Tour of Solo Woman Living in a Tiny Trailer

rina now we're inside your home and you know it is surprisingly big in here yeah it's sort of like a tardis people see it and they think it's so small but when they get to be able to see inside it's very comfortable and actually is a lot bigger than what people think when i first started and for the first few years i kept it as a queen size bed but going full time i wanted to be able to store some things and have a little more room that i could sit instead of just sitting with my legs straight out or cross-legged so i changed this to a twin bed and added a carpet and i have a place that i keep my shoes a place for dirty clothes things that i want to keep i added baskets to store little things the tv when i first got it was the it was on a solid door there i had that taken off and hinges put on and a floor and and sides built in so i have now have storage behind the tv where i keep all my dvds and things like that and i had the shelves built underneath the cabinets so that i can have a few other things there so how much of that was factory the the two cabinets that opened they were there they were there the tv was factory the air conditioner was factory um i just had the shelves on the bottom the shelves built in and had the had the tv opened up and put storage behind there those were the mods that i had done and then i added these baskets to store little things very handy very handy really organized which is critical in such a small space and surprisingly there's a lot of storage that you don't see at the headboard when these all of my stuff is off there's a board that lifts up and that goes to the um all the way down to the floor of the camper storage and then there's storage under both sides of the bed about four or five inches deep of storage on both sides and i have the boards underneath there on butterfly hinges that i can when i move it i can lift up and i have a pole that i put there to hold it open to get things in and out when i travel my solar folds up and fits flat underneath my bed that's really really nice yeah so there's more storage than what people think the tag came pre-wired for solar came pre-wired for cable if i'm ever in a place that has cable um so there's just that nice little extras the bluetooth am fm stereo cd dvd i have a fantastic fan and like i said i do have the air conditioner though i don't use that very often but you have the 2000 watt inverter generator you could easily run it i could absolutely and you probably would just have to run it for a few minutes at a time yeah so small yeah um it'll cool very quickly i've done it where i've been on shore power and it cools it very quickly and that but i find that i like using the fantastic fan more because when you're laying here it's coming right down and when i have the windows open i get a nice cross breeze that keeps you warm as well or keeps you cool as well and you're not really stooping all that much are you when you stand um do you want me to sure yeah i'd kind of like to see that which is i don't think you're it's any worse than you would be in a van probably that's what it might even be more than a typical van it's easier when i'm doing this and just move to be able to get what i need right yeah i'm sure that's and in the van we do the same thing yeah you know you end up just on the on your knees a lot yeah so that's really really standard and you could cook in here if you haven't tried it i haven't tried it i do have um an induction burner stored underneath but again it's those that's one of the things that i would have to make sure that i have my generator running right to be able to use it but yes i do have that if if it ever gets to the point that i'm in weather that's so bad that i can't have this solar and i don't have anything else i'd have the um the generator on and i'd be able to cook with the inverter there is two 110 outlets two usb outlets and a 12 volt outlet built in side the cabin so that you can do you know just about anything you need right from inside right really nice i love it it's my little house both of the doors on my camper lock from the inside so i that's done every night and um if i have to stop at a place i try and make sure that there's other people that are camping that are stopping there for the night so that i'm not isolated by myself you know and i try to make sure that there's good lighting where i am just common sense things that you know everyone should do yeah and and i think that's really it you really have to be aware of your surroundings and what potential dangers there might be and do what you can to mitigate those exactly yeah okay let's take a look around outside okay so tell us about your tow vehicle okay originally when i got it i started off with a honda crv and i did that for two two and a half years but i was right on the edge of my my limit as i was towing and i knew that as i traveled i wanted something a little more so i had the guy that i work with um the dealer on the lookout for a honda pilot and um a year ago october he called me and said i have two in stock that are you know used ones and they could work and i went and i got this one it was just um it was three years old and only had 39 000 miles on it it now has close to 70 000 miles on it you've driven