We moved from the trailer to a rental cabin for the winter, a hand built shack that sits just downhill from our property, a short walk to the beach, with a wood stove, running water, and a washing machine and drier.
After five weeks in a 30-foot pull-behind, our damp home for a family of four and two medium sized dogs, this 900 square foot cabin feels like a castle.
And so warm and dry when the wood stove gets cranking.
And yet the trailer wasn't nearly as challenging as I thought it would be.
(We'll see how I feel when we move back into it for six months or more come Spring.)
And I learned some lessons along the way, in no particular order:
1) I have way too much shit, and really, a coffee mug is a wine glass is a water cup is an oatmeal vessel, as long as I wash it in-between. Or not--but I'm not a big fan of chunks floating in my Merlot.
2) There is something strangely satisfying about hand-washing and drying our dishes every time we cook, its the period on the delicious sentence that lets me put the meal away.
3) Limiting the food I buy to what can fit in a small space helps me waste less as we only purchase food when we plan to eat it.
4) A smaller space can look like a disaster within ten minutes and yet it can also appear clean in fifteen. (Minus the black mold from condensation that takes a little more time to tackle and requires a major defensive plan for next summer.)
5) Nick and I are already re-thinking our house design, realizing we don't need as spacious of a home as we previously thought, when bigger seemed better, when our plans involved going up from our 15000 square foot Anchorage home. We really just need a giant kitchen, with plenty of counter space, a pantry, comfortable chairs and a big table. (Oh yeah, and a couple bathrooms. And small rooms for seeping. And an arctic entry...)
6) I did miss having a bedroom door. And a back door. And doors on my kid's room to close them in at night. Doors are good. Our new house will have plenty of doors.
7) I didn't miss a full-length mirror. Or even looking in a mirror every morning, often just putting on a baseball cap and driving the kids to school. Taking a break from staring at my aging face feels rather enlightening. More time to think and do instead of appear.
8) Back to having way too much shit, well this includes clothes. I heard on NPR that in the 1950's (I could be way off on the decade here as my mind is shot for details) the average American woman had nine outfits in her closet, and today thirty. Before we sold our house I gave away garbage bags of clothes and still feel as if I could wean my wardrobe even more.
9) Toys, toys, and more toys. Back to shit, shit, and more shit. All my kids really need are sticks, rocks, shells, water, mud, grass, bikes, paper, pencils, and Legos. Well, and Olive needs her beloved "stuffies". And Elias his iPad, so he can watch Youtube elevator movies and travel the world on google maps.
10) And finally, on my short list of lessons learned, I haven't missed watching television, even sports, not when the woods and the beach and the mountains surround me.
Those teb points apply very broadly to our whole population - regardless of what you're doing: down-sizing after a lifetime living in a big house and raising kids and into a "retirement" space, to a young family like yours building your new home in which to raise yours. And with that view.....that makes up for a whole lot, doesn't it?!!
Posted by: Karyl Scrivener | 10/07/2016 at 05:40 AM
It does Karyl, and yes, I think in the US most of us have too much stuff especially compared to the world population. I'm learning to let go of my attachment to items, especially when they are connected to people by remembering that the person isn't really in the gift:)
Posted by: Christy | 10/07/2016 at 08:59 AM