Full Time Travel with Boundless Bakers

My name is Jessica, and I am 1/4th (or 1/8th if you count the cats) of the Boundless Bakers. I travel fulltime with my husband Ross, son Finnegan (4 years old), daughter Hazel (2), and yes, four cats. We have been living and traveling in our Crossroads Cruiser 5th wheel since November 2018. We launched from Heber City, UT where we worked and occasionally got the chance to live. We had a beautiful 2400 square foot home that Ross and I worked 90+ hours a week to live in. We had a fulltime nanny that spent more time with the kids then we did. Life was exactly as it was supposed to be. Right?

Well, we finally got fed up enough with missing out on what truly matters in life and decided to change everything and hit the road! Living this fulltime RV lifestyle meant we’d be able to go from a two income family to one, get rid of the “things” that really weren’t bringing us joy, spend WAY more quality time together as a family, and see this beautiful country of ours!

Even though Ross and I had been toying with the idea of fulltime travel for about a year, we didn’t pull any of the necessary triggers until August 2018, only three months before our intended departure date! First, we traded in my mom-mobile (aka Penny the Honda Pilot) for a 3500 Dodge Ram. This is when I knew things were really going to happen! We purchased our rig a few weeks later after only looking at a handful of options. I knew I wanted to renovate so we went with an older model, 2010 to be exact. What drew us to our tiny home on wheels was the mid-bunkhouse and how spacious 5th wheels feel with the higher ceiling.

August through mid-November was spent renovating the RV and downsizing our belongings. We donated 99% of our things, sold a few more, and kept some items at our stick and bricks home for our renters. As for the renovation, our biggest projects were painting the entire interior white and redoing the floors. With Ross and I still both working fulltime, we knew our reno time was limited and wanted just to get the necessities taken care of. My biggest piece of advice for anyone renovating an RV is to take your time! Spending a little extra time properly sanding the walls or applying an extra layer of primer will make all the difference in the end.

Because we had literally NO RV experience, we turned to the internet a lot through our transition and into the early days of fulltiming. Heck, I just watched a YouTube video yesterday on how to fix our broken antenna crank! A lot of our RV advice comes from YouTube. Some of our favorites include Keep Your Day Dream and Two Tired Teachers. Now that we are old RVing pros ;) we mostly look for advice on traveling, route planning, etc. We use Facebook groups such as Fulltime Families and Thousand Trails (Outdoor World) & Encore -- The Good AND The Bad, and apps such as Campendium.

We are so happy to be living this lifestyle. We are honestly healthier and happier than we’ve ever been before. The amount of time we are able to spend together is priceless, and the experiences we are having are life-changing. I was worried about how this lifestyle would affect two toddlers, but I am happy to report they are thriving! They are more outgoing, adventurous, loving, and affectionate than they’ve ever been before. I have been so impressed by how well they’ve adapted to this change.

So in closing, if you are considering changing your life and traveling full time, we hope we can inspire you, let you learn from our mistakes, and maybe even meet up with you someday on the open road. In the meantime, I dare you to live the life you’ve always wanted.

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WEBSITE : https://www.boundlessbakers.com

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/boundlessbakers/

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/boundlessbakers/

Motorhome Life with @wilsongrandadventures

Can’t wait for you to read Aaron & Mandy’s story! Their renovation is one of my top favorite motorhome renovations! They have two adorable kids and are rocking this full time travel gig!

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We're the Wilson's- Aaron, Mandy, Israel, and Elery. Aaron and I are originally from Indiana and then moved to Tampa, FL after we got married. 

Back in 2014, we decided to start traveling part-time. We were gone anywhere from 10 to 20 nights per month. We had a blast and the kids loved it too! Then we started to talk about buying a small travel trailer and using it to travel instead of hotels and the constant packing and unpacking. 

After shopping around, we decided just to go full-time and buy something bigger. We ended up with a Damon Challenger Class A motorhome and immediately took it home to start renovating it. 

Our goal with our renovation was to remove anything that "felt like a RV"! A few of the projects we have done: We turned a closet into bunk beds for the kids, painted everything white, built 2 couches, transformed our bathroom, and got all new bedding and decor. 

We sold all our stuff and rented our house back in September 2018 and love having less stuff! We are excited to start marking off things on our bucket list! 

To check them out on IG click HERE

Website click HERE

Pursuing Adoption While Living Nomadically

How about a bit of an informal introduction for those who don’t know us. We are the McCloud’s, my husband Casey is our fearless leader, head bread winner and my favorite forever and always. Our daughters Taylan (9) and Chole (6) keep this unschooling mama on her toes. Colton and Mackie are our loyal road dawgs (see what I did there) and then there’s me. I am Raquel, the wordsmith behind https://www.instagram.com/mccloudlife/. I can’t say that I have a niche unless life is a niche. I love to write and share raw and authentic life and for us that includes a few big topics that fit within specific communities. One of those communities is nomadic tiny home dwellers, we sold our acre of land and 1,200 sq ft brick house to call our 38’ pull behind home. Unlike a majority of this community though we are attached to my husband’s job. As a union laborer (hopeful welder) we set up camp wherever they send us. Nearly 2 years in and we have called Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan home, as well as a campground in our hometown of Cookeville, TN. So, while tiny living is one aspect of our adventure it isn’t the only or our most important. I think my voice shouts loudest for choosing hope despite poor circumstances and adoption.

