Over the past six months, I have shared some of the less wonderful parts of our new life. Here is a start to what I am sure will be a growing list. Here are five lessons learned the hard way.
- This one I shared at the very beginning and may still be the most important. Chocks, chocks, chocks. To those of you not already introduced to the world of RVs and trailers, chocks look like this…
They go behind and in front of the wheels to stop houses on wheels from doing what wheels do… rolling. Use them early and often. In other words, make sure they are secured before anything else is done. Before ANYTHING. Trust me, given the opportunity, those wheels will do what they were made to do when you least want them to. - Close the cabinet. Every time. Even if you are about to open it again. Because you will bang into it. With your knee, your shin, or your head… especially with your head. Living in tiny spaces ensures this reality.
- Just like on an airplane, items shift during
flightdrive, so open aforementioned cabinets carefully. Things may fall out on you. Are you sensing a theme here? If deciding to do this crazy thing didn’t prove I was already hard-headed, I certainly am now. - Furnishings made to travel are made light. They are made lighter by the use of soft woods, e.g. particle wood, etc. So if your children, certainly not mine, but if yours are hard on furniture, they will be exceptionally hard on trailer furnishings. Keep scratch-hiding polishes and pens handy. Again, not that I know this from personal experience. 😉
- Everything you planned will at some point will fall apart. Gas will cost more than you expected. The containers you chose so carefully to keep your kids organized will fail miserably. Your three backups to internet service will all simultaneously lose service.
So if you are considering this crazy life, you are five steps ahead of where I started! You’re welcome.
Uh oh… Did we have any major fails with the trailer rolling on down the hill? I learned all about chocks when my inlaws bought a fifth wheel. 🙂
Luckily it was a reasonably flat area (which is why we were lulled into believing we were okay) so it was a fail but not as big a fail as it could’ve been. Lesson learned!
🙂
Traci
I was curious if in your travels you used Craigslist for anything like cheap replacement furniture, free items, or odd jobs to help pass the time. Look forward to your reply
It’s a good question. I haven’t really utilized Craigs List. The furniture is all built in so we haven’t tried replacement yet but I guess you can find anything on Craigs List so we might look there. We have considered volunteering or finding little jobs along the way but haven’t yet done so.
Thanks!
🙂
Traci