Personal Feelings: Linda

Ookay!  So, were not living in it quite yet but I want to keep posting to keep everyone up to date so I figured we could all post our personal feelings about this.  And um... To be honest?  I'm excited.


We've done ALOT of renting in my life so smalls not so much a thing and because I always slept and played and even watched TV in the same room I got use to everything being...  There.

I've mentioned before, we live out of 4 rooms.  The rooms we sleep in, kitchen, and bathroom.  Small is..  Normal.


This was why we wanted a bunk house for my mom and a small bedroom for us to sleep in... We don't need much.


Shockingly, I've got almost a walls worth of boxes though... *small tea boxes mind you!*


But these have books, kitchen items (like extra cast iron, a spare coffee maker, and a nice set of dishes), my VHS tapes and player, two small boxes of clothes (Their a tad bit tight and I'm trying to lose weight so I can wear those instead of buying more), more books (I had a WALL covered in books!  So give me a break...  And oh yes... I've read them and reread them), and a few nicknacks of value to me (This includes figurines, a few toys I loved, and just small collectables I just cant put on the camper).


Ah, and 4 large boxes of scrap materials and cloth...  Why?  I quilt and sew!  Sadly, my sewing machine is waaayy too big so I'm just taking my sewing box and knitting stuff and packing the rest.  But it'll be near the front so if I get the itch I cant take over someone elses kitchen and whip out a quilt or atleast a couple squares!  I sound like a old lady don't I?


For the most part my computer, knitting, and a couple books will be joining me on the camper...  I already miss my game systems and sewing machine..


Sadly theres not enough room for my crafty side on the camper.


Luckily, kindles and ebooks will save me from boredom! 


What REALLY has me down is the lack of internet!  Dish offers crappy data plans and the Cell Data is too expensive!

Either way, limited.  We have to get-ick-cable... No Netflix (streaming takes too much data) and our gaming lives will be limited too!  I hope kindle books wont eat too much when I buy more...


Oh, and the kitchen is toooo tiny!  I'm use to a small cooking appliances (We've had nooo stove for almost 10 years... Electric burners and a toaster oven... In fact this tiny RV stove is bigger then what I'm use to!  Aint that a shocker?  I get three burners!)  No, its the freaking counters that bother me!

I have this cheap espresso maker... Neither that or my coffee maker can sit out!  I'm use to a decent kitchen.  Atleast (even in Apts) having room to keep a Ninja blender and coffee maker out!

In truth, I might would if they hadn't put the sink in sooo stupid!  Huge, curved counter space... "Duurrr, lets put the sink right in the middle!"  More worried about storage then counter space...

So behind the sink is RIGHT next to the door.  This is kind of in the way to have... Anything.  In front of and to the left abit is a decent area that nothing can be put without knocking it into the sink or into the floor...  It'll probably be a prep or drying area.

Even with my tiny rolling counter top I wanna get, I cant put that anywhere where its not in the way and keep appliances plugged in..

So I need a stove cover so I can plug a few things in and set them on the stove to use and then put away...

This to me is going to be a pain, but we had to give on something and this was the thing.

Worse case, i'll store my coffee maker in the out door kitchen, make my coffee while the dogs do their business.


So, its not all joy and perfect.  But overall, I'm still bursting at the seams with excitement. 


Well, I've ranted enough for one post!

I'm off, maybe next week you'll hear from one of the others.. (But whos to say!)

Linda

Cramp Quarters, Sleeping Arrangements are needed!

On the last post I mentioned the need for a dog bed...  Figured i'd expand.


First we'll start with the bunk house.

We plan to set a small desk in there for mom so we'll put one dog bed in there.  This leaves there bunks and a doggy bed.  The lower bunk is BIG ENOUGH for two dogs... But it most likely wont shared.

I imagine moms dogs BB and Wiggles will fight for the bunk and the other taking the dog bed if Lily doesn't first.  She'll be in a top bunk, but one bunk will be storage (due to the HORRIBLE step design.  Those things HURT to use and the bunk is so high its hard to move in it.)


Hubby and I have our own room which has no real room for dog beds and its way too hard to get on our bed for the pups.  They CAN but it takes awhile for them to maneuver in and then find a way to get up due to lack of space.  Plus, we sleep here.


