Tag Archives: airstream

It’s Airstream Week!

Airstream and CampfireIn honor of our one year anniversary of living in the Airstream, I’ve planned a full week of content revolving around the beloved Airstream! Normal content will take a backseat this week, but never fear because the before and after pictures are totally worth it. Make sure you check back several times this week because there’s going to be all kinds of fun going on ’round these parts!

Let’s party!

love,
melanie

Easy Crock-Pot Chicken Cacciatore

crock-pot chicken cacciatoreI know, I know, it’s kind of too hot to break out that Crock-Pot, but sometimes a busy girl has to do what a busy girl has to do. And sometimes that means cranking up the Crock Pot to make Chicken Cacciatore as the thermometer climbs into the 100s. It’s just too easy to use the Crock-Pot on those days when you know that 5,000 things will need your attention and you still have to work out and sleep and be a person. This meal is great for those days because you can throw everything in the Crock-Pot at breakfast and it will be ready for dinner or throw it in the Crock-Pot the night before and take it for lunch. It’s just good planning, people.

easy chicken cacciatore(Stupid) Easy Crock-Pot Chicken Cacciatore

Ingredients

  • 1 lb of chicken, cut up in pieces
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 1 jar of your favorite pasta sauce
  • 6 ounces sliced mushrooms
  • 1 green bell pepper, chopped
  • 2 -4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 teaspoons oregano
  • 1 teaspoon dried basil
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Throw everything in the Crock Pot and let cook for approximately 7 hours on low. Serve over pasta, rice or quinoa if you wish. I just eat it plain. No time for all that.

super easy, crock-pot chicken cacciatore

love,
melanie

 

Things I Wish I Knew Before Living Full-Time in an Airstream

living full-time in an AirstreamLiving full-time in an Airstream has been the biggest adventure of my life (so far!). It’s also been the craziest/best/most spontaneous thing I’ve ever done. I don’t regret it. Not a day. But George and I did very little research before we decided, hey, let’s live in an Airstream! Embarrassing little research. If I had to do it all over again, I might be a little more prepared. Although, if I was more prepared I might have wussed out! There’s a lot of realities and obstacles to living in an Airstream.

  1. The buying process may be harder than you think.
    Our buying process wasn’t easy. We easily found the Airstream on Craigslist, but our trailer was acquired in a divorce and there was all kinds of legalese associated with the title. In the end we had to title our trailer in Maine. Why Maine? Well, they have looser titling laws and personal/commercial trailers can be registered in Maine regardless of where you live. Maine also has low-cost registrations!
  2. Things get dirty real quick
    I have a strict no shoes policy in the Airstream, but that doesn’t keep the dirt from sneaking in anyway. It’s such a small space that if we miss even one day of cleaning, the place is a wreck. Which leads me to…
  3. Junk will look junkier in a small space
    You need less “things” than you think. Always. But even the tiniest bit of junk will look junky in a small space. At first I wanted to have lots of open shelves for our things, but things looked too cluttered in such a small space. We did fix the problem with drawers, but I wish I had planned for more hide-away shelving in the beginning.
  4. If you are living in a vintage Airstream, things will break/go awry.
    Things might even go awry in a new Airstream! Just like owning your own home, things will break and go awry. Unlike a home, there are less people with special skills able to fix things. You’ll need to be handy. Or live with someone who is handy (thanks, George!). And you’ll need to be willing to experiment and learn. We’ve learned so much from online forums and YouTube videos.
  5. There’s no privacy
    The bathroom situation gets ugly. ‘Nuff said.
  6. It’s going to get cold and hot.
    The temperature in the Airstream is super fickle. We stay relatively warm with two heaters and the air conditioning works well, but there are times when the weather gets so extreme outside that no space heater or mobile home air conditioning unit will do the trick. We also live in the south so it’s humid most of the time, we control this with a dehumidifier, but it will never be the perfect humidity and temperature in there.
  7. There will never be enough space for certain activities.
    Working out in the Airstream and cooking in the Airstream are both a struggle. There’s never enough room to chop or dice and create even a one-course meal. And jumping around in the Airstream, forget about it. I can do a few push-ups or squats, but forget high intensity training in there. I tried it once. It was not pretty.
  8. I don’t think of myself as “homeless,” but others might.
    I was recently reading an article about homelessness. It described folks living in their campers at the beach. I don’t consider myself homeless at all. George and I chose to live this way for so many reasons. And yes, the main reason was financial, but I don’t consider myself homeless. The Airstream is my home. If something ever happened to the Airstream, we could find ourselves an apartment. Airstream livin’ isn’t out of desperation, but it is out of the desire to stop living paycheck-to-paycheck. Some people judge us for our decision, but it’s proved to be one of the best decisions of my life.

