How Do You Stay Inspired?

[michele0203]

Secondarily, making progress doing other things that will need to happen helps too, like clearing out useless junk, spending more time in nature with the kids, etc. After that, I do little things, like research, reading mobile blogs, and listening to music that stirs my wanderlust.

Although I am kind of in a honeymoon phase of just discovering this lifestyle, I can get bogged down with the details of how it's actually going to come to fruition, I too have found decluttering and downsizing inspirational. 

Also, changing up my daily routine by buying less 'things' and making do with what I have on hand feels like a good step towards this lifestyle.  

I've also decided I am not going to buy any more clothing until absolutely necessary.  I'm going to wear the items I already have until they wear out, regardless if I wear something twice in 1 week. Minimalism and environmentalism are also a huge motivation and inspiration for me.  

I've been watching lots of YouTube videos on dumpster diving and it's amazing how much gets thrown away from food to all other items.  It has put things into perspective.

If you have the opportunity, I suggest a documentary on Netflix called True Cost.  (I hope it's OK for me to suggest with regards to the forum rules? )

 

[mayble]

After reading the forum and Bob's blog entries for the last year, I've just started reading the blog from the beginning.
I learned the answers to questions I hadn't thought to ask yet, and the pictures are incredible!  Very inspirational.

And I'm spending a lot more time in the parks around my home.  Not just going for a walk and heading home, but bringing the kindle or the laptop and spending hours and hours there, as if I didn't have a house to go back to.  It really felt strange at first.  I live in an area with a nice state park and many, many city/county parks but until recently I never spent much time in them.  I always thought - why hang out in the park when I have a nice backyard at home?
I've come to realize I like nature even better when I don't have to mow it.  At home I look around and see weeds that I should get after, trees that need trimming, etc.  At the park it's just guilt-free beauty as far as the eye can see.

 

[MindyLee]

I've been doing this more and more, spending time outside. But like you, I sit in the yard and look at the house and think of what a shackle it is, in a way. But the park idea is a good one, my girls love going to the parks so we're going to do that more and more. Also the other day, just for kicks we were shopping at Wal-Mart, and afterward we parked out in the end of the lot (where RVs are allowed at this one) and had a picnic lunch in the car. We had an interesting discussion about how we might sometimes snooze overnight at Wal-Marts and it was fun and entertaining.

 

[MindyLee]

I found some beautiful inspiration here, folks. One thing I have always wanted to so is visit and spend time in National Parks. This has been an desire of mine since childhood. I came across this YT play list last night and the kids and I were glued to it.

58 National Parks

Enjoy!

 

[franqmichele]

Good luck on your preparations!

To stay motivated, I made a document outlining what I needed to accomplish each month and was thrilled to see things I thought impossible coming to be in that time frame.  It was all reasonable, so nothing crazy appeared, but the wonderful thing is, it all happened on the timeline I needed so that I could leave exactly on the date I wanted to.  I found that seeing the list each month put a fire in my but to have it all done before then, and it allowed me to be really prepared because I had planned the trip out long ahead of time.

 

[Bast]

With a timeline three and a half years out I am having trouble creating a timeline. Do you have suggestions for a timeline.

 

[Almost There]

Bast, try working backwards!

Set the date you're going to begin vandwelling, then back up to where you hand in your notice at work, figure out from there how much time you'll need to outfit the van, choose a target date to have one bought by, then back up again setting the date you are going to start searching for one (allow six months). If you've debts, set up a time frame for clearing those out. If you've stuff to give away/sell, set target dates for when you're going to do that.

All of a sudden, you'll be trying to figure out how to cram it all in...  

And if one of the time lines doesn't want to fit, like debt repayment, then figure out how to correct that. Might include a part time job or cutting expenses. Also, you will want a written down budget for everything!

Oh, and it's all subject to change of course...that's what 'written in jello' is all about.

 

[jimindenver]

Bast

There are a lot of little things that have to be learned or decided on. It's easy to say I am going to do, but considering how much each decision weighs on another takes a lot of time. The more you consider what you are doing and how, the better prepared you will be. Also you never know when your timeline will be cut short like mine was. I thought I had years to work it all out, that's become months.