The Couch is big enough for 3 people... This translates to one dog.  My girls and Wiggles enjoy the couch but River and Lily will most likely be the ones fighting for it.  Why?  Because Wiggles will enjoy the bunkhouse better due to his love of closeness.  Lily (while loving) enjoys window watching like River.  Plus, they both enjoy the cool faux leather and the stretching they can do.  They might would share but I see more of a trade off where the last one to it will attempt to get our bed or make us move the other.

Lastly is the Dinette when we'll keep the second doggy bed.  We'll be setting this one under the removable table.  I imagine Hoss will take this one but Lily will share or kick him out during storms and BB might try to take it in a bid to steal my hubby...Oh yes, that dog wants my husband allll to herself.  o.<


So, as you can see... At night were lacking a bed unless they share.  The boys will probably be the ones to not have one.  The girls are such bullies!  Hopefully, it'll be the youngest-Lily.  She enjoys sleeping with us and she'll have the easiest time getting on and off our bed thanks to her youth and long legs.

Hopefully the addition of the ottoman will entice someone.  I know Hoss enjoyed my grandpa's before we had to toss it, though it was ALOT bigger then what I plan to get.  BB would fit easily but she likes room to move.  River might take advantage since shes more graceful in her sleep... But whos to say?  Worse case i'll be splurging on a body pillow!  They love the fuzzy ones.


Linda

Things our camper didnt come with...

We got NOTHING with ours...

So we needed these things (That you might of got/get with yours)!

Sway Bars

Basic Sewer Kit (Hose attachment, hose, orange stuff...)

Short Water Hose

Extra Tire



Yah, we got none of that...  So BEFORE we started we knew we needed these things...


A 30 to 15 Adapter (We had a 30 Amp, good to have!)

Sewer Hose (We may not use it!)

Water Hose-White best

Level (I got a cute one on Amazon to stick outside ours)

Elbow Hose for water hose and a Water Pressure regulator (Both are pretty cheap)



These are the things we HAVE to get.. Heres what else I want.. ;3


Stick on toilet paper roll holder... Ours didn't have one.

Stick on paper towel roll holder

Rolling kitchen caddy (A mini roll-a-round!)

A new TV (We still have tubes... Need slimmer..)

Storage bins!  Need new food holders.

Pull out draws for our deep pantry... Actually REACH the back..

An extending Shower curtain road... (These showers are tiiinnnnyyyy!  But not having the curtain up on us will make life easier.)


A Composting toilet.  - 

This one has a reason... Where we plan to go, hooking electric and water-not so hard.  Sewer though... That's more a pain.  So, I said "Screw it, two of our options are farms, lets make a bigger compost bin."  Truth be told, i'd decided on compost and grey water system for my own home so that's how we went. 

The idea was that I can flush grey water twice a week.  Once to our plants and once to nearby trees and such via a hose.  Being three of us, I might need to do it MORE often but for the time being I'm hoping twice will do.  If not, i'll look at building a small system to run it elsewhere. 

Also, we lack anything could haul the camper at any time to a dumping station or just haul a huge tank of black and or grey water... We really no wanna do that anyway.. o.<  Soo, were cheating.  Good compost isn't hard to make if you have some ideas on what your doing, and it can be used for heat and or electricity. 


Storage/table/seating Ottoman!  We had one of these when I was younger and it was great.  Made a decent seat, foot rest, and we kept controllers in it.  It also had this tray attached to the underside so we could flip it and use our old heavy laptop on it or just have it as a dinner tray.  We don't really need seating per say, but a longer one will probably get used by the dogs or atleast storage.  I want one nearly as long as our sofa bed to keep board games and/or canned goods.

Mini Roll-a-round.  I have a full sized one now that belonged to my granny and I love it.  Its storage that moves, has a towel rack, and it acts as a butcher block.  While that one is too big for the camper doors and will be in storage, a smaller version can be found via amazon!  I'm looking at some that hold fruits/veggies and small wine racks and have a durable counter top or a butcher block.  Surprisingly, the small ones are super affordable.  Running from $30 to 200 bucks!  Needless to say, I'm staying under 100 though my budget screams under 50...  Sometimes its worth it to splurge for better rated and more function.

