- Molly and Jaren Garcia sold their house and moved their family into an RV in 2019.
- They've been travelling the country for three years, working remotely, and homeschooling their kids.
One family is taking the digital nomad life to the next level.
The Garcia family sold their home in Joshua, Texas in 2019 and moved into a 44-foot recreational vehicle full-time, according to a profile from Good Morning America. They chronicle RV life on a lifestyle blog called "We Plus Threee," and have cycled through 25 states and five RVs thus far.
"We've hacked the freedom code for us," Jaren, 30, told Good Morning America. "Everyone has what freedom [means] for them, but I think that we were pretty happy with what we chose."
The Garcias, which include Molly and Jaren Garcia and three children, decided to become itinerant in 2019 because Jaren, who worked full-time as a salesman, used to travel for work. Instead of spending long periods apart while Molly stayed with the kids in Texas, they decided to stay together in a home that moves.
"We were trying to figure out how we were going to live our lives separately… I was at home with the kids and then he was gone out of state. He would only come home for a few days out of the month and then it was for months at a time and I was like, 'Well, I don't really care for being at home by myself anymore. I'd rather be with you even if it's in an RV,'" Molly, 29, said. "And we ended up doing that."
Jaren eventually left his job as a salesman, now working as an independent insurance adjuster — but the RV life stuck for the family.
Molly homeschools their three children, the oldest of whom is 13 and the youngest of whom is 5, in addition to running the family's blog. The couple also made money by flipping a house recently, they told Good Morning America.
In addition to finding life on the road more fulfilling than living in one place, Molly and Jaren said that they save thousands of dollars a month in mortgage payments. And although they sold their home before the pandemic, the Garcias' story mirrors the way many people have shifted their lives, jobs, and homes as remote work became popular during the pandemic: many are becoming digital nomads and leaving jobs that don't provide remote flexibility.
And that's on top of the housing market becoming white-hot over the past two years — an obstacle that the Garcias eliminated for themselves.
'The outcome of everything is you're getting a lot more experiences'
Molly and Jalen estimate that they spent about $3,000 a month when they lived in their Texas home. Now that they've moved out, they're spending a lot less, they told Good Morning America.
Molly said that parking the RV, electricity and water, food, and payments on the vehicle all add up to less than $1,000 per month.
She did warn, however, that there are a number of costs to life on the road, namely gas, which has been skyrocketing in price due to inflation over the past year.
"We don't want to scare people away from this lifestyle because you could spend a lot of money, like way more than if you lived in a house," she continued. "But the outcome of everything is you're getting a lot more experiences and being able to travel and be on your own time."