And we're finally moved in! I have to admit that the last few weeks, I began to doubt if we'd be able to pull this off. But with a lot of help from family, we did it. We're now full-timers. Yes, we're stationary for the next eight months, but we are totally out of our house and in Lulu.
It's been a week now. A week of unpacking, organizing, re-organizing and making sense of what goes where. Now, we've got just a couple of tubs left to unpack.
What I've learned: In an RV, there is no room for OCD. It will never look like it does in for sale pictures. It's home. It's lived in and slightly messy. That's a fact when you're living in 300 square feet. So, I have had to learn to relax A LOT and realize that not everything will look perfect all the time.
The sense of community is so much stronger at a campground. I see my neighbors all the time and speak to them. We wave as we drive by. At our S&B, I think I knew one neighbor to speak to. This kind of living just makes you more social.
I've learned to get creative. When a container made for the kitchen doesn't work, it may work in the bathroom. Size limitations breed creativity.
We've also learned what other full-timers have told us. It's different living in an rv versus camping for a week. While camping, we would have a campfire every night, spend every waking moment enjoying the outdoors. RV living is different. We don't have the energy to build a campfire every night. We ant to watch tv and use the internet, the things we used to do at home.
For television, we've decided that depending on the campground is probably not always effective. So, we have purchased a Winegard Traveler Sateliite and are going with Dish TV.
Wi-Fi, as fulltimers know, is always an issue, so we're working on that as well.
In the meantime, we're enjoying getting used to the full-time lifestyle. Hubby is nearly down to double digits of days left to work before he retires. The dogs are adjusting quicker than we had thought. One little wrinkle - they all think they need the recliners to lay in. It's a daily battle.
We've enclosed our site with X-Pen fencing so the dogs have an area to run around without leashes. It's working extremely well and even makes it more home-like.
Our newest neighbor is a rooster. A big rooster. He makes the rounds through the campground every morning to wake us up and every evening to tell us to go to bed. He passes by our site every morning. What a pleasant change from sirens!
For those of you who think you can't live without your "stuff" - your collections, etc., once you can get past giving them up, you won't regret it. I love having no non-essentials. I love being able to fully clean in thirty minutes and have the time to sit outside and enjoy the Spring sunshine.
We'll be here until mid-November, when we'll head to Pensacola for our first winter's hiatus. After that, who knows?
It's been a week now. A week of unpacking, organizing, re-organizing and making sense of what goes where. Now, we've got just a couple of tubs left to unpack.
What I've learned: In an RV, there is no room for OCD. It will never look like it does in for sale pictures. It's home. It's lived in and slightly messy. That's a fact when you're living in 300 square feet. So, I have had to learn to relax A LOT and realize that not everything will look perfect all the time.
The sense of community is so much stronger at a campground. I see my neighbors all the time and speak to them. We wave as we drive by. At our S&B, I think I knew one neighbor to speak to. This kind of living just makes you more social.
I've learned to get creative. When a container made for the kitchen doesn't work, it may work in the bathroom. Size limitations breed creativity.
We've also learned what other full-timers have told us. It's different living in an rv versus camping for a week. While camping, we would have a campfire every night, spend every waking moment enjoying the outdoors. RV living is different. We don't have the energy to build a campfire every night. We ant to watch tv and use the internet, the things we used to do at home.
For television, we've decided that depending on the campground is probably not always effective. So, we have purchased a Winegard Traveler Sateliite and are going with Dish TV.
Wi-Fi, as fulltimers know, is always an issue, so we're working on that as well.
In the meantime, we're enjoying getting used to the full-time lifestyle. Hubby is nearly down to double digits of days left to work before he retires. The dogs are adjusting quicker than we had thought. One little wrinkle - they all think they need the recliners to lay in. It's a daily battle.
We've enclosed our site with X-Pen fencing so the dogs have an area to run around without leashes. It's working extremely well and even makes it more home-like.
Our newest neighbor is a rooster. A big rooster. He makes the rounds through the campground every morning to wake us up and every evening to tell us to go to bed. He passes by our site every morning. What a pleasant change from sirens!
For those of you who think you can't live without your "stuff" - your collections, etc., once you can get past giving them up, you won't regret it. I love having no non-essentials. I love being able to fully clean in thirty minutes and have the time to sit outside and enjoy the Spring sunshine.
We'll be here until mid-November, when we'll head to Pensacola for our first winter's hiatus. After that, who knows?