Almost four months living simply. Life couldn’t be better. I truly mean it. I’m not just saying this because, Devin, my older brother, gave me a month. I love my life. I love my partner. I love our 21 x 7 foot home on wheels, a Forest River 2018 Wolf Pup, Patriot Edition. I like to call our home a tiny house, however it’s technically called a Travel Trailer. Okay whichever way you say it, we are very self-sustainable. We live completely independent of any external system. We have three ways we get our energy to run our home:
- Our generator– Corbin researched and found one at a pawn shop for $540. It’s orange, which I love, called Generator iQ2000
- Gas powered
- Powers all major appliances: blender, space heater, convection oven, crockpot, charge computers, etc.
- heats water heater
2. Our solar panel– we got this one basically for free at Corbin’s work. The old owners had large storage containers and Corbin helped them unpack them, and our solar panel was in there. He asked of course, and no one else said they would use it like he could. Score for us! This panel has 190watts usually they go for anywhere between $100-400.
- Sun- powered, if it’s cloudy it won’t gather as much. But it’s very efficient
- Powers lights, fans, phone charger, music/ Bluetooth player, basically any USB outlet.
3. Our 20 pound propane tank that came with our trailer. During the summer a full tank would last us longer than a month. Now that we are in the colder, autumn months a full tank lasts us usually two weeks or so. We expect in the cold winter months to go through it a little faster. So, we are looking for a 40lb propane tank before then.
- Powers our heat
- Powers our small refrigerator
- Powers our gas stove
- Can light our water heater but doesn’t work super well in high altitudes
Overall, these three avenues of energy give us what we need to live sustainably. While living this way the past four months, we have grown to become very grateful for what we have. Yes, we have to think a lot more when we go to turn on our heat. Yes, we have to think about the weather, for our solar panel. And yes, we have to go outside to turn on our generator when we want to make soup that evening. However, I wouldn’t have it any other way.Some may say that’s not simply living that’s way more complicated. Sure, it might be, but being able to know how everything single thing in your home works and operates, that’s amazing.I am so grateful for my home and how we are able to operate on our own without needing a hookup to an external source. It makes me very proud to say we are self- sustainable. We are always looking for ways to become more efficient, if you have any ideas please let me know by leaving a comment!
Wild-Free 