Originally we had decided we wanted a camper (small, something to actually camp in) so that we could take our dogs on a camping trip and not have to be right next to them all the time. We were locked at the campsite because you can't/we wouldn't leave them alone, and although they are 'welcome' at the campground, they are not allowed anywhere else. The camper would give them a comfy place to stay while we explored, and then we could all retreat to the air conditioning in the evening! So we searched for something that we liked, and to be honest, we didn't really find a small-ish one that we loved. We saw a lot of different trailers, A LOT.
One trip we went to a dealership on a whim, and told them what we were looking for, the guy says, 'We don't sell the small ones here, I mostly deal with the big luxury rigs'. Well I disliked him immediately, and we walked around just looking and mocking his elitist trailer attitude. We walked inside of the exact same rig we have now (well not exact, it was one model year older) and I said 'Holy cow, to justify buying this, you would have to live in it!'. The seed was planted, and from that point on we carried the brochure around and dreamed about whether or not it was even possible.
For the next year we had planned, talked about it, imagined what it would be like, checked for blogs of families like us (there were very few), watched RV (with Robin Williams) for inspiration :) . Part of me never really thought we would do it. I mean, I wanted to, and then again I was scared to. I knew that the social aspect was not an important one, but it was always in my thought process. What was everyone going to think? Of course there are many other questions to ponder....how do you do laundry, where do you put all of the clothes, where will the toys go, ugh dishes by hand, where will my sewing machines fit??? Important questions, like that, and I will do my best to answer those and more....
'What will they think'....anyone even considering full-time rving, especially as a younger couple or family will undoubtedly be asking themselves this question . The funny thing is, it's the least important! Society shouldn't rule your thoughts or hold you to a certain idea of living. If you are happiest living in a tent, you should do it. If you are happiest living in a house, you should do it. When you are considering living in an rv, try to block out your thoughts of what other people will think of you. In our case, all the people that mattered still came around, we still had dinner parties, we still had guests stay overnight and visit from out of town. Our kids are still young, so I can't say that it hasn't scarred them for life, but I can say that they love the trailer life, and still refer to it as their 'home' even though we are currently living in a house and they have their very own room. Sometimes they just want to go sit in our trailer for a little while, nothing exciting going on, they just need to be in it.
I was worried about laundry, and how in the world I was going to keep it under control. The truth is, it wouldn't matter if I had 5 washers and dryers, there would still be a stack of laundry. I'm not good at keeping up with it because I hate doing it, and that goes for pretty much all cleaning chores. So, when we first moved in to the trailer, we were staying at an rv park on base. They had laundry facilities, I think it was a $1 to wash, $1 to dry, maybe $1.25...it's hard to remember. So it adds up, but you just budget it in, and remember to get change in the form of quarters when you go to the grocery store. I didn't enjoy lugging the laundry to the laundry room, just to find that they were all being used, but you get used to it. I would just leave my laundry there and go back every 30 min or so. When I started a wash cycle I would set an alarm on my phone or a timer on the microwave for 30 min, then I would go to switch it around, set the timer for 45 min for drying. If I didn't set the timer, I forgot. I also tried taking the kids with me to sit there while the laundry was going. Long story short, that didn't work. So we walked over and walked back until it was all done.
When we were in California the laundry facilities were free! And, always full. But being a stay at home mom was an advantage, I could launder while most other people were at work or off doing whatever retired people do :)
When we traveled across the US to our next duty station, we stopped and picked up a washer/dryer combo!! To say I was excited is an understatement...I was thrilled! It did make life easier. I rarely had to walk to the laundry room for any washing. Sheets and blankets are typically too big for our little washer/dryer, but I don't keep up with that kind of washing very well anyways, so it didn't put a big dent in my time ;) Our rv only allowed space for a washer/dryer combo...that's just one machine that does both jobs. It takes about 3-4 hours per load. That is not an exaggeration, that is a fact. If you have dogs that shed like crazy, you will get hair and lent built up in your machine...took about a year for us....and it is easily solved by doing some cycles with no laundry or soap, just filling it up and letting it go through the cycles. I hope that in our next rv (didn't I tell you we were already going to upgrade....there will be another post about that) we have a separate washer and dryer. A dryer that is just a dryer, dries faster than a dryer that is also a washer. And it speeds things along to wash, then throw it in the dryer, then while that is drying you can wash another load.
Next question...where do you put all of your stuff. Well, it's really up to you! I suggest that you make a list of things that will have to come along, and then another list of things you want to bring along. Take that with you when you go to look at rv's and then picture where in that place could you store the things on your list. You may laugh, but it is important when shopping for your future home on wheels that it has room for your most important things, and for the things that will make you happy. If you are 'stuck' in a trailer without something you want, it might sour your opinion of the trailer life. For example, my hobbies are sewing and knitting. If I couldn't have room for yarn or fabric storage and space for using my sewing machines, I would feel 'stuck', and probably crabby. But since we found something that had plenty of storage for my things I was very content living in the trailer.
