Category Archives: Airstream

Airstream Livin’ Update: 2.5 years!

Airstream at SunsetWe’ve been living in the Airstream for almost two and a half years. Years, people! Some days it seems like so much time has passed and other days it feels like no time has passed at all. One thing is for certain: we’ve adapted well to living in just 188 square feet. We know how to declutter. We know when problems arise, we can solve them. And I know it seems strange to outsiders, but the Airstream truly feels like home.

In terms of upkeep, the trailer has held up pretty well. We’ve had some bumps along the way. (See: our leaky hot water heater.) We need to repaint when it warms up a bit. (See how our paint has held up.) But overall, the Airstream has allowed us to save money to travel and to build up an emergency fund. We’ve been to Austin, took a roadtrip to Florida, Charleston, Memphis, Portland and most recently we went to Iceland! And most importantly, we’ve built up an emergency savings and another savings account. And I know it sounds cryptic, but we’re trying to decide what to do with our other savings account. What a wonderful problem to have!

Let me explain a bit: at this point we’re getting the itch again. The itch to do something different. The itch to be brave. And if we’re being honest, we don’t know if we want to live in the Airstream forever. It’s wonderful and our home, but is it our forever home? We don’t know. We’d love to have some land of our own one day. (I want animals! And a big place to grow our own food!) We’re also really interested in other alternative dwellings, like tiny houses, cordwood cabins and shipping container homes. And we love to travel! So much so that we bought a van to convert into a super tiny home. We aren’t moving out of the Airstream yet, but maybe. One day. Sometime.

Are we indecisive and insane? Maybe. I truly don’t know what the future will bring, but I am excited to find out.

love,
melanie

The Products We Used to Remodel Our Airstream

Products used to Remodel Airstream | asmalllife.com

Ok ya’ll. Today is a doozy of a post. I get a lot of questions about the specific products we used to remodel our 1978 Airstream Sovereign. I’ve tried to link to the exact products we used, but we also borrowed when we could, repurposed and recycled. We were on a tight budget and a tight timeline. We spent about 4 months remodeling the Airstream and we spent about $1,500 to fix her up. I’m also writing this post two years in the future, so I’m remembering as best I can. If you want to read more about our remodel, check out this post. Alright, on to the good stuff! Continue reading

How Much Money Can You Save by Living in a Tiny House?

How much money can you save by living in a tiny house?

Today I’m going to address the question: How much money can you save by living in a tiny house? This answer is based on our own experiences and our own finances. The amount of money could vary for everyone.

We originally began living in an Airstream because we needed to save money. (At 188 square feet, we consider the Airstream a tiny house.) After we got married, George and I started to look at our finances and it wasn’t pretty. Individually we’ve each received 6 years of higher education. This gave us a bit of a later start in life.  During our college years and even into the beginning of our professional careers, we saved nothing. Yes, we probably didn’t spend as wisely as we could have, but there wasn’t much left after paying our bills to save. George was a teacher and I am a librarian. We made (and still make) less than the national average wage index, but we are above the poverty line. We knew that we needed to do something that would dramatically improve our finances.

Living in a more affordable place seemed the answer. We looked around at apartments in the new area where we were going to live. We were instantly discouraged. The apartments that were clean and safe would leave us with nothing at the end of the month. We’d be fighting the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle for the rest of our lives. We wanted out.

One day I stumbled across this Featured Seller story on pollenArts— a creative couple who work and live in their Winnebago! One night while lying in bed looking at adorable little properties we couldn’t afford, I mentioned it to George. I didn’t put the pieces together, but George started searching for RVs on Craigslist right away. He knew we could do this. Airstreams had the most appeal, although they were a bit pricier than other RVs. Our Airstream cost $5,000 and it took about $1,500 to fix up. (You can read the whole buying story here.)

Now that you’ve got the history of our story, on to the good stuff! We spend about $700 on living expenses each month while living in the Airstream. (More about our expenses breakdown here.) This includes food, electricity, life, etc. In the past, our rent payments varied widely. Our most expensive rent payment was $1,000 a month– that’s what we were paying before we decided to move into the Airstream. That doesn’t even include the life stuff. When we were renting, we were spending everything we made.

