s home.
And if you can’t bring them with or can’t find a pet sitter, you can always put them in a boarding place where you pay someone to watch your pets (if finances isn’t a concern)!
I’ve been hearing and seeing way too many horror stories of campers catching on fire because of a leaky propane tank or, like I mentioned before, an electrical fire.
You guys, please check your propane tanks.
If you are leaving for a long period of time, make sure to turn them off completely just so you aren’t coming back to your camper burning down to the ground.
I know it’s kind of rare, but especially if you have a leak or if you are staying in an area that’s really dry and has high temperatures, you just never know.
It’s just better to turn off your propane tanks for the peace of mind!
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