Life of adventure
Means facing fears. The first one:
Everything must go.
I didn’t have much trouble giving or throwing away most of my stuff. No, what’s giving me a hard time is letting go of convenience: shower, laundry, kitchen, and electricity. I keep vowing to stay ‘out there’ for a full 24 hours but the apartment’s siren call keeps luring me back day after day, defeating my loftiest aspirations.
It’s not that I can’t replace all these things with reasonable substitutes, but they cost money, and my budget took a painful hit when I financed the van. I maxed out my credit to an irresponsible degree (coffPaydayLoancoff) and now I have to pay the piper for a couple of months. All will ease up in January when I’m no longer paying rent, but until then: ouch.
So I can’t afford that battery and solar panel right now, nor the tiny washer-dryer combo I’ve had my eye on, nor any of the other cool devices that make vandwelling comfy and cozy.
That will happen later.
What needs to happen now is me womanning up and learning how to live without these things.
Or not. I COULD just continue to come here to the apartment to recharge every day until the money crunch eases. I COULD just stop berating myself about it.
What a concept.
What the hell.
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I would not be so hard on yourself. Perhaps you can find a middle ground that suits you. I know when I started looking at full-timing, I really thought it might be something I could do but then the more blogs I read, the more information I gathered, the more I realized that just would not work for me. I like my stuff and comforts and I think part-time travel is the way to go for me. I just want to have the option to go for as long as I want when I want.
To be honest, a baby wipe is never going to be a substitute for a long, hot shower for me.
I will watch with interest as to how you make this best suit you.
I hope to have something this summer for myself but it is hard to make the right decision. Many things to consider.
Lynn
Lynn, it’s good to research well enough to know what will work for you and what won’t. I have some friends who jumped right into full-timing — sold everything and went into major debt for an RV — and realized after three months it wasn’t their thing. They sold the RV and moved back into a house, but I’m sure they took a major financial hit in the process.
I’ve been reading and thinking about this for about a year and a half now, and I took a practice camping trip for a week last summer to see how I liked it. There were things I didn’t like, but I knew I wanted this enough that I was willing to deal with them, or try to make them work for me.
I’m going on a camping trip out to the foothills about an hour out of town this week, to see how long I can last without the conveniences of the apartment. I think I can make it about a week. We’ll see…
I love the Haiku and the photo… My how you have grown!
I’m with Lynn on the not being hard on yourself idea. Transitions can
be difficult and aren’t you lucky that you do have the apt to go back to
when the need arises.
I hope this comment goes through as it appears my last two have not.
Don’t know if it’s something on my end or yours.
Oh! I got my rig! It’s a dusty mess that will take me the rest of the month at least
to get sorted out. I think I might be having a bit of buyers remorse.
Yolanda, your comment went through and I’m pretty sure the last two did too. You got your van, yay! I had a bit of buyer’s remorse too, but I got over it. You will love it. Can’t wait to see you at the RTR!
LaVonne, love this update, as always. Also like your idea to sell a subscription for more detailed updates. I agree with your other posters — transition periods are often important. Other than the financial piece, it seems ideal that you’ve still got your apartment.
I’m wondering if you’ve considered sharing your empty apt with someone(s) through the end of December? Maybe if you got a twin or queen bed, dresser, and a few plates/pots in there, you could sublet it to people through Craig’s List or Airbnb? People often want inexpensive digs to visit relatives around the holidays. I realize your apt manager may not be down with that, but wanted to mention it.
Also, I love how you’re willing to pee in a bucket, so I don’t have to.
Laila, my son and his wife share the apartment with me, so I’m only paying half the rent. They’ll take over the full rent in January. We made this arrangement a year ago when I decided to do this, to give them time to prepare financially. It’s a big jump for them, but it’s time for all of us to spread our wings. 🙂
And you’re welcome on the pee-in-a-bucket thing!
That is exactly what I was thinking, rent your apartment through AirBnB.