A New House?

“This is my temporary home

It's not where I belong

Windows and rooms that I'm passing through

This is just a stop, on the way to where I'm going

I'm not afraid because I know this is my 

Temporary home”
― Carrie Underwood, Play On

A comfy living room.

We've been 3 in a RV for a few years now.  There are a lot of positives and negatives to living in an RV.  One of the hardest things to deal with is temperature.  In the winter you can warm the inside, but it seems a bite of cold is always in the air and the floors are always freezing.  With John getting up at the wee hours, Zoey going to school before daylight, dealing with the occasional frozen pipes, sometimes as long as a week, and it seems we have 1-2 more winters here in Texas, we decided to find a warmer place to winter. 

The search was not wide and not far. We wanted to stay small and economical, so we found a nice single-wide mobile home for rent not one block away from us in our own mobile home park.  It's a nice 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom that has been recently repainted and new flooring installed.  It was for rent, but we contacted the owner and found he was willing to sell.  With a little give and take on the price we had ourselves  a contract for a new home.

You might be thinking: "But, I thought you didn't want to stay in Midland, Texas.  Why are you buying a home there?"  The answer comes down to comfort and money.

The comfort is a gimme.  We went from a few hundred square feet to 1100 sq/ft.  The day we looked at the house, Zoey ran from one end to the other, finally spreading her legs indoors.  Oddly, I found I had less storage and had to buy dressers and other storage to house all our stuff that had previously been so nicely housed in our RV built-ins.  Thank you Craigslist.

Zoey was still sleeping on her crib mattress, and although I received no complaints, she is getting big.  I could have fit a bigger mattress in her loft, but it would have eliminated a lot of  her space for toys; and as we all know, getting a kid to part with their toys only sparks their interest to prove how much they love that toy. Now Zoey has a full-size bed to spread out in and all the space she could ask for.

Yay! Laundry.

And best of all, I now have a washer and dryer, which is soooooo nice. That is one thing, I truly missed in the RV.  (Unfortunately, I still have to go to the laundromat about once a week for John's work clothes because they're too damaging, but no biggie.)

The money angle may seem odd.  After all, aren't mobile homes notoriously not great investments?  In an area where housing is a scarce commodity, our place could, and was known to, rent for anywhere from $1000-$2000/month depending on where the economy is holding.  That means when we leave we either have an income producer or an asset to sell.

So here we are moving out of the RV and into a mobile home.  Does this spell the end of 3inaRV?  Far from it.   With our wonderful travel trailer, we have many travels to come, some in and some out of the trailer. In our future we see a RV adventure of a lifetime, but we still have time and detail to work out, so stay tuned.

A Year And A Half Later...

 “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.” 

~ Anthony Robbins

Morning sun through my bedroom window.

 We've lived in Texas, in an RV, for a year-and-a-half and to some it may seem genius, to most a bit of craziness.  Sometimes I feel it's a bit of both.  There's a lot of give and take when you undergo such a change in lifestyle, but we feel what we have given up has all been worth it.

I've often written about the changes, but with another year under foot, I feel the need to write up another list. (Sorry list haters.) So here it goes; the positives and negatives of selling everything, moving halfway across the country for better employment, and moving 3 into an RV:

Zoey and the neighbor Courtlyn.

Positive aspects:

Zoey, Savannah, Tessa, Sara, and friend :)

• Cut out the Fat -We own very few possessions and cannot purchase more unless something goes.  It keeps things concise.
• Fewer bills - We've cut out the unnecessary including a mortgage.
• No More Plastic!! -Bye-Bye credit card debt....I hope to never see you again.
• Vacations!!!- Now we can afford to take a vacation without breaking the bank or putting it on credit.
• Being a mom - Zoey starts school next year and I'm savoring the moments with her.
• New Friends- We have friends at the hall and Zoey has made a good friend with the 3 year old neighbor girl, so I feel more comfortable when she wants to play outside knowing she's not alone.  (Zoey says this is the best part of moving to Texas.)
• Realizing our dream - We are well on our way to someplace exotic!!

Everything must fit in there.

Negative aspects:

• Long Hours - John's work schedule can be crazy long hours, and I miss him often...temporary life upset.
• Midland, TX - I hate to be such a downer on Midland, but....I keep saying temporary. (Zoey says we need to find "a place with just the right hot and cold.")
• Bad Bathroom Setup - We knew this when we bought our RV, but finding  an affordable RV with space for 2 bedrooms; limits options.  The bathroom/bedroom combo gets a bit tight and chaotic....not our forever home=temporary.
• Limited Space - As I said no unnecessary purchases, but I LOVE to shop and find a great deal.  So sometimes I bring something home, a toy, dress or shirt, and find there's no space....grrrr.
• Organizing - Part of this is my fault, I've never been good at keeping things tidy, but I feel I'm organizing this place allllllll the time and it still needs work!

