Laundry Day!!!

Today is laundry day...

In the past I have always dreaded laundry day. Driving to the laundry mat, paying to wash clothes, waiting for them to wash, paying to dry, waiting for them to dry, then lugging them home to fold was just too much of a task! I hated it!!!

Now that we are living in Truckhouse and living on a limited budget, I wanted to find a way to do laundry that was not only cheaper, but more environmentally friendly as well. After a lot of search on the internet I found our new washer. It super simple and doesn't require anything except at least a 5 gallon bucket and a very tiny amount of laundry soap!

Today was our first day getting to use our new washer and it worked out perfectly! Here is how it works:

1) Get your bucket and Mobile Washer ready!

CHECK!

2) Fill the bucket with clothes, water and your detergent! (If you use the recommended 5 gallon bucket, it only takes 2 gallons of water and about 1teaspoon of laundry detergent)

CHECK!!!

3) Grab your washing machine and move it just like you would a plunger. It works by pushing and pulling water through the clothes, which according to the website, is a powerful cleaning action that will actually pull out residual detergent that is left by electric washers!

                              

CHECK!

4) Once you feel like you have "agitated" the clothes enough, you dump out all of the dirty water and refill the bucket with clean water. You then have to do the process over so you can make sure all of the detergent is out of the clothes!

CHECK!

5) Dump all of that water out and ring out the clothes and hang them to dry!!!

FINISHED! well, minus the whole folding and putting away stuff.

I have to say, this method of doing laundry is way more appealing to me than how we used to have to do it! This way clothes are getting very clean, we are saving water, using less detergent, I'm getting an arm workout and we dont use any electricity in the drying process!

This is also very wallet-friendly. I believe we paid about $27 for the washer, shipped. This thing will pay for itself after about 2 weeks of us using it. The laundry mats were expensive back home... now we don't have to worry about wasting gas getting there and I also dont have to worry about finding quarters!

You guys should all look into getting one! Eco-friendly, wallet-friendly and it gives you a workout! Also, who doesn't like the smell of your laundry after its been out drying in the sun all day? The list of pros can go on and on!!!

Have a great day everyone!

Love,

Megan, Heath and Taz!

Progress! Progress! Progress!

Well, we are finally making progress on the TruckHouse. Which is good  necessary since we plan on leaving sometime next month. Time is just flying by!

Oh, so something really awesome happened and we got  a codes violation sticker on the camper a few weeks ago. They claimed it was an abandoned vehicle and if we didn't move it in 10days they were gonna confiscate it and destroy it. Jerks. So, thankfully, my parents are letting it live in their driveway. Unfortunately, Heath has to drive to White House every day to work on it now, instead of just walking to the street and working on it. Oh the joy.

Anyway, remember all of that god awful interior? Well, its all gone. Every last bit of it. Heath successfully gutted the entire camper. Things that are gone and never coming back: stove, big refrigerator, water heater, tv, microwave and shag carpet. Unfortunately we also had to take out big chunks of the floor due to water damage. It was a little more than we had originally thought, but we Heath is dealing with it.

 Hey there ground.                                                                          

 Oh, see that thing on the right? Thats our bathroom/shower. All one piece. Gonna be fun taking showers while straddling a toilet.

Positive note: We have a new floor! And our sink is connected and thats our new mini fridge (Thanks mom and dad)!

Also, we did score a free new bench (a seat out of an old van that had literally never been used). Thank you craigslist. It should work just fine. The previous bench was just completely ruined from a leak. 

I think the next step is to put some carpet on the walls/floors and go from there. Heath is being such a trooper and I am so thankful for him!!

So far we have only spent about $200 on materials and the camper itself was only $2000. So, we are hoping to have our new home up and ready for around $2500. Not bad if you think about. I'm dreaming of the days where I don't have to pay rent or electric/cable/internet bills. That freedom will be oh so lovely.

Hurry up next month!!!!

Our plan as of now is once we are out of our apartment and the camper is ready to go, we are going to spend some time at my parents campground in good ol' Dunmor, KY. We have a site that is already paid for . This way we can test out living in it and making sure we know how to work everything properly. Then, my dad will be coming home for Afghanistan for about a month. Really looking forward to seeing him. We plan on starting the real adventure towards the end of July. 

We are getting more and more excited/anxious every day. Thank you all for all of your support and love!

Favorite Travel Destinations?

Happy Tuesday All!!!

Since we leave in such a short amount of time (only 4 1/2 months!!) I have decided that I want to start compiling  a list of "Must Sees"

Of course, I could always just go to that handy little search engine, Google, and find anything I want, but what's the fun in that!? Plus, we won't always have access to the internet on the road, so we will have to resort to good ol' pen and paper! (oh no!!)

We plan on sticking to the highways and not the interstates, which is good because I don't think our TruckHouse is going to like going more than 55mph, and really, who would? Think about how much beauty you miss out on while you are just zooming past everything this world has to offer!

So, do you guys have any "must see" spots in the US? What are your favorite travel destinations?

Share away, everyone! We need as long of a list as possible because we plan on being gone for... forever :) 

Love! 

