Well we have officially been skoolie dwellers for right at three months now. A skoolie for those that do not know, is a school bus that has been converted to a tiny home or "RV". We moved in the week of Christmas. I realize I have been just absolutely terrible at updating this blog lately, however, we have been getting used to all the changes in our lives the last few months. In late November, we found out that we are bringing a new life into the world. We now know that this new life is a little boy and we have named him Kalon Sage. The name of our bus, the school of life, was chosen because of the grand adventure we plan to have in it. An adventure of discovering life and learning about all kinds of places and things...including ourselves. We had no idea at the time how real this statement would be, we are going on the ultimate adventure...becoming parents! With that we have had to re-evaluate some things in our life and decide where we need to spend our time right now. Essentially, it was best for us to stay in Texas for the moment until our little boy makes his arrival. Since we are here still and a little bit behind in the complete finishing of our home, we have both recently went back to work in order to save up some more. We are still working on the bus while we live here, we hope to completely finish soon, we are getting very close! Enough about all the personal stuff already... So how is bus-life?
The first month I (Tamra) was afraid that we had made a huge mistake. Jt has loved it since day one, he adjusted very well and always looks at the whole process very positively. His attitude definitely made adjusting easier for me in the long run! In the beginning, we had 'stuff' everywhere for lack of having everything complete. It was very cold, I mean we live in Texas, but it was cold. Some nights it would get down in the fifties inside according to the thermometer, but most nights it would drop around sixty-four. Some of you may think that is not bad, but I am very cold natured. I was freezing and I was 'miserable'. It was unrealistic for us to run the wood burning stove all the time because who wants to get up in the middle of the night and tend a fire? Since we are hooked up for our main electricity usage, we were using electric heaters. It took us a few to find one that was actually efficient enough to maintain a good temperature inside. It was this Duraflame 5200-BTU Infrared Quartz Tower Electric Space Heater with Thermostat.
Once the initial shock of the change had worn off and we continued to work and organize in the bus, we started to settle in and it began to feel like home. I do not believe we made a mistake, I believe that we are on the right track for us. Though some may not be able to see that, we know in our hearts what is right for us.
Let's get to the 'real life' stuff though. I'll start with the floors, we are currently parked under a forest of trees and you know what happens to trees in the winter? Yes, they drop their leaves everywhere, so we are surrounded by leaves and have three dogs. Any time you walk outside, or the dogs walk outside...or they roll around outside because they love to do that... you bring in leaves and such. Not to mention we keep the roof vents open most days and things love to just blow right on in. So sweeping is like a daily task which needs to be done like twice a day minimum. Which really isn't a big deal since it takes a whole thirty seconds to sweep our whole home!
so our kitchen is not that tiny compared to most tiny home kitchens. It is quite literally the largest designated area in our bus.
The first month I (Tamra) was afraid that we had made a huge mistake. Jt has loved it since day one, he adjusted very well and always looks at the whole process very positively. His attitude definitely made adjusting easier for me in the long run! In the beginning, we had 'stuff' everywhere for lack of having everything complete. It was very cold, I mean we live in Texas, but it was cold. Some nights it would get down in the fifties inside according to the thermometer, but most nights it would drop around sixty-four. Some of you may think that is not bad, but I am very cold natured. I was freezing and I was 'miserable'. It was unrealistic for us to run the wood burning stove all the time because who wants to get up in the middle of the night and tend a fire? Since we are hooked up for our main electricity usage, we were using electric heaters. It took us a few to find one that was actually efficient enough to maintain a good temperature inside. It was this Duraflame 5200-BTU Infrared Quartz Tower Electric Space Heater with Thermostat.
Once the initial shock of the change had worn off and we continued to work and organize in the bus, we started to settle in and it began to feel like home. I do not believe we made a mistake, I believe that we are on the right track for us. Though some may not be able to see that, we know in our hearts what is right for us.
Let's get to the 'real life' stuff though. I'll start with the floors, we are currently parked under a forest of trees and you know what happens to trees in the winter? Yes, they drop their leaves everywhere, so we are surrounded by leaves and have three dogs. Any time you walk outside, or the dogs walk outside...or they roll around outside because they love to do that... you bring in leaves and such. Not to mention we keep the roof vents open most days and things love to just blow right on in. So sweeping is like a daily task which needs to be done like twice a day minimum. Which really isn't a big deal since it takes a whole thirty seconds to sweep our whole home!
so our kitchen is not that tiny compared to most tiny home kitchens. It is quite literally the largest designated area in our bus.
For someone that likes to cook and normally uses multiple pans, cutting boards, strainers, etc. it took some getting used to. You can see the sink is also tiny! I have always had a double sink for as long as I can remember. This sink fills up fast and there is no dishwasher, so another daily task is washing dishes...like twice a day. In reality though, I love this kitchen. I love the simplicity and even though it may get messy the mess is no different than when I had a huge kitchen. It's actually better because the mess has to be contained, it is a much smaller mess compared to what I used to have after cooking.