I have a very unique perspective of adoption and before we talk about our current journey I want to share what got us here. For those unfamiliar with the adoption community we have a symbol called the adoption triad. It’s a triangle with each side representing a piece of that relationship- adoptee, adoptive family and birth family. A heart encompasses the triad representing the love woven throughout. Although adoption was not the chosen word it describes the relationship between my grandparents and I. My parents were a little self absorbed and struggled with addiction and as a result my pa and granny stepped in to raise me. After they gained custody at two years old my mother walked away, I’ve not seen her since. To make a long story shorter I will cut through the details to say my teenage years found me filling voids with alcohol, drugs and boys. My wild lifestyle came to an abrupt halt at 14 when a pregnancy test read positive. I share frequently about my adoption journey as a birthmother and how that decision was the hardest choice I’ve ever made. I share about our amazing relationship, her incredible parents and my own joys and struggles as I’ve navigated these somewhat uncharted waters. It’s the least talked about side of the triad, followed by the adoptees and then adoptive parents being the most celebrated. It’s a personal calling to both expose and celebrate this title, what led me here and be a voice of relatability for those who need it. So at this point that leaves one side of the triad and yes, I’ve experienced it as well. Adoptive mom. Our littlest blessing was adopted. Nothing about our life has been conventional and her adoption story is no different. We had physical responsibility of her by 4 weeks, legal custody by 4 months and finalized her adoption at 4 years old, just 3 months shy of her 5th birthday.

This was all before selling our traditional home and packing our life, all of our belongings, 2 big humans, 2 tiny humans and 2 furry companions in a camper. This was before we ditched a stationary address, before we pulled away from the only town our kids have ever lived in and before we walked away from the “American dream” to pursue our own. I can say that adding to our family through adoption was not on our radar. Casey and I have struggled with infertility for nearly 9 years now and were making peace with our inability to grow our family. His career isn’t slowing down anytime soon and while many choose to travel for a set time this is our plan for the foreseeable future.

How? When? Where? Why? Casey and I lost religion and found God early in our relationship so our faith has been an important factor for most of our married life. It’s what guided us into taking in our youngest. Had we stopped to count the cost, both mentally and financially we would have likely declined. My faith is what gives me a bold voice to share my story as a survivor of sexual abuse, verbal abuse, addiction, promiscuity and redemption. Our faith is what led us here.

Casey took a winter layoff and we headed to our hometown to visit with friends and family that we hadn’t seen in months. Shortly after arriving I caught wind of the news. A friend I had spoke to years prior about opening an adoption center in town had finally seen her prayer materialize. I immediately secured a meeting with her to offer my story and my time. I was willing to speak on adoption, talk to birth mothers, hopeful adoptive moms, whatever I could do to help advocate for all sides of the adoption triad. I left that meeting feeling a tug. When I got home Casey and I discussed it and nearly instantly felt the same thing placed on our hearts … we were being called to adopt again. 

Every state has different adoption laws so the first thing we did was contact the adoption agency to ask if our nomadic lifestyle would put up an immediate roadblock. After what seemed like an eternity we were given the green light. They had spent nearly 2 weeks pouring through law books and found NOTHING that said a traveling family couldn’t adopt. So honestly and truly, thats the BIG secret … ask! I think so often we seal our own fate before we ever take the first step because we are afraid the answer will be no. And perhaps in some cases it will be, but a “no” leaves you no worse off than wondering what the answer could have been for the rest of your life. If I’m being honest, we wholeheartedly expected the answer to be no. We were hopeful yet reserved and completely surprised by a strong and hearty ‘YES!”

The next steps looked like they would have for any hopeful adoptive family with one exception. We had to stay stationary until our home study, finger prints and the other mountains of paperwork were complete. A ridiculous amount of paperwork, like an INSANE amount of paperwork ya’ll! I think we were most nervous about our home study though. We knew this would look different to our caseworker and was unsure how she would perceive this tiny space that we so lovingly call home. I think the most important part of this journey is transparency and honesty. We didn’t try to overcomplicate or paint an unrealistic picture of what our tiny home and lifestyle looks like. Our kids do share a small space. We don’t value an abundance of toys. We co sleep and cuddle, baby wear and cloth diaper. We do not believe we need a 2,000 sq foot house for a toddler to take his first steps in when we can give him a whole wide world of open expanses, soft grass and gritty sand. We don’t need space for a high chair, changing table, crib or swing. We live fully and love wholly within this space and that is all we need. Materialistically there is a checklist but it isn’t as strict as you might think. Our kids bunk room has 2 beds and a table that converts into a third bed. That third bed option was key. To pass a home study, at least in Tennessee every child needs to have their our bed, not bedroom thank God, just their own bed. We have that. We also have two kids that are happy and healthy and have flourished in this lifestyle for nearly two years now. At the end of the visit it was confirmed that we passed!

Since sharing our current adoption journey I have had so many people ask HOW we could possibly pursue adoption while living nomadically and in a camper. There are so many families who have left suburbia to experience a more intentional life. Less things do not mean less dreams and for many, adoption is one of their dreams. I am no expert in the legalities and cannot possibly advise you on what is best for you and your family but if you feel called to adopt while living a non traditional life I urge you to contact an adoption agency within your home state and start the conversation. Whether the answer is yes or no it is far better than living the rest of your life wondering, “what if?”

P.s. If you would like to support our adoption we have a t-shirt fundraiser running through March and have set a crazy goal to sell 1000 shirts! The design was created by a sweet friend in response to our vision of what this new chapter of life means to us. We view life as a grand adventure and this is another chapter for our epic quest to live fully, intentionally, and embracing every simple moment. 

https://halotn.com/products/its-time-for-a-new-advenure-adopting-baby-mccloud-fundraiser

Living Tiny with @tincanramblers

So excited to share J & Brit today from @TinCanRamblers. I started following them when they lived in a cute renovated Airstream & now they live in an RV they totally remodeled. Wait until you see how beautiful it is!

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Hey there! We wanted to share a little about our journey to living tiny in hopes for you to get to know us a bit more and to help anyone out there who may be considering the lifestyle. =)

Way back when (or at least it feels like it)…

Three years ago you could find my husband (J) and I (Brit) living in a 3 bedroom house in the suburbs of Nashville, TN. We loved our house at the time and honestly when we bought it we thought we would live there for decades but that plan changed.  We started to feel stuck in the daily routine and wanted more adventure out of life.  Our journey into this lifestyle started when I was obsessing over tiny houses and sending my husband absolutely everything I could find on tiny living. I was 110% sold on the idea and the thought of selling everything we owned sounded so freeing. I found so much inspiration from others who had already taken the leap and shared their stories through social media/blogs/youtube channels.  I could just picture us rolling down the road with everything we owned in the home being pulled behind us! It took a while for me to convince my husband (he wasn’t sold on a tiny house) - but finally he came around and instead of building a tiny house he pitched the idea of an RV…..and the rest is history.

