subject: GYPSY! For Baby Boomers, Downsizing and Life on the Road [print this page] GYPSY! For Baby Boomers, Downsizing and Life on the Road
Affordable, too. When we are older, our families are smaller. Gone are the racing toddlers, the needy schoolkids, the teenagers spreading out like viruses in the living room. So who needs a big house with a yard?
There are lots of interesting trends these days. There is the "Tiny House Movement," in which people buy micro houses outright and give up mortgage slavery. Some of them are quite charming and innovative. There is the ever-growing trend of living full time in motorhomes. Even younger people are into this one. Some younger families are taking home and business on the road, maintaining that the motorhome is basically a sleep/work/wash place, and that much of their living is done out of doors.
One of the nice things about downsizing is that it forces you to decide what is truly important and what is not. Most often, what is truly precious to people can be fit into a box. The furniture, big screen TV's, huge stereo systems, extra sets of everything.in the end, they don't matter anywhere near as much as we thought they did. Sell them. You could use the money.
As for buying stuff, why bother with the stores? The checkout lines are all too long anyhow. Craigslist and Angieslist are what ebay used to be, and offer some incredible deals on whatever you may need. And remember, if you unite into groups, you don't need as much. Five families can manage with two grills. If one owns a circular saw, and another owns a jigsaw, and another owns a sewing machine, and another owns a sander.you get the picture.
Food: try growing some. Even if you live on the move in RV's, you can grow anything, and quite a lot of it, in grow boxes that can be set out in the daytime. You can fit enough broccoli, tomatoes, carrots, and lettuce for a twofer family into one 2x3 box.
Fuel? Insulate the small house, run the car on vegetable grease, and heat the house with a small propane tank or---if you really want to go counter culture---with manure run through a "digester."
Sounds like hippiedom? Hmmnn, maybe it is. But think for a moment, remember how cheaply we lived back then? I'm not saying it was all ice cream and roses, but we got by and few people were lonely.
This is the second part of "The Maturity Manifesto." It's one of my favorites: it's about downsizing.What a wonderful idea for retirement. And it's natural, too. It would seem to make supreme sense in the cosmos that when our families are grown, we no longer need a whole lotta stuff.
Some of the downsizers are what is known in the RV world as "full timers." These are folks who have decided to chuck the house and live in motor homes all year round. Some head for warmer climes in winter; some don't. If you set your gypsy wagon up right, you can park it anywhere. (you may need a car/truck to get through the snow, however)
In doing some research for this article, I was amazed at some of the facts I found. Specifically: there are tens of thousands of elders living full time in RV's. There are thousands of single older women living full time in RV's. There are hundreds of clubs for RV'ers, including singles clubs. There are hundreds of campsites that cater to older RVers and range from the very simple to the high end snobby. There is RV technology that would blow your mind and make your unit virtually self sustaining. Most importantly, the ethic of the road is to visit and make friends, not to be isolated in your lonely parking spot. Evening cocktails are often lively affairs.I hear some of those folks can drink.
What a concept for boomers. Uh, come to think of it, wasn't that how we started out? Everything was done in groups. We gathered in groups for marches, rallies, concerts and whatever excuse we could think of. We did not have to be lonely.
Question: what's the difference between young gypsies and old gypsies? Answer: There is no difference.
