Friday, March 16, 2012

Have you ever wished you could toss it all in and drive around the country with the kids, schooling them as you go? One of our readers (and fellow blogger) Lisa Wood is doing just that. here, she shares her tips for paring back to basics.



Stuff We Don’t Need

With five boys it so easy to fill up a house with lots of stuff that we think we need. Moving into a Motorhome gave us a chance to see with new eyes what we really need for living with children.

There are seven essentials:

1. Somewhere to sleep at night. Even if that means sharing close sleeping spaces. Or even sharing a bed – it really doesn’t matter as long as we can all sleep.

2. Food and Water. Really when you think about it – as long as you have water for drinking and food for their hungry bellies then you will all be happy!

3. A wardrobe to share all of their clothes, toys and homeschooling books. Each of our boys has one shelf each and that is all the space they need!

4. Quality time together. Money can’t buy time nor can you add more hours to your day, so we have decided to spend quality time together to create memories.

5. Lego. Sounds weird but as long as 
we have Lego then our boys are happy to make castles, towers and army barracks with their Lego and spend hours together having fun (plus it takes up such little space!) 

6. Exploring new places. New adventures and finding places that we would be happy to return to.

7. Books. Our one essential item after food/water is books. Our boys love reading so where ever we travel to we find a second hand book store or go to the library. We really love the book stores where our boys can buy and return the books for another book! That way we are not storing them when they are finished reading.

Since we have downsized from a big house (four bedrooms and two bathrooms) we have realised what our boys do need for travelling, and we what we can live without. I am sure that if we wanted to travel with backpacks we could easily carry clothes, food, water and one book each…and still be happy.

We now get to watch our boys make their own fun.

Sticks become swords, wands, walking sticks, cubby houses and so much more. With imagination anything is possible.

Travelling with children is something that we would highly recommend to any family. Be it for long periods of time or short periods of time. Escaping from the world and exploring what is around us is vital for our boy’s development.
 
We no longer own a TV.

We do not own a Microwave.

We do not own a Wii, a Playstaion, or computer games.

We do own a DS but only after the boys have done their homeschooling are they allowed to play on it.

Since we began on our journey of moving into a more relaxed easy lifestyle we have meet many families online who are travelling and exploring with Motorhomes, Bikes, Caravans, Camper Trailers and Backpacking. They have all discovered what little things they need for their family that is essential for travelling.

We are still discovering what essential items we need – and I am sure that 12 months from now we will find out again how little we really need. Even in the six months since we have packed up our Motorhome to move from Bundaberg to the Sunshine Coast area, we have sorted out what is vital, and what we can live without.  
It’s a good feeling living with less clutter. 

Have you thought about what you could live without?

David and Lisa with four of their five boys now live and travel in their Motorhome. A motorhome that Lisa brought from eBay and had to tell hubby afterwards! To follow their journey please connect with New Life on the Road.

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