Ever lived in a Travel Trailer?

It's how we started also, kids were 2, 4 and 8 back then (now they are 20, 22 and 26). We also sayed it would be just for a year while we built our house out of pocket, it took 3. The first year was without electricity and we knew it would be this long, so we opted for the travel trailer because they are self contained. Heater was electric or propane, fridge was electric or propane, and stove was propane, was we filled propane bottles every week in town. The rest of the place including lights ran of CD marine batteries that husband kept charged at his job in Houston, bring us back and forth 'full' ones, we had to conserve on the weekends, but it did work very well. We ran all other electricity, including the lights to work on the house at night with an old dinasour generator.

We had an outhouse (a very nice one) for all potty breaks except at night, and did bucket out the holding tank each weekend and trecked it out into the woods.

I kept 50 gallon plastic barrells on the back of my truck, that I would fill at the local store about 4 miles away once or twice a week. Syphoning the water into the holding tanks, this worked very well. You conserve water because there is little real pressure when showering or using sinks in Rv's. Even though the trailer had a nice kitchen without AC in Texas, I had an outside kitchen with a picknic table to eat on outside in the shade under a screened room...this was a life saver.

We quickly added on a 12x length of the trailer, screened room, for the kids to nap in, to sleep in when nice, for storage and a place for toys and for the kids to play when it rained. Only took one rainy weekend to steal building material from the house to get the room done!

It builds character for kids to live like this. My oldest daughter is now clearing her own land to start their home. Vicki

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Vicki McGaugh
Nubian Soaps
North of Houston TX
www.etsy.com/shop/nubiansoaps

A 3 decade dairy goat farm homestead that is now a retail/wholesale soap company and construction business.

I lived in a 27 1/2 foot for a couple years, but there were only two of us plus the house bunnies and the cat. (You know you love your cat when you live in that small a space and have two cats trees, one of them three stories lol) Most trailers come with an awning, make sure you roll it out when you are looking at them to make sure it's not damaged. You can build an enclosed porch for more room or buy them readymade that just attach to the awning. In the warm months I've seen people that had their children sleep on the porch to give them more room.

Holly, Go for it, 'cuz life is too short. Your kids are small, and believe me little ones fit so much easier into a travel trailer.. As, a single mom, with 3 kids, over the years, we many times lived in travel trailers while building. Mostly 23 foot, nothing fancy type trailers, tho' we did this in Mt. , instead of Mo. But Mt. is hotter than most folks think, due to our years of drought.. But gets colder , faster too.
First thing I'd suggest is to take the trailer to a dump site, and empty out the tanks, really good, with clean water flushes.. Then add nothing and leave them empty, do not use again.. Why? because unless you can pack up camp weekly to go empty your tanks, you will be sorry.. Even a little use of them will make your stay un-bare-able, smell and gases get even worse in the heat.. And you don't need sick kids. (no fun).. If there's no time for a saw dust potty, make the first job, an outhouse if it's permited. (not that I'd follow rules).. Building doesn't leave alot of time for daily chores.. Sometimes the trailer becomes a place to fall into, tired and yes, dirty... Build or, get a table to use outside.. Dish water can be heated in a canner type pot, and dishes washed in dish pans on the table, as well as kids.. Trailers have little room for such projects, it gets old.. But out door space helps.. Check pawn shops for used tents, the added space helps, even if you become known as a tent city..lol.. They make playrooms to keep track of wee ones.. And yes, games, books, LEGOs, and don't forget kids can help and learn. Let them measure and saw and build, give them their own tools and boards.. Books to save flowers in and draw their hopes and ideas..
We were homeschoolers so, lots of hands on learning..
Water, you'll find many places to haul it from, remember, you can buy drinking water, and save the jugs. Yes, a bit costly, but so are dr. visits from bad water. So 60 cents a gallon is worth it.. You find your proirities change..And you'll learn alot.. The last I lived in a travel trailer with my kids while building was about 4 years ago, they are now 16, 19 and 27.. We built a 2 story house.. Besides the trailer we each had a tent, needed the space..
Now, I'm staying with grown teens in a travel trailer in Tx.. But in an RV park, a different lifestyle.. There's so many living in travel trailers and building but have no time to be on the internet, and share their adventures.
Good luck, and remember to take a couple minutes every day to enjoy the wee ones.. You'll learn much..
CrazyLady (the traveling one)

