Master Storage...

I've shown you the major rooms of the camper, except for the master bedroom.  It's HUGE.  Not.  It basically holds a RV Queen mattress (shorter than an average sized one), the surrounding cabinets, and about 18" on either side.  I have mentioned to get dressed in the living room, right?  Please don't come by uninvited.  You may get an eye full.  ha!

 This is our bed.  We have taken out the "luxury mattress" that was sold with the camper because it was hard as a rock.  We invested $250 in a memory foam RV Queen and it is worth its weight in GOLD.  It's sooooo comfy.  I got it on Overstock.com. 

 

On my side above my wardrobe, Shannon bought little $1 totes to hold socks and underwear.  It's a great way to stay organized.  I have a few t-shirts and jeans folded up there as well.

Every week or so, I change out my wardrobe.  I work in a professional environment, and can't look homeless, so I try to keep it casual but nice at the same time.  I have coordinated my outfits with jewelry and shoes so I look like my old self.  I have 2 totes under the camper that I pull from.  Organization is key when living in small quarters.  Shannon has done the exact same thing on his side, so I didn't feel the need to showcase his personals, but you get the idea.  So, this is how we do our room! 

Baking--Camper Style

Ingenuity.  I think you have to have it to survive living in such a small space.  We have to crate one of our dogs, Joey, during the day due to his severe separation anxiety.  The shelter had told us he was rescued from an animal hoarding situation.  He freaks if you leave him alone without the safety of his crate.  Fred, our other rescue, does great without the aid of the crate.  So, every morning, we put Joey in his crate with some toys, and go to work/school.  Breaking it down every night, just to have to put it up again during the day got old, fast, so I'm working with it.  I have limited counter space, so I put my chopping block on the top of the crate and have created an island work space.  Since I'm a midget 5'2", it's the perfect height for me to prep my meals. 

 

Mornings with kids are hectic regardless of where you live or what you live in.  Now that we are getting into a groove, I thought I'd prep breakfast for the week on Sunday night.  I made these yummy egg muffins.  Full of peppers, onions, ham and cheese, they were delicious.  My kids hated them, naturally.  It called for 8 eggs, which we have in abundance since we raise pastured chickens and eggs. But, I share this with you because I finally used my little oven!  It did great!  I did have to open the door to the camper because it got a bit smoky since the oven was set at 400 degrees. 

I also installed this magnetic knife bar because of the limited drawer and counter space.  I love it!!!!

No more major disasters in the camper since the flood.  Our slide out did leak during a particularly heavy rain, but my camping guru friend has shared how to fix the issue. 

Seriously blessed to have this life!

A Bit Soggy

Tuesday morning, I was flown into consciousness by hearing the middle girl vomiting.  Day 2 of a tummy bug and no laundry facilities. At 3:30 am I changed her pj's, washed her face, hair and teeth, and she slept soundly on the couch dog bed with Joey.  Off to work with Daddy she went.  I took all the laundry to a dry cleaner 2 blocks from my work.  They offer a wash, dry and fold service for $7/load.  When I brought in the soiled linens, Polly, the sweet lady behind the counter scrunched her nose up.  "We charge extra for barf." She says with a twinkle in her eye.  I profusely apologize, drop off the comforter and clothes.  It was ready for me when I left work the same day.  $27.  Ouch.  $20 to launder the comforter alone.  That's more than what I paid for it on clearance at Target.  Oh, well, what can I do?  I don't have time to sit in a laundry mat for hours watching it slowly dry. 

Tuesday night in the camper wasn't so bad.  We ate dinner, the kids watched a movie, little man took a bath, and I cleaned up.  That night was going to dip into the teens so we left the water dripping in the kitchen and bathroom.  We woke up Weds morning with water!  Hallelujah!  But no hot water.  Shannon had to take a shower at the house, 20 miles south.  Luckily, we hadn't closed on it yet and we still could use it.

Before Shannon left, he suggested we leave the water dripping in the sinks to prevent freezing because the high was only going to be 26.  Before I left, I put the dogs in their crates and the water dripping. 

I came home late that evening to a FLOOD.  The camper had flooded.  I escorted the dogs out, 2 by 2, and preceded to freak out.  My nerves were shot, and this was the icing on the cake.  Apparently, the gray tank had frozen, displacing the water dripping from the faucets.  The tub overflowed.  The same tub that held my little cherub the night before.  Why, tub, why, have you forsaken me?!?   We only have 5 towels in the camper, one for each of us, and I used them all.  That barely made a dent in the water.  I remembered that I had a box of towels in the back of the van I was going to donate to the local animal shelter.  I ran outside and used them all.  I called Shannon sobbing that I couldn't handle it any longer.  He was so calm, and just said these were growing pains and just little bumps in the road. Sure.  That just annoyed me even more.  How could he be so calm?  BECAUSE HE DIDN'T HAVE TO CLEAN UP THE FLOOD. That's why.

