I can’t remember where we were or what we were doing, but I remember the complete look of shock on a sales lady’s face when I told her that we lived in 500 square feet while I was in grad school. I’d love to find that sales lady today and tell her that we now live in less than 200 square feet (an estimated 188 ft!). She might have a conniption.

Deciding to live in a Airstream is one of the best decisions we’ve made. (You can read more about our reasoning here.) And just like my husband, George, said the other night, “I don’t even think of it as an Airstream anymore. I just think of it as home.” So how do we do it without killing each other?

1. The most obvious key is patience. Patience is not my strong suit. I want everything now, now, now! But luckily, George was blessed with enough patience for the both of us. He’s teaching me to become a more patient human being through his example. He’s also teaching me to get over things more quickly. If left alone, I’d stew in my own frustration for days, but he won’t let me.
2. We sold and donated the majority of our belongings. And we don’t even miss them. We decided what we truly needed and cleared out the clutter (see more tips on how to do that here). It wasn’t an easy process and took a good deal of personal honesty. But it feels good.
3. Keeping with the honesty, I want to divulge that we do have a small storage unit. Both George and I have a few family heirlooms that are pieces of furniture and we wouldn’t dare think of ditching those.
4. We clean more. I would love us to clean even more than we do now. I love a tidy home! But, we do clean much more than we did while we were living in a larger apartment. It’s much quicker to clean a small space and much more necessary to keep tidy. You can’t just throw a bunch of junk into a room and shut the door!
5. We stay out of each other’s way. The Airstream is narrow and two people can barely stand side-by-side in it. So when one is in one area, the other one stays out of that area. That way we aren’t constantly bumping into each other.
6. We think more about our purchases. George and I love to shop for vintage stuff. But now, if we are out browsing, we think long and hard about our would-be purchases. Do we actually need the item? Do we have space for it?
7. We know that everything needs to have a purpose. We don’t keep stuff around just because it looks nice or we might use it someday. If it doesn’t have a purpose, it doesn’t live in the Airstream.
8. We have hiding spots for junk. Let’s be real, craft supplies, piles of clothes and random beauty products aren’t always pretty. When we were planning the layout of the AIrstream, we planned for lots of nooks and crannies to hide the stuff that we need to be functional human beings.
9. We constantly reorganize. Almost every weekend I’m reorganizing, refolding and rearranging things to make the Airstream a neater and cleaner place to live. It’s just a fact of life now.
10. We love each other. I wouldn’t recommend living in this small of a space with your best friend (remember dorm rooms?!) because at some point you will want to strangle the other person. But because we love each other and have promised not to leave each other, we aren’t going to get out of this situation. We also remember our shared end goal of financial independence.

On another note, if you’re looking for a place in Winnipeg, Towers realty group is a company that can help you find apartments for rent in Winnipeg.*

Do you live in a small space? What kind of tips would you include on this list? Let me know in the comments!

love,
melanie

*Sponsored post, but opinions are my own.