House Appreciation
the chores of car dwelling and all the feels
Dear Readers,
Welcome back. I’ve missed you.
If you follow me on Instagram, you already know I’ve been traveling across the United States from Arizona to New York. What a loooong and enjoyable trip!
Currently, I’m housesitting. It’s been a little over four months since I stayed in a house. Slept in a regular bed. Enclosed by walls. It feels…odd. Let’s get into it.
I’d like to give a little appreciation to houses, apartments, and the like. I didn’t realize how much I missed certain things. Maybe this post will have you looking around your place with different eyes.
The biggest contentors:
1. Having a shower
By having a shower, I don’t mean actually taking a shower. Because of my gym membership, a shower facility was available to me while living on the road. Don’t worry I didn’t spend 4 months in the desert not showering.
By appreciation of having a shower, I am referring to the convenience of having my shower stuff readily available for shower taking without having to unpack everything. Without having to figure out what the bathroom situation is going to look like. Without having the mental strain of timing when to take a shower. Without wondering who’s going to be in the locker room.
I didn’t realize until I took my first shower at the housesit how much mental stress was involved in planning to shower. Did I go longer between showering? Yes. Yes, I did and I’m ok with that. Will I enjoy having this shower available to me? Yes. Have I taken a few showers and baths already? Yup, you know it.
2. In-house washer and dryer
Doing laundry is a chore regardless of having an in-house washer and dryer or not. Here’s what I appreciate about in-house machines. You can do laundry whenever you want! Midnight? Sure, go ahead. Only 10 dirty items? Sure, go ahead. Granted you could possibly find an all night laundromat or only wash 10 items at said laundromat but late night laundry could put you in an unsafe situation and only 10 items is very costly.
With the invention of pay by card laundry machines versus coin operated, I have accumulated multiple laundromat cards. All have small balances left over on them as every place has had a minimum to transfer to their card. The chances of me going back to the same laundromats are slim to none.
I am sure my car will appreciate me not stuffing my dirty clothes in every nook and cranny awaiting laundry day which only comes around once all underwear are dirty. I have been known to simply purchase another package of underwear instead of doing laundry. When I was a backpacking traveler before Covid, I traveled with 7 pairs which could easily be handwashed at a hostel, if needed. Now, I wait as long as possible to do laundry, hence, the extra packages of underwear.
3. A table
After bringing all my stuff inside, I spread all my crafting items, some books and journaling things on the dining room table. It was heaven. In the car, I have compacted quite a bit of hobby items in my small space. So to spread out made me feel like I’m in a mansion.
Until it didn’t. After a few days, I felt like I had too much space for my hobbies leaving me feeling indecisive about what to work on. Drawing, writing, art journal, novel? I kept sitting at the table kinda staring at it all. My creativity and productivity felt stymied.
I still appreciate the table to spread out when I want to but I had to condense and put stuff in piles elsewhere. Doing this made me feel more settled like I do when traveling in my car.
All the Feels
Although I appreciate this housesit and all other housesits I’ve done and will do, what I’m finding are my shoulders creeping up and my need to escape starting. I could feel it starting on my drive east. I believe our bodies tell us in their own way what we know is true for our minds. I hold my tension in my shoulders. They go up and up, form knots and feel sore.
Before Covid, I knew I needed to stop traveling. I needed a place to settle and put down some short roots, not too deep though. I needed to stop living out of a backpack for a while. I wasn’t sure how to stop though. Being a traveler had become part of my identity. Do I give that up? Could I give that up? The pandemic solved the problem for me.
During those four years of apartment living, my shoulders naturally relaxed. When I started car dwelling last August, I was even more relaxed. In January, I headed west and stopped housesitting to give myself even more freedom.
I know now that I’m not done with this car dwelling lifestyle. The very thought of getting back on the road has me all excited for the next adventure.
Any roadtrips in your future?
Keep on trying,
Patricia
Previously on The Adventure List:
What I Buy Now...
Yesterday, I saw a license plate that said DOGOODR. You can interpret that to be Do Gooder or Dog Odor. The Do Gooder part got me thinking and the Dog Odor gave me a laugh. The Do Gooder message collided with Earth Day this week. Since I became a traveler 10+ years ago, I’ve worked towards making the planet a little better in my own little world. My Inst…
“By appreciation of having a shower, I am referring to the convenience of having my shower stuff readily available for shower taking without having to unpack everything. Without having to figure out what the bathroom situation is going to look like. Without having the mental strain of timing when to take a shower.”
This reminds me of backpacking through India, China and Southeast Asia. I love hostels but there are certain inconveniences!
Travel is great! But there are perks to staying in one place for awhile too. This is why I prefer to live in a new place - to have a home base and travel out from there. I lived in Sweden for a year and China for two years and then took extended adventures. Plus there’s the added benefits of showers, laundry and everything else you mentioned!