Have you ever considered living in a hotel? If so, you’re not the only one. Thousands of people across the US are thinking about the same thing right now. I was one of them and in fact, I actually did downsize myself and my daughter to move into a hotel near the end of 2017. I’ve had a lot of folks ask me about it and make assumptions that it was horrible. It wasn’t, but only because I took the time to figure out how to make it work best.
The reasons that people consider living in a hotel are many. For me, it was a desire to downsize at the same time I was ending a six-year relationship.
Because I was basically starting over, living in a hotel seemed the best idea.
Tips for Living in a Hotel
It turned out that my daughter and I really enjoyed full-time hotel living. It had it’s ups and downs, but for the most part, we loved it.
There was something freeing about having only what we needed with no additional clutter.
There was also something absolutely infuriating when we first moved into the hotel.
How to Live in a Hotel Full-Time
It took me a few weeks to really figure things out. Until I did, we tripped over ourselves, were off schedules and routines and more.
Frankly, life kinda sucked at first.
And then I figured things out. One day it just clicked that we were living in a hotel and I needed to do certain things to make sure we were successful.
The tips for living in a hotel in this post are what I discovered.
Can you live in a hotel?
Once people find out that my daughter and I used to live in a hotel, the first thing they ask is “can you live in a hotel?” It seems there is some misinformation or misunderstanding that you can’t.
Yes. You can live in a hotel provided the hotel does not have a maximum stay rule. We will discuss that more later in this post, but most hotels do not have this rule.
Tips for Full-Time Hotel Living
Before you actually move into a hotel, you will need to do some serious decluttering. You have to face the fact that you simply can’t take everything you own with you.
You’d be stuffed in your hotel room if you did.
Instead, sell what you can, donate what you can’t sell and if you absolutely must keep it, put it in storage. Ideally, a friend or family members garage is best, but if you’re like me, you’ll end up with a small storage unit.
How much does it cost to live in a hotel
The second question I get is to ask how much it costs to live in a hotel. The answer varies, but for my daughter and I it was roughly $1700 a month.
Period.
That included our room and board and all utilities including internet. My cell phone was included in those costs, but my business expenses were not.
Yes, I did in fact continue to run this blog from the hotel room. I even continued to homeschool my daughter from that hotel room.
All in all, the cost of living in that hotel room saved me over $1,000 a month. By the time we left Texas to go back home for a visit, I had been able to save several thousand dollars on living costs.
How to Live in a Motel
1. Get out of your vacation mindset
Most of us think of vacations when we stay in a hotel. It doesn’t matter whether we’re living there for months or simply spending the night.
You can not move into a hotel and be in vacation mode. You will end up doing nothing but costing yourself money you don’t need to be spending.
Instead, try to convince your brain early on that your hotel room is your home from now on.
Once you do, you’ll be far better off both mentally and financially.
2. Choose only an extended stay hotel
If you are considering moving into a motel, I advise against it. Instead, opt for an extended stay hotel.
Extended stays often have larger rooms to accommodate a larger stay, kitchenettes so you can cook, laundry options and more.
They do tend to be more expensive, but you will have a much easier time living there than if you were in a regular hotel room.
When I was choosing the hotel we lived in, I opted to move us into a WoodSpring Suites location. They were pet friendly – which mattered since I was bringing my dog – the rooms were nice and big, and they were affordable per month.
You can see what our room looked like HERE.
Extended Stay America is another great option, however, they are a bit more expensive than Woodsprings.
What is the difference between a hotel and a motel?
Most people don’t realize this, but a hotel and a motel are two different things although the basics are the same.
A motel is nothing more than a room that is meant for a quick stay. Most have direct room access from the parking lot. They are often cheaper to rent per day. While you can live in a motel and I have done that in the past as well, they are much harder to live in.
A hotel on the other hand, is typically nicer with more amenities such as breakfast in the mornings. They often cost more than a motel which can be explained by the higher quality and higher number of things they offer their guests.
3. Know what your states residency laws are
Because you will be claiming a hotel as your residence, you need to know what your states residency laws are.
Not knowing them could cost you money. For instance, in Texas, you are considered a resident of any place you stay for more than 30 days.
This means that in a Texas extended stay hotel, you only pay taxes on your stay for the first 30 days.
After that your stay is tax-free because you are a legal resident of that hotel.
