Information and tips to help you stay healthy, save money, and enjoy the full-timing lifestyle.
By Janet Groene, F47166
March 2009 FMC magazine
Just when you thought you had life figured out, it seems that somewhere along the line the rules changed. Things we once believed to be true have been proven wrong or have been replaced with newer, better truths. As free-roaming citizens of the world, full-timers have their own set of needs and concerns. Here’s what you need to know now.
Disposing of drugs
The responsible way to dispose of surplus medications used to be to flush them down the toilet to keep them away from curious children and pets. RVers have long known that some things shouldn’t be flushed, because they harm RV plumbing or campground septic systems. However, we now know that it isn’t wise to discard leftover pharmaceuticals anywhere, not even into city sewers, because exotic pharmaceuticals are showing up in drinking water. Drugs don’t break down through usual wastewater treatments, and they can end up in groundwater, natural waterways, or even in municipal tap water.
Disposal policies vary from city to city, so ask a local pharmacist what to do with unwanted prescriptions, used “sharps,” or other medical waste. Instructions also may vary according to the type of drug. Addicts go through trash looking for syringes or narcotics, so some authorities advise mixing leftover painkillers and other mind-altering pills with coffee grounds or kitty litter before dumping them. Other cities have special disposal centers where discarded drugs can be dropped off. Your church or charity may collect empty pill bottles, with the labels removed, to send to medical missions where vitamins or other pills are dispensed.
Regardless of what you do with the contents of the bottles, remove and destroy the labels to protect your privacy.
Treating burns
Putting butter on a burn is as passé as putting a steak on a black eye. According to information from MayoClinic.com, first aid for minor burns is to hold the burned area under cold running water for at least five minutes, or until the pain subsides. If this is impractical, immerse the burn in cold water or cool it with cold compresses. Cooling the burn reduces swelling by conducting heat away from the skin. However, don’t put ice on the burn, the Web site warns.
Forestry management
When I was a Girl Scout, we “good citizens” didn’t cut live wood, but we did chop up dead trees and fallen branches for firewood, and we gathered dead twigs for tinder. Now at places such as Suwannee River State Park in Florida, it’s forbidden to pick up deadwood. Rangers explain that twigs and fallen branches have their place in nature, too, and should be left in place. Eventually they decay and return to the earth. In the meantime, larger windfalls form shelter or nests on the ground for small creatures.
Many parks don’t allow campers to bring in firewood, or firewood from certain states, for fear of spreading pests and diseases.
Bottled water
“Everyone thought it was so healthy to drink bottled water,” commented medical writer Lisa Stockwell, “but now the plastic may make the water less healthy than what we get out of our tap.” She also said that discarded plastic bottles are wreaking havoc with the environment. Campground water, while safe, may vary in taste as you travel from place to place, so it makes good sense to install an under-the-sink water filter with its own faucet in your coach. When you have your own filtered water, you don’t have to buy bottled water, and you ensure consistent taste in drinking water and anything made with it.
Carbon monoxide poisoning
Studies at Brigham Young University (BYU) show that some people are more susceptible to carbon monoxide poisoning than others, regardless of their age. There is no test to tell whether you’re at added risk, so it’s “like playing Russian roulette with your life,” wrote BYU neuroscientist Dr. Ramona Hopkins. Carbon monoxide accumulates in the blood and attaches to the hemoglobin, displacing life-giving oxygen. It’s especially deadly to people who have pre-existing conditions involving their lungs or circulation.
Smoke detectors don’t recognize carbon monoxide, propane, or gasoline fumes, so you need a dedicated carbon monoxide alarm, preferably one that employs all the latest technologies. Look for such features as a back-lit display that is visible in the dark, a read-out that updates every 15 seconds so you always know the carbon monoxide level in the RV, and electrochemical sensors that are less subject to false alarms from common household chemicals or changes in temperature and humidity. Some alarms now have a “peak reading” indicator. If there is a carbon monoxide poisoning emergency, it tells medical responders what your maximum exposure was even if the air may have cleared by the time you’re rescued.
