People always ask if we miss our house. Honestly? Not for anything.
We went from a 3,000-plus square foot house to about 400 square feet, and the question we get most is whether we regret it. The real answer surprises people. We do not miss that house for a single thing. The only thing anyone has mentioned missing is the bathtub, and that is coming from the kids.
Like anything worth doing, it took some adjusting. But we have all settled into our spaces and into this way of living, and we are genuinely loving camper life.
It is really a mindset
If I had to sum up a year in 400 square feet, it is this. It is all about making the best of everything. Of course there are challenges. There always are. But we have learned to meet them with open windows, a good attitude, and a whole lot of gratitude.
The biggest challenge, if you are wondering, is the hair. We have a dog and four girls living in this camper, and the shedding is on another level. So we vacuum constantly, keep the windows open, and just stay on top of it. That is the honest, unglamorous truth of small-space living, and we would still choose it every time.
Our front yard is the whole outdoors
Here is the funny part. Our favorite thing about living in 400 square feet is that we are barely ever in the 400 square feet. The outdoors have become our front yard, our backyard, and our happy place.
We spend so much time outside and so much time together. Some nights we all pile onto the couch for a movie, and it fits every one of us just right. We have loved boondocking out in the wilderness, and we have also loved pulling into the bougie parks with a pool and a gym and all the amenities the kids could ask for. Every stop is a little different, and that is the whole point.
Why it feels right
More than anything, this life feels more right than being rooted somewhere we were not sure we wanted to stay forever. We have loved experiencing new cultures, new restaurants, new towns, new weather, all of it. We are not just passing time. We are thriving, and we are having the best time doing it.
The one thing we are still figuring out is how to make this our long-term life while we decide where we eventually want to settle. Maybe someday we build a house, or renovate one, or find a piece of land like the farm here in Iowa where we have spent this summer. We love how peaceful it is out here. It is very full circle.
A year in, the space was never really the thing. Our life did not get smaller. It got so much bigger.