About Us

Welcome to our adventure.  Let me introduce ourselves.  My name is Natasha.  My significant other's name is Cody.  We have two children, Skyla and Micah.  We have decided to move out of our 4,200 square foot home and live in a fifth wheel.  Since I have been blogging for many years I decided to document and share this adventure with all of you.  Enjoy!

Why We Decided to Live in a Fifth Wheel

As you may know, we decided to move from a 4,200 square feet home outside of Indianapolis to a fifth wheel parked in central Illinois. 

So why would a family of four leave their large home in a big city to move into a fifth wheel parked in the middle of pretty much nowhere?  I would love to explain.

SAVE MONEY

Our first reason for living in a fifth wheel is to save money.  Not only are we hoping to save money in general, we are hoping to save money for a hefty down payment to build a house.  We anticipate saving money three ways.

• Reducing our monthly bills
• Spending less money in general due to space
• Less interest paid on student loans due to paying them off early

By living in a fifth wheel we reduce our monthly bills significantly.  We will no longer have a rent payment, which was $1750 per month for our home outside of Indianapolis.  We will be using well water so we will not be paying a water bill.  We will not have cable so we will no longer have a cable bill.

We will spend less money in general due to the lack of space.  For example buying clothes and shoes will be limited because we don't have space for more clothes.  Right now I have a very large closet and I tend to buy shoes and clothes even though I don't really need them.  I have tons of clothes and shoes but I don't wear most of them so when space is very limited I will not be buying as much as I have now.  Another example of spending less due to lack of space is not buying as many toys for the kids.  The kids have plenty of space at the house for toys in their rooms and closets however space in the fifth wheel is not as ample. I plan on putting most of their current toys in storage and having them go every few weeks and switch out toys so it's like getting new toys to play with every few weeks without the cost and without taking up space in the fifth wheel.

Another way we will be saving money by living in a fifth wheel is by having the ability to pay off our student loans quicker which means less interest that we have to pay on the loans in the long run. 

LIVE CLOSER TO FAMILY

Currently we live about an hour and a half from our families.  Both of our parents and siblings live in central Illinois so that is where we are going to move.  In fact, the location we are parking our fifth wheel is on Cody's family farm.  It is 20 acres and his parents' home is there as well as the farm headquarters.  We will be living right next to his parents while my parents and siblings live about 15 minutes from there. 

START PLANTING ROOTS

This reason is not necessarily why we decided to live in a fifth wheel; it is more why we decided to park it at Cody's family farm.  We have a seasonal campsite, also located in central Illinois about an hour west of the farm, however we did not want to park the fifth wheel there to live.  Although out seasonal site is in the campground that made me absolutely love camping, or some would call "glamping", it is not the location where I wanted the kids to go to school.  Since we plan to eventually build a house at the farm it makes sense to live in the fifth wheel at the farm so the kids can start going to the school that they will go to when we build our house (which is the same school Cody went to). 

Another benefit of parking it at the farm is that Cody will have the opportunity to help his dad around the farm.  He already talks of all his big ideas to make the farm better and grow the farm.  So not only will he be happy to help around the farm, I'm sure his parents will appreciate the help.

Coming from living on a busy street in a city, I never thought I'd have any interest in living in the country but Cody's love for the farm rubbed off on me and I couldn't even image moving back to the city I grew up in.

SIMPLIFY

Lastly, living in a fifth wheel will help us simplify our lives.  Sometimes life gets so busy with doing things and crowded with actual things that life starts to seem chaotic.  Chaos is the opposite of peace and God is a peaceful God so if we want to be like God we need to have a sense of peace in our lives.  I know getting rid of possessions and being away from all the hustle and bustle of a city is just a step in simplifying our lives but it is our first step towards having a simpler life.

Why I Decided to Live in a Fifth Wheel

There are many reasons why we decided to move from our home outside of Indianapolis to a fifth wheel parked in central Illinois (you can read about all the reasons here) but I also have personal reasons as to why I decided to make the move.

Here are a few reasons that downsizing my living space will benefit me as a person (and I must apologize for how lengthy this post is):

I'm Materialistic!

In the summer of 2015 God started to reveal to me some of my many flaws.  Specifically the fact that I'm materialistic.  It started when Cody and I were on our coast to coast road trip (which you can read about at The Smart "Coast to Coast"er) and we stopped by a mall in Seattle, Washington.  I bought a couple Michael Kors purses, which many of you may know are quite expensive.  A few days later I was on Pinterest and saw one of the exact purses I had just bought in a different color.  I had bought a light gray one and the picture I saw was of a white one.  The moment I saw it I just wanted it so bad.  Even though I had just bought two new purses and hadn't even used them yet I so badly wanted the exact same purse in a different color. 