This past year while living in the Airstream, I also went on a Spending Diet for the website I write for, And Then We Saved. I attempted to spend only $100 a month on “extra” stuff. Extra stuff included makeup, haircuts, clothes and stuff that I needed but didn’t really need to live. (You can read more about my Spending Diet here.) I didn’t succeed every month. It was much harder than I expected it to be! But I succeeded about 75% of the time.

With the help of the Spending Diet, I saved $12,441.99 in a year! I was hoping to save $15,000, but considering that I saved about half of my paycheck each month, I consider this a huge success. I also don’t plan on going back to my old ways, so I think I’ll hit my $15,000 goal in a few months.

Prior to the Spending Diet, we had lived in the Airstream for about a year. We went spent much of our “extra” money going on trips, but I don’t regret that at all. We could definitely save more if we didn’t go on vacations, but traveling is one of our priorities. George and I have been able to travel to Portland, Memphis, Austin, Canada/Niagra Falls and we took a road trip to Florida. I now also have emergency savings, a 401k and a Roth IRA. I didn’t even know what those things were a few years ago! Now that I’m off the Spending Diet (but still on the savings train) we just booked a trip to Iceland! So crazy.

Yes, we’ve been able to save more money by living tiny, but we’ve also been able to travel and explore the world outside our tiny home. That is priceless.

That being said, the longer we stay in the Airstream, the more we can save and the more we can travel. If we stay in the Airstream for another 5 years and continue saving at the same rate, we could save $60,000. That’s insane. I don’t know what our life will look like in another 5 years, but with that kind of savings, we could do something big.

Have you ever thought about living tiny to save money? Talk to me in the comments!

love,
melanie

The Small Life: Dre’s Free-Spirited Airstream

The Small Life: Dre's Free-spirited AirstreamHey ya’ll! Today I’m excited to share the Airstream of my friend, Dre. Dre is an incredibly talented artist whose work I have long admired. She lives and works out of her 1975 Airstream Sovereign! Take it away, Dre!

Please introduce yourself (name, occupation, current location, etc.)
Hi!  I’m Dre!  I’m an artist with a day job (the day job is visual merchandising).  I have been actively working towards being a full time artist for about 3 years.  I work with textiles; making quilts, tapestries, embellished re-purposed clothing, and other things!  I currently live in West Virginia.  I grew up in WV, and moved away to Savannah, GA for college when I was 18.  I was there for 4 years then I moved to Los Angeles where I lived for 5 years and I returned to WV about 2 and a half years ago. Continue reading

Living in an Airstream: A Two Year Update

 

living in an airstream: a two year update

We’ve been living in an Airstream for two years now… two years! Sometimes it feels like no time has passed and other times it feels as if we’ve been living there forever. Most days it just feels normal. I go to work and come home. I come home to a home that is much smaller than average, but it still feels like a very conventional life.

Sometimes conventionality is good, but if I’m being honest, I am getting the urge to switch things up a bit. I get this urge every couple of years. We’re not planning on moving out of the Airstream, but we’d love to get a larger plot of land where we can do more gardening. George and I are also thinking more about the future of our family and what that looks like. We don’t know what the future will hold, but it’s good to question your priorities every few years.

Anyway, on to more shallow things! I’ve been getting some questions about how well the Airstream has held up after two years. The answer is: surprisingly well! We’ve actually switched very little around since we moved in. We did have to replace the hot water heater and the AC unit. Both were costly, but both were original to the Airstream, so it wasn’t a huge surprise.

The paint on the walls and on the storage units has held up well. (You can see what products we used here.) It looks mostly the same, but slightly less white from use. We’re big fans of Magic Erasers for getting dirt and marks off the walls. The paint on the counter and the paint in the shower has begun to chip a bit. (Pictures below.) We used oil-based paint on the counter (not something like this product for counters), so it is to be expected. I also put a hot French Press directly on the counter every day for two years, so I’m not surprised about that one either. This fall, when it cools down, we want to do a big repaint and clean. It’s surprising how dirty a tiny space can get.