We also maximized our indoor storage by utilizing outdoor storage. We bought heavy duty boxes and stored all kind of things in them: camping gear (tent camping), Steve's scuba gear, all of our shoes, and random stuff that wasn't used that often. Those boxes were stored either under the trailer, or stacked neatly somewhere next to it.
If you are able to get your stuff organized to the point that you know where to find it, you don't have to pull out a million things to get to it, and you can fit the things you want most, then you are doing good. Just try to minimize your frustrations by just keeping things you really need/want inside, and finding alternate storage outside for the rest.
Clothes are something you can't live without....well in most places. So you have to find a way to store them. We have a good sized closet, but Steve's uniforms took up 1/3 of it. (he might argue, but that's the truth!) Part of our moving in process was cleaning out things we never wore. That worked really well for a while, but eventually you get tired of wearing the same few outfits, and you buy more clothes. We had a set of three plastic drawers when we moved in to the trailer, so I put that in our closet and it held all of the kids clothes. We hung up any bulky clothes to maximize the drawer space. I had another tiny plastic drawer set, I used that for underwear, bras, and Steve's work socks. We saw a couple at one park that lived in a very small trailer and their clothes were stored in plastic bins outside. I assume they kept their favorites inside and the rest outside. We also toyed with the idea of turning our half bath into a closet, but we never followed through with that, fearing the worst for resell value.
Ok, now I want to talk about the benefits of living in a trailer vs. living in a house. I liked both. I enjoyed painting walls, having a garden, hosting fun parties, and having a big kitchen. I also like not painting walls, not tending to a large garden, still hosting big parties, and cooking outside. An unintended benefit for me, was how much family time we get to have. I knew that since we were living in a small space that we would frequent the outdoors, but I had no idea how much we would get to do together, Steve included. You forget sometimes that living in a house means you have to care for that house, and the yard, and garden, and so on. It seems like Saturday and Sunday that was a big part of what we did while living in a house. If you ask Steve, he enjoys mowing the grass, and tending to the garden, and working on things in the garage, but not as much as he loves fishing whenever he gets a chance, or riding bikes to the park with the kids, or having a lazy weekend morning watching fishing shows and eating biscuits :) We kayak, and run, and go to the beach, or go camping, we go to the pool, we go visit friends. We fill those two days with fun stuff that we can all do together.
I keep a small herb garden in containers, and I hope to expand that once we get back to living in the trailer. I plan on taking advantage of being in a house and having a big garden for spring and summer. Maybe I can come up with a way to have a decent veggie garden in pots, not sure though. I love the idea of a community garden, but I would have to look into that more before pitching it to the camp host.
Another huge benefit, for us, is that we move every two years. We have actually moved a lot more than that this past two years. Millington, California, South Carolina, Texas, all within the last two years. And, we will be moving back to SC at some point in this year. When we had a house, we packed everything up, moved it to wherever we were going, unpacked, and before we knew it, it was time to pack it up again. It was exhausting to move. I hated moving. I never was able to really decorate or make a house 'ours'. It was just too temporary to try. Living in the trailer, we already have our stuff. So when it comes time to move, we load it all in the trailer and go. If we hadn't been living in the trailer, we wouldn't have moved with Steve when he was sent to California for 3 months, and we wouldn't have come home to Texas when he was sent to Africa. All of that time apart adds up, and I am grateful that we were able to spend those months together rather than apart, and I'm grateful we can come home to a great support system while Steve is out of the country.
The freedom and flexibility is so nice. When we go on trips we can drive until we don't want to drive anymore and then sleep wherever we can in our own home. No worries about hotels that don't take dogs over 20 lbs, or no vacancy. We stay at beautiful parks, Wal-Mart parking lots, welcome centers, it doesn't matter. The inside of our trailer looks the same no matter where you park it!
I'm trying to think of some down sides....there is stress involved in pulling a trailer or driving a bus. I think you get used to it to a point, but there are things like construction or traffic that you can't control or avoid and can cause some stress. Small kitchens...there's just no getting around the fact that you can't have a giant dream kitchen in a trailer. But you can make due and be plenty happy cooking outside as well as inside your rig. Hosting parties is not as easy, but can still be done. You will need friends that don't mind sitting next to each other :)
I can't think of a lot of down sides to trailer living, but if you do choose to live in one you will have days that you might get frustrated with it. You may be mad that you have to walk to do laundry, or that you have to cram your clothes in the drawers, or that your washing machine is full of lint, but it will be fleeting. You'll get over it. You'll enjoy the time spent with your family, finding new hobbies, or enjoying old ones. You'll enjoy telling people that you live in a camper and watching their reactions :)
Feel free to share your story, ask questions, we enjoy talking about it!!
The pictures throughout this post are random ones from the last year of trailer living....just a few a my favorites.
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