it a little i have driven it a little um it is a six cylinder and um it when it's all put up it'll seat eight but i just keep the two front seats and then everything else i have laid down and it gives me a ton of space to be able to store all of the extra things that i take with me so probably basically your outside camp just goes in there most of it i would say probably 90 of it goes into the car and then the rest goes into um into the the tier itself so when you're driving down the road say you have to stop at a walmart and spend the night or whatever you can sleep inside the teardrop yes the only thing i do not unhook when i go into a cracker barrel or a walmart i do unhook the only thing i do unhook is the electrical so that it doesn't drain the battery for the car um by having that still hooked to the the teardrop i don't want to take a chance of draining my battery the car is powerful enough that you hardly know that the um the teardrop is behind it you look out the window and okay it's there and you know um i don't need a sway bar because the dry weight of the teardrop is under 1100 pounds that's amazing so um and with all my stuff i probably had about another six or seven hundred pounds in gear between the car i try and put like i said most of it in the car and then some in the tier and on a good day i'll get 18 miles to the gallon um usually it's between 16 to 18 as i'm traveling towing it and i just put the cruise control on at about 62 and you know i'm fine i started off when i the very first when i did the trip in september october i was trucking along at 70 wasn't getting great mileage and i thought to myself why am i doing this i don't have to rush i'm retired i slowed it down i get much better gas mileage and i enjoy the sights much better yeah and that's great gas mileage for towing this much comfort yeah i tow my home and i can stop wherever i've stopped like i said i've done cracker barrel i've done walmart i've done roadside rest stops most of the time i'll try and put myself between a couple of truckers that um are there so that you know i'm i'm kind of tucked in yeah and and and it's just comfortable it's just comfortable works great it does and you can live really cheaply this way yeah um i've been tracking um my expenses and i can probably live in less than a thousand dollars a month that's amazing this way including my food and gas especially um boondocking and camping on blm where you don't have to actually pay right and if you're following the caravans you're not driving very much no just a couple hours and are you saving any ever at the end of the month yes you can actually save at the end of the month yes yes and if you were still in your house you probably wouldn't be doing that nope you'd be barely surviving okay so let's take another look look around and see more you use a porta potty yes bathroom and shower uh yeah um this one does not allow you to do the shower it doesn't have a place to hold it so i got one of those uh pumper things and i can i can use it that way yes before i left i knew that i wanted to add solar and a generator to my repertoire so that no matter where i was i i could keep my food cold i could have my lights and if i wanted my fan and and even you know have the heater or the air conditioner if needed so i bought this is a flexible 100 watt suitcase solar it is made by dokio d-o-k-i-o i got it on amazon and do you want me to say how much i spent sure no yeah please do 150 dollars that's great yeah did it come with the controller it came with a 10 i can't i always get it mixed up 10 amp controller but i went and i bought a 30 amp so that if i wanted to add more solar another hundred watt i would be able to be covered to do that but so far especially with the arizona sun or california sun i'm i'm charging up pretty well i may use the um generator once or twice a day for an hour or so to to beef it up for the night but for the most part the solar works well good and the stands are guitar stands portable guitar stands what a clever idea that that just works wonderful yeah that's a really good idea yeah and that so um and i did buy a generator champion's a great name yeah i did a lot of research looking at generators i know that honda's are the the star gold star but honestly i didn't have that kind of extra cash to to do that and the champion was giving really good reviews is pretty darn quiet for what it is and half the price of what the um absolutely yeah so and it's 48 pounds that i can lift i can change the oil in it i can add gas in it again i can do it myself right and that's your primary goal that independence yeah i want to know that i don't if something happens i only have to rely on myself to be able to do it very good thinking that's a good way to live you know it's nice to have others around and help but in the bottom line if nobody's there you're left making the decisions and doing what you have to do right very very good yeah what do you think cody i have a pretty good kitchen you do it is i think this is one of the nicest kitchens i've seen in a teardrop this is really impressive yeah um this is standard um the sink the two burner stove and um this is a norcold refrigerated um cooler you can get it down to freezing it but it it would all be freezing not just the the meat area