Solar Panels.  Oh yes, I want these sooooo bad!  Sadly?  I cant afford that shit...  I'm hoping that after we work our payment down I can get a small loan for some to keep detached and carry over to my home once its built but with starting cost easily over a grand for one panel and batteries i'll be keeping that dream alive in Lala land..  Sad Panda...

And lastly, One.  More.  Dog bed.  We have a couch and a lower bunk in their reach..  (Our bed will be taken nightly by us so its a no go-plus they have trouble getting on it because its a tiny room with a tiny bed and only a foot of space on either side while being higher up... Not easy for them to get up there, though River does love it because of the windows being just the right height...

So we have two built in dog beds... And no, they don't really share.  We have a spoiled Westie, a uptight coon dog, and a fat arse.  These three cant or wont share.  Plus, that tiny westie can stretch enough to take over a queen sized bed... Trust me.  This leaves Buddy and River to share, but Hoss doesn't climb well.  Luckily, we have two dog beds already.  This still leaves one lacking though.  So a fifth bed would be great but no idea where we'd put it!

But more on that later on.


Keep reading in future months when were living in our new home to see what we got, what we didn't, and what else we needed or want!


Linda

Sorting... What goes, What Stays?

2500 to 250 sq ft?  That's not a typo!

So, decluttering... Donating... But what can we keep?


First:  What can we use on the camper!


Well... We need atleast 3 of each dish/silverware, dog bowls, cookware... You get the idea.  Multi purpose is the key.


I ended up donating 90% of the dishes and cookware.  Gas stove and ceramic cookware?  No go.


I donated that extra breakable dishes too.


I was given cast iron for Christmas!  A skillet and deep pot that turned into a dutch oven.  Perfect.  It was JUST the right size for our ultra tiny gas oven.  Multipurpose cookware!  Naturally, I kept one durable pot too for boiling, tomato sauce, making tea, ect.

We had three plastic cups... Kept those out.  And I bought 4 plastic plates to use.  They all stack great and take little space.

We kept our large café style bowl/coffee mugs (Bowls with handles..) for bowl needs and our coffee/hot teas.

Oh, and a stainless steel kettle. 

Three spoons, forks, and 1 butter knife.  A few basic cutting knifes..  Its the minimal amount of everything and everything has to have a use.

As someone who loves cooking, it was a big blow... But when you think about it you don't need much. 

I did keep a few items that were too good... My hand mixer that has a stand...  Hey, its nice to mix in under 5 secs rather then doing it for 5 minutes!  Crockpot, hundred and one uses.  I would not avoid taking it, even with lack of counter space.  Last, my pressure cooker...  I don't cook with it much, but I keep it in my outdoor kitchen because I use it for canning!



Next was our closets.  Easy enough.  Josh has little for clothes, I had little but I slimmed it more by packing too small and donating too big, mom though... There was a HUGE box of shoes alone...

But down to a weeks worth of clothes each... 2-3 pairs of shoes each.  We each have our own closet space so, yay.


Next, Entertainment... Naturally we each had our computers, tablets... So we downsized our games and Dvds...  We moved to DvD binders for our games and dvds.  A wall of DvDs squished to a couple binders.  Awesome!

Game systems... Were gamers... We've collected.  But we narrowed it down.  But these were our DvD/blue ray players too.  Multi uses!


My books... Beloved books...  They were sent to storage..  Whine...

But a special few might get snuck on.

Dog beds...  These had to be adjusted... You see we had kiddie pools we'd fill with old pillows, blankets, ect.  The dogs love these but they take soo much room.

But we have two regular beds too.  We plan to set one under the dinette and under in the desk we'll set in the bunk house.


Next furniture...  Most is going bye bye!  I inherted most and others of it are just old and on the last leg...  So some is being given to family and others donated.  The worn out just tossed.  Mattresses, beds, tossed... Desks, entertainment center... Donated.  Of course we have a few antiques, those will be stored.



All the same your getting the idea.  Were going in with little to nothing.  Which is the idea.

We want to live small now and small later.  I actually have plans for my hobbit hole (which is my husband, me, and possible kids) will be living in 500 sq ft.  But I'm willing to go up to 700 because I want plenty of pantry space and a small craft room.  Were simple people.  My mom feels about the same.

So we'll be living and working in these spaces.  For the next few years, all three of us will work and live in this 250 sq ft tin can!


Awesome, huh?  Were going to kill each other aren't we?

Linda