Less is Really More

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Time to fast forward. In the end of February we moved out of our home to be able to finish remodeling it to sell and into our new bunkhouse rv for fulltime rv living. Yes, we really have lived in 400 sq feet for almost 3 months now!

What do we think of it so far? We love it! We’ve discovered so many things about our real passions in life already, it’s so encouraging.

One thing we’ve noticed in a big way (and so has our pocketbook) is that we are buying much less stuff. The reason is pretty simple…we just don’t have the room for it.

Not only that, the things that we do have, we have very few of.

Does that mean my little boy feels deprived because he doesn’t have 100 toys in his room? Absolutely not, he plays just the same with the ones he already has. (And actually we are doing the system where we have half of his toys down for him to play with and half put away in a small box that I will get out in a few months…tada! New toys!) Plus I love telling people that he doesn’t need toys for gifts! I’d much rather him get coloring books, reading books, or other things like that.

And my kitchen holds exactly one frying pan and two saucepans. Do I feel sad that I don’t have all the kitchen items that I had in my full sized house and that I can’t buy any more? Not at all. I have exactly what I need! No more, no less. (What about my stockpile for safety? I’ll get to that in another post, I promise.)

Instead of spending time shopping or worrying about buying things to decorate with or buying things to fill my kitchen, or fill my closet, or anything else. We are full here!

Honestly, I was a little worried I would feel like we had nothing. I was pretty sad when I got rid of some things and I thought for sure I would miss having them around.

Truth is…I don’t. At all.

There is nothing from the house that I miss. The stuff, the space, nothing! It’s pretty crazy! We knew we enjoyed living in camper when we did it before but I’d kind of forgotten what it was that we loved so much and now I realize this is it. The simplicity of life. The not caring about stuff and the being able to focus on what is really important in life.

I’m sure things will change a bit as we live here longer but we’ve learned many things about what we want in our future and what our future homestead might be like. We are so excited for the future! But in the meantime we are having a great time living in the present! 🙂

Catch up on our full series about Fulltime RV Living!

Do you think you could live on less than what you have right now?

merissabio

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19 Comments

  1. We lived in a 10 X30 trailer when I was about 6. It had three bedrooms and there were 2 adults and 3 children. My sister and I shared a room and we had a set of bunkbeds and then the built in cupboard and that was it. You had 12 inches of floor to play on. We did spend a lot of time outside, weather permitting. I would go back to that in a heartbeat. Less clutter, less things.

  2. hi, I was wondering if you have sold your home yet? we have some friends who are thinking about moving out this way.

  3. We lost everything in Katrina (well, we salvaged our china, and a few utensils and glasses). We were homeless, had nothing, but we were free of stuff. It was so liberating! Then we got the money to buy our place and started over. Now we’re back to having a lot of stuff. It is a great feeling to not have a lot of “stuff” to worry about!!

  4. I am just curious about laundry. Do you go to the laundromat or how do you go about washing the clothes, especially since you are cloth diapering the little one 🙂 i am definitely inspired by you guys, it makes me want to purge a bunch of our “stuff” we have lying around the house that we dont need. I just live reading your posts!

    1. I did go to a laundry mat (here in the park) before I bought myself a washer and dryer to fit in my camper (I also did some hand washing). I have a post coming about my tiny house appliances next week with more info :). The laundry mat wasn’t too bad but it was hard to find a washer that didn’t smell like strong detergent so I’m incredibly grateful for the washer/dryer I have in my camper now!

        1. I’ve got a post on it coming shortly, but I got a Splendide Washer/Dryer Combo. There are small washer/dryers that are brands like LG, and Samsung but I went with the one that was actually made for an rv.

  5. We practically live in our 29 foot trailer from April to November. I go to “the big house” to do laundry and clean once a week. I would love to make it a permanent year round way of life but hubby isn’t ready for that. Plus, we live in Northern WA and can have fairly severe winters.
    I’ve just discovered your blog and I’m enjoying all of the advice and your perspective of life.
    Blessings,
    Betsy

  6. Merissa,
    Been reading your blog for awhile now and couldn’t resist commenting. Couldn’t agree more with your perspective. Husband & I are keeping this idea as an option for ourselves in the near future. It’s daunting to think about, and at the same time I can already see the advantages. Take care and keep the posts coming. Sure do enjoy them.

  7. I am in love with this series!

    We moved a few weeks ago from a rented bi-level to a large trailer that we paid cash for and moved it to my family’s homestead. We only lost about 200 sq. foot of living space, but what is hurting us is losing the garage for storage!

    I don’t mind parking outside, but there’s not much space to store a stockpile, electric tools, a couple totes of fabric & sewing supplies or the few toys/books from our only child’s early years. Right now, that is all stored in the spare bedroom, but I’d rather I’d rather fill it with adopted children in the future 🙂

    I’d love to read about climate controlled (a shed won’t work in this case) storage solutions for the things that don’t get used often. I am still unpacking and purging at this moment, so maybe I won’t have as much of a problem in a couple weeks 🙂

  8. You’re an inspiration! As much as I strive for the simple life myself I feel stuck with also not wanting to give up what I do have: Big house, big yard, big furniture… And tons of financial stress. I do what I can to cut expenses but it’s not enough. I love reading your blog though because it really does motivate me to want to change all my extra consumption! It’ll be a slow process, I am an American after all and American culture is all about *more STUFF* but I’m getting there! Keep the posts coming cuz I’ll keep on reading and get more inspired!

  9. Hi Merissa,

    Thanks for creating this site. I am considering life in a motor home. Simplicity inspires me! I look forward to reading more here.

    Robert

  10. Love your blog! We are in the very early stages of transitioning to full time RV living. The thought of purging the accumulation of stuff from 25 years of marriage and two children is daunting at this point. But the reward is more with less and the freedom to enjoy what really matters with the unnecessary distractions.
    Thank you for sharing.
    Brandy

  11. We are looking to retire in the next ,5 years. Hubby will be 65, time for a change! We still have a huge home, empty nesters looking to sell & minimize stuff. Your blog gave me some awesome ideas for the next chapter in our story! Cheers! The Emmersons.