Today, this moment, is where you are in life. But the direction you take going forward is completely up to you! Simply choosing to change your direction, looking at the world through new eyes, could change your life forever!
| “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” -C.S. Lewis |
This quote by C.S. Lewis is one of my all-time favorites. No matter where you are in life, good or bad, that is where you are. But the best part is, you have the power to change your direction and change your life.
Speaking of changing directions, as most of you know, we leave next fall for a trip of a lifetime, or I should say ‘our’ trip of a lifetime. Some, maybe most, would not choose a year in a small RV as their first choice of adventure. We, on the other hand, are ready to make the leap. It’s not that we’re unhappy with our lives. We live in an amazing place and get to do some pretty amazing things. But that doesn’t mean we should stay put and enjoy only the scenery around us. We’re ready to look at the world through new eyes.
We are believers in experience! And what better way to experience the world than being smack in the middle of it?
Changing our Direction- The Planning Phase
We gave ourselves two years to plan and save, and we’ve just passed the one-year mark, which means that in less than a year from now, we will be on the road. Everything we’re experiencing from home right now will be experienced from a house on wheels next year at this time.
Things are getting real!
At first, everything seemed so far off. I had plenty of time to start a blog and learn how to run it. Plenty of time to save money and downsize our belongings. And plenty of time to figure out how to home school Noah for the year when I’ve never taught anything in my life and haven’t the faintest idea how to do “new math!”
Now suddenly, the clock has started ticking faster. We’ve definitely accomplished a lot this past year, but we still have a long way to go.
What we’ve accomplished in our first year:
- We have saved over $23,000.00. How did we do it? Check it out here.
- We have given away countless bags of clothing and household items.
- I have given notice at the marina, where I have worked the past 13+ years.
- We have narrowed our RV search to a Class C between 24′ and 26′ and lowered our budget from $25K to approx. $15K, opting for a little older rig and some elbow grease.
UPDATE: We bought a 27′ Minnie Winnie (Ahh!) for $10K (Yay!) and now have more $ to style him up the way we want! - We bought 12 acres of land in Southern Colorado. Wait! What?! Yeah, not sure how this fits into our plan, but hopefully it benefits our future.
What we have learned over the past year:
- Gregg has spent the last year in an online Spanish Class learning how to roll his r’s correctly.
- I have learned you can spend hours, days, and months researching SEO and still feel like you know nothing. That’s ‘Search Engine Optimization’ for those that know even less than I!
- I am coming to grips with not getting to take a shower in the morning and before bed like I do now. I’ll be lucky if I get one twice per week.
- Our 9-year-old isn’t ecstatic about leaving his friends for an entire year, but he’s coming around.
- Starting and running a website/blog is truly another full-time job. Thanks for entertaining my flakiness when it comes to posting.
And finally, what the next 9 months look like for us:
- Finding the right homeschooling program; one that allow us to be “off-the-grid” a lot of the time.
- Learn as much as possible about solar options for the RV and our devices.
- Do a lot more downsizing of our belongings. Like A LOT!
- Buying a container or shed for our new property, to store the things we don’t sell or donate.
- Finding good renters for our home while we are away.
- And finally, we need to sell our cars! At the very last minute, of course!
Each of the coming months is going to be interesting. And we can pretty much skip the month of December as far as progress goes. I’ll try to keep posting updates of what we’re doing and hopefully accomplishing along the way.
If any of you come up with any great ideas for us, find helpful websites or have experience yourself in this crazy way of life, please chime in! The world is a better place when we’re in it together!
Related Articles:
Leave a Reply