Welcome to the New Year! As you may have noticed, I have not been good at keeping up this blog but this is a new year and we have exciting plans as we move ever closer to our sailing dreams. I want to do better at documenting our journey as we move toward what will possibly be the biggest purchase of our life: a cruising sailboat. But before we get ahead of ourselves I would like to reflect on the past year.

We started 2019 living in our Winnebago parked in a beautiful campground; North Myrtle Beach RV Resort and Dry Dock. Debt was disappearing and we were adapting to minimalism. We were feeling relief! Relief from financial stress. The kind of relief you didn’t know existed until you have found it and that maybe freedom was around the bend.

We also had more free time. Corey was able to continue to grow our YouTube channel. Yes, you heard right…. While we all contribute to the filming, Corey is fully responsible for our YouTube content and it is a lot of work. I am so proud of what he has accomplished this year.

When we hatched our plan to restructure our lives, we chose to start with RV living . The RV plan was due in part to a passion for camping which has been going on for years but also to ensure that we were able to live in a small space full time. It has been a great way to start out with minimal living. RVs are affordable and they are readily available. We found that by January 2019 we were feeling really good about our decision to downsize.

We went through the spring with some small trips. Mainly to Disney as our kids are still really into the Disney parks (by kids I mean all of us). Having extra time and money to enjoy life and do things we enjoy as a family is the best part of our more minimal lifestyle. We made big plans for a summer trip and decided on a cruise so we could see some islands that we hope to visit in the future on our own. The highlight for us was the Dominican Republic where we hiked through a rainforest and jumped off waterfalls. It is something we and our kids will always remember.

As we moved through the summer, we relocated to a new RV resort. We were fortunate to get a 12 month lease at Carolina Pines RV Resort which gave us the security of always having a place to park our home. We were nervous about changing RV resorts. We were very happy with our previous “parking spot.” We found that the change was good. There were so many amenities and activities for our family to enjoy. It is truly like living on vacation full time. Yes, we still have work and chores and life, but in our off time we have fun activities at our fingertips. Living in our RV had allowed us opportunities to choose different ways of living and have new experiences.

Towards the end of summer we were feeling really good about our lifestyle. Sure we sometimes get made fun of by people we work with and sometimes even family and friends don’t get this choice. For us, it was going really great…. except we had two growing children and felt like we did need a very small increase in space for them. We decided that before they started the new school year we would upgrade our Class A to a fifth wheel. This change more mimicked what boat living would be for us. Everyone has their own space for sleeping. Ella and Carter did not have to share the living room. We purchased our Big Horn and were settled and comfortable and ready for a great school year.

As Christmas approached we were considering our options for a trip for the holidays. We prefer to have experiences over presents typically. Our kids literally ask for next to nothing for Christmas and had a very hard time even coming up with one or two items for their list this year. We find that to be the best part of this lifestyle. They are satisfied with what they have. We are satisfied with what we have. We spend less money on junk and frivolous things and more money goes towards things that matter. When family decided to visit us we chose to have a “staycation” and we decided the money we would have spent on a trip could be used to prep for our sailing life. We purchased a tender for our future boat. This is possibly the best Christmas present our family has ever had. We have had so much fun already riding around in our little boat, still dreaming of the big boat.

We are excited for the year ahead but are so grateful as we reflect on the year behind us. We have big plans for this year but also will continue to “wing it” as we always do. Thats the great thing about not having a house and a yard and all the things that take up your free time. Sure we have maintenance but it is minimal compared to the house we left. We work hard and now we play hard. We feel we have found balance. We have less worry and stress in general despite continuing to work in high stress careers. Life feels more comfortable and honestly our kids seem happier. No regrets.

Till next time….

Becky