SLT035 Living in 50 Square Feet…Vacation Simplified

Living in 50 Square Feet…Vacation Simplified!
We've had a standing dream: More time with family, and way more time to enjoy the outdoors!  We've mentioned on the show that have been trying to sell our 4 acres overlooking State Natural Area in the Texas Hill Country.  Well, we sold it, and it freed us from other debts and allowed us to pursue 2 of the pillars we live by, Family and Future.

So, listen in as we talk about out summer adventure, some things that made our trip awesome, and some things that you can do to help simplify your vacation time, too! Read more... 

Background:

Before we started podcast…last year around this time we decided to simplify our lives
Commitment to simplify and live with less
Reshaped our life plan and lifestyle
First decided we didn't need big dream house…but then we started looking at Class A RVs to build this new life plan and lifestyle
Actually had one picked out…35 ft Bounder  Classic..with 4 TVs…everything gadget and accessory you could imagine…that cost more than our current house and gets about the same miles per gallon!!!!
What were we thinking?  We even started planning our new 900sq ft home around storing this monster!

Decision on getting the CampInn:

Forget the Class A motorhome
Dan started looking around…and stumbled across the teardrop community…Dan explain
Talk about the trailer
Talk about trip to Austin to visit Tim and Cindy's camper
Decision to buy dictated by selling the land
Land sold…next day we put our order in!
So…we planned our first big trip

Trip forced us to simplify:

3 week road trip
Most of our family in NY has downsized or didn't have room for us…and we didn't want to impose
Decided to rent a Camp Inn camper
Got to rent it for free!
Forced us to simplify our packing because we didn't have our camper  to store stuff in…we had to pick it up in Wisconsin

Things we did to simplify camping: Yeah, we bought stuff...but we're going to be doing a LOT of camping and we wanted it to be (you guessed it)...simple! (links to all these are below)

Set of 4 metal plates and utensils: pizza tins…trying to keep down on waste with plastic cups and utensils
Berkey…will come in handy next time
Quick dry and small thin towels
Crank and USB LED lanterns
Toiletry squeeze bottles…great for camping and flying for TSA regulations
Packed light clothing…Van: Merino Wool Clothes
Dan…NMX/washing ranger panties (SOFFE shorts)
Table with benches that tuck under it
Self inflating Thermarest mattresses instead of a blow up mattress that doesn't hold its shape or bulky cots
Aeropress
Pop up trash can that can fold flat
Camper pros:
Well designed…we love efficient design
Easy to tow…little effect on gas mileage on highway
Compact…can have access in practically any campground or an off-grid location.
Can fit in our garage at home
Serves as a separate room/guest bedroom
Can be a great Bug-out van ;o)
Weather proof!  Huge/severe thunderstorms didn't put a damper on us!
Kitchen galley was awesome…and acted much like a kitchen at home…it was the "hub"
Keeps it's value better than many other campers/RV
Able to let go of other items no longer needed for camping: sleeping bags…big tents…big air mattresses…big cots…extra coolers…separate camping stove and propane tanks
No more hotel rates….
No more big packing jobs…everything will be stored in the camper.  Hook up and go!
Even in remote campsites with no electrical hook ups…we didn't use up the battery.

Camper cons/challenges:

No shower…which made for tedious trips to common shower facilities (Van seriously considering no-poo and going "au naturale" instead of hauling toiletries around)
Can't bring our juicer! Well we could...but it would be a hassle.

Pros of living in a small space/camping:

We don't miss a lot about our home and material things (juicer)
We've been able to disconnect and unplug most of the time!

Living in 50 Square Feet…Vacation Simplified!

We’ve had a standing dream: More time with family, and way more time to enjoy the outdoors!  We’ve mentioned on the show that have been trying to sell our 4 acres overlooking State Natural Area in the Texas Hill Country.  Well, we sold it, and it freed us from other debts and allowed us to pursue 2 of the pillars we live by, Family and Future.

So, listen in as we talk about out summer adventure, some things that made our trip awesome, and some things that you can do to help simplify your vacation time, too! Read more… 

Background:

Before we started podcast…last year around this time we decided to simplify our lives
Commitment to simplify and live with less
Reshaped our life plan and lifestyle
First decided we didn’t need big dream house…but then we started looking at Class A RVs to build this new life plan and lifestyle
Actually had one picked out…35 ft Bounder  Classic..with 4 TVs…everything gadget and accessory you could imagine…that cost more than our current house and gets about the same miles per gallon!!!!
What were we thinking?  We even started planning our new 900sq ft home around storing this monster!

