We decided around May 7, 2017 that we were going to sell everything and move onto a school bus. We were on vacation at the time, so we stayed in vacation mode up until the moment when we got back to our house. It was odd when we did arrive home. From the first time I walked into my home, I knew it was the house I needed to buy. It felt like home every day after that. I wasn’t always happy with the space, as I mentioned here, but I was home.
When we got back from our trip to New Orleans, I walked in the door and there was a shift. I was no longer home. I was in a waiting place until I got my next home; a school bus.
Even though there was no way we would be ready to leave for over a year, we lived by the phrase, “We’re leaving tomorrow.”
What does this mean?
When we made decisions, we made them as if we were walking onto that bus the following day and driving away.
Do I Need to Buy This?
We were already cautious about the money we spent. As I mentioned in this post, we often tried to minimize our belongings in the past to make more space in our house. Once we decided to live in less than 300 sq feet, every purchase decision changed. We bought things like people who didn’t have space to store things. This meant buying less. It meant less shopping trips at Sams Club because we won’t have space for grocery hauls like those once we live in the Skoolie.
We did make a few purchases for the bus. We knew we wanted to bring in some plants to make it feel more like home. We found a shop that made small signs and picked one out to adorn the walls. We were building a home, not just camping out in a school bus. Moving onto a school bus needed to feel like. We began making small purchases that would make it feel like home and adding those to the things we already owned.
Do I Need to Keep This?
I don’t need 5 coffee cups. I limited myself to 2 cups. I had another I wanted to keep and I did keep it. The rule was that it needed to serve another purpose. I ended up using it as a planter for my aloe vera plant. The plants will be living on the skoolie with us, so that was a win. Once a day, I walked through each room, picked up an item, and asked if it was something I NEEDED. We sold most of our possessions using this method.
We sold our Xterra and replaced it with a Jeep Liberty that we could tow behind the skoolie. We sold my uncomfortable kayak and replaced it with one that I could actually use. We plan on spending a lot of time on the water in our skoolie life. The kayaks were an essential piece of this new lifeystyle.
Do I Need This Membership?
When you pretend you are leaving tomorrow, you make different choices when signing up for annual passes or clubs. For us, it actually meant purchases more passes. For instance, if we purchase a family pass to our zoo, it gets us into 50 other zoos for free or half price. That is a great deal while traveling the US!
What habits and behaviors can we modify now?
We wanted to make it as easy as possible once we moved into the bus. We began transitioning our lifestyle to be more aligned with tiny living. Here are a few things we did.
Things that Made The Transition to Tiny Living Easier:
Took photos of keepsakes and added them to an Instagram account.
Moved the boys into one room together.
Read The Art of Tidying Up
Downsized the Kitchen First
Stopped using the dishwasher
Created capsule wardrobes
Asked grandparents to gift experiences for holidays
What would change for you if you decided to live tiny?