Our main intentions in living tiny were to pay off debt, have financial freedom, and to be able to travel.  We started downsizing immediately and sold/donated pretty much everything we owned - except a small amount of clothing. This process was so eye-opening, to go through the stuff we had been carrying around for years for no reason at all other than we thought we “needed” it. We put our house on the market, luckily it sold very quickly and we moved into an apartment while we renovated a 1980 Airstream Excella. We spent the winter completely gutting and rebuilding our new home on wheels, from flooring, to plumbing, to electrical, etc.. Luckily, we had family along the way to help us build our dream and we learned so much from the experience. We poured so much love into our little home and it was finally happening right before us. It definitely wasn’t easy though, we had challenges along the way and things would go wrong - at times it felt like we would never finish. Through this process we learned to not dwell on the problems - just fix them and move forward, it’s all part of the journey.

The following spring we finished the build and moved into our airstream. We were living stationary in Nashville at the time at an RV park. Adjusting to the smaller space took some time, but we quickly fell in love with living tiny.  We lived in our airstream for about a year until we decided we wanted a little more space. We decided to sell the airstream and buy a travel trailer with slides. We ended up purchasing a Forest River Wildwood 27REI which we live in currently. Even though this rv was much newer than our airstream and didn’t need a complete remodel, we knew we wanted to make our new camper feel like home. So the first project on our list was to paint. We painted pretty much everything, the walls, the cabinets, the doors… The paint made such a big difference in the space and it felt so much bigger inside! From there we continued to do projects here and there to update the space and it started feeling like home in no time! I love decor and am always coming up with a new project around the camper or changing something up. =)

What our life looks like currently...We’ve been mostly stationary in Nashville for the majority of the past 2 years, but we’ve been parked in southern Alabama for a couple months now and are looking forward to traveling more soon! If you are considering living stationary for any amount of time, a lot of rv parks offer a discount for monthly stays, and even seasonal rates if you plan to stay the entire season. J works remotely and my job is based out of Nashville. If you are looking for remote work, a great resource that we’ve found to be helpful is www.flexjobs.com. We also have two pups, Rocky is our 5 year old Yorkie/Pom mix and Charlie is our 2 year old Merle Long Haired Chihuahua. They have adjusted so well to RV life and we spend so much more time outdoors than we used to! 
We quickly fell in love with living tiny and don’t foresee stopping anytime soon! We stop and think about our purchases now and whether we actually need an item, because let’s be honest - we just don’t have room for non-essential items. One day when we are done with life on the road, we hope to build a small house in the mountains somewhere and maybe build a camper van for adventures. 
All this to say, if you are considering tiny living we encourage you to take the leap! It may seem scary at first, but the journey will be so rewarding!
If you would like to follow along with our journey we’d love to get to know you - come say hi on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tincanramblers/ . =)

A Life Change with @aly.tracy

I’m so excited to share Aly on the blog today. What I love about this space is we get to share friends we meet from all over & share the journey we’re on.

Aly Tracy is a wife and a mama (to Avery - 1), and she and her family are full-time RVers. They are currently stationary near Houston, Texas and hope to begin full-time travel just as soon as they can get their debt paid off.  Aly has recently become a life coach and mentor after years of informally coaching friends, family, and colleagues. She’s most passionate about working with people who feel “stuck” in one or more areas of their lives.

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Can I be honest from the get-go here?

Talking about myself is hard. 

When Colleen reached out and asked if I could share some about the recent journey the Lord has put me on with my new career path, I felt honored, but then I quickly felt panic. What in the actual heck am I going to say? 

After a bit of brainstorming and thinking it over (plus a little more panic) I realized I needed to talk about this exact thing... how I feel about myself... how we feel about ourselves. 

Why is it so hard to share about myself? Am I worried I’ll sound like I LIKE to talk about myself? Well, yeah. But also, who would want to read a story about ME? I’m nothing special. Also, I’m probably not too great of a writer... so even if they want to read, they’ll probably get a few paragraphs down and be over it. What if they think I think I’m an expert on all of this? Dang it. I should’ve said no to this whole thing. I should’ve waited until I had something really good to say. 

I know I’m not the only one with inner dialogue like this. I know I’m not the only one who creates her own roadblocks, worries about what other people think, and “shoulds” on herself way too much.

And I know I’m not the only one who forgets her worth comes from God alone.

We

all have this inner struggle... we like ourselves, but only sometimes, or we like some parts of ourselves but not others. And for most of us, this struggle comes from thinking we have to look, think, believe, talk, act, etc a certain way to be liked and loved. It’s our human nature to desire acceptance. We were created for relationship. But relationship shouldn’t come at the cost of tearing ourselves down.

I realized not too long ago that so much of the person I had “grown up” to be was built on expectations of others, societal pressures, false beliefs, shoulds, and pure comfort. No wonder it was hard to love that person! That person wasn’t really me.

So, I decided it was time to get to know Aly... no holding back. I was going to love me for me. And what I found is a much freer, more joyful and alive Aly. When I let go of the shoulds, when I stopped worrying so much  about what people might think, when I began to embrace that I am fearfully and wonderfully made, that I am unique and the world needs me to show up as me (that’s why I’m here!!); when I began lifting up gratitude for being the exact person I am here and now, my whole life began to change.

I’m not kidding...

We literally sold our whole house worth of stuff and moved into an RV.

I left the company I had been with for 4 years.

I started writing a book. 

I began pursuing a brand new career.

I began really dreaming for the first time in my adult life. 

When we get in tune with who we really are, and ultimately, who God is calling us to be, crazy (and also totally amazing) things happen.

