We are down to THE last day at our house.
How in the world does one go from 1800 SF to 350 SF?! Daunting is my descriptor of choice, but you know what they say,
“The best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.”
So we ate our household goods “one bite at a time.” Errr…sorta.
I didn’t consider myself sentimental until I started purging our house.
- highschool yearbooks.
- military awards.
- tons of old pictures.
- antique school desks.
The list goes on and on.
We decided we didn’t want to get a storage shed, though that was in the original plan.
Why? Well first off, storage sheds are a rip off! Really. Truly. $50/month for a 10 foot by 10-foot box.
But really the truth is when we got down to the items that really mattered to us….there wasn’t much.at.all.
Also, since we are all about downsizing and having freedom, as silly as it sounds, a storage shed seemed too restricting. (we may need to be medicated)
So we did something pretty radical.
We sold almost everything….or gave it away.
Right now in our living room, you will find:
- A plant that means something to me and I CANNOT get rid of.
- A tote of winter gear for storage under the camper.
- A tote full of more things to donate.
- Three of my four kids.
That is it….and it’s a little creepy.
My sister is coming to visit from ND today. She’ll be taking some of the family heirlooms with her that I cannot get rid of.
Local friends of ours have 2 storage units that have space in them, so we are going to force-feed them part of their rental fees. We’ll store kid’s clothes, a lawnmower, carpet shampooer, & a few tools.
Another friend has offered to store our canned goods and let us use their deep freezer since we buy our meat once a month and last time I checked the freezer in the camper is REALLY small.
So, between friends, family, garage sales, craigslist, & Boys Club donations we’ve done it. We’ve made the shift.
Silly maybe. Irresponsible maybe. But even though our choice looks different than the norm, it doesn’t necessarily make it silly or irresponsible.
We live in a cookie-cutter society. I promise I will not go into a tangent over that right now. Let’s just say we don’t want to follow the pattern set before us just because.
So here we go….let’s see what happens.
Hi I just started following you as my family is thinking,rather working towards, to living full time in a fifth wheel with kids as well! I had read your hubby was military as mine is as well, so I was wondering if you were staying on base at the fam camp?
Hi Ciara!
My husband is actually out of the military now, (but he does work as a civilian on the AF base). We have a membership at Hart Ranch and will be moving the 5th wheel out there tomorrow.
I wonder how fam camp is…I honestly have never heard of it. Does each base have one?
I think RVing would be perfect for a military family!
Julie, I have been listening watching,came up with all pictures can be scanned put on computeras well as music dvd and I have been closely watching tiny house living awe but I have 13 kids at home yeah lol. I am fascinated with what you are doing decluttering with little to tie you down. Would love to keep up with how it goes watched a video of a man moving out of 89 sq feet to 500 sq feet al interesting what we really need. Blessings, Lynne
Hi Lynne!
I think there is a new culture of minimalists. I don’t really even consider us among them, not now, though surely we have drastically reduced our load. It sure is turning out to be an interesting endeavor to undertake.
Love it! Absolutely love it! Looking forward to the tangent regarding our cookie cutter society 🙂
🙂 I’m hoping I don’t get too ranty (if that is even a word) on here. Ranty often translates into judgmental…or at least there is a fine line between the 2.
I am pretty sure all bases have a fam camp..it’s usually where the parks and recs office is and they have places for you to park rvs with hookups! The one here in Tucson is $315 a month with hookups and laundry room! Its pretty scarce in summer but winter time comes and so do the snowbirds lol
Hmmm…that is pretty comparable to what we pay now. I wonder too, since we are in S.D. how they handle the winter months.
But I couldn’t find your reasoning for going with this lifestyle…I am curious and wondered if you wanted to share? We are wanting to do it to help save$ & be debt free, show are kids not to value things, rather people, among other things. We own a house so we would have to sell or get a renter first…
I think there are too many reasons to state them quickly so I actually need to just break it down in a post of it’s own. *smile*
But yes to all your reasons Ciara! And maybe a couple more to expound on. We do want to eventually do mission work, maybe s. or c. america. Not being consumed with things is also a big draw for us. The travel aspects….adventure…lots of reasons and they’ve really changed over the years. Our goal is to be debt free and available to help others…being around the RVer subculture where it is more communal and people seem to be more open.
Thanks for sharing! It’s nice to know we’re not the ones wanting to live outside the norm set by society and all it’s consumptions! I look forward to reading about your families’ journey 🙂