It's only been a couple of weeks, but I'm already learning that living in a camper is a lot different than a traditional home! Here's the top five things I've had to learn and accept so far.
In a traditional home, the house becoming "a mess" is a slow and natural progression that only really catches up with you during exceptionally busy parts of the week (which I understand for some of us, is all week). But in a camper, your bedroom is your kitchen. Your kitchen is your living room, and the dinette is the laundry room...etc. The moment dishes pile up in the sink, or you have to use the table for two things at once, the whole house looks like a cluttered nightmare. Don't freak out about it! The more organized we get, the easier it becomes to orchestrate the space for each time of day.
I spend so much time cleaning the floor! the constant foot traffic over the same area makes tracking dirt in a big problem. A rug at the entrance way helps quite a bit, and so does taking your shoes off when you come into the house.
In a small space, there's not a lot of air for strong chemicals to disperse. Ed has mild asthma and a low tolerance for things like ammonia. So I decided to go with all natural cleaners and began infusing vinegar to use as a counter and floor cleaner. By infusing the vinegar with things like lemon peels, lime and rosemary, cinnamon and ceder, I can eliminate the vinegar smell and clean my home naturally.
However, the vinegar infusions don't work as well for tougher jobs. So after we did some research, we discovered a cleaner that doesn't bother either of us, and is all natural. Pine-sol! As a bonus, bugs hate pine oil. Who knew?
I am learning to love Velcro tape and Command Wire Hooks.
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There's not always enough cabinet or drawer space to store kitchen gear, clothes, tools, and cleaning supplies. But a strip of Velcro mounted on the bathroom wall can definitely hold the mop, and a command hook on the side of the fridge can store the dish drainer. I'd run out of room really fast if I didn't think outside the box a little while organizing. The goal is that everything fits comfortably in its designated spot.
We know that campers take constant maintenance, but we didn't expect to have to re-silicon the seals after only two weeks. It seems like some of our maintenance is going to be preventative, and some of it is going to be fixing what the factory did not do correctly. After taking a close look at the camper's overall quality, we are convinced that there is a lot of "finishing" work that was skipped out on, or done poorly. Lucky for me, Ed is pretty handy and I think we'll be able to fix it up nicely. The take-away from this is not to buy a camper new expecting it to have no problems!
Campers aren't yet built with full-time lifestyles in mind. In addition to the obvious minimalist living, finding "lost" space in your camper may help you organize. We were surprised to find that there is a lot of wasted space built in.
Whats behind that wood panel under the bathroom vanity? At least an extra two cubic feet of space! What about the access panel under the refrigerator? Enough room to store our house tools! We're starting to wonder about a few of the other structures in the home. I'll definitely be writing some posts on what Ed does to re-claim "lost" space.
As always, thank you for reading!
1. A Little Bit of Mess Goes a Long Ways.
In a traditional home, the house becoming "a mess" is a slow and natural progression that only really catches up with you during exceptionally busy parts of the week (which I understand for some of us, is all week). But in a camper, your bedroom is your kitchen. Your kitchen is your living room, and the dinette is the laundry room...etc. The moment dishes pile up in the sink, or you have to use the table for two things at once, the whole house looks like a cluttered nightmare. Don't freak out about it! The more organized we get, the easier it becomes to orchestrate the space for each time of day.
I spend so much time cleaning the floor! the constant foot traffic over the same area makes tracking dirt in a big problem. A rug at the entrance way helps quite a bit, and so does taking your shoes off when you come into the house.
2. Natural Cleaners Are The Way To Go
In a small space, there's not a lot of air for strong chemicals to disperse. Ed has mild asthma and a low tolerance for things like ammonia. So I decided to go with all natural cleaners and began infusing vinegar to use as a counter and floor cleaner. By infusing the vinegar with things like lemon peels, lime and rosemary, cinnamon and ceder, I can eliminate the vinegar smell and clean my home naturally.
However, the vinegar infusions don't work as well for tougher jobs. So after we did some research, we discovered a cleaner that doesn't bother either of us, and is all natural. Pine-sol! As a bonus, bugs hate pine oil. Who knew?3. Using Vertical Space is Vital
I am learning to love Velcro tape and Command Wire Hooks.
.There's not always enough cabinet or drawer space to store kitchen gear, clothes, tools, and cleaning supplies. But a strip of Velcro mounted on the bathroom wall can definitely hold the mop, and a command hook on the side of the fridge can store the dish drainer. I'd run out of room really fast if I didn't think outside the box a little while organizing. The goal is that everything fits comfortably in its designated spot.
4.Expect to Maintain the Home
We know that campers take constant maintenance, but we didn't expect to have to re-silicon the seals after only two weeks. It seems like some of our maintenance is going to be preventative, and some of it is going to be fixing what the factory did not do correctly. After taking a close look at the camper's overall quality, we are convinced that there is a lot of "finishing" work that was skipped out on, or done poorly. Lucky for me, Ed is pretty handy and I think we'll be able to fix it up nicely. The take-away from this is not to buy a camper new expecting it to have no problems!
5.Expect to Modify the Home
Campers aren't yet built with full-time lifestyles in mind. In addition to the obvious minimalist living, finding "lost" space in your camper may help you organize. We were surprised to find that there is a lot of wasted space built in.
Whats behind that wood panel under the bathroom vanity? At least an extra two cubic feet of space! What about the access panel under the refrigerator? Enough room to store our house tools! We're starting to wonder about a few of the other structures in the home. I'll definitely be writing some posts on what Ed does to re-claim "lost" space.
As always, thank you for reading!