That knowledge alone saved me $200+ per month and all I had to do was fill out a form at the hotel’s front desk.
A quick Google search can help you determine what the laws are in your state.
4. Don’t forget about your mail
Like it or not, bills that you may have had before don’t simply stop coming because you’re living in a hotel. Final bills and others for services you have kept will come.
Grandma will still want to send packages.
You will still be shopping online.
In other words, you will need a place to receive your mail. You have two major options for receiving your mail.
The first is a USPS Post Office Box. I don’t recommend this one for one reason; some places will not ship to a PO Box and when you have one, you do not get an actual street address to use.
The second is the one I opted for – a UPS box at the UPS Store. When you have a UPS box, you get an actual street address.
Not only is this enough to establish domicile (residency) in a state, but it will also allow you to receive any packages; even from places that don’t normally ship to boxes.
4. Have the right kitchen appliances
Even though your hotel room might already have a kitchen – you will still want to make sure you pick up a slow cooker and a toaster oven. Most kitchenettes in extended stays only offer two burners.
It can really limit what you are able to cook.
If you would prefer, you could skip the slow cooker and instead opt for buying an Instant Pot that will do both pressure cook and slow cook.
I had a 6 quart Instant Pot and a large counter top toaster oven like THIS one. This allowed me to make anything I wanted – from slow cooker soup to a frozen pizza.
5. You will need to buy or bring storage containers
Hotel rooms – even at extended stays – are just that; hotel rooms. Extended stays are meant to be lived in longer, but they still offer very, very little in the way of storage.
Our room at Woodsprings Suites offered three kitchen cabinets, a single kitchen drawer, a small clothing bar to hang clothes, a 2 drawer chest in the main living area and a shelf in the bathroom.
That’s it.
Even for only two people, it was still not nearly enough room to store everything.
So, I ended up having to buy storage options and I recommend you do the same thing.
What I ended up with was:
- 1 wide 3-drawer storage cart for kitchen utensils and groceries
- 4 under the bed storage containers
- 2 Skinny 3-drawer storage cart for clothing
- 12 hangers with clips for hanging outfits together
- 1 shoe rack
- 2 slim latch boxes for my daughters books and games
- 1 makeup organizer
- 6 milk crates
Most everything, except for the 3-drawer carts, hangers and shoe rack slid under our bed. The shoe rack was used for storing things like my slow cooker.
There just wasn’t enough room in the cabinets to do so.
6. Use the space you have wisely
As I said in the last tip for living in a hotel, most of my storage options went under the bed. There was a reason for that.
When the only space you have is a tiny amount between two beds and a small amount in the front of the room, it can get really cramped really fast.
You will need to get good at finding places to store things. Under the bed works incredibly well since that space is just sitting there unused.
I also stored things between my bed and the wall. The dogs bed stayed between my daughters bed and the wall.
Take a look around your hotel room and find space you aren’t using. Chances are there is quite a bit of it hiding right in plain sight.
7. Don’t pay to wash your clothes
Extended stay hotels and laundromats are not only expensive but the quality of their machines often means you spend more just trying to get your clothes clean and dry.
Instead, invest in something such as a hand crank washing machine like a this one. It will save you money the first month you use it.
Yes, it does require you to do the work and it won’t wash a huge load, but your water costs are figured into the cost of your hotel room.
It was far more important to me to save money than it was to avoid doing that work myself.
If you would rather avoid having to crank a manual washer yourself, consider seeing if you have friends or family who would let you do laundry at their house.
In the end, I ended up washing clothes at a good friends house and using the WonderWash in between.
It was a huge help and one I still use today.
8. Air dry your clothes and skip the paid dryer
Like the washer, there is no real need to pay for a dryer. Instead, do what I did.
Buy a clothes drying rack like this one and sit it in the tub.
The clothes will air dry and the tub will catch any water that drips off.
9. Don’t rely on the hotel for supplies
Most hotels provide things such as toilet paper, but if you’re living in a hotel, they may not.
The one we lived in would provide one roll of toilet paper per week, a handful of really bad trash bags each week and that was it.
If we wanted or needed more, we had to pay for it at really high hotel rates.
Instead, do yourself a favor and pick up toilet paper at the grocery store. It’s cheaper than what any hotel will charge you. The same goes for cleaning and beauty supplies.
Woodsprings Suites did not do this, but I have seen hotels charge as much as $2.00 for a travel sized toothpaste.
