The first 3 months living in an Airstream
Hi guys, sorry no review for you today but I thought I would take the time to write about my Airstream living so far. Well the first month was a bit of an adjustment but not only were we moving from a 2400 sq ft house to a 240 sq ft. Airstream, but we were getting ready to sell said house as well as start our Airstream rental business. Those days we pretty much used the Airstream just to sleep and shower. But since then I've been spending more and more time in the Airstream and some days work from it too. I thought I would get stir-crazy from being in such a small space but I don't. I am really starting to love my new life in a small space mainly for these reasons:
~ Living in an Airstream means I have everything I need and not a lot of what I don't need. A smaller space means being conscious of what I keep around. And after a month of moving things around from storage to the Airstream and back again, I have exactly what I need but none of the extras. (So in full disclosure, we still have a lot of items in storage--there's no way I can quit all my stuff cold turkey, but I'm hoping to get rid of things gradually). Have you guys ever tried the 2 closet system (where you have one main closet with all the clothes you consistently wear and a second closet for everything else; and as you need things you move them from the second closet to your main one; and after 1 year you get rid of all the things you never used in the second closet)? It's a technique to wean yourself off of a big closet. Well that's what it feels like with all the items I've ever owned, with the Airstream being my main closet and storage as my secondary closet. I hope to get rid of everything in storage at the end of the year.
~ Also I've learned If you're going to live in a small space, it better be well-designed. And the Airstream is superbly well-designed. There's storage everywhere, which allows me to keep everything I want in the Airstream. I even have some empty cabinet space still left.
~ I'm by no means a an organized person. I'm clean because I hate bugs, but I'm also of the mind-set that if it can be stacked in a corner, that's good for now (I may or may not share some photos of how I kept my work room/study back in my old house, but basically it looked like a borderline hoarder lived there). It was bad. But living in the Airstream, with everything in its place and no room for extraneous stuff has really helped me become a neater person. It also got me to clean on a daily basis because in such a small space, there's really no room for mess. And cleaning on daily basis is such a cinch in 240 sq ft..
~ I have a daily uniform now, which makes getting dressed in the mornings super easy. Granted, it's a super boring uniform of an Everlane tee, jeans, and Toms shoes. But still it's the most comfortable things to wear while working and the most practical too since I'm no longer just sitting at a desk for work. Some days I find myself on my hands and knees cleaning Airstreams (yep, I'm the unofficial cleaning lady at work; though we do have an official cleaner, she can't always make it. This week I've cleaned 3 Airstreams so far), or other days work with equipment that leave grease spots on my shirts or jeans. So a simple uniform is the best and makes managing my closet so much easier now.
~ We experienced the joy of travel in our Airstream just once so far, when we went glamping in a Redwood forest for my birthday. It's really awesome to be able to pick up your home and just tow it to a different location. It's not just travel but in a sense, living in a new place. We're hoping we can do more of this during the fall months when the business isn't so busy. In the meantime we're at a pretty nice RV Park, which honestly feels like a retirement community. There's not a lot of people under 60 living here, which can be kind of nice. Sure there's some grumpy old people, but for the most part everyone is super friendly. Plus I think most of them are retired and traveling full-time, so they all seem to be enjoying life. You can't help feeling good in a community of happy people.
Actually, there's one bad thing about moving to the RV park and it's due to the surrounding fields and farms. Allergies!! They're so bad this year that my usual Zyrtec was no longer working. But thank goodness for nasal allergy spray: it's a miracle worker!
That's it for now, but once I get everything a little more organized, I can show you what are my necessities for Airstream life! Till then, more reviews: Everlane's Babo shoes are coming up next!