Got any questions about living in the Airstream? I’d love to hear them and answer them in the comments!

Update:  I wrote a book! “The Ultimate Guide to Living Full Time in an RV, Airstream or Motorhome” will show you how live a smaller, happier life in an untraditional home. This is an interactive guide designed to help you plan your journey to smaller living with worksheets and useful tips. Get it here!

 

 

Airstream Livin’: Nine Months Update

Trying to keep the day we purchased the Airstream in my mind.

Trying to keep the day we purchased the Airstream in my mind.

It’s been about nine months living in the Airstream full-time. I love our little tin can, but I have to admit there are days when it is really, really hard. I’m under quite a bit of stress at work to finish up projects before the summer and it’s easy to bring that stress home with me.

A small space gets more cluttered more quickly and the cooking area just never seems big enough. George has been working super hard to take on more commissions and I am super proud of him. But that also means that he has less time to help out around the ol’ Stream. I have so many dreams and goals for this blog, the Airstream and my life, but sometimes they seem too far out of my reach.

I know things will look up. It’s almost the summer time, my work will lighten up, there will be beach trips and time to get organized. There will be time to live those dreams, to grow something with my own hands, to grow this blog and to spend time with the people I love.

I don’t regret one minute of our journey in the Airstream, it’s just a rough patch. I still love the ol’ girl and I know we’ll get through this together.

love,
melanie

 

Airstream Update: An Unfortunate Little Incident

The current state of the bathroom.

The current state of the bathroom.

When George went to turn on the hot water heater Friday morning, he discovered that the flooring underneath the heater was wet. Not good. I went on my merry way to work, hoping it was just a little leak. But during the course of the evening, I received more and more alarming text messages from him. This one pretty much said it all: “Found the source of the leak. Tell you about it when you get home.” He was preparing me for the worst.

And I came home to less than ideal news. George found the source of the leak. It was our hot water heater, as we had feared. The most expensive thing in the Airstream to replace. The heater runs on both electricity and gas so it isn’t as cheap as standard hot water heaters. He also had to tear up our bathroom floor because water had seeped under the floorboards and managed to warp the floor.

If something like this had happened two years ago, I would have flipped out. But living in the Airstream has some advantages. It’s allowed me to save enough for an emergency fund and replacing our floor won’t be nearly as expensive as replacing a floor in a home. Our bathroom is tiny. The hot water heater set us back about $600 bucks and I’m bummed about it, but it isn’t nearly as tragic as it could be. The hot water heater was original and we got almost a year of use out of it before it kicked the bucket.

We’ll have hot water again soon and we’ll make the money back. Living in the Airstream and having this adventure has taught me to be more resourceful and resilient than I’ve ever been. We’re lucky to have caught the leak fairly early and we’re lucky to have a home.

love and resilience,
melanie

 

Custom Drawers in an Airstream

custom drawers in an AirstreamI love the idea of open shelves, but we’re just not that organized. I quickly realized that after living in the Airstream for just a couple of weeks. Half done art projects and crafting junk is just not pretty. But building drawers just wasn’t a project that we had time to complete… until now!

George and I are into recycling and using what we’ve got. It’s thrifty and good for the environment. Wins all around. We salvaged some old barn wood from when the barn was damaged in the tornadoes this fall to use to make the front of the drawers. We also had some leftover wood from building out the shelves and our bed in the Airstream. We used that wood for the sides and the bottom of the drawers.

Here’s what the shelves looked like without the drawers:
shelving in an airstream trailer book shelves in an airstream

Pretty, but not very practical.

Building drawers

George went to work by measuring, cutting and drilling the pieces together.

When we got the drawers into the Airstream, we quickly realized that these babies are going to need some drawer handles. So, we cut up one of George’s old belts and used the rough grain side of the belt to create pulls. Pretty cool huh? We could only find short gold screws to attach the leather to the drawer, so we ended up coloring them with a silver Sharpie. Red neck ingenuity at it’s finest, folks.

custom distressed drawers with leather pulls

Did you finish any projects this weekend? I want to hear about them in the comments!

love,
melanie

How to Stay Warm in an Airstream

Airstream in the snowPolar vortex sounds like a made-up character meant to scare children at bed time. If you don’t go to sleep the Polar Vortex will sweep you away to the Netherlands (I imagine it’s cold there) where you have to live in a frigid cave and the only food to sustain your miserable existence is  cold beanie weenies served from a spoon made of icicles. But the polar vortex is all too real, folks. All too real.

