Living Small in RV

Summer 2018 Update #1 – CA to NV

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So here we are – three weeks into our vacation and an attempt to update you.  This is an update of our first couple of days.  For those of you interested, I’ve included gas prices.

Day 1 –  We purchased our first tank of gas for Winne 2017!  Up to this point, all our quick weekend trips and running the generator “weekly” haven’t used the initial tank of gas up!

Hesperia, CA – we try our darnest to purchase gas at Pilot or Flying J.  Reasons:  John likes their coffee; we get a 5 cent per gallon discount by using their Good Sam Reward card (after a certain number of coffee purchases, you get one free too!);  they are the cheapest around; Flying J also has dedicated RV pumps.
Gas price $3.469 per gallon (with discount).

Las Vegas, CA –  We stay at the Oasis Las Vegas RV Resort.  It is close to the freeway and Las Vegas Strip.  Dinner was at the Bellagio Buffet.  We have always had great service here – especially if you sit at the bar.  Just ask and you usually can.   Here’s our grip with the Bellagio – they now charge $9 for parking!!  Like they don’t make enough on our dinner and gambling!
Pilot/Flying J in North Las Vegas the next morning:  Gas price $3.109 per gallon (with discount).

Here are a few pics of their lobby – they frequently change it up so every time we visit, it is something new.  We always love it!

It’s Nice to be Home!

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We are home!  It was so nice unpacking the RV this year.  Everything was put away within one day – including all the laundry.  Having less stuff around the house sure did make it easier!  We packed just the amount of clothing we needed.  This year we made a concerted effort to minimize the amount we packed.  We even minimized the extra food items since our cupboards run closer to bare these days.

Only 11 items officially left the RV.  In the couple of days we’ve been home, we’ve removed about a dozen items.  The donation box is filling up and needs to be counted!  Of all the kitchen cupboards to get into, John delved into the one we haven’t decluttered this morning.  He was getting out a sheet to make biscuits and ran across these heat vacuum sealing films.  We decluttered the machine a while ago!

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John goes back to work tomorrow and Barb leaves today for a conference.  So sad to be returning to “normal”.

Here’s a map of our travels this year.  Not sure how many miles we traveled but the 7 weeks flew by.

Just can’t get rid of it!

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Do you see that silver “key” pointing to the left in the picture above??  It was on the key ring when we purchased our motorhome 10 years ago.  We asked the dealer what it went to.  His response “I don’t know.  You’ll eventually figure it out.”  So we’ve kept this stupid thing on the key ring for 10 years!

Yesterday, we had a discussion about removing it – yes a full out discussion!  John said he just can’t do it.  Why??  We might eventually figure out what it opens.  Now Barb is of the mindset that we haven’t figured it out in 10 years, the likelihood of figuring it out is ZERO!

So here it is – still on the key ring!

Anyone else have something like this that really should be decluttered but just can’t do it?

Larger Restroom Please

declutteringthestuff Living Small in RV

As you may know, we are traveling the country in our RV.  We are lucky to have time off each summer to do this.  We have been away from home for 34 days so far.  Knowing that we are living small for 6-8 weeks changes your requirements of comfort.  Some people are considering moving into a tiny home and we have a few things you may want to think about before going extremely small.  (Our RV with the slide-out extended gives us 206 square feet of living space.)

  1.  Our toilet and basin room is 41 inches by 37 inches.  If I were living in this permanently, I would want something just a tad larger!  Thankfully this doesn’t include the shower.  It is on the other side of the hallway.  You can see it in the mirror.IMG_3313
  2.  Insulation!  Our RV is so poorly insulated.  Many of the tiny homes are built on trailer bases and this allows them to easily be moved from place to place.  A drawback of this is the weight.  Insulation adds to the weight and may slightly decrease the living space when every inch matters.
  3. Watch the height of a loft.  Some people have a longer torso length and have a hard time navigating lofts.

Anyone else living small and have a suggestion or 2 to add??