Now obviously, I still struggle with inner dialogue issues (aka the catalyst for writing this blog post). I probably always will. The thing about it is: I’m more aware now. I know to listen for the voice of truth over all the noise. I know my default mode is worry. But I’m working on it. I’m working on being a better version of me (the real me) every day. And that’s what I encourage each of you to do, too.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself as you work to get to know you better:

Who do I truly want to be?

What things matter most to me?

What is holding unnecessary space in my life because I don’t really care about it?

What kinds of things make me come alive?

How can I do more/enjoy more of those things?

What kinds of things do I believe make a person brave? Successful? Worthy?

Am I truly open to God’s work in my life? 

Oh, one last thing!

Regardless of your answers to these questions, regardless of your past, your struggles, regardless of anything you’ve ever done “wrong” or things people didn’t approve of, know that you are so loved right here, right now. Yes, by me and the Cashios (aren’t they the sweetest?), but also by the God of the Universe. And He has declared you’re already enough just as you are. Don’t forget He has you here for a reason. The world needs you to show up and be YOU ️

Thanks so much to the Cashios for allowing me to share my heart and a chapter of my journey with all of you. I’m honored, humbled, and crazy-grateful. 

Blessings & Love,

Aly

Connect with her via Instagram: @aly.tracy 

RV and Travel with @homewiththehoopers

Happy Friday, i’m so excited to share Janelle from @homewiththehoopers. They’re enjoying full time travel and family time.

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“Hey babe, what do you think if I traded in my motorcycle for a camper?” asked Andrew as he returned from a trip to Sturgis with his father.  I blankly stared at him holding our newborn son while my toddler used my legs as a jungle gym.  I simply replied, “Okay.” Within two weeks, we were the proud owners of a fifth wheel toy hauler.  We were so excited about the camping adventures and memories we would make with our kids.  Never in my wildest dreams did I think we would ever be living in our “adventure house” full-time.  Had anybody told me that is what was going to happen I most likely would have never been so carefree in my response to Andrew’s question that hot August afternoon 4 years ago.  

Two years ago, on March 10 this wild and crazy adventure we are on began.  A phase is what we called it at that time; to last no longer than six months – one year.  We had a plan.  We were using our camper as a means to escape life in suburbia and transition to a life in the country.  We weren’t happy with the mortgage we had, the car payments, the never-ending pile of stuff.  It was all so suffocating.  We dreamed of a simpler life, one that only the country could provide (so we thought).  Financially we were stuck.  We could not buy a piece of land as long as we had our mortgage.      

We are the Hoopers’.  My name is Janelle.  Together with my husband, Andrew, and our 2 little boys Corbin (5) and Wyatt (3) we sold our “picture perfect” suburbia home and comfortable life.   We took everything we knew and felt comfortable with and left it behind.  Downsizing from 3000 square feet to a little over 300 square feet, we moved into our tiny home on wheels in the pursuit of land (happiness).  What we did not realize is how happiness would find us in those tiny walls.  The debt disappeared.  The stresses of life lifted.  We never had to “pack” for vacations.  We never looked for land.  I will be the first to admit tiny living is not easy at first – it is a transition.  Transitions can be painful.  For me, I was a bit paralyzed if you will.  Within six weeks we had sold our house, sold a ton of our stuff, I tore down my baby’s nursery I had just completed – I was emotionally paralyzed which on the outside looked like survival mode.  I was doing the bare minimum (ie: I am pretty sure we were eating cereal and PB&J for almost every meal).  It literally hit me about one month into tiny living when Andrew so kindly reminded me that this was our home and it actually had to be cleaned like a house.  I kid you not.  I was in such survival mode and still coming to terms with the fact that I was now the dishwasher instead of my actual dishwasher HAHA!   It literally never even occurred to me that our bathroom needed a cleaning or maybe I could dust.  It was an awakening moment for me.  I snapped out of whatever funk I was in and got down to tiny living business.  I started organizing and downsizing more.  I bought cleaning supplies and started talking about our new lifestyle with joy and hope.  

I tell you this story because tiny living is not for everybody.  With all the tiny home shows on TV and Marie Kondo-ing going on these days it is very easy for one to feel as if their life is not good enough or they are selfish because they enjoy space and a large shoe closet.  I hear you!  I miss my bathtub and my walk-in pantry.  I want to inspire you that you need to do you.  YOU do what brings YOU joy.  Think outside of the box, leave your comfort zone.  Wanting to start your own bakery – do it.  Want to write a book – grab a pen.  Want to get a different degree - start applying to schools.  The only thing that is binding you to your current life is you.  You hold the power of change, don’t be scared to use it.  Do not be scared to pursue that “stupid” idea you have been keeping to yourself for years – it may just end up being the greatest chapter of your life.

Once we finally acknowledged that we were in fact tiny dwellers and this wasn’t as temporary as we thought we began to really embrace the lifestyle and all it has to offer.  We became park hosts at a local state park and for 1.5 years our children grew up in a magical forest hiking and exploring every day.  Their back yard was over 600 acres.  It was a beautiful blessing for our family.

Last year when Andrew was between jobs we took off and explored the west coast for 3 months.  That was the trip that really made us step back and realize the wonders this lifestyle had to offer.  We had been sitting on a gold mine of potential without even realizing it.  We began to plan how we could in fact turn traveling full-time into a reality.  A part of our souls came alive on that trip and we could not ignore it.  When we got home, Andrew began searching for jobs where he could work remotely.  He is in accounting and finance and was able to secure a job working from home and eventually the road!  I quit my job as an RN right before Thanksgiving and we hit the road for full-time travel January 1, 2019.  