It’s now known that initial recovery from carbon monoxide poisoning may not be the end of the problems, even if the afflicted is treated with hyperbaric oxygen. The BYU study found that approximately 25 percent of victims suffer later symptoms such as memory loss, nerve damage, depression, anxiety, cognitive disorders, and even personality changes.
One problem with carbon monoxide poisoning is that it feels very much like you have the flu, with symptoms such as headache, fatigue, and nausea. The last thing you should do if you are feeling any of these symptoms is to go to bed. Check the carbon monoxide detector first. If the readout detects a high level, get everyone outside and call for help. If you suffer neurological problems in the future, tell your medical team that you previously suffered carbon monoxide poisoning.
Financial smarts
Remember Christmas Club savings accounts? They were a way of forcing yourself to save for a goal (buying Christmas gifts). However, the accounts weren’t smart financially, because most of them paid no interest. Now the concept has been brought into the Internet age with some enticing new wrinkles. Basically, SmartyPig.com, an online service from West Bank, is an FDIC-insured, interest-bearing savings account you can open to fund a specific goal. There are some simple rules: your goal must be $250 or more; the time period of your goal must be no less than three months and no more than 50 years; and you must make at least a $25 deposit to open an account.
Let friends and family in on it if you like. They can make deposits directly toward your dream. When you withdraw money from your account, it can be put into your checking or savings account or received in the form of a MasterCard debit card or a retail gift card that carries up to a six percent bonus when spent at one of 20 or so participating stores.
If you like, SmartyPig will do the math and deduct a specified amount from your existing checking or savings account each month to reach your goal. How much per month do you need to put away to afford a $200,000 motorhome in 10 years? A $5,000 winter vacation in Baja two years from now? A $1,000 gift list next Christmas? SmartyPig can make it happen, and the service pays competitive interest rates at the same time.
Get organized
Just in time for spring housecleaning comes The One-Minute Organizer: A to Z Storage Solutions ($10.95, Storey Publishing), a new book from Donna Smallin, who also has written The One Minute Organizer, among other titles. It’s a book to keep handy to leaf through while seeking inspiration. One of her 500 smart tips may leap out at you and solve a problem. Tips are in alphabetical order from Addresses to Zinnia Seeds, but even if you don’t have a specific storage question, you’ll have fun flipping through these pages.
Stay in touch
It’s still in beta testing at press time, but Google has purchased an interesting Web site called GrandCentral.com, and it may be a communication solution many full-timers need. If you have multiple phone numbers and social networking addresses, Grand Central can bring them all under one control. You can set up an account to have all phone numbers ring through to one phone, screen your calls, switch phones in mid-call, and choose from many other services. Go to the Web site, click on “Features,” and see whether it’s a service that may be of benefit to you.
Full-timer’s forum
The question of the month in the December 2008 issue was, “How have you been affected by the economic downturn, and what are you doing about it?” The consensus is that folks are traveling fewer miles, eating out less often, and cutting back in general. One full-timing couple reported a loss of half of their financial portfolio, but said that it wasn’t affecting their current budgeting just yet. Their biggest drain is that their house hasn’t sold. “We use membership parks and stay as long as the limit allows,” they reported.
One couple summed it up best. “We have cut back on travel and restaurants, but otherwise we still enjoy the full-time lifestyle, the people we meet, the vast variety of the U.S.A. we get to experience, the freedom to travel, and not having to worry about a house.”
But I also received two reports that were troubling. A woman lamented that she and her husband lived frugally, saved as much as possible, and looked forward to the day when he returned from an overseas job assignment. Then their portfolio tanked. Now, she said that she’ll be full-timing alone for another year while he fulfills another contract in a land far away.
The saddest story came from a couple who have been full-timing for five years but are still underwater on their diesel pusher loan. The warranty has expired, they are having mechanical problems, and they are considering defaulting on their loan. I advised them to hang in there if possible rather than ruin their credit rating. If they walk away from their motorhome, they’ll need a good credit report to get started again with a home and furnishings.
Full-timer’s forum question of the month: What would you do if you suddenly found yourself in severe financial straits? The hope is that you’ll never have to deal with such a situation, but unforeseen circumstances can happen to anyone, requiring major life decisions. How would you handle a financial crisis?
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