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3 Months of Tiny Living - What we love and what we don't
Tosha Tingey • Jul 18, 2019
After 3 months of Tiny Living we are taking stalk of what we love and what we don’t
As with just about anything in life, you can only prepare so much until you are actually living it. We have been living in a 150 sq ft Airstream for the past 3 months and here are 3 things we love and 3 things we don’t.
Things We Don’t Love
1. Constantly cleaning
This was the first thing I realized I didn’t like about Tiny Living. For other people this may be a dream but not for me. With a tiny space messes get made very quickly and even the smallest messes look big. The up side is that it doesn’t take long to clean, but I feel like I am constantly cleaning to get the most out of the space I have.
2. No napping
So this only really applies with kiddos. But since we all pretty much live in one giant(ish) room, unless our daughter is sleeping, nobody else can be sleeping. This obviously isn’t a huge problem but the occasional rough night with her or is sick and one of us needs to get some sleep in during the day, it becomes more challenging. This also applies to having some alone time. I’m the kind of person that needs time to myself to recharge. I can usually get this during nap times or early bed times but otherwise I either go on a walk, a drive, or send Jonathan and Addie on an errand.
3. Rainy Days
One of the main goals with tiny living is to take advantage of the big big world outside. So it really doesn’t feel so tiny when you spend so much time outside. But when there are lots of rainy days in a row and aren’t getting outside as much, it can start feeling really small and tends to get much messier.
Things We Love About Tiny Living
1. Everything has its place
A big part is the minimalism! There is a lot of peace of mind knowing that everything you have in your home has a purpose and a place. Now, this isn’t saying you’re never going to lose things. Because I thought that and we somehow have still lost some things. But they usually turn up pretty quick. I love the order and the simplicity this lifestyle brings.
2. Spending lots of time together
I know what you’re thinking, “this should be on the cons list.” Haha but I’m going to tell you why this has been awesome for us! When you live in such a small place, it forces you to talk, hang out, and interact. I’ve noticed that Jonathan and I argue less and talk more. We both are extremely involved with Addie and we co-parent so much better which has eased a lot of stress. I've noticed that Jonathan and Addie's relationship has grown since we began living tiny. It also makes watching Addie so much easier because no matter what you’re doing, you can check on her. It’s awesome!
3. More time outside
I mentioned this on number 3 in my other list, but one of the things I feel like people forget when they think of Tiny Living is that it encourages more time spent outside! I’ve noticed a palpable difference in our lives. Our living space got smaller and our world got bigger. We take advantage of so many more things outside the home than we ever have. We go to libraries, parks, lookouts, beaches, trails, play places, and so much more! We spend so much time outside that when we do spend a day at home it feels like a privilege.
Is Tiny Living for everyone? Nope, definitely not. But despite the few things we don’t like, the things we do enjoy make up for it. The transition to tiny living was much easier than anticipated. It’s amazing how adaptable to our living spaces and situations we really can be. You never realize how little you actually do need until you try it out.
Have you ever considered tiny living?
When you're on a cruise it can be difficult to experience the island or country you are in when you only have a few hours. The other challenge we had was finding an excursion that our entire family could join. And by entire family I mean my parents, my sister's family with four kids, and our family! So when we found Chukka Caribbean's excursion that included Zip-lining, River Tubing, ATV ride, lunch, and a bird aviary - it was the plan for a perfect day!
If you’ve ever gone to Rocky Mountain National Park, you most likely came through Estes Park. It’s pretty well known but from now on when we go to the National Park we will be going to Granby. Granby is on the western side of Rocky Mountain National Park. We found an AMAZING campground to stay at that has so many amenities and the area all around is packed with fun things to do!
I always want to be real with anyone reading this blog about full-time travel, tiny living, Airstream life… all of the above. So I want to share some of our hardest moments that had us either wanting to quit or had us seriously questioning, “what are we even doing?” So here we go…
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As with just about anything in life, you can only prepare so much until you are actually living it. We have been living in a 150 sq ft Airstream for the past 3 months and here are 3 things we love and 3 things we don’t.
1. Self-Cleaning Vacuum We have a little hidden cubby where we keep our Deebot (googly eyes not included). This almost didn’t happen and I am SO glad it did. I learned within one day how dirty our floors get. It’s awesome to run the little robot vacuum while we are gone or asleep or packing up and have it do all the work.
Pacific City RV Resort had so many amenities and the biggest, most private campsites we've ever had! It's across the street from the beach and lives in the beautiful small coastal town of Pacific City, Oregon.
The Thousand Trails campground, Russian River was just a half way stop near Santa Rosa, CA and we were pleasantly surprised with what this RV campground had to offer!
The Yosemite Lakes campground was actually the one that got us interested in a Thousand Trails to begin with. This campground is chuck full of amenities in the campground itself, and it’s 10 min away from the Yosemite National Park entrance. And I’m apologizing in advance, we were enjoying it so much that we forgot to take pictures until we left! So I only have a few but hopefully it’s better than nothing.