We are starting our fifth week of travel and I have never once doubted if this is what we are supposed to be doing.  We have swam with manatees, kayaked, held baby alligators, and played in the ocean from sunrise until sunset.  My kids have made friends from all over and talk about those friends often as well as their friends back “home.”  They are thriving.  We have asked them to let go of every sense of normalcy they had and move every week.  We told them they wouldn’t be going to school anymore, but that mommy would be their teacher.  They are thriving.  We downsized their toys (again) and weeded thru clothes (again).  They are thriving.  Our oldest has come out of his shell and places his own order when we go out to eat, he goes up to new friends and starts the conversation, as much as he fights me on homeschool somedays (we are still learning a routine) he is learning SO much.  Corbin is thriving.  Our youngest little fellow walked into the ocean by himself and put his whole head under water, he is learning so much from big brother’s homeschool, his already bubbly and social personality has exploded.  Wyatt is thriving.  As for Andrew and I, we continue to grow together and learn more about each other daily.  We can pretty much read each other’s minds when the other just needs a minute to be alone.  We are perfectly imperfect.  We are learning as we go and because of that we too are thriving.

I am really leaning into the minimalist lifestyle.  Almost two years in and I am still downsizing!  Minimalism does not come easy for me, but its something I am striving for, not only for less clutter in our tiny space but for less clutter in my life.  I have come a long way and as things I love need replacing, I am replacing with high quality items.   If I have learned anything in this journey quality vs. quantity is key.  If you are considering downsizing, I would take all the stuff you plan on bringing with you and take 1/3 of it.  It is truly and simply amazing how little you NEED and the more you bring in initially the harder it is to let it go.

So many people have inquired on how the boys do traveling (or are shocked with the amount of stuff we do with them).  Our goal has always been to be inclusive with them.  We want them to see and experience as much as they safely can at their age.  Wyatt does not remember life without hiking and at the age of 3 he could easily hang with us on family hikes with fairly minimal holding.  Our big secret, we are not above bribery.  An ice cream treat is like the golden standard in our house and man is it a motivator.  With that said, we are in a spell as I am writing this and there has been no ice cream treats all week.  HAHA.  When we are in places where we are outside 99% of the time the nighttime meltdowns tend to drastically increase due to pure exhaustion.  On the same hand they have been outside playing in the dirt, fishing, climbing trees all day and just being kids so I am willing to deal with the tradeoff of meltdowns.  On car travel days they generally do pretty darn great.  The longest travel day we have ever done was 17 hours.  That was once.  Our typical long days are around 5 hours but most days average 2-3 hours.  We are currently moving 1-2 times per week.  On travel days I always pack lunches and snacks to have in the car with us.  We do not have DVD players or ipads for them to use and that is our own personal choice.  We have tried it and just do not like the vibe it brings into the car – again we are not above bribery and if we have a super long day ahead of us sometimes, we will download a movie for them.  At the end of the day they are 5 and 3.  Some travel days are better than others, but we power thru and roll with it.  Children are incredibly adaptive and the benefits they are receiving from traveling are far too numerous to count.  I do not think that children should be an excuse not to travel – they teach you so much in the process and to see the world from their eyes the first time they are experiencing new things is one of the greatest gifts. 

Our journey is just beginning!  We are currently in the Florida Keys and heading to Alaska for the summer!  We do not know how long we will travel.  Right now, we have no end in sight.  We do desire to plant roots somewhere, someday.  Maybe.  For now, our wheels are rolling, and we are exploring!  You can keep up with us here:

Website: www.homewiththehoopers.com

Instagram: @homewiththehoopers

YouTube Channel: HERE

Facebook page: HERE

Cheers,

Janelle

Tiny Living with @314sqft

I’m so excited to share with you Bibi from @314sqft. I love their story and all the yummy food she makes! She shares two of her favorite recipes at the end, enjoy!

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I’m Bibi, Wife to my amazing husband, Mom to three loving kids aged 6 to 1 and Daughter of our King. We are debt-free Fulltime RVers in our 1999 Fleetwood Bounder.

I was born and raised in Germany. My husband and I met while I was in college and married a week after I graduated almost 12 years ago. Our RV life began when my husband and I were newlyweds and decided to move into the same RV that we are living in now while househunting for our first starter home.  We bought a home in a subdivision and pursued the American Dream- with careers, cars and a general feeling for the need to fill a hole with more. But more of what I wasn’t sure?! Fast forward 10 years and three children later, we sold our second home with the intention of moving into the camper only long enough to relocate to a different area. We sold most of our furniture and belongings, items we weren’t attached to, while keeping a handful of things in our 20 foot trailer intending to rent a new home once we find a new area to live in. However, a few months into this full-time RVing we realized how much we enjoy living tiny and how good it was for our family!

Since then we have been diligently donating, gifting, and selling the remainder of our items while continuing to live in our RV. My husband is currently jobhunting and we are praying to find an opportunity to work from home so we can begin to travel full-time. At this point however, we are stationary in North Carolina and our day to day RV life looks similar to what it did in a regular home, only better ha ha ... Once my husband leaves for his job in the mornings my oldest and I do some homeschooling. After that, the kids and I head outside to spend some time in fresh air that can either look like jumping into the pool or the lake during the summertime or some hiking now that it is colder. After we return inside we freshen up and run our errands in town or visit the local library, the zoo or find other activities. It is very important to find activities outside for the children so they can run off their energy. They have found so much joy in playing in nature and their imagination has grown immensely since we started full. 

Since living tiny it’s a must to go outside and some days that means I have to force myself to do so as I’m by nature more comfortable curled up with a book and a blanket. A big thing for us also is being debt-free and being able to give the kids more in experiences by going places for them to enjoy. 

Since my husband’s New Years Resolutions is to become healthier, we have taken up running rounds over the campground while the kids ride their bicycles with us. I have also been plant based vegan for almost two years (on and off prior to that) and since cutting out animal products as well as processed foods I have felt such an immense benefit health wise. No more brain fog, no more emotional ups and downs and so much more energy to run with my kids. So in a way we are not only living close to nature but eating as close to nature as possible as well!

There are challenges, if you will, to live in a tiny space, one of which is the sacrifice of our privacy. But we are willing to accept these opportunities to be closer as a family. When we had a house the kids were always in the same room as us anyways. They are still all around my feet (literally some days) now that we are in the camper, the only difference for me is that I have less to clean, ha!

