"Most of the luxuries, and many of the so-called comforts of life, are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind." -Thoreau
We made the decision to spend a year on the road in February of 2018. Believe it or not we spent nearly a year planning the trip. From which camper to purchase to what to bring and where to go there were tons of decisions to be made. We are not new to camping but are new to RVing so we had a lot to learn on the fly! We were fortunate to be able to rely on the experience of other travel families who shared their experiences online.
The first order of business was choosing a camper. After hours of research and visiting a few RV retailers we settled on a KZ Connect Lite 211BH. Our main considerations were having space for the everyone to sleep without having to convert a dining table to a bed daily, having a good size fridge and dining space (for work and school) and we wanted to have a "real" bathroom (Can you believe I almost considered doing a pop up trailer with no toilet? What was I thinking??). We could have gotten something larger for sure but a few factors kept us from going big with the camper. First, it is very important to us to be able to camp in National Parks and there are limitations on the size of campers allowed into those campgrounds (24' is the absolute max for a travel trailer). Also, we wanted it to be relatively easy to tow, and we didn't want to have to buy a diesel truck. Finally, we did not want to sink a ton of money into it. What if we didn't like the lifestyle and turned around after a month or two? All in all it is a good amount of space for us and only feels too small on rainy days or when Nick and I are both using the kitchen space at one time and the kids are at our feet. Truthfully that has been the case in EVERY home we have ever had. ; )
Now to what we brought... oh my gosh I feel like we brought everything. Really the only things we didn't bring are furniture, my nice (breakable) dishes and serving platters, family photos/sentimental items and a bunch of unnecessary toys. Those items are all hanging out in my parent's basement.
A few years prior to our trip I completely decluttered our home and became a certified KonMari consultant. The fact that we had already thoughtfully curated our belongings along with my professional organizing experience made moving in to a 160 square foot space MUCH easier.
Between the storage within the trailer and the storage we have in the back of the truck (we have a camper shell on the truck as well) we were able to fit every thing we needed and most of what we wanted. From bikes, clothes for all seasons, toys, camp chairs, books, you name it. We even brought a few luxury items... a "real" coffeemaker (although we have a french press too for off grid camping), my Vitamix (I make smoothies daily so it was a must), a milk frother (I know, I know a bit indulgent but it is a tiny little battery operated hand held one and it makes the almond milk in my coffee just as good as cream), and a globe. Yes a globe. You know, for school.
So far there is only one thing that we didn't bring that I wish we had- our Dyson Animal vacuum cleaner. I know it sounds nuts, especially since we only have about 10 square feet of carpet, but really how do you clean carpet without a vacuum?? We totally had space for it too. Oh well.
Surprisingly, space has not been a major issue so far. It is mildly annoying to access some of our storage- for example, much of our storage is under the seating around the dining table so there is an extra step of removing a cushion to get to what you need- but we were very thoughtful about what could be stored for longer periods of time (items we need once a week or less) and items that need to be accessible on a daily basis.
Camper friends and tiny home friends: What was most difficult for you about moving in to a small space? What were the benefits?
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