The End Is in Sight

So, in the past few weeks, things like this happened:

And also this happened:

We have insulation in our ceiling. We have a functional woodstove. We have our range and kitchen sink hooked up and the office set up as a temporary bedroom.

Does this mean that maybe, just maybe, we’re about to get out of this moudly deathtrap of doom, er, trailer?

YESYESYESYESYESYESYES

The first photos I have of our treading foot on this place were taken at the end of March, 2011, so it’s getting close to 3 years. Believe me, I never dreamed 3 years were going to go by of waiting for the house we designed to be a place we could actually live.

I was asked recently by another mom of girls about my girls’ age: would I recommend this trailer dwelling stuff to anyone else? This family is, like us, hoping to make the move to the country but it might be a while between purchasing land and being able to finish a house for them, too.

And the following is my $0.025.

Do you have kids or plan to have kids? Not an automatic no, but make sure you and they each have your own sleeping space, especially if they are older kids. Our trailer wasn’t designed that way.

Do you have pets? Again, not an automatic no, but if you have both kids AND pets, well. Think about it. They need space too! If you have a cat, where will the litter box/food/water go? If a dog, is there a place for her to sleep?

Do you have musical instruments? Um, is there space? I know of a family of 4 + cats who’s living in a trailer with a cello, a harp, AND a piano. I don’t know how they’re pulling that off. But apparently it’s doable.

Do you have a plan? Things come up. We thought we had the money to finish the house the first year we were here, and then taxes sucked a bunch of our money out of our pockets. Are you prepared in case your 6 months turns into 36 months because of your financial situation?

Will you have a storage unit to keep your things in until the house is finished? We did. $60ish a month does add up, but at least the stuff was safe and dry.

Do you ever deal with depression? Definitely not recommended. I think mentally I went downhill a lot faster in the trailer than I had been going in a regular place.

Trailers tend to be damp. Stuff gets mouldy. You have limited kitchen space. Stir craziness is just part of life.

Overall, no, I wouldn’t recommend it. But it was, for us, a means to an end (if not an ideal one), and it could be for you too. The ultimate question is, would I do it again? Not if I didn’t have any other option!

But it doesn’t matter now.