I piled all the wet, heavy towels outside and went to feed the livestock.  I called our dearest friends, and we ended up spending the night with them--in a real house.  It was luxurious to say the least.  I slept like a log.  The next day, I retrieved the now frozen towels, and took them back to Cook's Laundry Service.  Another $30 later, I have clean towels.  I ended up hoarding the extras in case of disaster again.  They live under Joey's bed couch.  Just in case there's other flood. 

My Husband is a GENIUS!

I say this half jokingly.  My hubby is very bright, I like to think a bit brighter than bright, but when he came to me about 6 weeks ago and suggested we buy a camper to live in while we build our home, I thought he was an idiot.  I remember that I was at the sink cleaning up dinner dishes and he made this announcement.  "Hear me out before you say no."  I hate it when he prefaces ideas like this.  Then he dropped the bomb.  "What about buying a camper, living in it while we build the house, and that way, we put the money we'd pay in rent somewhere into an asset we can benefit from? We can have the camper paid for in 9 months and it's OURS.  We won't be paying someone else's mortgage.  We will have a place to vacation in for years."  I was silent.  I remember just looking at him, batting my eyes like a frog in a hail storm.  Then, I realized that what he was saying made sense.  So, we bought a camper.  We bought a nice camper.  So nice that it even has a leather couch, surround sound, and outdoor kitchen (with an additional fridge!) and bunk room for the kids.  If I'm going to live in something that will test my sobriety and sanity, it needs to be worth it. 

I thought I'd take you for a tour.  It took us several days to get it set up for occupancy, and I'm going to give you my honest reviews of living in a camper with 3 kids under the age of 7, 2 dogs, and keeping our sanity. 

Here we go!

 35.5 feet long... which equals less than  300 sq ft of living space.  We were excited to start our new adventure!

 Our little kitchen.  We call kitchens like this "one butt kitchens" because that's all that will fit. 2 drawers, 3 cabinets and a micro fridge.  It's taken a lot of adjustment to work in here, but we've done it!  I have to grocery shop weekly instead of every 2 weeks, and we have 2 big freezers at our business.  We've also set up a "pantry" of all our canned goods at the business for storage. I have to plan ahead on dinners.  Just last night I had to tell Shannon to bring home some chicken breasts and ketchup for dinner tonight.  Not a big adjustment, but an additional step for meal planning and prep. 

 Our living room.  The couch folds out to a bed and so does the kitchen table.  We haven't used them for such but the dogs enjoy the couch bed. 

 This is the kid's bunk room.  The two smaller kids pull out the futon and they sleep there.  There are no railings on the side of the bunks, and they don't want to sleep up there yet.  lol  So, every day, we make up the bed and that's where they saw logs.  The top bunk is used for storage and we've kept the plastic on the mattress so it doesn't get damaged. The green bin has toys, and the drawers hold the girl's clothes.  This is a slide out so we have to shuffle some stuff when we're traveling. 

 This is our oldest daughter's bed.  She loves to read and has her own reading light above her head.  Underneath, they have their TV and DVD player.  This is a God send when Shannon and I want to watch something and they can watch Trolls for the 538th time.  The cabinets underneath hold diapers for the little guy, and his clothes. 

 The "One Butt" bathroom.  It's small, but we have really utilized vertical space by incorporating the over door baskets.  They are now full.  You don't realize how much stuff you need for a family of 5 until you downsize.  The factory shower head was replaced with a water saving one we bought at Camping World.  We only have 6 gallons of hot water at a time, so this is a great upgrade I would recommend!

 The sales person was VERY excited to share that this is a real CERAMIC toilet.  I don't really know why that's so impressive.  lol  What is more impressive is the genius of Command Strips!  Those white baskets looking at you?  Command Strip baskets. AH-MAzing! Holds lots of goodies in there. 

 I bought a Command Strip hand towel bar to hand my hair dryer and curing iron basket on. I bought this awesome contraption at Target.  I also really like the door in the bathroom.  No, seriously.  It's genius.  If your kids are like mine, they go potty 90 times a day.  Not to mention a potty training toddler.  So, while they are out playing, they can go in and out all day long without going through the whole house.  I mean camper.  Also, if you want to check the weather while your doing your morning constitutional, open the door!  It's great I tell you!

Under the kitchen sink is a LARGE space for all your kitchen gadgets and such.  I ordered on Amazon the shelving with drawers on the left and the pot/skillet rack on the right.  Great space savers.  I went minimal when deciding what to bring.  And I can't live without my crock pot.  I do want to put a light in here though.  It's dark as a cave. 

This is our tiny pantry across from the bathroom.  Again, I ordered shelving, and have had to organize our needs.  No crazy bulk shopping for us any longer!  We buy what we need.  It's actually liberating. 

This is evidence that the dogs have a great life.  Fred and Joey sleep on their bed every night.  Rotten, I say.

So, that's the grand tour!  I'll do a separate post on our room, and other storage spaces.  It's not large by any means, but it will make you appreciate your master suites!