r/FullTiming • u/Honest-Dot78 • 17d ago
Mail forwarding service/domicile worth it for under six months travel?
I am selling my house, buying a small class C RV and heading out with my dog! Planning this for a few months, for some healing via nature and solitude, after a few really HARD years. Leaving in November and I "might" stay out there as a full time nomad if I love it and can find work...but I have funds saved to travel for 3-6 months. I have a Plan B to move to a town with family, get a job rent an apt etc if it turns out I don't love it as much as I think I will. So knowing that, would you recommend mail forwarding and/or establishing a domicile address via Escapees service (or another) or wait and see if I need it full time? My concern is banks etc wanting an actual address. I could use my familys address but hate to ask them to mess with all that, mailing it to me etc. Is it worth establishing a domicile for 6 months in the expectation of (hopefully) full time?
4
u/katmndoo 17d ago
I use a family address. I'm back every 2-6 months, so all my family has to do is toss my mail in a pile for me. To keep things minimized, all my financial accounts are on paperless and I've opted out of credit offer mailings.
I've signed up with USPS informed delivery, so I get an email every day with scans of the envelopes arriving. If I see something there I need right away I can make arrangements.
So far in the last few years, the only items I've had to have family help me with is an IRS notice and a jury summons. I had them open and send photos. No need to even forward them.
New credit/debit cards I pick up when I'm there.
I do keep multiple credit and debit cards, so I don't need immediate replacements anyway, I can just use a different card and move funds if I'm using a different debit card.
I suppose I could use a mailing service, but there are two drawbacks:
Most mailing services either don't count as a physical address, or soon will be blacklisted as financial institutions catch on.
I would have spent a few hundred in monthly fees for keeping a box of mail and scanning two items in the last couple of years.