Hello! We are the Peterson family! My wife and two kids (daughter 3 years and son 5 months) live, travel and work in our 1966 Airstream Overlander. We’ve been living small full-time for the past two years.
For us tiny living was never about the space. (At least not entirely.) We chose to live small so that we can live large in other areas of our life. Life’s all about trade-offs.
Pre-Airstream the daily grind consisted of work, paying bills then we tried to squeeze in some family, friends and fun. After the birth of our daughter we began to rethink our existence and intentionally plan our life.
For us this meant trading a steady income + benefits, larger living space for portability, time with family and pursing work we love.
In preparation for this transition we buckled down and cut all unnecessary spending, got on a strict budget, paid off our debt and saved. We purged and sold all our stuff, bought a vintage Airstream and a big truck to pull it. We worked to build versatile and largely passive income streams to pay the bills.
Now we have the time, and ironically space to share life as a family, the freedom to travel and explore and pursue what matters to us most.
Here’s to living the small space large life dream!
Aren’t they just the cutest?! You can read more about Nick and his family on their blog, Livin’ Lightly or on IG: livinlightly. And remember, If you want to submit your own Small Life, email me asmalllifemelanie @ gmail dot com.
love,
melanie
What are passive income streams?
Hi, that probably would be a question better for Nick and his family, but passive income streams are usually things like interest, rent and property income. See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_income
Good question!
For us passive means we don’t have to check into a time clock to get paid. Most of our income comes from a website where we sell teacher resources: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Michaela-Peterson. Once we spend the time to create a unit it is largely hands-off giving us time with our family or time to pursue other projects.
We are toying with other passive income streams like niche sites. Here is one of ours: http://www.tinywoodstove.com/. The idea is to create a information site, generate traffic then make income off of advertising or selling products.
Hope this helps!
-NICK
Thanks, Nick. That makes total sense. The question always arises, how can they live on the road and still hold down jobs? Sounds like you put those pieces in place before making the change.
Nice post!! I LOVE the kitchen they installed, and excited to read about the woodburner installation!!