Planning for Life on the Road

While we have been closing down the farm and packing things up, we keep thinking of things that we will need to take care of a whole lot differently living life on the road. Little things like mail. No big deal, right? You go down to the mailbox and grab you mail, recycle the stuff you don't want, read things you do and life goes on. We've already started by canceling a lot of  what most people might call junk mail (horse people call catalogs Christmas in ... name your month). A post office box is next in the line of business.

Finances. Deposits can be made online with the click of the camera phone. Transfers between banks with the click, click of the mouse. Most of the bills can be paid online and banking can be done anywhere these days. Sheesh, you can download your statement and never see another piece of paper again from the bank. I guess that was one of the easier things.

Other things we've taken for granted over the years include stockpiling. A term used by many coupon shoppers I guess, but we've been doing it since before it became cool and trendy. Hubby turned an old, un-used mud room into a big, wonderful walk in pantry for me (a Mother's Day present I still cherish to this day) where we got to stockpile items when they went on sale. By the way, our new home on wheels has a ton of storage for a camper. Stockpiling will not be completely eliminated but will be a little more of a challenge.

Schooling. Now we've almost exclusively home schooled our kids, but it's been with the help of video "tutors" as well as specialty classes. Life on the road seems to eliminate some of the fabulous classes we've had and at the same time opens an entire world of learning opportunities around every corner for the entire family. US History; hands on. We are going from home schooling to road schooling.

Most things we've got a pretty good grasp on alternative ideas but then there is Housekeeping. Hmmm. My biggest question for all those pro RV'ers out there...how do you vacuum and mop the floors? Do I pack up my new vacuum to go on the road with us? What about the vinyl flooring? I'm not going without, I do know that much, but really, how do you do it?

We are under no grand illusions that everything will be a cake walk. Heck, we know there will be days we'll want to walk out while the car is moving. We've got some special things we have planned for the boys on the road ... we'll share that another day.

Any of you camp? What are the must have items you take with you?