so i keep it as a refrigerator i just made the reflectix cover based on a video that i saw that you had done so i'm hoping that will help stabilize the temperature and keep everything i'm sure it'll help a lot yeah and did the slide come with it yes that was all part of the way it was built great with my first teardrop it didn't have a kitchen like this it just basically had shelves and places to store things so that's when i bought the coleman deluxe kitchen out here which is out here one of the nice things about it is it folds up and it's no more than six inches wide when it's um when it's put together but it gives me lots of space to be able to have extra things to have my coleman uh single burner and grill there um ib i bake i have the coleman oven when you say coleman oven oh you have the fold up yes and how's that been working for you oh i love it i love it i've used it for several years in fact this is my second one that i have i'm a baker i love to bake and so to be able to make fresh bread to you know to throw a couple potatoes in to bake and have them to make like home fries or a frittata for breakfast i like to do that and then i just keep one big container for my pots and pans and other ones for my dry goods and what about the water on the teardrop did it does it have an electric pump it has an electric pump um it has only a freshwater tank that will hold six gallons um no actual black water because we don't have a bathroom and the gray water there is um a an outlet here that i just have with a hose i saw that so it just drains out yes everything stays pretty secure with it this is a great kitchen yeah you can do anything that you can in a stick and brick basically right you really can one of the cool little tools that i would you give me one of those i didn't give you one i saw it again uh with the creativity rv the plasma and it's just so great and easy and again um usb rechargeable uh-huh someone gave me one yeah and there's not a flame just you know you got to start your light on light things yeah and it's a little electric it's box yeah the one thing that i don't have now that i um have had previously is a canopy that'll i usually have a canopy in the front um but the arizona wind's got my canopy right so i have to get another one but that's nice especially on days where it's raining to come out and sit outside and not be stuck in the little space to have the canopy and the other thing is i have a tent that will hook to the canopy that hooks to the four corners and the center post of the canopy and when you put it up it puts up a 10 by 10 tent with a floor give me even more room giving me even more room and and down here in the desert it is hard to set up an outdoor room but in the national forest in the summer wind is rarely a problem yeah you can have them up all the time for somebody that is just starting into this and looking for a group of like-minded people with this there's an international organization called tearjerkers and it can be seen at tearjerkers.net and there are chapters all over the united states and then in england and in canada that get together that do get togethers periodically throughout the year that you just pay to go to the whatever campsite you go to and you all congregate together with many different types of teardrops and small campers tearjerkers.net tearjerkers.com to know about yeah and it's a free organization um and they provide a lot of support a lot of education um especially if you're looking to do a home built because probably a good 30 to 40 percent of teardrops are home built right and it's interesting the the teardrops have a a very strong history yes and have been around since the um 30s and 40s and were made from the aluminum that was left over from the airplanes after world war ii right and made it an inexpensive way for families to do vacations right yes they've evolved they sure have this is a giant leap forward absolutely but you know it makes living full-time as a nomad a comfort a comfortable way to do it and affordable and afford definitely affordable yeah definitely affordable go with the vehicle you own rather than have to buy a special expensive vehicle yep i've seen people tow small teardrops with cooper minis right and with um with motorcycles yes so you don't have to have a big heavy vehicle to do it depending on what you choose there's lots of options lots of options well rena thank you so much for sharing your home with us it's really nice it's really amazing thank you i really appreciate you coming and letting me share this and you know giving giving your viewers um a look at something different that's you know a little different than than what everybody else tends to do yeah yeah that's the idea here just uh whatever you've got is you make it work that's good enough absolutely absolutely so folks i hope you got something good out of this and i know you did if you did like us on youtube subscribe to the channel hit that thumbs up button and we'll talk to you later [Music] you

Channel: CheapRVliving

Views: 111,214

Keywords: live, living, car, van, RV, Full-time, nomad, gypsy, camper, camp, boondock, travel, snowbird, caravan, tiny, house, tribe, RTR, adventure

Id: t6GlkhM7mp0

Length: 19min 6sec (1146 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 12 2019