What is the one thing I don’t have much of, material things, no, in fact we are going to work very hard this year to cut back on material things by giving to family or selling on CL or eBay. No, what I lack is time, except late at night, since I sleep like crap maybe I should do something productive during those hours that I stare at the ceiling?
I had grand plans for our first trip this year, drop the RV off at Collier RV and have them de-winterize, wash, wax, change oil in the engine and generator and all I would have to do is drop it off and somebody else would do the hard work. Oh yeah, the rubber roof would need to be cleaned and treated so we stop getting bad chalk stains in the morning as dew rolled off the roof onto the front and rear caps making everything look streaked and ugly.
Turns out we won’t have the money to have somebody else do all this work because Uncle Sam wants a big check by April 15th. Gotta love the new tax laws, own a home, work your ass off and owe several thousand anyway. Ugh.
Typically I LOVE to do things myself, but the more hours you work the less time you have. So, in order to save some cash I’m going to have to find the time to, get emissions test done (and find the stupid paperwork!) de-winterize, change the oil in the engine and generator, lube the slide seals, lube the slide mechanicals, tune up the generator, clean the entire interior including cleaning the carpets, verify the roof is sealed, clean all basement compartments, install new LED TV and 7” GPS and finally install new inverter for the wifes laptop.
The trip is planned for 3/31/11, my only day to do all of this work is 3/30/11, should make for an interesting day ya think?!? Part of the problem is location, if I could have the RV at home it would help but it’s in storage so I’m hoping I can get the emissions test done on 3/30 and the rest I should be able to handle at the campground since I’ll be the only one there. I don’t know, maybe I’m hoping for the impossible but all of this needs to be done and I’m quickly running out of time.
We need a 40 foot driveway!!! I’m looking forward to it no matter what though!! 
8 comments:
sorry to hear that you have to do all the work yourself..that is quite the list you plan to accomplish!!!
Could you go to where it's being stored and do any of it? Perhaps the clean out of the inside.
I know how you feel -- it was like that before we became fulltimers -- work, work, more work...pay taxes, pay more taxes...gave it all up sooner than expected with no regrets! Hang in there.
Sounds overwhelming. Thinking about it makes it worse. Once you start tackling the work you will feel better..tired, but better. Too bad the government has to have its hand in your pockets so deeply. I've been there too. Sure is hard to fork over that cash when millionaires don't have to pay a penny in taxes. Good luck with your work projects.
Sue and Doug, agreed but it's for the best. Honestly the things we have had others do has had to be done over by me or somebody else anyway so I might as well skip right to that part.
Merikay, unfortunately no, I'm going to drive up to storage on 3/29 to pick the rig up and then 3/30 I hope to be able to do everything including emissions which I'll do right after rush hour. Anybody who lives near Schaumburg IL knows you don't go into Shaumburg on purpose during rush hour and keep your sanity!
Alan and Marilyn, I can't wait until we can fulltime. Not sure how feasible it's going to be once they permanently bump gas prices up into the $4.00 plus range. They said once things settled down gas would get below $2.00 again, notice when oil went below $60.00 per barrel gas stayed above $3.00 per gallon? (at least in my area). As the Government increases their hold on the gas companies the gas companies increase their squeeze on us... I digress, we hope we can save enough to get there some day!
Rae, Millionaires pay the bulk of our taxes, 46% of AMerican's don't pay any taxes. The difference is the millionaires that don't pay seem to land Government jobs where they get busted but still get their job. Look at Tim Geitner, doesn't pay taxes and gets the main job in charge of taxing us, I was on the floor when he was accepted for the job.
I guess what I don't get is, we own our home, I pay 36% of my income in taxes, now 66% more in State taxes and it's not enough. I claim 0 exemptions and still owe. The Governments response, have your company hold more back, unreal.
Well, a big part of the problem is you're in Illinois, which is one of the higher tax states in the US. The area around Chicago is the worst.
Oregon's not a whole lot better, so one has to cut their taxes where they can, which is why I fulltime in a very small RV and keep my vehicle registered in a city roughly 60 miles away to avoid the emissions testing (Truck likely wouldn't pass given the exhaust is falling apart and the muffler's near gone) and higher insurance rates (Its a family home, and I send all my mail there that's of the important variety for the needed "proof of residence" and I get discount for being part of a "group policy").
Even with all that, I make roughly $33,000 a year when I am working, I still ended up owing the state of Oregon $14.
Loved your line about the tax...we're coming up to that time of the year here too...can't wait to part with all our hard earned money yet again.
Hope you get the work done...seems like we're all struggling in the face of economic woes.(I'm guest posting about a similar subject soon) My husband is trying to mend the door I broke without assistance and with a lot of swearing which will no doubt help...and then he intends doing some outside painting which he loathes...got to love you guys that are handy!
Erik, are there any RV service centers in IL that you trust, I'm looking to buy a used RV this month, and would wnat to take it somewhere to get checked over and worked on to update any systems that need it. You can email me your answer, thanks.
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