I got online and started to order the white purse right there in the truck while we were driving to our next destination almost immediately after seeing the other color purse on Pinterest.  It was in that moment that God spoke to my heart. It wasn't a whisper; God was yelling at my heart.  I feel like he just slapped me upside the head and was just like "what is wrong with you".  It was exactly what I needed.  I had become so wrapped up in having things and buying things that I wasn't satisfied unless I was spending money on something, anything, including another purse exactly like one I already had that I would hardy use because I already had too many.

I realized that there are two reasons why me being materialistic isn't good.  First, it is not a trait that God has, therefore it is not a trait that I should have.  "Do not love the world or anything in the world.  If anyone loves the world the love of the Father is not in him" - 1 John 2:15.  I did not even have to look this verse up.  It is the first verse I ever memorized when I was a child.  How had I went from hiding this verse in my heart to completely ignoring it?  When did I become so materialistic?  Why was I so wrapped up in having things?  Second, being materialistic means I'm buying things, spending money on things, spending money on things that do not really matter, money that could be used for other things that do matter. 

It wasn't just the purse.  I mean that was the first time I really felt God telling me to work on this issue, but I wasn't materialistic because I wanted a white purse when I already had the gray one.  I was materialistic because I ALWAYS wanted something new.  And when I got something new I immediately wanted something else.  All I had to do was look around at everything I had and it was obvious.  Anyone could come into my home and see how materialistic I am.  This revelation (because it was definitely a revelation to me) was almost embarrassing.  Do people look at me that way?  Am I known as a materialistic person?  Is that one of the qualities that people identify me with?  UGHHH! 

I started to look at my life a little differently after God opened my eyes.  Why did I have over 100 pairs of shoes?  Why did I have 150 dresses?  Why did I hoard craft supplies?  Why would I buy new dishes when my old ones were perfectly fine?  Why did I always buy new household decorations?  The answer...I was filling a void in my life that could only be filled with God.  It's not like I wasn't a Christian.  We go to church.  We volunteer at church.  Our children go to a private Christian school.  We pray before we eat.  Cody and I do daily devotionals together.  We listen to Christian music.  I mean we are living a life that puts God at the forefront however I was allowing things to have a place in my heart when really all I needed to do was open that space up and let God fill it up.

I'm not saying I've completely changed.  I still struggle with wanting new things but the difference now is I really consider my motives before I buy something.  Do I need it?  Will I use it?  Why do I want it?  Can I get the same thing significantly cheaper?  These are just a few questions I ask myself before I buy something.

Now let me say that buying things for yourself is not wrong.  Not by any means.  However always desiring more is not the life I wanted. 

I Want to be Debt Free by the Age of 40!

I just turned 30 last month so that still leaves me with 10 years to go but Cody and I have discussed at length how we can be debt free in 10 years and we have a game plan to do it.  Now obviously we know life throws curve balls and things could change at any minute, like losing our jobs or illness or any number of things.  Maybe be won't be able to stick to the current plan but if God continues to bless us and we stick to the plan we have then being debt free is very doable in 10 years. 

Our first step is paying off our student loans.  Unfortunately for Cody, I came into the relationship with about $75,000 in student loans.  I got lucky in that he only had about $13,000 in student loans.  He had much more financial help from the government while pursuing his bachelors degree than I did while in graduate school.  My student loans are for my master's degree and the two and a half years I spent working on a doctorate.  So overall we had about $88,000 in student loan debt between the two of us.  For the first year we just made our minimum monthly payments and didn't think much about paying them off early until we started discussing becoming debt free by the time I am 40.  When we made the decision to become debt free we started working on a game plan to pay off our student loans early.  You can read all about our student loan payoff game plan here.

In order to be debt free we need to pay off our current debts and make sure that any future debts we acquire can be paid off within the next 10 years.

I Want to Move Back Home!

I'm from central Illinois and I always thought I would never move away however I had to move for work and I long to be back in central Illinois.  Although I don't necessarily want to move back to Champaign (where I grew up) I do want to move back to Champaign County.  My family and friends are there.

So those are my reasons for wanting to move from our house to a fifth wheel.