It’s been over a year since we moved out of the RV and into an apartment. Time has not been kind. We do not like having neighbors that share walls, we do not like living so close to so many people. Smoke from our neighbors apartments (in a supposed non-smoking building) fills our bathroom. Dogs barking, doors slamming, neighbors yelling, trash all over the place outside, the pool filled with kids who do not live here; its all a lot to deal with.
Instead, we have to plan on a future where we have our own place, independent of others, and not attached to anyone else’s residence. With the present state of the housing market, I’m not sure how buying a house with our current income will ever happen.
We have a few options, but we have a few obligations as well. With a child with special needs now, we have to take his education, health, and medical requirements into account. We have to go somewhere that he will get a good education, but also be able to grow, thrive, and become a functional adult. He’s not even a year old right now, so we’ve got some time think about that, but we must still consider his needs front and center.
Second, we have limited income. We need to find somewhere we can afford and stay long term. I’m not sure the way the world is going that our income is going to ever get much better, but it may a little bit. We have to keep our future in a place where we can afford it and still be able to buy things like the ever important food and gas and pay our bills.
So that means I’m seriously taking a look at getting an RV and going back to the same campground or another similar one. But this time not rushing into it and instead researching, buying something bigger, and having enough space for living with everything working ahead of time.
I’d love to be able to return to blogging and do product reviews again. It worked well and our RV was tech’d out with all sorts of gadgets to make our life easier. With an RV, I can do that again. I never did get the Smart Home on Wheels project completed, but I’d like to make it happen somehow. I still had a huge problem with most smart devices being AC-powered and not DC-powered, which would have made things more permanent and always on, but its possible if I can figure out how to make it all work.
This is not a fast goal to reach though. Our son is in physical therapy and we’d like to keep the same therapist until he’s walking. He’s in that program until his third birthday, so we’ve got over two years.
We also have to figure out how to buy a decent RV, get it to the campground, and set up everything. Not impossible, but it’ll take time.
And finally, we have to figure out how to get rid of a lot of crap. We’ve gone back to accumulating stuff again and have more than we need. At least in the RV, we were forced to keep things minimal. It was kind of nice not having a lot of space to fill with clutter.
I’d also like to add solar power and make our next home energy independent. I know in Florida summers, that is almost impossible with air conditioning needed for most of the year. If we are stationary, but able to buy a truck for a fifth wheel, then we can work on the RV for awhile, build it up, and move it somewhere remote and hide out from the world.
We also have to figure out where our child will go to school. I’m not sure where the school system is for the campground, where kids go across the street where there are homes, or how good that system is. I will look into homeschooling, but that’s not really a possibility we want. He needs the best education we can give him, but he also needs other kids like him to be friends with. I’m not sure a campground offers that, but it may offer other things instead. New neighbors frequently, different people from different backgrounds to meet and know. We’ll see.
I’m not saying this is going to happen. I’m not sure I want it to happen. It’s a process to figure out where we can go, where we can live, what we can afford. The path forward is open wide.
