Tuesday Thoughts: Man’s Heart Away From Nature Becomes Hard

man's heart away from nature becomes hard

“Man’s heart away from nature becomes hard.” -Standing Bear

One of the unexpected benefits of living in our Airstream has been getting closer to nature. I’m so much more aware of the seasons than I was when we lived in an apartment. I can now head into my backyard and see the beans growing or the field barren. I hear the rain on the roof and I  can feel the hot sun through our windows.

I used to think I wasn’t an outside person. There’s bugs and creatures and humidity out there! But there’s also a softness and quietness about living closer to nature. Nature is the ultimate minimalist.

love,
melanie

Tuesday Thoughts: Be Thankful for What You Have

Be thankful for what you have

“Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you’ll never have enough.”

Yes, queen!

Happy Tuesday!

love,
melanie

 

Our Trip to Niagra Falls and Toronto and A Few Money Saving Travel Tips

TorontoA couple of weeks ago, George, two friends and I boarded a plane for Buffalo, NY. About a year ago, a college friend had planned to get married that weekend. Fast forward about 6 months and that friend called off the big wedding and just had a small thing. That’s cool, no hurt feelings, but we had non-refundable plane tickets. Instead of moping about our used vacation days, we decided to make the best of it. And by making the best of it, I mean seeing something slightly more exotic than Buffalo. Toronto and Niagra Falls are nearby, so we hopped in a rental car and went looking for some adventure.

Niagra FallsWe didn’t really plan on seeing the Niagra Whirlpool, but we saw so many parks and signs for it, that we just pulled over!

Niagra Falls

We stopped at a park and discovered the 237829371283 stairs it took to get a closer look at the whirlpool. Although my legs were burning on the way back to the top, the view from the bottom was worth it.

After the whirlpool, we decided to mosey on over to the American side of the falls. Most people had told us it was dirty and not worth it, but we figured it wouldn’t hurt to check it out.

Niagra Falls

Niagra FallsThe American side of the falls was surprisingly clean and of course, breathtaking. Seeing that much water rush over the side of a cliff is spectacular.

Toronto

The view from the top of the tower.

TorontoAfter the American Falls, we headed over the border to Toronto. We stayed in Hannah’s loft while we explored the city. She has a great view from her balcony. We ate a lot of food and visited the CN Tower.

Niagra Falls Niagra Falls Niagra FallsFinally, we finished up the trip by visiting the Canadian side of the falls. We went “Behind the Falls”– it’s kind of self explanatory– and we rode on the boat that gets you up close and personal with the falls. We did a lot of touristy stuff on this trip, but we still had so much fun. The people you travel with can really make or break the trip.

Not only are my friends fun, they are also thrifty. Here’s how we saved some dough on this trip.

  • We used Groupon* and Airbnb* for discounted hotels. We also shared a room and our Groupon came with free breakfast!
  • We bought our plane tickets from Costco. Crazy, right? It helped us save a bundle.
  • We flew into Buffalo and drove over the border. It was cheaper than flying into Toronto.
  • We BYOB! (Read more about how I save money on booze.)

Thanks for letting me live vicariously through my travel photos. Ha-ha. Have you ever been to Niagra Falls or Toronto? Talk to me in the comments!

love,
melanie

*Affiliate links, but the Airbnb link gets you $31CAD off your next trip!!!

 

 

 

How Much Does It Cost to Live in an Airstream?

How much does it cost to live in an AirstreamI get a lot of questions about the logistics of living in an Airstream. Let me be the first to say, the logistics are going to be different for everyone because everyone’s life is different. You might have two kids or five dogs. You might be retired. You might work from home. There are all kinds of logistics that will make your life different from mine. That being said, people are often interested in the true cost of living in an Airstream. Today I’m going to be answering the question: “How much does it cost to live in an Airstream?” by sharing what it costs for us to live in the Airstream.

If you aren’t familiar with our situation, let me give you a refresher. Hi! I’m Melanie. I am a librarian at a community college and I run this blog. I live with my husband, George who is an artist and our small (11 lb) dog, Bambi in our 1978 Airstream Sovereign. We currently have our Airstream parked on family land due to my traditional job situation. Here’s a breakdown of our monthly living costs and the reasoning behind the costs. Continue reading →

Tuesday Thoughts: Nature Does Not Hurry

Nature does not hurry

Mother nature doesn’t hurry, but she gets shit done.

Here’s hoping your Tuesday is full of unhurried productiveness!

love,
melanie

A Small Life Book Club: Essentialism

essentialism-the-disciplined-pursuit-of-less

I’m a little late too the Book Club game this month. I apologize if you were waiting for the riveting discussion that I’m sure will ensue 🙂 I just had a lot going on and I know not all of it was essential. Ha-ha.

