Minimal Mom Questions
I thought I would answer a few questions that have come in while I have a moment. We have only lived in our travel trailer for two weeks, and sold our house last month, so some of my answers may change over time.
Q: What would you consider mom essentials when living small?
A: Great question! There are a few things that I feel like I personally need, and also a few products I'm really loving! An essential for my sanity is getting up early every day. I personally love having quiet time before the house stirs, and especially so now in a small space! I read God's Word and right now I'm working through reading the Bible chronologically and it's been so good. I pray, journal, drink the first cup of coffee, and doing that preps me for all the other things.
As far as products that I feel are essential, I feel like I haven't had enough time to come up with a huge list, but one thing that we use absolutely every day is the Shark Rocket Ultra Lite vacuum. It's a new purchase since we've been living small, and it's been an essential to keeping the floor clean. I love that I can plug it into one spot and vacuum the entire camper!
Another recent investment has been the Costway portable washing machine. We haven't had it long enough to give a full review, but so far we think we are going to love it. Our thought is to do smaller loads of laundry in the travel trailer to help offset the bigger laundry days. When we lived in a house I would do about 2 loads of laundry a day. Since we've been living an rv I've averaged about 3 loads a week. Hopefully the portable machine will help the continual mountain of laundry be more manageable!
Q: How do you keep your kids busy in winter aside from school?
A: We haven't lived small during the winter months yet, and we plan to be in a warmer climate during the cold months. In a house I would read aloud a book to the kids while they do something like draw or play legos and we also make it a "tea time" where they would eat snacks and sip warm tea or hot chocolate while I read... it's all about giving them something for their hands so their ears can listen. The kids would play lots of games, Settlers of Catan, Monopoly, Uno, Skippo, Sorry, Aggravation, etc. My kids would say that copy paper is a must have for drawing and creating things. Legos, fort building, and sometimes the kids would just run laps around the house.
We also had a small exercise trampoline that the kids would use to get wiggles out. If your kids are bigger, let them bake! My girls love to bake yummy treats and I love to taste test. Baking is also a great way to teach fractions and chemistry. There's lots of ways to keep kids busy inside when the weather isn't nice!
Q: How often do you grocery shop and do you meal plan?
A: When we first moved into a camper I was running to the grocery store every other day. The past few weeks I did one "normal" grocery trip, and maybe did one stop mid week to fill in for little things we needed.
I don't meal plan-- but should! We always eat the same few meals, but we need to branch out! I have an instant pot that I hardly use, so let me know all your best recipes for family friendly meals!
I really enjoy hearing questions from people, so thanks for asking!