I've spent a total of eighteen months living in an Airstream, and it can be frustrating to explain to others looking from the outside in that it's not always as beautiful as it appears on Instagram. I'm going to let you all in on a secret...it looks pristine (at least in this family's Airstream, though I'd bet in many others') about 3% of the 168 hours that make up a week (wait, that's like 5 hours, that might be an exaggeration) and it happens mainly right before we have guests and I'm embarrassed at the state of our home.
So, I've decided to create a little series here where I give one positive and one negative about living in an Airstream, because no matter whose image you saw on Instagram and what they call home, if it looks perfect - there's generally a bunch of shit just out of frame. The grass is generally greener, and Instagram perpetuates that myth like nothing else ever has. Yet there are really lovely and wonderful things about living tiny and living mobile. I don't believe they always outweigh the difficulty, at least for me, but I see living this way as a willing sacrifice in order to have the things I really do want out of life: less debt, more time as a family, time to create, time to build a business, et cetera.
Positive
It takes about an hour (or two, depending on how long it's been since the last one) to do a deep clean. I'm talking scrubbing the baseboards and the smudges on all the walls and cabinetry, bleaching the grout in the bathroom, etc. Just picking up stuff takes about 5-15 minutes, depending on how messy it is. Dishes take the same amount of time, sorry to burst the illusion that it all gets faster because it's a tiny space.
Negative
It takes about five minutes for it to be a full blown disaster zone, which worsens throughout the day. And I'm not just talking stuff, I'm talking dirt and leaves and twigs and bugs and dirty dishes with food clung to them. It reminds me of Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout's house - and we all know how gross that was. That deep clean? It has to happen every single day.