“Never make your home in a place. Make a home for yourself inside your own head. You’ll find what you need to furnish it — memory, friends you can trust, love of learning, and other such things. That way it will go with you wherever you journey.”

— Fantasy & sci-fi author Tad Williams

April has always been my favorite because it is my birthday month. Who doesn't like a little celebration in their lives? But with a positive, you can always find a negative or two. For instance, April equals taxes, rain and oftentimes snow, mud season and wait for it ... spring cleaning.

I am a big procrastinator when it comes to cleaning. Don't get me wrong, I am a pro when it comes to organization. It was also wishful thinking to think that a camper trailer doesn't need to go through spring cleaning. How hard can it be to go through 140-square-feet of space?

Last weekend, Greg and I headed to his mom's house to revisit the items we didn't take with us seven months ago when we moved into the camper trailer. Then we headed to our own abode to assess all our items.

Downsizing Tips

Having a tough time getting started? Yeah ... I feel your pain. But remember, "pain is gain!"

Sections are easier to manage at a time than rooms or large spaces. For example, start with your closet, the area around your bed or the kitchen.
Make two piles:
- "Things You Use"
- "Things You Lose" (otherwise known as "things you aren't using")
Organize the first pile ("Things You Use") into a hierarchy. The things you use the most often should be near the top or near the front.
Take a good, hard look at the second pile ("Things You Lose"). You haven't been using it so far. Look at each item and ask, 'Why haven't I used you yet?' If the answer is due to the weather or the seasons, then you may want to move it over to the other pile. If you know deep down, you don't use it fairly often, then it is so much better to part ways. Chances are you won't remember getting rid of it.
Repeat after me, 'Every item is replaceable!' Okay good! Now get rid of it!

Still need help? Read my longer post about downsizing. We tend to hold onto things we don't use for their sentimental value. But you might be able to give something you do use that same love if you were to let go of your old stuff.

If you still need a kick in the right direction, you can hear from Molly of Simplify Your Stuff at Tiny House Jamboree August 7-9 in Colorado Springs. The event is free, but you have to RSVP.

In my next post, I'm going to get after some of the products I use to make cleaning a little more natural and fun.

When the sun came shining, and I was strolling
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
As the fog was lifting a voice was chanting
This land was made for you and me

But is it? ...

I started thinking about that song last night while I was lying awake in the camper trailer. We are living on someone else's land. And even though we feel a lot of freedom from the people we rent from, we still have to be considerate of what we do and how we use their land. It's not our land, even though it is the best land we've ever lived on and the thought of leaving it pains us.

We started to look at purchasing our own land, but one of the things we had to consider was if it would become more of a financial burden. Down payments and interest rates are higher for land loans than for mortgage loans, and can range somewhere between 20-50 percent.

So the idea of buying raw land and building on it may not be financially in our best interest. Right now, it makes more sense to buy land that already has a house on it even if we don't intend to live in it right away.

As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said "No Trespassing"
But on the other side it didn't say nothing
That side was made for you and me

People ask why we haven't started the tiny house project yet, and as you can see it's not so easy when you're toying with building on someone else's land vs. buying on your own. I can't help but feel like I'm letting people down. When you start a business, organization or movement, like we have, you intend on setting a goal and fulfilling it. We still intend to follow through, but we've learned a lot along the way that have prepared us to take our time with it.

When we moved into a camper trailer almost six months ago, we thought it would be move-in ready. Perhaps we were just a little too excited and naïve at the time. The first month was filled with small steps toward feeling comfortable and secure. Greg had to work fast to create insulation and radiant barrier blocks for the windows so that we could stay warm at night. We had to setup our electricity and WiFi (cords that run almost 200 feet from the house on the land we are renting from). We had to find a full-sized refrigerator that we could store outside.

Little by little, like the insulation tiles that fit into our windows, the tiny camper trailer came together. But like any house, there are still projects to be done.

For example, I broke our skylight a few weeks ago when we were doing a photoshoot—a honest mistake, but one I didn't realize would have future implications. A week later, while Greg was sleeping, he awoke to a stream of water coming from the roof. The snow had started to melt and was coming through the cracks of the skylight.

I wish I had a photo of this, but I was too frozen in the moment to know what to do at the time. This little incident made us fully realize how close we are to nature. We can hear every raindrop that falls on the camper from all angles. When the sun shines during the day, the camper warms up and glows.

We are already a part of the tiny house movement. And when I say, "tiny," I really mean it. 140 square feet of tininess. But some people don't see the camper trailer as a "home" like they do a tiny house on wheels. I think that's one problem with the tiny house movement currently. A house can't be a house unless it looks like one, right?

Camper trailers and RVs are homes for a lot of people in the tiny house movement. We are less recognized because our homes come in all spaces and sizes.

We are struggling to figure out ways to save money so that we can someday build a tiny house, one that would be larger than the one we already live in. But first we have to take care of the house we live in. We have to make wise decisions on where we are going to build it, what it's going to look like, its mobility and size. Buying land with a house that we can rent out while we live in the camper trailer and build a tiny house is an idea we are feeling good vibes with right now. We just need to save a little more and find that perfect fit before we can get started.

But until then, we will be living on someone else's land and reaping the benefits until we find land that we can call are own.

In the squares of the city - In the shadow of the steeple
Near the relief office - I see my people
And some are grumblin' and some are wonderin'
If this land's still made for you and me.

Spring Cleaning

Downsizing Tips

This Land is Your Land