Friday, May 29, 2015

5 Great Things About Camper Living - Initial Reactions

Chris has been here for more than 5 months, but I've only been here for a couple weeks. Still, it seems like a good time to jot down my ideas about what I like and dislike about the camper lifestyle so far. I'll post soon about the stuff I dislike, but figured I'd start out positive and sunny with the things that are actually really cool.

FORCED MINIMALISM
It's probably been going on longer, but I just feel like minimalism became this TREND in 2015. All over my facebook and the blogosphere, I'm tripping over posts about capsule closets and downsizing the house and cleaning out the garage. I like this movement because I have a fear of becoming a hoarder, but I also think it's silly because it really is only a trend. Well, I'm here to tell you that if minimalism is cool, our camper is James Dean or whomever is actually cool in this century (obviously, I have no idea. I think Angela Lansbury is cool). You just can't have a lot of stuff in one of these babies. Actually, we really do have a bit too much stuff, like the dog bed that is too big, or the space heaters that we can't use now but are an absolute necessity in the winter. But, for the most part, we're doing pretty well living with less stuff.

Of course, we don't really have less stuff. It's just all 6 hours away in our house (and the storage unit that we rented to put our futon and Christmas decorations and elliptical machine in because, apparently, people don't want to see those things when looking to buy your house). But we don't have all of those things on a daily basis and it's a good learning experience. I can kind of see what I really miss (our bed!) versus what I definitely don't need (the ten bottles of Bath and Body Works body spray that I never used and cluttered up my bathroom counter).


MORE WALKING
Our pups are here with us (of course!), so we do several walks each day with them. This little campground is small but quite hilly, so we go up and down hills every time. There's also just more walking in general: our mail comes in down at the general store, the fancy spacious showers and the laundry are up at the clubhouse, you have to walk to the dumpster every day because there's no room for a full-sized trash can. Just more walking all around, and I love it.

REDUCED MAINTENANCE AND CLEANING TIME
I mean...the camper is 200 square feet. And that's really over-selling it since much of that area has stuff taking up the space, like a bed, a couch, the table, the kitchen. So cleaning is easy-peasy. And there's no yard work! Someone else mowed our little yard today and we didn't even need to ask!

Also, there is no room for me to store tools, wood, paint etc, so I can't get myself into any DIY projects. Which means fewer projects to:
1. Get really excited about
2. Start
3. Get bored with
4. Feel stuck and resentful towards because it's taking up all my time
5. Finally finish while swearing that I'm selling all the tools and never doing another DIY project
7. Go back to #1 and repeat over and over....

REDUCED MONTHLY COSTS
For trying to save money, this lifestyle can't be beat. Once our house sells, we will get to completely ditch the:

  • Mortgage (still gotta pay rent, but it's a relative drop in the bucket)
  • Property tax
  • Water/garbage/sewer bill
  • Homeowners' insurance (our camper is insured, but the cost is a small fraction of our HOI)
  • Termite insurance (I have an irrational fear of termites, so we had preventative insurance just in case we ever got them, which we didn't)
  • Cable (but we do maintain our Netflix and Hulu Plus accounts)

Of course, the downside of all this saving is that, as with any renting situation, we're not gaining any equity in anything. Well, except our camper :-)

LEISURE TIME
Since there's so little cleaning and maintenance to distract me, and no DIY projects, I can guiltlessly do things I like better than all of those, like reading, working on my blog, watching Bones...

I've already read a book, finished a book I was working on, started two more (here and here), and put up three (now four!) blog posts. I really think this is my favorite part of being here. Once I'm home from work, I just feel like I don't have as many responsibilities and it lets me do more stuff I enjoy. Plus, doing enjoyable, relaxing things is a nice distraction from the worry about having a house on the market, planning for a new one, etc.

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Home Sweet Home

This is our home-away-from-home right now. It's so stinkin' cute. It has a full kitchen and bathroom (shower, no tub), a full-sized bed in the back bedroom, a couch that converts to a bed that could sleep two, but really only one comfortably. Same thing for the dining table. We've got internets (obvi) and a little tv with our Roku set up, so we can get Netflix (phew!). We're bringing our grill down next time we go back to East Texas, so that will add more usefulness to the outdoor living space. 



No matter what, how can you complain when this is the view you look out at?!



Monday, May 25, 2015

 Happy Anniversary to my original Widgipee :-)


Checking In

It wouldn't be my blog if there weren't long stretches of radio silence. But I have a good excuse for this one. My appendix ruptured in late January and I had to have an emergency appendectomy. I was then in the hospital for 5 days being treated for peritonitis (an infection of the abdominal lining that was caused by the bacteria that infected my appendix getting out. Gross). I was so super sick, like getting in and out of bed was excruciating (I now know the meaning of that word) and I walked like a little old person. I have so much more empathy for the elderly now. I feel like I was one of them for a few weeks.

Then I had to get our house ready to sell because we're moving to San Antonio! The move is bittersweet because we really love our house and neighborhood, but San Antonio and the Hill Country are such beautiful, exciting places to live. There is so much to do and see here!



So now we're living in our camper as we wait for our house in East Texas to sell. That would probably happen faster if the State of Texas wasn't experiencing endless rain. Seriously, all over the state, the 10-day weather forecast just says rain and thunder storms. And that's how it's been for the past few months. Some areas, like Wimberly, have gotten pummeled, and the results have been devastating.

Wimberly, Texas via San Antonio Express-News

Since living in a camper with two large dogs, one medium dog, and two adults who work full time is a pretty unique experience, I'm going to try to document it here on the blog. Stay tuned for upcoming posts.