April 2009 - Moving in! And storage questions!

We moved into the RV at the very end of March. Lots of folks seem to have questions about storage, and how we live in such a small space (about 230 sq ft). First, we had to be pretty methodical about what we wanted to take and what to put into storage (and yes, we do have a storage unit with our furniture and such). Here we sorted out what we needed to take before moving into the RV, and left it in the floor for a few days so we could purge at will. As Coco Chanel once said, always take off one accessory before you leave the house. We figured that we might need to take off quite a few accessories before we left!

Here's a view of one of the under panels of the RV. These go along the bottom on both sides (a couple of them in the back actually go beam to beam, so to speak - they go across the entire width of the RV). In RV-Speak, this is called the Basement.

This is the dish cabinet, right above the sink. We got new dishes made of melamine so that if they fall out they won't shatter glass all over the place. It doesn't look like much, but you'd be surprised how much you can fit in there! (Also, yes, I do have glasses and cups and such, but wanted you to be able to see the inside - yeesh!)

Here's a pic of Noel's closet, so you can get an idea of how much you can fit into one. See? Not bad!

There's more space in one of these RVs than you might imagine. They manage to wedge storage into all kinds of spots - the space under the couch, a small pantry cut into a wall, etc. There are some changes to your lifestyle you have to make though:

1. No hoarding of canned food (Sam's Club membership will be cancelled)

2. Learn to purchase things that can multitask (such as chicken tenders and use that for every recipe that involves chicken of whatever cut).

3. Be realistic about how much dressy clothing you really need. Other than work clothes and daily clothes, we really only have very few dressy items and honestly haven't needed them all that much.

4. Recipes that use common ingredients (and preferably only about 4 of them) are the best. Also? Love you, 1-dish dinners!

5. There's no need to make a ton of something because you really don't want to fill up your freezer space with 18 gallons of homemade chili. If you do, later you won't have room to store your lasagna, and that is indeed a tragedy.

One day we were discussing how the RV lifestyle is different from normal life, and came up with this maxim:

You must live deliberately.

Not a bad maxim for life in general, I guess, but especially for this type of living. What do I mean? Well, as most of you know, I'm a crafty type. I love to sew, for example. If I wanted to sew in my old house, it would proceed as so:

1. Go into sewing room.

2. Make large mess.

3. Tire of sewing.

4. Leave large mess in floor and go make peanut butter sandwich.

5. Go back to sewing room days later and resume making mess.

Now, things are different. If I want to sew in the RV, it looks more like this:

1. Decide to sew.

2. Get sewing machine out of my closet.

3. Get sewing box out of other closet.

4. Get fabric out of under-couch storage spot.

5. Set up sewing machine on table.

6. Set up iron and "ironing board" (ie. towel on top of cutting board) on kitchen counter.

7. Set up cutting area on couch or bed, depending on where cats are asleep.

8. Sew.

9. Tire of sewing.

10. Realize that if I want to do anything at all in the living room/dining room/kitchen area, I must put away mess.

11. Put sewing machine, iron, cutting equipment, and fabric away in respective places.

12. Drink wine.

See? Suddenly this whole sewing thing takes a lot more forethought and dedication, because frankly, if I'm going to go through all the pain of getting all that crap out, I damn well am going to sew for a while.

Also? I can't leave yarn out everywhere. First, it would be underfoot all the time. Secondly, the kitties would eat it. So that's also been an adjustment. But not a bad one! Because it forces me to actually focus on one project at a time! Very good!

Next up, pictures of the campground and our setup!