Your budget likely can’t handle that.
10. Don’t buy into upgraded internet
Most hotels offer free internet, but some – especially extended stays that you can live in – will offer an upgraded option for a small daily fee.
It is a waste of money.
The free internet is not really all that much slower than the paid net and upgrading won’t help you have a faster connection.
The free internet at the hotel we lived in was fast enough to stream Netflix with our Amazon Fire TV stick.
11. Have boredom busters ready for kids
Speaking of Netflix, if you have kids, make sure you have plenty of things for them to do when you’re home.
It can be unsettling for littles to be uprooted from a home they’ve known and moved into a hotel. Things like their favorite tv shows (hence the Fire TV stick), books, toys and games will all help to ease them back into what they consider a normal routine.
How do kids go to school when they live in a hotel?
My daughter was homeschooled while we were living in a hotel full-time, but there were other kids who were in public school living there as well. If your kids are in public school, you’ll need to figure that situation out.
If you can drive them to their normal school, get a UPS box in their district and simply update the address with the school. This should be all the school needs.
If you don’t have a way to drive them to school, they may need to switch schools. Call their current school and inform them that you will be moving and give them the address of the hotel. They will be able to tell you if they need to change or not.
In any case, if they are farther than 1 or 2 miles from the school (this distance varies by district), the school will likely have you call the bus garage. If there is not already a bus stop nearby, they will need to create one for your child so he or she can ride the bus.
Be prepared for a fight; especially if your hotel or motel sits in an area they don’t normally go into. I once fought a school district in Ohio for 6 weeks to get them to create a stop at the motel we were living in. I eventually won and my daughter rode the bus to the charter school she attended instead of walking with me 2.5 miles each way.
12. Clean your room often
Again, when you are living in a hotel, you are living in an incredibly tiny space.
It will get dirty incredibly quickly. If you have kids, it will get dirty even faster. Maid service in hotels that let you live in them is usually once a week; twice a week at most.
In other words, in order to keep your room neat and tidy and not disgusting, you will need to get into the habit of cleaning and picking up several times a day if you’re not already.
Just making dinner will make a mess that is big enough your entire room will look dirty.
Use a broom to sweep your kitchen area, wipe counters down, pick up toys and other items on the floor and make your beds.
You’ll be glad you did.
13. Resist the temptation to order out
This one sort of goes along with vacation mode, but for a lot of families, staying in a hotel means eating out.
This is the reason I suggest an extended stay. Because they have kitchenettes, it is far easier to cook a meal for yourself. This is not only healthier for you and your family, but it is healthier for your budget as well.
The hotel we lived in had a full-size fridge which also made grocery shopping much easier.
Even if your hotel does not offer a kitchenette, the slow cooker/Instant Pot/Toaster oven idea still works. Your fridge may be smaller, but you can still cook a good meal without putting yourself out too much.
Case in point? I once made an entire Easter dinner – ham and all – in a hotel with a dorm fridge and a Crockpot.
14. Get outside as often as you can
It is incredibly easy when you’re living in a hotel to forget that life is going on just outside your room window.
Don’t allow this to happen to you.
Get outside as often as you can, even if it is just to take a walk around the parking lot. You will go stir crazy if you don’t.
15. Keep safety in mind
Without trying to scare you, I do want to point out that you are considering living in a hotel. Chances are good that you aren’t going to be able to afford a 5-star hotel with armed guards and so on.
Always keep your own safety in mind. Keep the bar lock on your room door engaged. Never open your door without using the peep hole to verify who it is.
Never leave your room door unlocked. Try not to be alone in the halls late at night alone.
Never, ever, ever let your kids be outside of the room without you.
and if by some chance you landed in an unsafe hotel, don’t hesitate to move. That’s the beauty of living in a hotel. You can pack up and move any time you want.
Did you enjoy this post? You may also like these:
- Whaattt? You’re Grateful for Being Homeless?
- 18 Frugal Living Myths and Money Myths That Will Destroy Your Finances
- 32 Frugal Living Books Everyone Should Read
- 33 Extreme Frugal Living Tips For When You Really Need to Save
- How to Live in a Hotel {and Why You Should Try Full-Time Hotel Living}
Are you considering living in a hotel or are you already? I am curious why! I would love it if you would leave me a comment telling me why you chose this lifestyle!