We have some big news and I have grappled with mixed feelings regarding it for weeks. It would be a lot to read in one blog post so I plan to split it up into three. So, for part one of the trilogy:
WE’RE MOVING!
Lots of people move. It’s usually a part of life. But this kind of move is different because it’s a bit radical and a lot out of my comfort zone. It’s completely out of the ordinary for what the majority of society would deem “normal,” and it’s also a move out of necessity and not out of excitement (okay, maybe a little excitement has started to form!). Simply stated: we’re not moving into a new house.
We live in a state with a low cost of living (Missouri). This is fantastic while you’re living here, but not so great if you ever want to move because moving means you will probably have to downsize your home if you haven’t planned well. As we looked into moving to a different state for my husband’s job (Texas) we began to realize that we would be downsizing tremendously and we would be in a not so fun financial situation. No fun money. No vacations. And definitely no home with a basement and big yard. We would basically be living paycheck to paycheck just to pay for our housing. The next reality check to our dreams was the fact that I resigned from my full-time job of teaching so that I could be a work from home mom. I haven’t recouped that monthly deficit that we lost. Then, add in our past decisions with money that has left us with some debt and you have a really bad equation that equals YOU’RE STUCK and you’re never moving and your dreams are crushed. That’s how it felt.
I have loved our home but really wanted to one day, sooner than later, live in a bigger home with a huge yard, a real laundry room, a basement, and of course the most beautiful kitchen. But, when you’re stuck financially– in debt and living on one income, it’s really hard to get out quickly and patience has never been a virtue of mine.
We have options. I could put my baby in daycare and go to work outside the home full time. Nick could get a second, third, fourth job. But saying yes to options such as those meant saying no to our family, and that wasn’t something we were willing to compromise on. So we started thinking a bit more out of the ordinary.
We have some friends who have been renovating a travel trailer/RV/camper and I was the one who brought the idea up to Nick at first. I was so ready to be free from the chains of debt that I wasn’t really thinking about all the implications of something like moving into an RV. Nick loved the idea and started his research and ran with it as I was wondering what I had created, ha! We made the decision to just DO IT. If we thought about it too much we would think of every negative thing to talk ourselves out of it. We went to see the RV in person and I started making lists of things we would sell and things we would put in storage.
Going from wanting to move into a larger home and then ending up with moving into an RV was going from one extreme to another. Our plans turned a complete 180 within mere weeks!
We did the math estimations and we’ll pay off our debt, the trailer, and begin a nice savings for a future home and other plans within around 15 months of living in the RV (thanks, also, to the sale of our house). This is one-fourth the time it would take us if we continued living in our current home, trying to pay our bills as is, and get out of debt. I have grappled with feelings like: what will people think? Are we failures? Will I regret this immediately? Will my baby have everything she needs to thrive in such a small space? I have already mourned the loss of our “stuff” and have worried about downsizing to such a small space.
Thanks to our friends, Dan and Sam, the RV is gorgeous and we’ll still be living in style. The RV has been transformed to a “farmhouse on wheels” with modern touches and everything we’ll need to still live comfortably. We’ll be going from our 20-year-old home to a completely renovated “new” space! Enjoy some pictures below of our new home and stay tuned for parts two and three of our new journey ahead that will include some more exciting details!