The sacrifices are worth the gain, though. There is a sense of community that I have not found anywhere else before. Both online and IRL, you check in with each other and support as best as you can. This feeling of belonging and community is so special and I’m very grateful for that. 

To find Bibi on IG click HERE
I’m going to leave you now with two of our favorite recipes. Hope you enjoy and thank you so much for reading! 

Berry (N)ice cream
1 cup frozen berries 
1-2 frozen bananas
1 cup frozen mango (optional)
1 tsp vanilla flavoring
1-2 pitted dates for added sweetness
Blend all ingredients in a high speed blender until smooth. You may have to add a TBS or so of soymilk or water to get it to loosen up. Alternatively you can let the frozen fruits sit for a minute to loosen up. 
Scoop out into a bowl,l and top with your favorite toppings, such as sliced banana and more berries.

Banana Split Oatmeal
1/2 cup oatmeal
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup coconut meal (optional)
1 TBS sweetener of choice (coconut sugar works well)
Pinch of salt
Combine everything in a pot on medium-high heat, bring to a boil and simmer 5 minutes

Meanwhile, I’m a blender combine
1/2 cup of cashews (soaked)
1/3 - 1/2 cup water
1 TBS sweetener of choice (for example maple syrup)
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp vanilla flavoring 
Pulse until smooth. Assemble the Banana split:
Half 1 banana, top with oatmeal and cashew Creme. Top with blueberries and shredded coconut, also good with strawberries and hemp hearts.

Leap of Faith with @thestreamlinedlife

I’m so excited to share Kate from @thestreamlinedlife on the blog today! I started following her family because of their travels, but quickly fell in love with her motherhood podcasts! My hope is sharing all these amazing families will give you a push to not let go of your dreams & trust the process!

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It took us nearly 4 years to get the courage to hit the road full-time and after 8 months of living tiny, we only wish we had taken the leap sooner. 

In less than a year, we traveled ocean to ocean (driving more than 8,000 miles!), took major leaps of faith, faced our fears, and became closer to our three kids than we could’ve ever imagined. It took saying just one yes to a different path than the typical American lifestyle to flourish and grow in ways we could’ve never dreamed of a year ago. 

Just one year ago we were drowning in old house repairs, busy and over scheduled days, and a lack of purpose. We knew we were capable as a family of creating a meaningful life together, but felt utterly stuck. My husband, Kirk, suggested we sell our house, pack up our belongings and hit the road; an idea I had had years ago, but decided would never happen. 

When we voice our dreams and give them the space to grow, big things happen. We followed through and hit the road in March 2018 with our then 6 year old daughter, our 4 year old daughter, and 10 month old son. 

We started in a 19 foot Scamp 5th wheel (just google it, they’re pretty tiny for a family of 5 and funny looking to boot) and later upgraded to a triple bunk 26’ Lance 2185 travel trailer. For once we had “just enough” and no visible clutter. The mental strain we had been under in our old life eased away, but it also made my anxieties more obvious. 

We had more time, open horizons to chase, and financial freedom. All of this potential was both absolutely freeing and totally overwhelming. You see, when we’re busy with the typical path, the home, the jobs, and all of the activities, it makes it easy to ignore what’s happening in our hearts. Full-time travel made it impossible to ignore the areas of our hearts that had gathered dust over time. 

My anxiety was always fear-related and spontaneous travel definitely triggered all of the “what if’s?” I learned to lean into the fear and accept it, such as the time we drove our truck and trailer on HWY 1 in California, with steep cliffs on my side and no guardrail or the countless times our GPS stopped working and we got lost. I let my children venture farther and farther from me in their outdoor play, trusting them as they also grew into their capable and wise selves. I trusted that God had led us to this path and that fear had caused me to play small my whole life. We wanted bigger for our family than the limitations we had always allowed to hold us in place.

It was a fresh start in every possible way. Kirk and I had nightly talks, envisioning our path together and as a family. We fixed the ways we communicated as a couple and learned to listen better to one another. We took the time to hear our children’s hearts, their fears, and their dreams. Bit by bit, we all began to grow into more resilient and happier individuals. 

As I overcame my fears and leaned into motherhood, I envisioned a community of mamas doing the same. Women choosing a streamlined home and life, whether that’s on the road or in their stationary homes, and finding their value as mothers. I created a podcast called Streamlined Motherhood to share what the road had taught me, and I began working one on one with other women to create their own meaningful lives. Kirk began writing music again and playing shows while we traveled, finding and breathing life into his own calling. The road life became an endless well of creative inspiration for both of us. 

Our gamble, this lifestyle that others see as so different and alternative, paid off. We began marking our days in the experiences we had. Our daughters learned to swim like fish in California, experienced their first waterpark slide in Nebraska, ate clam chowder in Rhode Island, and learned about pioneer life in Nevada. Our youngest learned to walk at an RV park in Northern California, and we celebrated his first birthday at the Pacific Ocean. Most importantly, we created a family culture around being brave, believing that your dreams matter, and that experiences are greater than things. Our children are not the same as that snowy day we left Indiana and neither are we. 

Road travel, for us, was always about more than living tiny and sightseeing in the United States or perfect Instagram shots. We love those parts of full-time travel life, but also craved the personal growth that we anticipated would come with this lifestyle. Road travel has been a way for us to grow into the family we saw ourselves as and become the type of people who are courageous, who take action, who love deeply, see education as a way of life, and who prioritize family and faith above all. It wasn’t easy to transition to this lifestyle, but we don’t ever see ourselves going back to the way we did life before. The road changed us for the better, and for that, we are so incredibly grateful. 

