Our New Home
I’m so excited to finally talk about our new adventure/project. If you came over from Instagram @HowWeLife then you have already seen our announcement and now you can learn more of the why behind it. If you are brand new to our family and journey, then welcome!
The big announcement was that we are moving into an RV, more specifically a Travel Trailer(TT). The reactions we’ve received from family and friends are: "Thats amazing!" "Are y’all broke?" "Did you go bankrupt?" "Are you crazy?" "I’ve always wanted to do that!" "I could never do that!" "That sounds so fun!"I will just start with answering the most common question, and then explain more of our reason for this change :) We are not bankrupt! lol. However, even though we are not bankrupt money is a big reason.
Over the last few years with owning our own business, we got a taste of what its like to not live paycheck to paycheck. It felt amazing! When we chose to close our business, it was extremely important to us that I still be able to stay home with our littles and homeschool. We needed to get to the place financially where we could comfortably live off of one paycheck, and to do that has become increasingly hard. For us it felt near impossible with the cost of our mortgage, our second mortgage called health insurance, student loans, car loans, and stupid credit card debt.
When we looked at the available plans the only one that allowed us to pay off a large amount of the debt, keep me available for the kids, and allowed room to invest/save was the plan to go without a traditional home. Sure we could of sold the house then got something to rent, but it is so expensive to rent. Not only that, I really really like to design and put my stamp on things, which is hard to do when renting. We could have purchased a new fixer home, but that would have cost a large amount upfront. We knew small living was the best option, we just needed to do deal with having a lot less stuff, living right on top of each other, very little room to cook, and basically live completely different.
I have had some friends that have lived in RV’s while traveling for work, but it didn't click as an idea of something we could do until I came across an Instagram feed of a stationary RV family. Of course once I started looking for more information, I found many other families doing the same thing. We could see that we were not alone. Once we made the decision to downsize, we started getting rid of clothes, toys, books, more clothes, shoes, random stuff, and even more clothes (Ok maybe I had way too many clothes, but I ran a clothing boutique!) I was surprised at just how much stuff we had accumulated over the years. We adopted the idea of "experiences over things" and "less but better". We are still working with the kids on understanding why having less toys is actually better (this will be it's own post).
The kids are super excited over the change to a new home. I will never forget what my daughter Raelee said after we told her our plan to move "FINALLY! I have had to stay in the same house my whole life". They have especially been looking forward to designing their bunk room. I have been planning my design ideas, and like the kids I'm ready to get started! Currently we are staying with family and sharing a bedroom, which has led to a sweet time of closeness for our family. I think we when finally move into our TT, and have our owns room it will feel like a mansion!
My plan is to post here weekly to keep y’all in the loop with our renovation, adventures, homeschooling, and tiny living. We welcome you to follow along with us on this journey :)