The absolute best thing we put in this kitchen though is the spice rack. I have a ton of spices and a ton of food in general that require storage. It is some times a challenge to figure out where everything can squeeze in, but not my spices. They have a lovely home out of the way and I love the location right next to the stove.
One thing I learned about gas stoves a little too late though is that it ruins your pots and pans. I had just bought a new set of ceramic cookware a few months before we moved into the bus and the bottoms of all of them are black. You can scrub and scrub and scrub and it is not going to come off. It cooks much quicker than an electric stove and oven though. That took some getting used to as well, but it is pretty nice now that I have the hang of it. (As far as the black on the bottoms of the pans I was recently talking to my granny and mom about it and they said it should not do that. That there may be a setting to switch from butane to propane usage, since it can be used for both. We will have to look further into this and see if it helps!)
The next best thing in the kitchen is our little pop out drawers under the sink. This was a late random addition to the bus, but sure glad we added it. Since we only have one sink in the bus, we brush our teeth and wash our face in the kitchen. Since it is such a small area, this has not bothered me one bit. I couldn't imagine wasting space for a bathroom sink, however; I know some people don't like the thought of washing dishes, their teeth, and face all in the same sink. To each their own I guess on that one.
The absolute best thing we put in this kitchen though is the spice rack. I have a ton of spices and a ton of food in general that require storage. It is some times a challenge to figure out where everything can squeeze in, but not my spices. They have a lovely home out of the way and I love the location right next to the stove.
One thing I learned about gas stoves a little too late though is that it ruins your pots and pans. I had just bought a new set of ceramic cookware a few months before we moved into the bus and the bottoms of all of them are black. You can scrub and scrub and scrub and it is not going to come off. It cooks much quicker than an electric stove and oven though. That took some getting used to as well, but it is pretty nice now that I have the hang of it. (As far as the black on the bottoms of the pans I was recently talking to my granny and mom about it and they said it should not do that. That there may be a setting to switch from butane to propane usage, since it can be used for both. We will have to look further into this and see if it helps!)
The next best thing in the kitchen is our little pop out drawers under the sink. This was a late random addition to the bus, but sure glad we added it. Since we only have one sink in the bus, we brush our teeth and wash our face in the kitchen. Since it is such a small area, this has not bothered me one bit. I couldn't imagine wasting space for a bathroom sink, however; I know some people don't like the thought of washing dishes, their teeth, and face all in the same sink. To each their own I guess on that one.
We have a decent sized closet, so it hasn't been much of a problem. I think I have about three-quarters of it for myself and poor JT has a tiny section. We have baskets above the closet that act as our dresser for things we need on a daily basis. All other extra clothes, non-seasonal, and such store under the bed. Our closet also houses the foldable mirror that we use to get ready. I get to sit on the bed and pull my mirror to me to do my make-up and hair, works out pretty nice. (The mirror folds up against the wall, I just don't put it back that way very often!)
Opposite to our closet is the dog room, storage area, and soon to be Kalon's closet. I am so glad we build our dogs a 'bedroom', for a while we had their bed in the living area floor because their bed wasn't finished. It is definitely better to have them a designated area that they can sprawl out in and kind of contain their hair and such as much as possible. We haven't decided what all will be in the storage section. Right now, one basket is bathroom stuff, and one is dog stuff. I imagine some of Kalon's stuff will end up down there eventually!
Our shower caddy, though it was a pain to install has been perfect for us. The small 9 gallon propane or electric water heater has worked well too. The hot water is only enough for one good shower, so you kind of have to plan ahead if you are both needing to shower close to the same time. Which has not been a big deal for us so far.
Overall tiny living has been working out for us. We have had more time to spend together, we spend more time with our pups and playing outside, and we really have to work as a team to keep it organized. A regular sized couch is one thing that I do miss, however; it is not a deal breaker. I love our couch, but it can just be challenging if we both want to lay down and watch a movie together! We are getting ready to finish this thing up and then start adding baby stuff!!! There will definitely be updates along the way! (:
Our shower caddy, though it was a pain to install has been perfect for us. The small 9 gallon propane or electric water heater has worked well too. The hot water is only enough for one good shower, so you kind of have to plan ahead if you are both needing to shower close to the same time. Which has not been a big deal for us so far.
Overall tiny living has been working out for us. We have had more time to spend together, we spend more time with our pups and playing outside, and we really have to work as a team to keep it organized. A regular sized couch is one thing that I do miss, however; it is not a deal breaker. I love our couch, but it can just be challenging if we both want to lay down and watch a movie together! We are getting ready to finish this thing up and then start adding baby stuff!!! There will definitely be updates along the way! (: