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Embracing The Minimalist’s Mindset
We’re all about simplicity and being as self-sufficient as we can.
When the concept to be digital nomads and travel the U.S. came into fruition in our minds, I discovered the composting toilet. I mentioned it to Kevin, but he wasn’t onboard with the idea right away.
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During the months of watching Youtube videos of other full-time RVers living the lifestyle we were working towards adopting, Kevin warmed up to the idea.
At first, he thought about building one for us.
Thankfully, I talked him into getting the Nature’s Head composting toilet. https://amzn.to/2PIxC4v
It’s all about embracing the minimalist’s mindset.
With a regular toilet in an RV, we’d have to deal with the black water tank, putting chemicals in it, attaching a hose to dump, and finding a dumping station. Not to mention, the possibility of having something go wrong while dumping our waste and having it spill all over us.
Nasty.
That happened to a fellow Rver, and he was not a happy camper. No pun intended.
With the composting toilet there are no chemicals, and it’s good for the environment.
Here's what ours look like and an explanation of the simple mechanics behind it.
We're still in the process of renovating our RV (Aesop), and we haven't worked on the bathroom yet, except for tearing out the carpet.
We bought this CoCo Coir to put in our composting toilet.
It’s all-natural.
Your poo turns to compost, and instead of your toilet smelling like shit, it smells like damp earth.
-So, with a composting toilet, we won't be reliant on the sewer system, and it's good for the environment.
It is costly, but worth it in the long run. If down the road (again, no pun intended) we decide to get a new rig, van, or a cabin, we can take the composting toilet with us.
The next thing we had to think about was our refrigerator.
I briefly talked about it before in another post I wrote:
-It's not a 3-way fridge
-3-way refrigerators are expensive. They cost between $1,500-$2,000.00.
We pondered over this situation for a while, and then one day it hit us.
We were thinking from a sticks and bricks mindset, not a minimalist one.
We don't need a big fridge.
All we need is a week's worth of food.
. . . Let's be real here. Most people buy too much food and waste it.
I'm guilty of that, and I hate wasting food.
-So, yeah, at the beginning we weren't thinking correctly. Our thoughts weren't aligned with the minimalist lifestyle we were embracing.
One night, Kevin came across this little badass refrigerator.
The Dobinsons 4X4
When it arrived at our house, at first I was like: I don't know about this. It's small.
. . . But, after examining it and putting some food in it, I realized it's perfect for our needs.
It'll totally hold a weeks worth of food.
No problem.
-And it runs on solar power as well as 110, and it's portable.
Here's what Kevin did with the space that the original refrigerator was in. He's not done yet, but this is what it looks like at the present moment.
He made shelves for our books or for whatever.
I have to say, the more we embrace this alternative lifestyle, the more liberated we feel.
