Why We're Not Keeping Up With the Jones'

We’re not fancy people. We’re not rich people. We’re not normal people. We don’t have to live like the Jones’. We don’t covet the giant, cookie cutter houses with the giant mortgage and the newest cars and the giant credit card bills necessary to finance that kind of lifestyle. We’ve never had that… by any means. Never wanted it. Yes, sometimes it would be fantastic to drive a brand new car that runs like a dream rather than having to fix things here or there on our older models. But we don’t want the payment that comes with a new car… so we make do with what we have. Even living a modest lifestyle as we do, we realized something: We work, away from the other three people who matter most in the world to us, to earn money to allow us to have the things we really don’t want. Since we’ve been full-time RVing, making that house payment every month makes me sick. I look at that house as a giant money gobbler, filled with other money-gobbling things we don’t need or want. Other than stuff like winter clothes, photo albums, seasonal decorations, and a few cherished keepsakes, it’s junk. If we’ve lived without it for three months, it’s junk. Clutter. Mess. Stuff we don’t need, but that robs us of money, time, and emotional energy. We spend time away from our loved ones to pay for…that… WHY? Our kids have bedrooms filled with stuff… toys, games, balls, dolls, cars, robots, blocks, animals…that they don’t touch. Probably don’t even know they have, to be honest about it. We worked to buy that stuff… instead of spending time with our kids. And everyone knows that’s what kids want more than anything… time. Living full-time in our RV has given us that…time. We’ve been together almost 24-7… and we love it! No, it’s not always easy or fun. Sometimes I just want to get a fork. But this- THIS crazy lifestyle of a 31 by 8 foot space, ultimate togetherness- THIS is the true American Dream.