For several years, while our children were pre-school age, Herself and I traveled around the country working in churches and tent revivals, while living in an old converted Chevy school bus that I had purchased for $500. We built in our cabinets, the LP range, a bath, and bunks; we even had air conditioning. Once the oldest child started school we rented a house until we could afford to buy. Selling the old bus was one of the saddest days in my life. It was like I had been a bird who had lost the ability to fly, and now had to live my life in a very small cage.

This summer Herself and I will be living in our travel trailer while we add on to the house, and put down terra cotta tile thoughout the main house.

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“It is tedious to live, it is tedious to die, it is tedious to c**p in deep snow”
Old Norwegian observation

Go for it! I lived in a 22' trailer for 4 months until I found my 14x60 mobile home. Even after I moved it onto my land, I still stayed in the camper until I had the house trailer livable. I do agree about not using the black water storage tank. They make a portable tank on wheels that you can run some flex hose to away from the trailer. Your nose will thank you.

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Laughter is a social sanction against inflexible behavior.
Monty Python

Burn down your cities and leave our farms, and your cities will spring up again as if by magic; but destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country.
William Jennings Bryan

We've lived in a travel trailer, motor home, and a sailboat. The travel trailer we lived in with just one daughter, and it was not difficult at all. Three boys? I dunno.
If you haven't bought a travel trailer yet, I highly recommend one with a bunkhouse setup. It might make life easier.

Currently I am having to cope with a house fire and total loss. In the meantime a 26' trailer is being hooked up on site to include water, sewer, and electircal hookups. This is temporary accomodations as we determine the house rebuild over the next few months. No kids, but I have 4 dogs to accomodate living with me. Should be interesting compared to what I lived in before, but it's better than living in the hotel suite any longer and closer to where I need to be.

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The human spirit needs places where nature has not been rearranged by the hand of man.

We went camping a lot when I was a kid, before there was water at every campsite.

I know from experience that it takes UP TO 5 gallons to wash dishes for a family of 8, no paper plates used. We would start with non-greasy items like glasses, and work our way down to the REALLY greasy items like frying pans.

When the wash water gets too greasy, add soap to the basin of rinse water and then THAT becomes the wash water.

That was often my job, to haul the water for the dishwashing.

A small segment of a post I put in another site - it was a response to knittingmommas request for info - I think it has some relevance to your challenge - it certainly puts a lot of things in perspective. In our efforts to carve out a place for our families we generally have some assetts and resources to start off with. I welcome your comments, I certainly gained a lot from what you are about to read.

A personal experience that I want to share - I served overseas in Bosnia during one of the earlier tours - I had the opportunity to work very closely with the local population in many capacities - I had the privledge of being invited into their "homes" and being offered food and drink - to share what little they had.

The AOR that I worked in had beenVERY hard hit with the fighting and had suffered enormously from the ethnic cleansing. From out of the rubble, destroyed families and ruined farms, these people were rebuilding from the ground up with no electricity, no running water, no Wal-Mart, Piggly Wiggley's and so on. The "economy" was being strangled by the criminal gangs and the black market and yet, the epitome of self-reliance and "homesteading" was the very spirit on display.
The vision of "7 people in a 27' space", with children, older family members and/relatives was not uncommon, many of the homes were still being built from whatever remained of the building, pole structures, slip-forms and using "quarry stone" for foundations - all performed manually - would fill chapters in any hoesteading/self reliance book.

We all can take a lesson from these people and be reminded - no matter how hard the task may seem - never lose hope and keep the spirit alive.

Thanks again for all the encouragement! My husband is just AMAZED that everyone is so willing to be helpful on here. All your advice has helped ease his mind about things and he is starting on building a place for the sawdust/bucket toilet.