Find us:

The Streamlined Life website: thestreamlinedlife.com/socialmedia

Instagram: instagram.com/thestreamlinedlife

Cohesive Home, Kate's other podcast and community, for families choosing to live simply and by their values

cohesivehome.com

Streamlined Motherhood Podcast on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-streamlined-motherhood-podcast/id1436254835?mt=2

Kirk Saffle music on Bandcamp: https://kirksaffle.bandcamp.com/

Kirk Saffle music on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5xkg3LShDnqQfWLINNpeM5

Van Life with the Rosenes from @rosenesontheroad

I’m so excited to have the Rosene’s on the blog today! When I stumbled across their IG I knew we had so much in common! Their van is a-m-a-z-i-n-g & we can’t wait to cross paths one day on the road! Be sure to check out their amazing videos on youtube!

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Hi there, We are the Rosene Family- Travis, Lexi, Finley (4.5), and Zealand (1.5).  We are a young, not so average family, who are choosing to do life a little different than most people our age. 

In the last 12 months we have radically changed our lifestyle and have documented the process in hopes that we never forget this transformative time in our life. We also hope to inspire parents to keep traveling, adventuring and exploring after they have children, if anything it's a greater reason to! In the past year we have left our home in Northern California, sold (almost) everything we own, self converted a Sprinter Van into our home on wheels, with plans to live and travel in it full time by Spring 2019. WHEW. Talk about change! I'm excited to share with you a little about our family, get a peek into our life, why we chose Van Life, the hard things and perks of van life, and how our kiddos do living this lifestyle. I'm no expert at this, as we're just getting started in this journey. We're pretty much just making it up as we go and we've never been happier! 

A little about us: 
Travis, my incredible husband of 6.5 years, boyfriend since I was 15 (actual babies in braces together) takes most of the photos you see, has many outdoor hobbies he's really good at- surfing, climbing, free diving, and spear fishing. He can play a few instruments, and is the nicest most honest person you'd ever meet. His work is in Marketing and Photography/videography. He is a really good cook, the best hands-on dad to our babies, and leads our family so well. In the beginning of our dating relationship when we were kids, he endured a very tragic time with my family and actually dropped out of high school with me and went to independent studies to help care for my little sister full time who suffered from a massive brain aneurysm. I knew i would marry him one day, even though i was 17. When my sister was starting to get well, we moved to the beach and became beach bums living in a tiny apartment, when most of our friends were just graduating high school. We got jobs, started businesses,  traveled to a few countries, learned a lot about life, married at 21 on his parents property, and had our first baby girl a few years later!

I (Lexi) love my little family hard. They're my pride and joy! I enjoy cooking, being creative with my hands, hiking, seeing new places and making new mama friends. I drink too much coffee and not enough water, I live for Hygge, I homeschool Finley. I help where I can for our Marketing business after the kids go to sleep! And I spend too much time on Pinterest designing our future tiny home and putting outfits together that i'll probably never wear. I let my kids watch Netflix, i feed them mac n cheese two nights in a row, and give them lollipops for 10 minutes of peace and quiet. Told you you'd get a peek into our life! One thing we told ourselves while documenting our Van travels is we will not glamorize Van Life, or traveling with kids. It is hard, it is messy and a lot of times frustrating. But is it worth it? Absolutely, yes! 

Meet Finley: She goes by Fin, Skippy, FJ, Louie- She is a ballerina and aspiring gymnast, she is really brave and kind, and is probably one of the silliest coolest 4 year old little chicks you'll ever meet. Her favorite color is pink, she enjoys riding her scooter fast, skateboarding, surfing on her dad's back, crafting and helping in the kitchen. Last but definitely not least Zealand, or... Z, brother, Z boy, tunny. He is the sweetest, yummiest, most cuddly 18 month old you will ever meet. He's always happy, always hungry, and is starting to talk a lot. Our family is obsessed with him and his little quirks. He likes to skateboard and ride his sisters scooter. He is a daredevil but can also sit and color for an hour by himself. He is pretty amazing and growing too fast!

Why we chose Van life. I recently wrote a blog post on this exact topic, you can read it here (https://rosenesontheroad.com/2018/07/21/vanlife-the-reason-why/). To sum it up, While living in Northern California we ran a very successful business. Travis worked 10-13 hour days, 6 sometimes 7 days a week. We had a beautiful home on property in El Dorado Hills, grew our family, life was good but it felt… stale. We were realizing that although Travis is so talented in what he did, it was not adding value to him or our family. Real heart value, not the dollar amount. The time we were apart, the holidays and birthdays missed, leaving when it’s dark and getting home past bedtime, it took a toll on all of us. After many life and business circumstances, that chapter came to an end. We could feel a huge shift coming in our life, but we never expected it to be this.

We always knew we wanted to live tiny (our first home was a studio on 5 acres), even before it was a movement. Never did i think prior to owning a van that we would be planning to live in one full time. A few weeks after our son, Zealand was born, Travis brought home our 2017 Mercedes Sprinter 3500 for business use, it ended up being the only thing we kept from our business. After discussions of self converting it for fun and long weekend trips, we quickly realized that there’s this awesome community in van life and it’s actually a thing. We wanted that lifestyle and all that it included. After we made the decision, things moved quickly. We moved out of our home in NorCal, started selling our stuff. We packed what was left of our things into a small storage unit in Southern California to temporarily live with family while we built our van. It took us 8 months to complete! We're still staying with family and for now take long weekend trips since Travis works an office job 2-3 days a week. We are hustling to be able to work from the road. One thing we've realized about our family is we get uncomfortable and crabby when we’re stationary for too long, so the anticipation to GO is rising!

The real meaning behind all of this is, We want to be Intentional with our lives and babies and the short time they are with us. We want to show them the world and see things through their eyes. We want to simplify our life and live minimally. We want to focus on what’s important to us and that is God, our marriage, our children, family + friends. Time is fleeting and this season of life of our children being this small will go by fast, so we want to spend it together, to set the tone for the rest of their life. We want to instill a love for nature, adventuring and family into them. We want to explore and see new places. We want to be in charge of our children’s education and educate them through experiences. We want to live life by our own terms. We want to see more sunrises and sunsets together. We want to experience the challenges we know we will face living in a van and tackle them together. We want to get out of our comfort zone and be stretched in new ways for our faith to be increased. We want to pay off debt, and grow our savings. We want to see our homeland as well as travel internationally. We want to grow our community. We want to encourage parents to continue adventuring through life, that it’s possible to do with children in tow.

