This past week I moved out of my apartment. I spent a year there and even though it had a great view of downtown Seattle, was close to the sound and had all the amenities one could hope for … it just wasn’t for me – and it was expensive to boot.
I came to Seattle without a job, so I wanted to live someplace centrally located – and West Seattle seemed to fit the bill. I landed a job in a suburb south of the city which is about a 30 minute drive from West Seattle on a good day. Over the winter I did try to commute more – but having to catch two busses and a light rail ride added 2 hours commute each day. When I started attracting prisoners on work release – no joke – I pulled the plug on commuting). I also didn’t like leaving the dogs in the apartment for 10 hours each day.
After I decided to move out of my apartment I started looking for a house to rent closer to work that would have a yard for my dogs. But, even though some places accepted dogs, finding one that would accept 2 big dogs proved to be next to impossible. Housing here is tight… and when it started to look like I wasn’t going to find a place in my price range, before my lease was up, I started to think about living in my trailer – at least till the end of the summer – give the housing frenzie time to simmer down and take my time in finding the right place. But then the more I thought about it – the more advantages I started seeing for living in my trailer long term.
You see, I once owned this business, Sewtropolis, and even though I loved, loved, loved it…. it seriously wreaked havoc on my finances. I am now in the process of paying off that debt so when I ‘ran the numbers’ I saw that there is some serious financial advantages of living in my trailer for as long as I can.
So, here I am …. at the KOA and you know what …. I f*king LOVE it! I love that my dogs get to sun themselves in the GRASS outside my door. I love that I live within steps of a river with a trail that runs for miles along it! I love that when I walk around the campground people say “Hi”!!! Can you believe it!?!!? People f*cking say ‘Hi ‘here!! NOBODY says ‘Hi’ in West Seattle!!! I love that people stop by and ask me about my big a$$ potted tomato plant! (seriously it’s huge) I love that there is the laughter of kids playing (I didn’t realize I missed hearing kids laughing) I love that there are no sirens 3-4 times a night – every – f*cking- night!!! Ugh! And I especially love that my commute to work is only 10 minutes and I don’t even have to get on the freeway!
When I posted on FB that I had moved into my trailer people couldn’t believe it! I guess I had been living with the idea for so long that I no longer thought it was a big deal. I also saw that the advantages FAR outweighed staying where I was at. So, people can think what they want – I’ve never been one to live a boring life and now I can now get serious about digging myself out of debt and that to me, is all that matters.
Sewtropolis 
Nikki there is a whole movement of people who “live tiny” congrats you now know how freeing it is to rid yourself of all that “stuff”.
Hi! Yes, it feels so good to weed out all that stuff I thought I ‘needed’! Turns out I don’t need very much to live comfortably. 🙂
I think you have made the perfect choice. Your shiny rounded home is so cute inside and out and perfectly functional. Are you hooked up to water and sewage? If you choose to can you stay there in the winter? And I am assuming winter is not too cold and you get little to no snow? Because we belong to so many RV FB groups, we see lots of women living full-time in RV’s and loving it. So much more time to knit and sew instead of commuting and cleaning!!!! I am seriously campaigning to move to a much smaller house (with a nice big garage) as I do not need all this space and I can’t keep up with the cleaning. We have a gutted out 1960 28ft. Airstream that if we had 10 grand or so we could fix her up and live in that but Scott is not quite ready for that.
I am so proud (and jealous) of you!!! You are my hero!!!!
Hi, yes! I have full hookups! The only thing I don’t have that my apartment did – is cable. But I never watched TV anyway, just Netflix for the most part. I went out and bought a Jet Pack so I could have Internet.
I downsized from a 3bedroom house to a 1 bedroom apartment and now a 27ft trailer! I’ve gotten rid of SO much stuff. But I love the freedom it has brought me and I highly recommend it.
By the way, it does get cold here, but not -30 below type of cold. It might snow once a year and I do have a furnace and a space heater if it gets too cold. 🙂
What a great way to figure out your life by using what you already have and enjoying the simple life! Thanks for the post. I live in Florida now with my husband and take great interest in your trailer, an idea for a Minnesota summer retreat each year and time with the grandchildren. Love your “F”s. Started doing that recently and it is so freeing to be extra verbal!
Hi MaryAnn!!! Good to hear from you!! I sure do miss the Sewtropolis ‘sewsiety’. Life is definitely much simpler now. Looking forward to visiting MN at the end of the month. Thanks for keeping in touch! ~Nikol