We went yesterday to look at a travel trailer, it wasn't too bad, but I think we've found something better and closer, but we don't get to see it until next weekend. The owner keeps it in Stockton which is close to us, but about a 2-3 hour drive for him from Kansas City so he won't be here until next weekend. I found it in the paper yesterday and talked to him on the phone about it. It sounds good, so we can't wait to see it next weekend!

All of a sudden we've gone from apprehensive to - JUST CAN'T WAIT!

Moonwolf: I'm so sorry to hear about the fire and your losses. I hope no one was hurt. I wish you the best in starting over and rebuilding.

Holly in MO.

Hey, Holly, do you live anywhere near Columbia, Mo?

Every Fall they have an AWSOME farm show, and it would be worth your while to attend. I often do, and for me it is a 4 hour drive.

For details, you can check out the Small Farm Today website.

Things to remember, building takes approximately twice as long as you figure it will, factor this into your plans, building materials skyrocket the very week before you purchase them, therefore takes more dollars for the building package in the end thus sometimes added time to accomodate funding. Never depend on hitting water where the driller says it should be, dry holes do occur and you have to pay for them too.

Water- get a 200 gallon square container on a pallet, one of the local feed stores carry them around here for about $125, they had fruit juiice in them from over seas and have a metal rack around them... adding a spigot or a hose to a small pump to add to the rv is not much of a problem, 200 gallons is a weeks worth of water and usually only takes about 45 minutes to fill [I have a nieghbor who fills his 3500 holding tank from my well so i know it is doable]

Storage - if your zoning permits, get a used shipping container delivered to use as storage for your belongings, better to have on site than to pay $50+ per month off site and not be able to get to what you thought you wouldnt need right away. They can be cheaper set up than some same size buildings, and set up in the right place will allow for ue as shop or storage after your house is built.

Kids outside shelter - build a 3 foot wall, 12 feet apart, buy 16 foot cattle panels 54 inch high, place on frame in arch style, cover with blue tarps or clear plastic, close in ends.... one panel every 4 feet and you have a nice shelter for bad weather, hot weather sleeping, add a stove and i know folks here in central idaho who slept in one for a couple winters or more..... oh and it could be used as a greenhouse too and it dont cost an arm and three legs, can be built in an afternoon with a couple handy people getting after it.

Outside kitchen - at huntin camp we always put up a tarp on 5 poles, tarp is a 16x20, with a picnic table under it with our camp stove on it, and the ice chests there as well [unless we horse pack then no tables usually cept the roll up] always nice to cook out in the open so the camp trailer isnt so hot for sleeping. A Tarp stretched over the top of the trailer will also cut down on the heat from being parked out in the open, not usually done in a parksetting, but on your own ground is a viable option, also gives a nice place to sit out and listen to the sounds of nature during the early morning late afternoon.... early evening..... middle of the night.... whenever the mood strikes..... and it will.

A 55 gallon drum [with modifications] buried near the camper with about 40 feet of drain pipe wont be ummm properly installed septic, but if no one knows you did it, you can get by with it being that short for a year or 2, after that it wont be in use unless you have company over and hook them up.

A little inginuity goes a long way sometimes.

William

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Upon the plains of hesitation bleach the bones of countless millions, who when on the dawn of victory paused to rest, and there resting died.
- John Dretschmer

........OH! You must be talkin bout a "Horizontial Hauler" .One name that comes to mind is Casita , Airstream makes a small trailer as well . And , for the lady who likes fatboys, there are those "PopUps" . I'll look around and see what I can find ..., ...fordy...traveling the continent looking for bargin travel trailers for Lonely Ladies what Needs a Home!!!!

.................Very neat looking trailers . Bigfoot in western Canada makes some very nice , high quality trailers up to 25 feet or so . But , they ain't cheap . They also make Class C motorhomes and some really nice campers if you have the bucks to buy a unit . good luck with your hunt , fordy..