Minimalist Archives - Page 3 of 7 - Making Sense Of Cents

Downsizing Your Home? Here’s How I Went From A 2,000 Square Foot House To An RV

May 23, 2016 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 77 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Downsizing your home can be a big process. And, less and less people seem to be doing it these days.

The average home size in 1950 was less than 1,000 square feet. Fast forward to 2013, the average home size has increased to nearly 2,600 square feet, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

We were fairly close to this size when we owned a house. The house we owned in the St. Louis, Missouri area was around 2,500 square feet if you included our finished basement, and it was just for myself, my husband, and our two dogs. Our home in Colorado was almost as big, at slightly over 2,000 square feet (with no basement).

More and more people seem to be purchasing large homes, but that’s not the case for us. We sold our home last year and moved into an RV.

We made this decision for many reasons, but the main reason was that traveling nearly full-time added to the stress of owning a home. So, we figured why not just take it a step further and actually travel full-time?
[Read more…]

Downsizing Our House Has Allowed Us To Pursue Our Dream Life

April 22, 2016 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 27 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Hello! Here’s an awesome post from my friend Emma. As you know, we recently downsized and we now live in our RV. Life is awesome!

In August of 2015, we returned from 15 months of travel through Mexico and Europe with our young son.

We saved hard throughout my pregnancy and were able to fund 15 months of travel with our savings.

However, eventually our savings ran out and we had to go home. Although the savings account was decimated, my attitude to life was completely altered.

I was hooked and wanted to make travel a core part of my everyday lifestyle. I came up with a slightly crazy goal of chasing the summer around the world, traveling for months at a time – between hemispheres, across oceans. Cruise ships. Train travel. Driving an RV across the US.

Wherever we wanted to go. [Read more…]

Common RV Questions – Yes, I Even Talk About What We Do With #2

January 20, 2016 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 88 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

We’ve been asked some interesting questions, ever since we started RVing.

While they seem funny to us now, I know that we have had some of these same questions before we started RVing as well. Due to that, I knew I had to answer some of the most common RV questions we have received in a blog post.

Some of the questions we are asked are from those who think we are crazy for living in an RV. Whereas, others are from people who are interested in RVing, but are unsure about certain things. Either way, I hope to clear up a lot of the common RV questions we receive.

You will never know: maybe, I’ll convert some of you. 🙂

Below are questions that I’ve been asked by friends, family, readers, and even strangers. It’s always an interesting time, trying to explain RVing to strangers who stop me at the store after they’ve seen me get out of our RV.

It’s a lot of fun, though. I love answering RV questions and getting others hooked on this lifestyle! [Read more…]

Why Would A Person Choose To Live A Frugal Life?

August 24, 2015 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 77 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

For some reason, there is a myth out there that living a frugal life means you are living a boring life. Some even believe that if you are frugal then you are a bad parent, a bad person, and a bad friend.

If you don’t believe that, I recommend you read the comments on the next frugal living-related article on a major website such as Forbes, YahooFinance, or something similar. One thing that will be in common with most of the comments is the negativeness from many of the commenters.

I’ve even overheard conversations myself where people think I’m missing out on life because they assume that all frugal people just sit at home all day and do nothing with their lives.

That is FAR from the truth. I know many who are taking part in frugal living and I think they are some of the best 🙂

Sadly, many aren’t interested in frugal living because they believe the myth above.

There are many reasons to live a frugal life, though. Continue reading below to see the reasons for why many choose to take part in frugal living. [Read more…]

Should We Get Rid Of A Car And Just Have One?

March 9, 2015 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 120 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

We currently have two cars, but have been seriously thinking about sharing a car and downsizing to just one. I hardly ever drive, and I can count the amount of times I have driven in 2015 on one hand.

Due to this, we have been thinking about selling one of our cars and becoming a one car family.

There are many reasons for why we are thinking about sharing a car, and it’s not just all about money.

Yes, the money is just being wasted on the second car since we most likely do not need it, but it’s also a waste of time and space. I am always trying to save time in my life by eliminating time wasters, so it makes sense that the next thing we are currently evaluating is our car habit.

Below are some of the reasons for why we are and are not thinking about becoming a one car family. Some of the below can probably be adapted to fit your situation as well if you are thinking about sharing a car. [Read more…]

Everything You Need To Know About Selling Your Stuff For Cash

March 4, 2015 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 77 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

I’m sure everyone has extra things laying around their home that they do not need. If you are trying to pay off debt or reach some sort of financial goal, I highly recommend you read today’s post so that you can learn how to make quick money by learning how to sell your stuff.

With this past move, I’ve finally realized that I have too much extra stuff around our house.

As we were going around our house to determine what we should keep and get rid of, I realized that I didn’t need most of my belongings.

We sold some stuff, we donated a LOT, and we threw away a full rented dumpster full of garbage away.

In the end, I believe we have around half as much stuff (or even less) than what we did just one month ago.

The change is drastic, and it’s nice knowing that what we have now is just what we need. It doesn’t take a lifetime to find what we need anymore, we now know that things aren’t slowly rusting away and/or breaking from not being used for years, and more.

What we have left are the things that truly matter to us now. [Read more…]

My Decluttering Mission – I’m a Closet Slob

January 16, 2015 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 77 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

My closet is a disaster zone.

That is why one of my goals for January of 2015 is to declutter my closet.

It is a scary thing to see right now. Currently, I slam the door shut whenever Wes is about to walk past my closet, as I know he will be absolutely horrified if he were to take a look into my closet. In case you are wondering, my closet is not in our bedroom, it’s in the hallway as our house has a weird large closet in the middle of the house.

I want to declutter my closet for many reasons.

One, we plan on putting our home on the market in a couple of months, and no sane home buyer is going to walk into my closet and want to buy this house.

Two, when we eventually do move, I don’t want to deal with this mess and be forced to bring it all with us. Instead, I want to have the least amount of things possible in order to make the move a little easier.

Below are some of the things I plan on doing in order to successfully declutter my closet. If you are wanting to learn how to declutter your closet as well, I recommend you read the rest of this post and take part in my decluttering challenge! [Read more…]

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