We're Not Crazy...

...But we did buy a school bus...to turn into a house.

So we may be a little crazy.

There she is!

Nate and the as-yet-unnamed bus

Me in back

You may be asking yourself, "Why on God's green earth would a family of five want to move into a school bus?"  Turns out, there's a lot of reasons.

Reason 1: Downsizing.

We've got a huge apartment right now, which is great. What's not so great is all the stuff we've got in this huge apartment. We're a couple with pack rat tendencies. Too often, one of us (usually me) would bring something home simply because it was free, not because it was needed. And too often, things we could give away languish in cupboards or the attic, forgotten and unused. Sentimental value gets attached to everything. And don't get me started on all the stuff waiting to be used in future art projects. Collage is the enemy of tidiness.

Reason 2: Decreased Cost of Living

We're not foolish enough to think that we'll be living for free. There's the cost of gas, the cost of a campground, the cost of buying property to park on. But to pay cash on this as we go along means that once this bus is done, it's ours. No more paying rent on something that we love but ultimately don't own. Cut out the cost of heating a drafty house, and we're already saving several hundred dollars every month.

Reason 3: Fulfilling a Dream 

A weird dream, but a dream nonetheless. Nathaniel (my husband) and I have long wanted to build our own home and homestead, but until fairly recently, the bus was something only I desired. But when we began to talk about relocating from Lancaster County, PA, there's was always the sticky wicket of a place to live while we built our dream home. With a converted school bus - or skoolie, how badass does that sound? - our home comes with us wherever we go. Not to mention that while it's only a temporary home while we gear up for bigger things, we build it ourselves. So it's the start of fulfilling a dream.

Reason 4: Flexibility

Here's where some of you are going to roll your eyes. But in all honesty, part of this dream of homesteading involves cutting our cost of living far enough that we can make a small but decent living "doing our own thing." We plan to garden, and hopefully to raise small livestock like chickens or fish (yes, fish). I have a small handcrafted soap company with big plans to expand into other natural wares, like body care and cleaning products. I love doing collage, working with felt, sewing, and would love to refinish furniture. Nathaniel carves wood, forges knives and swords, loves engineering, and is an incredibly talented artist, if I do say so myself. With the internet at our disposal, we hope that we can make enough of a living selling our wares online and at craft fairs to provide for our family. Doing so would afford us the ability to travel more freely, and to be able to come back to PA for a month or more in the summer to visit our families.

Reason 5: Why Not?

'Nuff said. Skoolie living ain't for everybody, but if we want to do it - and have a clear vision and the ability to do it - why shouldn't we?

There's undoubtedly going to a lot of bumps in the road as we go forward, and we've got a whole range of emotions about the prospect of leaving the only area either of us has ever known, but we're dedicated to this. While the end result of where we end up and what we do once we're there might change over time, we both agree that this skoolie is where we want to start.

So stay tuned, this is gonna be interesting.