This is the kitchen countertop. It's seen the most wear and it is the worst of the paint chips.

This is the kitchen countertop. It’s seen the most wear and it is the worst of the paint chips.

The bottom of the shower.

The bottom of the shower.

The bench in the shower.

The bench in the shower.

The bathroom sink.

The bathroom sink.

Since living in the Airstream, we have accomplished our goal, which was to get ahead with our savings. We have jumped ahead savings-wise, but we’re still not at a place where I feel comfortable. (Will I ever feel comfortable? I don’t know.) I’ll have an in-depth savings post on how much we’ve saved on Friday.

Do you have any more questions about how the Airstream has held up? Talk to me in the comments!

love,
melanie

This post contains affiliate links. By clicking on the links and buying the product, you keep this blog running. 

Living in an Airstream: An Interview with The More We Explore

It’s  video-mania! Yesterday we took a tour of our Airstream and today we’re interviewed by a cute couple, Steve and Tess, also know as The More We Explore. They are interested in living in an Airstream and reached out to us to chat. In this video we’ll talk about how we minimized, our daily life and the best and worst parts of living in an Airstream.

You can read more about Steve and Tess on their website, The More We Explore and see more of their videos on their Youtube page.

Do you like these videos? Should we do more? Talk to me in the comments!

love,
melanie

A Video Tour of our Airstream!

We’ve been living in the Airstream for two years now! TWO YEARS! I can’t believe it’s been that long. Anyway, we had friends over last weekend and they commented that it was hard to visualize how the Airstream looked from the pictures. I had no idea, because I live in it every day! So, yesterday, George and I filmed a video tour of our Airstream. The video isn’t the best quality and it was filmed with an iPhone and I am super awkward, but, I think it gives you a good idea of the layout.

I hope you enjoy!
love,
melanie

Ask Melanie: How Do I Reduce My Books and Art Supplies?

Desk closeup in Airstream

Today’s question is from Grazia. She wants to know some tips and tricks for reducing books and art supplies. Today I’ve got George, my husband, helping me out. He’s the artist in the family. Take it away, Grazia!

Hi Melanie, happy to see you go on with your blog and thanks for doing it, it’s always a good reading. I know it’s hard to do it with a full time job and a life, thanks so much! I’ve read all your last posts this morning (it’s 5:30 am here in Italy, my time for reading peacefully) and want to thank you for your commitment in telling this life choice of living simply and small…

I’ve two questions for “Ask Melanie” – ok, I’m pretentious! But they aren’t anything urgent, I hope only to inspire one of your good articles.

1) You’re a reader and I’ve read you use library and ebooks. But is it enough to reduce the number of books? I’ve this trouble in living small… I’m a writer and a painter, so I have a lot of books that I need for my jobs. I tried to reduce them, especially huge art books, but I still have a full big bookshelf. I can’t find them at the local library and they do not exist as ebooks (in example Taschen art books). How do you manage this in the Airstream? I’d like to hear all your “techniques” to reduce the books space!

2) This question is mainly for George: how does he work in a so small table? I’m really impressed! 😀 He has a secret, I’m sure! I’ve a table for Mac and 2 monitors, another table for painting, a shelf for all the ‘minimum’ I need for painting, a big bookshelf and a big, old bedroom 4-drawer dresser to store my paintings and papers, with the printers on it. May he share his “tips and tricks” in working from home in a small space? Thanks!

-Grazia

Continue reading

Tuesday Thoughts: Things Do Not Happen. Things Are Made To Happen.

Things do not happen, things are made to happen“Things do not happen. Things are made to happen.” -JFK

I’m very lucky, but most of my luck comes from plain ol’ hard work. There’s no secret powers, juices or potions. (Although I totally wish there were!) If there’s something you want, I hope you know with really hard work and perseverance, you can make it happen. We both can.

Happy Tuesday!

love,
melanie

Tuesday Thoughts: Wealth Consists Not In Having Great Possessions

wealth consists not in having great possessions“Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.” -Epitetus

Something to chew on this Tuesday.

love,
melanie