27 May A Life-Time of Choices
It wasn’t quite as much fun shopping online for the bus… (I am NOT a shopper, but when I do make the decision to buy, I want to enjoy the full sensory experience! So, yeah, online shopping is just not the same for me.) When we did finally get to see, touch, and drive a bus with the romanticized thoughts of “This may be our future tiny home!” (imagine that said in squeaky, excited voices), we both had difficulty hiding our excitement from the seller. You know, the typical do not show excited interest, or the seller won’t give you a good deal… I am pretty sure we failed that test.
Living within our means…that was our new goal…and the purchase price of the very beginning of the change, was almost within the amount we agreed upon between ourselves and our budget. Well….. I remember the day, years ago, when our daughters were just toddlers, to be more exact, that good friends of ours, namely Greg and Catherine, told us about Dave Ramsey. And you have probably already guessed it – we didn`t listen! In January of 2017, our oldest daughter told us that she and her husband were doing the Dave Ramsey course and budget and were going to dramatically change their finances for the better – and my husband and I looked at each other (we do that a lot), and agreed that it was time for us too!! And we kicked ourselves! (Not literally, thankfully.) We had wasted twenty years of could-have-been financial independence. 🙁 BUT, it is never too late! So here is where we start. We totally figured that we could live in a motorized tiny home, no rent, nor mortgage, no utilities – and pay off any debts within a three year plan! Today marks one year since we made that decision, and as I write this, and think back, I chuckle, because I have had my share of crying…and life is just not how one pictures it…it never is…but it is good!
It took only two months to minimalize…two months of having to look at everything we had accumulated over twenty-eight years of life, and decide which “things” were important… It’s kind of funny how our heads know that it is not “things” that are important, but memories, yet so many of our memories are wrapped around our “things”. We are quite thankful that we were able to give some of our belongings to our loved ones. 🙂 The other side of minimalizing? Who thinks what is important, and man’s ideals vs. woman’s 😉 All in all, when we were done, we were still quite hyped about the new adventure, and where it may lead!
We made so many lists and plans: costs, timelines, floorplans, travel places… Most amazingly, and I want this to stand out, was our meeting with the most awesome family of friends! Don, Wendy, Dawn Marie, and Chris decided that we could park our house on wheels on their acreage, while their home was being built. They were just as excited as we were about our harebrained idea! And, I must add, that part of this deal, was the inclusion of the use of their hydro, access to their water source, and all of our belongings were to be stored in their garage! All at no cost to us! Recounting my blessings…WOW!!
First step in gutting out a school bus, is removing all those nasty seats! Talk about gum…let’s not 😉 Hard work, for sure, but we were determined!
And then, within the first week, my husband made an error in judgement that changed our lives in a way that none of our plans or lists or dreams, could have imagined! One moment of forgetting to put his safety glasses back on, and one random flying metal rivet…right through every layer of his left eyeball, and within a short period of time, life was completely different for sure.
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