Adventures in Trailer Living - Part II

So what's it been like the past 9 months? It's been....interesting.

First off to give you a better of what our living situation is like, here are some interior pictures of a camper similar to our model:

So that's it. This is where we've been living. For a camper it's not too bad, for a house? It could be worse but it definitely could be better. Needless to say, this experience will make us appreciate our house that much more.

The pros of living in the trailer are that we were able to have our own space and on our own terms (more or less). To me having our own space was worth the challenges and inconvenience of temporarily living in a camper. I am not saying I would do it again, but in this case, the trailer suited our needs and provided us with a dry, warm, place to sleep. At the end of the day that's all you really need.

That's not saying that there aren't any negatives about living in a camper because, let me tell you, there are...

The top ten worst things about living in a camper:

10. The bed, couch, and other seating is uncomfortable. This isn't something that you would notice when purchasing a camper or even if you were to go camping for a week. We lived in the camper for a couple of months before we realized that things weren't that comfortable. I think this is quality thing though. Campers aren't meant to be lived in so I don't think they are built to withstand the wear and tear of being lived in. We also bought a cheaper model. To do this again, I think we would have bought something a little better quality. We resolved this by buying a couple of memory foam mattress toppers. One for the bed and one is folded up on the couch.

9. Lack of Storage Space. When we first set out to build our house we thought it would take 6 or 7 months, not 11 or 12, so weren't overly concerned with storage. We did buy the model that had the most storage space for the layout that we wanted and it still isn't enough. The closets are about 2' wide by 4' tall. That's all the clothes storage I get. The closet rod is installed in a way that you can't even hang clothes on it. I am not even sure why there is a closet rod at all. All of my clothes are just jammed into the closet. Fun times.
We run a home based business which means that we also work out of the camper. We ended up buying a shelving unit to go in the camper because there just isn't any storage for our files and paperwork. yet, we still have papers all over the place.

8. Mice. Yup mice. Part of this problem is that we moved to an older yard that hadn't been lived on for 50 years. There were old sheds and other places for the mice to hide in that we demolished. Technically we took over their home so they decided to move into our camper. We have caught about a dozen mice in the camper so far, probably 6 or so in the house, and just last week we found a nest with two mice under the hood of my car. Once we get settled in the house we are thinking of getting a cat to help control the mouse population.

7. Fridge Space. Obviously we have a camper sized fridge. It actually holds more than I thought it would but there are items that we have had to stop buying because they just don't fit in the fridge. I can't wait to move into the house and have a full sized fridge again.

6. The oven. My main complaint is that the seals on the oven door broke after a couple of months and I now have to use a broom and wedge it between the kitchen cabinets and the oven door so that the door stays closed tight.

5. The microwave. I am impressed that we even have a microwave in here but after a couple of months of using it, it no longer opens properly so you have to use a fork to lift up on the microwave door as you press the open button.

4. No running water. We moved to an older acreage that wasn't serviced so while the water line is run to the house it isn't hooked up to anything which means that we have no way of having running water on our land. In the fall we would haul water from The Mother in Law's house and fill the holding tank on the trailer. That's all fine and good but in the winter when it was cold this wasn't an option because the water lines would freeze. So from November until April we hauled small hand held jugs of water and boil water for dishes or whatever else we might need hot water for.

3. Laundry. I don't think I need to tell you that we don't have a washer and dryer in our camper. We do that at The Mother in Law's. Overall this actually has been an okay set up but it is annoying when you just need to do a quick load of laundry. I have a whole new appreciation for people who use laundry mats on a regular basis.

2. Showering. With no running water we obviously weren't able to shower here so we shower at The Mother in Law's. We are very fortunate to have this option but it's getting old. I know it doesn't sound like that big of a deal but every time you need to go somewhere (or you just want a shower) you have to pack up your clothes and your shower stuff and then drive over there, shower, and then go to your destination. And sometimes I just want to take a shower and not have to get in the car and go for a drive and make conversation. How many weeks until we move in?

1. I just want to move into the house already. We lived in our old house for four years knowing that the long term plan was to move here and build this house. We put off certain things because we knew this was the plan. And now, I see the house, it's 350 ft away from me at all times but I can't move in. We are so close, yet so far away. It's the mix of the stress of living in a less than ideal situation, mixed in with the stress of a self build, mixed in with the time suck that happens when you are your own general contractor and you run your own business. We are tapped out, spent, done, finished. It's been 9 months of waiting, 2 more to go until we reach the finish line. Can we make it?