SLT035 Living in 50 Square Feet…Vacation Simplified

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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.

Living in 50 square feet


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… 

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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!)

iTunes-black-48If you haven’t already, please be sure to go to iTunes to subscribe to the show. Don’t forget to leave us a rating & review! Thanks!

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5 thoughts on “SLT035 Living in 50 Square Feet…Vacation Simplified”

  1. I seriously believe our lives are on parallel paths…as my husband had been sending me links to teardrop campers too. He was excited to learn about your purchase as reinforcement for his own desire to pack-up and spend a couple of months on the road figuring out where to land next. Our house is on the market now and we know what we’d like our lives to be like, but the “where” to live it is still undecided. I guess I better check out Merino wool for my travel apparel, as I will find it extremely challenging to pack for months on the road – especially with a change of seasons right around the corner. Can’t wait to hear what you talk about next that will reinforce our chosen path! So appreciate you sharing your lives with all of us.

  2. Here’s my takeaway from this epi: WE CAN DO IT! If y’all can live in that tiny space for three weeks, we can live in the 21-foot travel trailer we just bought for four to six months.

    Why would we do that? We have decided to build our own earthbag house! It will be two domes, one 16 ft diameter, one 21 ft diameter, 811 square feet area including a loft in each dome, and we figure it will take at least four months to plaster inside and out and finish it out (though we are keeping that as simple as possible).

    I’ve had my doubts the three of us, plus a cat and three rats and a cage would be able to deal with downsizing to the tiny trailer space (our current home, which will go on the market late next winter, is 2159 sq. ft.) But you two have boosted my confidence!

    An aside, back to the decluttering I’ve commented about a couple other times: a couple days after we bought the trailer, I began to take inventory as to whether we would be able to fit everything we need into the cupboards and drawers and small closets in the trailer. To my utter shock, I discovered that the answer was YES! Of all the stuff we have (and I’m not counting DS’s collection of toys – with five acres to play on, I don’t think he’ll be “needing” them that much), the amount we use on a daily, or at least weekly, basis, can fit into the storage on a 21-foot travel trailer! What a revelation!

    So I’ve found even MORE stuff to get rid of, and will probably give away another 10-15 boxes/bags, bringing the grand total to over 90!

    I’m going to check out Merino wool, too – and definitely those microfiber towels! Thanks again for the encouragement and inspiration. 🙂

  3. The links do not seem to work. I am interested in the merino shirts and toothbrush. Can you update the links or send me more information? Thanks

    • Hi Ray! Thanks for the note and you nudged me to finally get those links squared away. They’re all squared away now!

  4. We’re talking about moving clear across the country in a year or two. I don’t know if my husband would go for it in a million years, but after listening to this, I want to buy a teardrop trailer and make a vacation out if it!

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