Fun little craft projects are great in the RV.

My sister-in-law, Jessica, asked me when we were last in Idaho if the RV ever really felt like home?  The answer is: Yes, it is home.  It's amazing how easily a completely different environment, especially a nontraditional one, can become a home.

 In the end, things get to me at times when we can't find much to do or get any customer service in this town, or when I shove another shirt into an overflowing drawer and reorganize an entire cabinet to fit a box of cereal.  When I feel whiny, I think of all the progress we've made, the stresses we left behind, the fun we're enjoying now, and the dreams we're realizing; and I remember the little inconveniences are worth it.  Everything in life has positives and negatives, the trick is finding an imbalance between the two.  For us the positives of our change vastly outweigh the negatives.  It's good to be imbalanced.

When Sheds Fly

"It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot 

and the wind blows cold:  

when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade."

 -Charles Dickens

Right behind the house.

It's spring in Texas, and the weather changes are brought on by strong winds. When we moved spaces last fall, we knew we would get a little more wind having lost the windbreaks of other houses, but the shade of the trees and the unobstructed view to the west behind our house is worth the extra little bit of shaking we feel in the trailer.

Our better, shaded spot.

Our new spot had a small metal shed on the lot, which we were excited to use for storage or laundry, but it had been placed on the cement pad, taking up half of our precious patio space.  John moved it to the back of the patio, thus removing it from it's tie-downs.  Result:  High flying shed.  oops

Before I arrived it had taken a few rolls, and since then it has continued to roll.  We thought placing it behind the trailer would help, but it continues to roll when the wind strikes it just right.  You may be thinking, 'why don't you tie it down or put a floor in it?' Well, the truck has been on the fritz so we haven't gotten the supplies and we keep thinking of fixing the problem, but with each roll it looks worse and worse, making us less and less excited about keeping it. For now we have it propped sadly behind the house awaiting a settling ground or to be hauled to recycling. 

Small Space Living

For most people, moving into a trailer or RV is part of their retirement plan to allow them to travel as the weather or winds move them.  For us, it was a matter of necessity since the winds have blown us to west Texas.  The current economy requires us to carry our mortgage in Idaho as we save money to do the necessary upgrades to our old home to allow it to compete in the sluggish housing market.

Our new home is a 2007 Keystone Raptor fifth-wheel toy hauler.  The bedroom and bathroom areas are located in the over-cab portion which has one slide housing the queen bed.  The living room/kitchen area has tall ceilings and slides on both sides making it quite expansive.  Zoey has a loft area which extends over the toy hauler section and we have placed a desk, dresser,  and other storage items in the toy hauler section.

The Living Area/View of Zoey's Room

Preparing to move into such a tiny space required me to make a lot of decisions as to what I felt would be necessary for living without overcrowding our new space.  I found I had accumulated a lot of belongings and clothes that I could easily, or sometimes tearfully part with.  All things consolidated and placed in their carefully chosen places, I found we have plenty of room for the three of us (five if you include the cats). 

After a few weeks of living in a RV, I have found some positive and negative aspects.  Some things surprised me; for instance, I do not miss a dishwasher, large pantry or large fridge and having a long hot shower on 6 gallons of hot water is quite possible with the low-flow shower head.  The cats are easy to live with and the RV lets in lots of light which keeps the place quite cheerful.    A few more things I have found are :

Positive Aspects:

• Mobility - we can go wherever we want or need to live.
• Cut out the Fat - no frivolous purchases or possessions.
• Only the Best - minimal possessions encourages me to keep/purchase only the best.
• Organization - organized by necessity, everything has a place.
• Quick Clean up - to clean my new house top to bottom takes about half an hour, including litter-box and scrubbing all corners.
•  Family Focus - Zoey and I are always together and connected in everything we do. *To reappear on the negative list.
• Reconnect with the Outdoors - confined space requires me to make the best of the great Texas winter weather (we'll see what we do in summer).

Negative Aspects:

• NO Washer/Dryer - I currently have to go to the laundromat which is inconvenient and folding a fitted sheet in  front of strangers is just plain embarrassing.  We hope to have our own soon once we change location.
• Limited Decorating - there are only so many pictures you can hang in this small space.
• Child is Underfoot - Zoey  tends to be under/over/on me a little more than wanted.
• The Sway - We hope to get a stabilizer jack soon, but for now we sway with every step and just let ourselves get rocked to sleep by the strong west Texas winds.
• RV Construction - Drawer slides and various seals tend to be insufficient for full-time use.  We replace these items as they fail for higher quality products.

Overall, I'd have to say I'm quite happy living in a small space and hope this sentiment stays with all three of us.  Going from nearly 2500 sq feet to a mere 400 sq feet makes me wonder; was I taking up too much space before?