What?! This blog is supposed to be about a crazy family of 6 living in a remodeled RV. Homebuying??
Well since we moved to Florida 2 months ago, there have been all sorts of changes.
- I started drinking coffee regularly again.
- We sold our rental property in SD.
- All families stopped the debt-payoff.
- Got our Pepper fixed.
- Bought a motorcycle.
- I joined a CrossFit
- I injured my back.
- Treated the kids for Scabies. (guh ross)
- Made a few new friends.
- Dealt with sucky Internet.
- Scoured the local market for a home.
- Budgeted.
- Stopped scouring the local market for a home.
I’d guess I’m about 20 posts behind, durn it anyway.
I’ll deal with the debt-payoff soon, but first I want to explain the home buying detour we went on.
Are We Done Living in the RV?
No, we are not.
After the excitement from traveling down here had passed, I started to dream of having a normal home.
You see we’re stationary. We’d love to travel but we’re not because of Mark’s work.
How is Living in the RV Going?
I’ll just be honest and say that some things are annoying in the RV, especially when you have the fun of travel missing from the equation.
Annoying things, like doing laundry at the laundry mat, 1 foot of countertop for meal prep, no WIFI, shoddy internet cell service, AC that can’t keep up with Florida heat, and limited space.
So We Started Looking at Houses.
Since we’ll probably be here for a while, travel is out of the question at this time (except for little weekend trips). Why not buy a house and put down some roots? Right??
That’s how we reasoned, so we started to look at houses. Initially, we wanted something small so we looked at a house with 1000 square feet. Small right? We wanted to have a small house to keep us from filling it with stuff and to pay the house off quickly. The house was so cute but the space wasn’t functional. I really think we could do a 1000 square foot house, I do. BUT it has to be a smart 1000 square foot house. This house was cute but dumb.
Mark and I reminded each other over and over, we weren’t in a hurry. We’d wait for the right home.
But I started dreaming about washing dishes in a dishwasher again, baking in an electric oven, and taking a bath.
My thoughts progressed to having a huge kitchen with an island and breakfast bar, double oven, swimming pool, it got crazy fast folks!
We *almost* jumped off the cliff into full-blown house-hunting mode.
Goals & Budgets
But thank God for goals and budgets! Seriously.
We sat down and crunched numbers and realized that if we bought a house now, we’d be paying for this camper for the next 5 years and we’d be house-poor until the camper was paid off. Or we’d have to sell the camper and neither of us wants to sell our *baby*.
Since we’re connected to our camper by some invisible umbilical cord, we’re not selling. And the fastest way to own our *baby* is to live as we are and NOT buy a house. To live simple, frugal lives in the camper.
We are sticking it out. Strike that, we are embracing our living conditions.
Necessities vs Wants
We had to ask ourselves, what is really a necessity? I’m not talking about being obsessed with money or hoarding it, but really, what IS a necessity?
Is there some area that you are wasting money in or that you can cut back on for a time? For us, we are cutting back on our eating out and my grocery money (which is entirely too high anyway).
People live simple, frugal lives all the time. Generally, we don’t want to pay the short-term price for the long-term benefits.
I was struck by a couple here at this campground. A married couple and a large dog lived in a tent for a month. They really did! At night we’d see them setting out the large dog kennel and hunkering down. I think they went to work during the day and we never got to personally meet them, but can you believe they lived in a tent for a month??? I couldn’t, but sure enough, they did it.
I’m not about to subject myself to that, but I really think we believe we have more needs than we really do.
As we look at what we need, we’re challenged to do without many of those wants we grew comfortable with. We’re not doing this for bragging rights or to display our willpower. But we are doing this camper-living to help us reach our goal. Our goals are really summed up into 2.
- Be completely debt-free.
- Be free to travel if the opportunity presents itself.
I’ve canceled the Realtor, the house hunt is over. For now.
Goals can change. And they do. Who knows, in a year (hopefully less) when we are debt-free, we may decide we are going to plant ourselves in Florida but we’re not quite ready to commit to that.
Contentment
So after coming to terms with a plan for a few days, I was on a bike ride and overwhelmed by the realization that I’d actually reached contentment with being stationary in the camper. I am!
For once, I’m not dreaming of buying a house or being angry that my 1-foot countertop isn’t large enough for prepping meals for 6 people. (but I still like Pinterest inspiration for that home-owning day if it ever comes)
The irritants in life come and go. But once you commit to doing something and don’t turn back, it makes the road less painful and even, dare I say, comfortable. Then comes contentment.
