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.