 The last 8 months, during  the build of our van, we would take 3 day, 5 day, even 10 day trips in our unfinished van. Now that it is (finally) complete -sort of, we're always changing things- i'd say the BIGGEST PERK of Van Life, among many, is no matter where we go we always have the comfort of home with us. We always have snacks and a dry bathing suit or extra blankets, a bathroom, our bed. It's convenient in the fact that we have everything we need to do whatever we want. We save money because instead of going out to eat, we have a full functional kitchen with a stocked pantry. We can visit new beautiful places without having to pay for a hotel. It's freeing!

When doing something different, there's always drawbacks, which is why this lifestyle is not for everyone. Some of the things that i would see people not enjoying in Van Life is the extra effort it takes to do little tasks. For example, my husband and i really wanted our layout to have a walk way all the way through our van to the back doors. Since we went with this layout, in order for us to put our bed up at night, we have to be done with the kitchen and everything washed and put away, otherwise we'd pretty much be sleeping with our dirty dishes. We're somewhat clean freaks so we keep our van orderly, if we didn't things get messy QUICK, because it is such a small space. But, the perk of that is it cleans up quickly too! The same goes for our kids bed. Their bed triples as our dining table, work/homeschool table, and couch! We have a good system or flow that works for us but it definitely takes a tonnn of patience, especially when you have two overtired kids who are late to bed. We have our kids on a schedule and they're pretty much like clockwork so we eat early, have beds up early and they go to bed around 7/7:30. Another thing about living in 86 sq ft that most people wouldn't be used to is the obvious limited amount of space that makes you have to really communicate with everyone. There is not much personal space so it's important for us to communicate if we're feeling like we need a minute to ourselves, talking about our feelings, etc. We don't spend a ton of time just sitting in our van, we spend 90% of our time outside. Keep in mind home base for us is in Southern California where there's hardly 2 seasons. Next year i'm sure we'll learn a lot when we make our way to colder climates. 

People are curious how Finley and Zealand have adapted as kids to this nomadic lifestyle. They would be the first to tell you that this new family adventure is so fun! They have mom and dad together everyday, happy and in love, they make new friends everywhere they go, they're seeing new beautiful places, they're trying and learning so many new things,  they're collecting stickers in every National Park they visit. Really though, they're kids and they adapt so easily as long as they feel loved, safe and secure. I promise our kids are thriving, if we felt different we wouldn't continue this journey. That is what's so  great about this is we can do whatever we feel is best for our family and change course whenever we want!  
One of the reasons we love social media is finding and connecting with other like-minded people. The #vanlife #rvlife and #tinyhome community is made up of some amazing people. We have made quite a few new friends on a silly app and can't wait to connect with new friends on the road! When we were in the very beginning stages of building our van we got so much inspiration from different people on social media. We asked a lot of them for advice and honest curious questions. We get so excited when someone messages us now asking questions because, we were just on their side! We love connecting with new friends! With all that said, Come say hi to us, let's be friends!

website: 

www.rosenesontheroad.com

IG:

 https://www.instagram.com/rosenesontheroad

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCObjsVPggZPSPzR6unW_aqQ/featured?view_as=subscriber

Stationary life in Nashville with @fifth_wheel_living

I’m excited to share my friend Kirsten from @fifthwheelliving - I love how they designed their RV and took a leap of faith to this chapter of their life.

My name is Kirsten, and I am the person behind @fifth_wheel_living and this is my story. 

My husband is a very talented musician, and although he was very successful with pop music from Delaware, he wanted to break into country music. It was a random night In August 2017, a day without even talking about it to each other , we both got the feeling that we should move to Nashville. Devin immediately called me and asked what I thought, I told him YES, LETS DO IT! Right away we started planning, that planning shut our hopes down quickly when we saw how high the cost of living was! Apartments alone were around $1,300-$2,000 monthly for just RENT! So we started to look into buying a house, well I have never been to Nashville and my husband had only been a hand full of times. It just wasn’t a smart idea to buy right away and set ourselves up for debt. After that we kinda just said “oh well...”. I thought that’s what we did, but one night I was at work my husband Devin was doing some digging on the internet. He found a man living in a van and that led him to find 188sqft account. A couple who travels and lives in a fifth wheel! Devin asked me if we could do that and just be stationary in Nashville, obviously I was all for it. Fast forward to October 2017 we purchased our 2008 Keystone Montana. Luckily we had a friend who had all the tools and knew what he was doing.  Devin was touring and I was working full time night shift. We worked night and day, anytime we could to get things done in our soon to be home. January 1, 2018 we were pulling away from our old home and on our way to Nashville! We did it! Fast forward to now, it’s been almost 1 year guys since we went tiny. We love Nashville, so much music, entertainment and fun! Being stationary has been a major plus, we get all of the pros of Nashville without all the cons! Cost of living is low for us, we are saving money, and my husband is living his dream. Going tiny has changed our life. It was suppose to be a 1 year thing until we found our forever home, but right now we aren’t planning on leaving this lifestyle anytime soon. When we are ready to buy a house, we will have our fifth wheel to sell and use as a down payment. How exciting is that?! We are a tiny living, debt free life style, planning for the future couple. I hope our story inspires you to follow your dreams, no matter how crazy it may seem. Going from 1600sqft to barley over 160sqft we have adjusted very well. One of our biggest concerns were our dogs adjusting. Bonnie, phoebe and Daisy. Yes we have three sisters. Many people asked if we would get rid of them, heck no. Our dogs are a small breed and they run around our tiny home like they own the place. Even though they don’t have a fenced in area to run around in, they still get their energy out in long walks and playing inside. They have adjusted very well, I honestly think they like it better, because we are all always close to them all the time. 

If you want to follow and learn more about our journey, these are our accounts. 

@fifth_wheel_living 

@dev_trout