Anyway, this month I listened to the audiobook version of Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less*. The author, Greg McKeown, has a lovely voice and if anything, listening to the audiobook favorably influenced my opinion of the book. That hasn’t always been the case when I listened to audiobooks in the past. See: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.

I wholeheartedly agree with the premise of this book. Most people chase everything instead of chasing the right things. The right things are the things in your life and career that will make the most impact. Unfortunately most of the tasks that we do are unimportant. It’s answering email. It’s picking up the dry cleaning. It’s filling out that form for the 5th time because someone lost it again…

I know on an everyday basis that most of the work tasks and many of the life tasks that I do are nonessential. I know that checking my email 394834923293 times a day doesn’t contribute to my productivity. I know that doing the dishes isn’t going to contribute to my big life goals. I also know that if I don’t do it, no one else will. Which leads me to my biggest problem with the book. I think that the principles are very difficult to apply to government, service or “worker-bee” jobs. It would be easy to say “no” to pursuing menial tasks if I was higher up the food chain. Unfortunately, much of my job is filling out forms and filling up the printer’s paper tray. Even if I did advocate for essentialism, I don’t think I would ever see an institutional change. It’s sad, but true.

I also think that as a person with a limited income, essentialism is difficult to apply to my personal life. Yes, I want to work on writing a book, but I can’t afford to pay someone to do my laundry, clean my house and cook my meals. That has to be done on an every day basis by me.

Although some of the principles of the book are going to be extremely difficult to implement, since reading this book, I have begun to question the nonessential things I can control. Do I really need a Facebook? No. And as soon as I download all of my pictures, I plan to get rid of it. I also reinstalled Rescue Time to keep me off of distracting sites. And I’ve taken off my email’s sound alert, so I don’t run to my email each time I hear the new mail ping. These little things have been extremely helpful, but I’ve yet to free up large chunks of time for essential projects.

Have you read Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less*? What did you think? How have you limited nonessential things in your life to make space for the important stuff? Let me know in the comments!

love,
melanie

P.S. July’s pick will be Scarcity: Why having too little means so much*. Feel free to leave suggestions for future books in the comments!

*Affiliate links.

Tuesday Thoughts: Maybe That’s The Key: Simple

Maybe that's the key: simple

“They think I’m simpleminded because I seem to be happy. Why shouldn’t I be happy? I have all I ever wanted and more. Maybe I am simpleminded. Maybe that’s they key: simple.”

Dolly knows best. <3.

love,
melanie

2015 Garden Update

garden and barnLast year I did a really good job of documenting my gardening adventure. (You can read about How much money can a garden save by clicking that link.) This year I’ve had other priorities and other stuff going on. I did manage to get plants in the ground. I haven’t managed to weed much! Eek!

potatoes!

Potatoes!

This past weekend, I got in there and weeded for hours. My garden hasn’t faired as well this year. The weeds are taking over and right after I planted the majority of the seeds we had a torrential downpour. My carrots were washed are all over the garden and my zucchini got washed away completely. The potatoes are fairing well, as are the container tomatoes.

Tomatoes!

Tomatoes!

I still think a garden is a worthwhile investment. I can’t wait to eat a fresh-off-the-vine tomato and weeding is good exercise.

How is your garden fairing this year? Let’s chat in the comments!

love,
melanie

Ask Melanie: How Do I Install a Permanent Toilet in an Airstream?

Permanent toilet in an Airstream

In today’s episode of “Ask Melanie” we’ve got a reader who wants to know how to install a permanent toilet in an Airstream. Take it away friendly reader!

Hi Melanie,

First, congratulations on your beautiful Airstream renovation!!!!!! I love the bookshelves and all of your pillows/quilting/cushion covers. 

I found your blog while I was searching the internet for converting an Airstream to permanent living. My boyfriend and I started our Airstreaming experiment in 2010, we have a 1969 25-foot Tradewind Landyacht which we use for traveling and a 1963 Bambi which up until this year we have also used for traveling. We are now planning to place our Bambi permanently and are in the process of doing all our research on utilities and anchoring. 

I’ve got most things squared away, just haven’t been able to find a reliable source on the toilet plumbing.  What did you guys do? Keep the blackwater tank and bypass it for a direct sewer hook up or go the macerator route and pull the valve when the tank is full OR something even better?

Any help/advice is greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
-Anonymous 

Continue reading →

Ask Melanie: Is our family too big to live in an Airstream?

Bambi living large in the Airstream.

Bambi living large in the Airstream.

Happy “half-way through the week” day! (Hump day just sounds gross.) Anyway, I often receive emails from loyal readers and people who just randomly stumbled across my blog. Many times these people will have questions about the logistics of living in an Airstream, downsizing and how we live. I thought it might be helpful to others to share those emails so all my sage advice (ha!) can be shared with a wider audience. So, I’m starting a new column called “Ask Melanie.” Our first email is from Laurel, her dilemma boils down to this, “Is our family too big to live in an Airstream?” Continue reading →