For years we've talked about moving out of our small, barely over 1,000 square foot home and into something bigger. We bought our house when we were eighteen and nineteen years old. We didn't know a thing about what we wanted in a house. Now that we're nearing our thirties with two children, we have a much, much clearer idea of what we want in a home.
The last few years we've considered all sorts of things. From moving into a bigger place, to buying land and building, to moving in with my mom and starting a business, to moving states, to Canada, and to selling everything and traveling in an RV. Needless to say, we're tired of the societal standard and prison. We're tired of the bubbles people are consumed in. My husband is certainly tired of slaving his life away for a home he basically only sleeps in and a family he doesn't have time for. We dream of the world, and live in a prison.
One morning, a few mornings ago, I woke up and finally made a choice. It seems almost crazy, I'm sure. But we've decided. We're going to sell it all and travel. Recently we refinanced our home with the intention of renting it out and purchasing a bigger place somewhere nearby. Ultimately, we'd eventually move again and rent the new place as well, setting ourselves up for residual income for the rest of our lives. It's still a fantastic plan. But one that still required a great deal of stress and money and slavery to "the man". Not to mention, buying in this market (where we live) is insane at the moment. So selling would be fantastic, but buying, notsomuch.
Plus, we considered homeschooling for a while. Now that our oldest has been in public school, we're even more on board with homeschooling than ever. We'd prefer private school over all other options, but it's just not feasible for us. Our daughter's change in behavior, bullies and twenty-three to one student teacher ratio in school on top of being sick constantly, just isn't doing it for us. Not to mention, her teacher expects her to have mastered the grade by midway through the year because she's already so advanced (a little credit to her age - being that her birthday was three days after the school cutoff and she's a year older than the majority of her class). So she's going to be pretty bored.
The more we mull over our options, and talk about what life in an RV on the road and homeschooling will be like, the more on board we get. We have found so very little to worry about. We will all be happier, more connected to each other and God, and we'll all learn so very much. If it doesn't work out, we have family here. We can park our RV in a driveway, put the kids back in school, and get back to work until we find a house we love. If it does work out, we still only plan to do it for a few years; until we find a place we'd like to settle in. Unless it really just ends up being the best thing ever and we do it forever. We assume we'll likely find a place to settle, and maybe even buy some land and build our dream home.
We're already so excited to finally have a real plan, that we just want to pack up and put our house on the market yesterday. But we're going to finish out the school year and make a rough plan first. Our goal is to stay at parks, where you volunteer your time (about 20 hours a week or less) in exchange for free hookup/electricity, etc. Some parks even give you a spot and still pay the state's minimum wage. My husband will work on cars on the go, and I'll open a craft shop and do photography. I plan on looking into blogging/writing articles as well. There are apparently resources for people who travel to make money on the road, but I haven't looked into them yet. So with our plan, plus the multitude of resources for making and saving on the road, I'm not very worried about money. I'm going to learn to coupon (which I've been needing to do anyway) before we hit the road as well. Also, you have to apply/reserve a spot at a park sometimes up to six months in advance. So we have a lot of researching and planning to do. Not to mention, selling our cars and buying a truck and 5th wheel that will meet our family's daily and schooling needs.
We're excited to finally be able to see family around the US as well, that we otherwise would never have time/money to travel to see. We've been wanting to rid our lives of junk and clutter and material things, and this is the most perfect opportunity. On top of saying sayonara to bills like internet and television and astronomical property tax and home owners association fees, etc. We'll be saving more than ever, while learning and connecting and experiencing more than ever. And we truly have almost nothing to lose. We've got back up plans, B, C and D and are so ready to really live that we can hardly wait.
I hope that once we start delving into real options, maps, parks, plans, etc., that it's still something we can handle and that we don't get scared away. It seems almost overwhelming, in an incredibly freeing way. Scary, and exciting.
We're skipping out on Thanksgiving this year, for the first time since we've been together - so almost ten years. We typically have such a busy and stressful holiday season, that we've finally kind of cracked. Having been the only ones with a child (up until recently) who had to have a Thanksgiving at my mom's, my mother-in-law's, my grandmother's and then also with my husband's boss and then Christmas at my mom's, mother-in-law's, grandmother's, with my husband's work and then sometimes my dad driving in or the pressure of having to drive to his place and or figuring out how to get each side of the family to get along at a couple of the places over so many, or trading off holidays....... is actually sort of awful. Our families don't get along among themselves, much less together, and my in-laws are a very big family who have families, so it's just getting a little crazy and now we have another baby and it's just not something we're willing to deal with this year.
So, for the first time we're sneaking under the radar and driving down the beach, just the four of us. It'll be a little bit of a test to see how we fair in the travel trailer for three or four days; obviously somewhat different since we won't have the things we'll actually be living with and the stipulations will be pretty different. But since we've finally made the choice, it will be a nice test to see how we feel about it when we come back home.
