Truths About RV Life

Don’t get me wrong, we LOVE our RV, we LOVE living tiny, and when we got George after traveling for 2 years WITHOUT the RV, we quickly realized we had been doing this whole travel-pta-thing wrong for two years! Fast forward, a little over a year later, and here we are. In the RV in southern TX, beginning our first ever summer in the south. Ohio does get very hot, and very humid, but there is something about this Texas heat ya’ll, it’s truly something else! Brutal is a word that comes to mind. The dogs and I have had to start setting an alarm to do our walks in the early-ish mornings (which is also the best time to avoid snakes, so yay…) and poor Mushu will be needing several haircuts this summer because his thick corgi fluff just does not pair well with the heat and the never-relenting sun. For the most part we are staying cool in the RV, it does get a little warm inside in the late afternoons, but we are taking steps to hopefully help with that (will keep you posted!)

But like I said,we LOVE the RV and living tiny. However. There are certainly some things about this lifestyle that are… not for everyone? Frustrating? Down right annoying? You get the point…

*this is not a post to complain, just sharing the frustrations of RV/tiny living! I could add a positive “but….” statement to each and every one of these points!*

-the kitchen

I’ll just loop everything I’m not crazy about in the kitchen into one point, otherwise this post would become a “90 million things that suck about having the tiniest kitchen on the planet.” Okay, that’s an exaggeration. But in all seriousness, our kitchen situation has been better. Before reno, the RV kitchen had a total of approx 3 inches of counter space (dipped down in between the sink and stove) For sanity reasons, we added a “bar cart” type dealy for storage, coffee, and a whole extra 3ft of counter space! Plenty enough room for the majority of our meal preps, but still pretty limiting. I am forced to do dishes every.single.day. because of the limited cabinet space (which means few pots/pans/silverware/plates/etc) but also because there is NO WHERE to put the dirty dishes other than one half of the tiny sink we have. Do you get where I’m going here? Our kitchen is cute, and I make it work. I cook EVERYDAY, people! But lord have MERCY, it’s definitely not ideal.

-the laundry situation

First off, after 3+ years of travel, we probably travel with the least amount of clothes now than we ever have. But after so long of only being able to travel with what we NEED, each year it got easier and easier to just get rid of stuff, to be able to decide on the stuff we actually WANT to lug around with us, and to say NO to extra stuff. Now, that’s NOT to say we don't have “extra stuff”(especially in the clothes department) because we totally do (especially me!) but we are so much more picky about the extra stuff now. Because there are only so many pieces of clothing that will fit in our limited clothing-storage-areas. Because there is only so much room for dirty laundry. And because there are only so many hours of a day I can stand to be in a laundromat/laundry room.

 lack of privacy

This is one that is so true to RV living, but we were already kind of accustomed to. During our first two years of travel, we got used to spending ALL of our free time together. When you’re 1,000 + miles away from “home” (and aren’t the best at making new friends like us) you only have each other to hang out with. It’s not IDEAL, because no matter how much you love someone and enjoy their company, it’s always nice to have other people to spend time with too. And there were (still are) times that we would (do) drive each other BANANA SANDWICH.But I think over the past 3 years, we’ve just figured it out, adapted. The RV is actually the SECOND smallest place we’ve lived (shout out to #1, our Meridian TX tiny cottage on the ranch! Man we loved that place.) and there is a lot of being in each others’ way, wanting to watch different things on TV, or do different activities, etc. (in example: last weekend Joel was driving me crazy and wanted to play his video games, so I took my iPad, snacks, and beer to the bedroom to be away from him. Which then lead to me spilling my beer, then my snacks, all over..... fun times! haahaa)  Lots of distracting each other from what we’re trying to concentrate on because we’re always in such close proximity, and lots of awkward bathroom encounters. (not really awkward for us anymore honestly, but still weird hahaha) HOWEVER. *I’ll be completely honest with you and tell you that I think it’s been great for us in the long run. We communicate better, we are so (ridiculously and sometimes grossly) comfortable with each other, and it’s been fun to be up each others’ butts during this season in our lives. Because I know it won't always be like this, so I try to appreciate it and soak this season in.

-so many “home” inconveniences

(pics above: LEFT- wrapping Christmas gifts in front of each other because well there's just nowhere else to do it. MIDDLE- wearing many many layers of clothes to keep warm on the coldest nights of the year. RIGHT- one of the 3 leaks we've dealt with so far in the RV)

 We have to pack up and drive somewhere everytime we need propane. I’m constantly terrified we are going to find water damage somewhere. We have to actually think about how many times we’ve used the potty so we remember to dump the tank before it gets full. We have to think about how much electricity we’re using at a time, so we don’t trip any breakers etc. Our appliances are not “typical” appliances so have all kinds of special little quirks. Our fridge is tiny, our toilet is tiny, our shower is tiny, and on and on and on.

As you can see ^^^ Mushu isn't overly concerned about the hard truths about RV living. And honestly, we try not to be, too. There are going to be hard times, difficult stuff to deal with, and pains-in-the-butt in ANY living situation. So we try (our absolute hardest!) to roll with the punches and continue living happy lives (which is the whole point, right!?)