Decision on getting the CampInn:

Forget the Class A motorhome
Dan started looking around…and stumbled across the teardrop community…Dan explain
Talk about the trailer
Talk about trip to Austin to visit Tim and Cindy’s camper
Decision to buy dictated by selling the land
Land sold…next day we put our order in!
So…we planned our first big trip

Trip forced us to simplify:

3 week road trip
Most of our family in NY has downsized or didn’t have room for us…and we didn’t want to impose
Decided to rent a Camp Inn camper
Got to rent it for free!
Forced us to simplify our packing because we didn’t have our camper  to store stuff in…we had to pick it up in Wisconsin

Things we did to simplify camping: Yeah, we bought stuff…but we’re going to be doing a LOT of camping and we wanted it to be (you guessed it)…simple! (links to all these are below)

Set of 4 metal plates and utensils: pizza tins…trying to keep down on waste with plastic cups and utensils
Berkey…will come in handy next time
Quick dry and small thin towels
Crank and USB LED lanterns
Toiletry squeeze bottles…great for camping and flying for TSA regulations
Packed light clothing…Van: Merino Wool Clothes
Dan…NMX/washing ranger panties (SOFFE shorts)
Table with benches that tuck under it
Self inflating Thermarest mattresses instead of a blow up mattress that doesn’t hold its shape or bulky cots
Aeropress
Pop up trash can that can fold flat
Camper pros:
Well designed…we love efficient design
Easy to tow…little effect on gas mileage on highway
Compact…can have access in practically any campground or an off-grid location.
Can fit in our garage at home
Serves as a separate room/guest bedroom
Can be a great Bug-out van ;o)
Weather proof!  Huge/severe thunderstorms didn’t put a damper on us!
Kitchen galley was awesome…and acted much like a kitchen at home…it was the “hub”
Keeps it’s value better than many other campers/RV
Able to let go of other items no longer needed for camping: sleeping bags…big tents…big air mattresses…big cots…extra coolers…separate camping stove and propane tanks
No more hotel rates….
No more big packing jobs…everything will be stored in the camper.  Hook up and go!
Even in remote campsites with no electrical hook ups…we didn’t use up the battery.

Camper cons/challenges:

No shower…which made for tedious trips to common shower facilities (Van seriously considering no-poo and going “au naturale” instead of hauling toiletries around)
Can’t bring our juicer! Well we could…but it would be a hassle.

Pros of living in a small space/camping:

We don’t miss a lot about our home and material things (juicer)
We’ve been able to disconnect and unplug most of the time!
We’ve slept better!
Small space forces you to “live” outdoors (screen house, alcove, fire pit…protect you from sun and provide a gathering place/social space)

 Take Aways:

Developing a Plan and sticking to it
Identifying obstacles and temptations that may deviate from your plan: big RV…all the coolest gadgets…having the financial resources to buy camper but not    getting it until the land sold
Patience: Selling the land was key…even though it took 2 months longer than expected.
Realizing that new paths sometimes will reveal themselves…the small teardrop

THING Segment:

Dan: Day on the lake with family!!!!

Vanessa: Same as Dan! But, but since we want to be different, the the Food Crawl…Taste of Buffalo (Mighty Taco, John and Mary’s, Mammoser’s, Fran ‘n Ceils, Bella’s Pizza

Resources and Links:

Camp Inn Campers (use discount code “SIMPLE” to save on your purchase!)

Microfiber towels (we loved these!)

USB/Crank Mini Lanterns (awesome…lots of ways to charge, no batteries!)

Marino cool clothes (pricey, but I only need a few and I absolutely won’t go back to cotton)

– Icebreaker Merino Wool

– Ibex Merino Wool

Stainless Percolator (we added a probe thermometer to ours…you can email Dan if you want more info on that)

Pop Up Trash can

Edwin Jagger Safety Razor (beautiful, very functional and cheap blades)

Shaving oil (Dan won’t go back to creams…this will last over a year!)

Thermarest Mattresses (we loved these when we tent camped, now the kids use them!)

Berkey Water Filtration System (we use at home and on the road for pure water)

3 ounce Silicone Squeeze Bottles (love, love love these!)

Fuch’s Travel Toothbrushes (the best travel toothbrush for us…and cheap!)

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