5LivingSimply (what we call our unique life when we live in our RV) is a natural marriage between our experiences in Africa and our love of camping.
In Africa we saw firsthand that those with little material possessions were truly wealthy in many other ways; I could see and feel it...pure joy. When we came back home, we realized that our true values get watered down throughout the week as we squeeze in our daily events such as kids' activities, homework, and house projects. We wanted to find a way to focus on our priorities and values. Over the past 5 years, we have sought ways to accomplish this.
It has always been on our weekend camping trips where we truly feel our best. We feel complete and content driving off with our trailer in tow. Something between freedom and fullness fills us when we carry only the basics of what we NEED and not much more. Even after just a few days away, it is always odd to walk back into our house full of stuff. And then somehow we continued to fill our life and shopping basket with more activities and more stuff.
So, in a nutshell, 5LivingSimply is partly about taking out the excess. Cutting out the activities, materialism, consumerism, and to-do lists that we let creep into our life.
So, in a nutshell, 5LivingSimply is partly about taking out the excess. Cutting out the activities, materialism, consumerism, and to-do lists that we let creep into our life.
I suppose we could live even simpler. We do in fact have a microwave (although it is usually our breadbox) an air conditioner (only works in certain campgrounds) and a freezer (big enough to keep a nice stock of Ben and Jerry's - shh don't tell the kids.) But a simple life doesn't mean we have to sleep on the dirt or potty in the woods, which we have occasionally done. We have some luxuries, like nice technology, but things are just really simple when there are only 8 shirts to chose from for the week. Our pantry only holds 2 boxes of cereal and no room for a toaster, so eating our meals is less about "What do you want?" and more about "Should we eat at the picnic table or on a picnic?"
5LivingSimply allows us to:
- slow down our days: no more rushed mornings and being a kid taxi
- enjoy every moment possible with our kids as they grow up way too fast
- spend our time learning, exploring, and enjoying our hobbies - such as hiking, cycling, and reading