George and I are determined to stick it out the weather in our tin can, but there’s been a couple of nights where I’ve questioned my sanity. Luckily we’ve made previsions. Here’s some tips for staying warm in an Airstream and in other old, tiny spaces.Airstream in winter

  1. Winterize
    To winterize the Airstream, we wrapped the pipes in insulation, caulked any and all cracks (it’s my favorite thing to do!) and made thick curtains. Most of the cold in our Airstream comes in through the single-pane windows and it’s surprising what a difference thick curtains have made.
  2. Layer up
    I’ll admit it, I hate being cold. It’s annoying and I’m quite the grump when I’m cold. In the Airstream I always wear socks, sometimes two pairs, and I’ve been sleeping in a sweatshirt. I also made this super comfy scarf/capelet (scarplet?) and I’ve been wearing it as I do chores. I draw the line at having to wear gloves in the house.
  3. Use rugs
    The floors of the Airstream feel like a giant ice cube some mornings. By using throw rugs in almost every area of the house, we avoid freezing toesies and add a touch more insulation to the floor.
  4. Invest in a heated blanket
    Heated blankets may just be my favorite invention ever. I mean, it’s a blanket that is warm. Throw one of those on the bed and you’ll feel like a piece of hot, buttered toast. In a good way.staying warm in an airstream trailer
  5. Heat the pipes
    Before we learned all of these tricks of the trade, our pipes froze… twice. It’s quite unpleasant to wake up to no water. Now we religiously check the weather, put the faucets on drip and use space heaters to heat the pipes.
  6. Have more than one source of heat
    We heat the whole trailer with two space heaters. We’ve chosen to not use any propane at the moment and it’s been working out just fine. I did have a small freakout when George spilled a drink over one of the heaters and it stopped working. (What are the chances?!) Luckily, we had two heaters and could use the other space heater that night as our primary heat source. If I was doing it all over again, I’d seriously consider installing a wood stove.
  7. Have a cuppa
    Nothing warms better than a piping hot cup of tea or coffee! I received an electric tea kettle for Christmas and that thing has been boiling non-stop. If you are a frequent hot beverage drinker, it may be an investment to look into.
  8. Have a backup plan
    And as always, have a backup plan. Hypothermia is no joke. Luckily, George’s family lives close to us and they have a wood stove. Living in the country means that if the electricity goes out, we’ll be out of power and water for days. I cannot stress how important a backup plan is in this kind of situation.

How are you staying warm? Let me know in the comments!

love,
melanie

 

 

 

Airstream Livin’: A Six Month Update

Airstream in the woodsIt’s been almost six full months since we moved into the Airstream to live in it full-time. We’ve endured tornados and a vicious cold snap. We’ve endured bugs (oh lord the bugs!), oppressive heat and learned way more about sewage than any person should. But I still wouldn’t trade this experience for the world.

George and I have always had the plan to move into the Airstream in order to save enough money to buy (or build!) our own “real” house. But in the last six months, I’ve really come to think of this ‘ol thing as our real house home. It’s not conventional, but it’s ours.

Airstream SovereignSure, I still have days where I get so.incredibly.frustrated. that I can’t have the hot water heater on and make coffee at the same time. Lord, I need that coffee. But I wouldn’t trade it. This experience is teaching me patience. It’s teaching me that I need let go of things in all aspects of my life. And as always, it’s teaching me to live small and dream bigger.

love and thankfulness,
melanie

How we live in 188 square feet

How we live in 188 sq feetI 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.

Easy DIY: Washi Tape Mirror

Before and After Washi Tape Mirror

You know those projects that somehow never just finish themselves? Those projects are super inconsiderate. I can’t even believe them sometimes. My dishes are the worst. They just pile up and pile up until finally I get angry enough and do them myself.

The mirror in my bathroom was one of those projects. I had planned to paint or cover the edges in small strips of wood, but sometimes all I’ve got time for is a five minute project. I found this washi tape that has been lying around since our wedding and simply put it up around the mirror to hide the ugly, old edges. The best thing about washi tape is that if you mess up, it doesn’t leave residue or loose it’s stickiness. There’s really no trick to this project.

I love projects like that. No tricks, just treats. It’s super simple and it makes a big difference.

What’s your favorite 5 minute DIY? I’d love to see links to your projects in the comments!

love,
melanie