Megan

Debt Free

Finally. I'm debt free. Well, almost... the check has been mailed so I think it close enough for me to celebrate! Such a great feeling! 

This isn't quite how I feel about being debt free, but you get the picture.

Now, its time for the major saving to start. We plan on leaving in a very short 5 months. Hopefully I will have enough money saved so I can take pictures like this: 

We haven't really set a goal for how much we would like to have saved before we leave, just enough to leave. HAHA! Luckily, we have found options for once we are out on the road that we can do when we run low on money. Of course, we can always just park and get regular jobs, like serving, for a few months or we can become part of a program called workamping. Workamping has the potential to be my favorite thing! All you do is sign up to be apart of the website and then they show you all of the available job sites that are willing to give you a free campsite in exchange for work in their office (KOAs and other campgrounds). You can work extra hours to earn an additional pay check as well. We will probably go ahead and set up camp somewhere warm in the winter time so we can get some extra money! 

I keep looking for some kind of work that I could do from the RV and get a steady income. Every time I look, I just feel like they are all scams. Anyone have any ideas or success stories with things like this?

Also, considering getting a part time job for nights and weekends to earn a little extra cash. So, if you hear of anywhere hiring or if you have any side jobs you need done, you just let me know :) 

Love!

-Megan

You don't use shampoo!?

So, as we are preparing for our new adventure we are trying to simplify our lives as much as possible. We are doing the normal things such as: getting rid of clothes we don't wear, things we don't use or just don't need. My ideal goal would be getting down to 100 possessions or less! I read about the concept in a blog recently, and I have been thinking about ways to do it ever since.

One other way I have been working on simplifying my life is by not using shampoo or conditioner. As you all know, shampoo has so many chemicals in it that, lets just face it, aren't necessary. Not to mention, its expensive and most of time doesn't do what I want it to. I came across a great blog that outlines all of the harsh things that go into shampoo and some great advice for going 'poo free. Basically, you use baking soda mixed with water as your new shampoo! Baking soda is all natural and oh so cheap! I've been 'poo free for a little over a month now and I absolutely love it. Of course, it took a while for my hair to go through the "transition phase"  and was a little greasy for a bit. Fortunately, I now have even shorter hair and the baking soda shampoo is working great! I also use a little bit of apple cider vinegar (mixed with water) as a conditioner. I can't use too much of it because my hair is already a little on the greasy side. (Honey works as a great conditioner as well)

The next thing we are getting rid of is deodorant. I know what you must be thinking, "who in their right mind would get rid of deodorant". Well, if you have done any research on deodorant, you know that it's main ingredient is Aluminum zirconium trichlorohydrex. Yea, its a mouthful. Anyway, it has been linked to Alzheimers and other neurological diseases. There are plenty of deodorants out there that don't contain aluminum, but they are pretty pricey, and as you know, we are trying to start living as cheap as possible. So, we did some research and came across an article that baking soda and cornstarch can be used as a deodorant. We already have baking soda at the house, thanks to my no 'poo, so we were excited to find out that cornstarch is just as cheap! Heath is going to be the first one to test it out and I can't wait to see how well it works!

Do you have any cheap eco-friendly tips for us!? Send them our way!

Our adventure will start in approximately 5 months. I'm so excited, but getting nervous that there is so much to do! I know we will make it all work and it will be the best times of our lives. I can't wait to be on the open road with my love. 

On the Look Out!

Hello All!

Well, we have pretty much decided to gut the truck house. We just figure its going to be easier to start from scratch than trying to salvage what is left inside.  So, we are on the look out for a few things that we know we are going to need for sure:

1) Im super excited that Heath agreed to let me use milk crates for storage on the walls. Yes, thats right, good ol' fashioned milk crates. Just like these: 

-Surely someone out there has milk crates just lying around collecting dust! 

2) We are going to need some carpet. Sadly, the green shag carpet isn't going to be able to stay. I was a little bit upset about it at first, but I think it is for the best that it leaves the Truckhouse.  Bye-bye shag carpet, you will be missed! However, looking forward to new (hopefully free, or super cheap carpet)

 

-So, if you have any spare carpet just lying around, feel free to send it our way, we will make sure to give it a good home!

3) We are also probably going to need a bit of plywood. Most of the plywood that was in Truckhouse has been damaged, so we have to replace most of it. I'm sure its not very expensive in the first place, but again, if you have any extra just lying around, we will be happy to take it off your hands! (sorry i dont have any great pictures for plywood)

4) Fabric. We have to reupholster pretty much everything that had fabric on it to start with. So that means, the bench and the sleeping area. We will also need fabric for curtains. My lovely mom already gave us a ton of fabric and I plan on using some of it... but I can always use more!!

-I would love to stay in this color scheme, but obviously Im not going to be picky :)

5) Vinyl for the countertop. We are aware that this pretty cheap, but more than happy to get it for free! We don't have a preference in color or anything like that. Anything will do!

I think that is pretty much all we know of for now. Of course, as we get further along we will have more things that are needed. We are still trying to make sure we do this as cheap as possible, so if you want to help out by donating things you just have lying around or can give us some useful tips on finding things we would really appreciate it! 

Love, 

Megan