Sweet times,
I’m a full timer too and I use a prepaid jetpack to get my Internet. The one I use is from Verizon (a few other carriers have them as well) and I get 10GB a month for $90. I didn’t know if you knew about jetpacks or not so I figured I’d let you know:). I’m glad I found your site I googled painting rv cabinets and came across it.
Hi Natalia! Thank you for the recommendation! We did get a Jetpack last month, I think it’s actually a MIFI. But can you believe we blew through 12 GB in just 2 1/2 weeks (we’re not watching movies)?! :/ We had high hopes for the MIFI but have found that our poor cell coverage is really a hassle to deal with (we are surrounded by trees and we rarely have more than 2 bars). Somehow we still use a ton on internet.
Have you read about WIFI booster antennas? We’ve considered getting an antenna to hopefully pickup local free WIFI because 12 GB is a little ridiculous if you ask me.
Thanks again for the comment, I do think it’s the best option for us Full Timers. Take care!
Oh your welcome:). That stinks that you’re getting lousy service. I have heard about booster antennas I don’t know if they work tho, I’ve heard good reviews and bad reviews. 12 GB is actually quite a lot lol you might want to make sure that its a secure connection, and that you don’t have anything sucking data. I downloaded a cupcake game on my iPad and my iPhone for my daughter one time and while she wasn’t playing it it was “cooking” whatever she had told it to (took 18-20 hrs lol). Once I got rid of that my data usage dropped a lot which was nice. Also when I’m not using the Internet I either shut it off or I close all the running programs on my apple products by double tapping the home button and clicking on the minus sign on all the apps. From what you’ve said I think I probably use a lot more data than you (husband and I download LOTS of books to kindle, nook, and iPad, I watch a couple TV shows online a month, I watch quite a few “how to” YouTube videos, regularly surf the Internet, plus I update my regular computer every 2 months) but I don’t usually go over 10GB a month.
Also we’ve been stationary for 3yrs because of my husbands job so I totally understand your desire for a house. We have income property where we’re from and we travel up there every few weeks and it feels like a vacation to use the dishwasher lol! We are totally debt free tho and the thought of a mortgage makes me cringe and I don’t want to stay down here for a long time so its not too worth it to me to save for a house. The economy isn’t very good either so if we bought a house and eventually moved back it’d probably take a while to sell it. So its personally not the greatest for us mainly because we don’t intend on staying here. Anyways I don’t know your exact situation but wanting a house is def not a bad thing and I’ll be praying for y’all for God to give y’all wisdom.
Thank you so much Natalia! I think it might have been a game on our iPad/iPhones, Candy Crush eating our gigs. LOL! We did have to go up to 16 GB this past month. Hopefully we figure it out and we’ve deleted Candy Crush so if that’s the culprit we’ll find out soon. 🙂 We have not shut off the apps from running on our devices but that’s a great idea!
Thank you for praying, we appreciate it! We also don’t want to deal with a mortgage and we both think we’re not going to be here for a long time. If after 5 years we’re still here in the RV I may have some remorse. We do have a plan for how we can travel fulltime in a few years so hopefully everything comes together. In the end, we’re really praying for God’s leading and peace for whatever route we decide.
Ha, we lived in a tent for 3 months!! It was a cabin tent with two rooms. We put the bed in it and the dresser…..long story short. We had property and were waiting for our mobile home to arrive that fall. So, we had a camper that could not sleep all of us well. We used it for cooking and the kids slept in it. Tim and I slept in the tent for the summer. It was great. I think I blogged about this story once. Fun memories….
You can do with way less than you think. For sure.
There you go Beth! 🙂 We can definitely make do with less. I suppose I could even handle a tent. LOL!
I loved this post, and the reminder that our momentary desires don’t always help fulfill our long-term goals!
Thank you Cindy! So true…
BTW – We have also thrown out the idea of moving to Central America…someday we may join you as Expats. Excited to see your adventure unfold!
I lived in a small two man tent with a two year old for about 8 weeks! I did not realise how bad it was until afterwards.
It is amazing what is possible when you set your mind to it. I think most would not seek out living in a tent, but you do what you have to right? 🙂 You sound like a survivor TAanne! Blessings to you!