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Old 04-15-2016, 08:33 AM   #61
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Originally Posted by cadillackid View Post
its funny about "bigger is better".. when I built my house I took on the mantra that I wanted a reasonable sized house with fancy house features.. so I built a 1300 sq ft ranch with fancy house features.. "complete smart house, 3 HVAC zones, high end lighting, floors, oak windows etc".. and I sprung for a full basement and enlarged garage (I was restoring and building hotrods at the time in 2004)...

all I hear from my friends now is "your business is really taken off when are you going to buy a Bigger house??".. lol im just fine in my cool little house.. and even so am decluttering and getting rid of stuff i never use..

would i not have a good friend / roomate that depends on me for affordable, stable housing id probably move to one of those downtown Lofts...

I dont see myself living in a tiny house.. but its so easy to accumulate stuff.. stuff that you;ll never use.. or once used but refuse to get rid of because "you might need it"..

I wouldnt hurry.. you have time... your bus wasnt dreamed up in one night, and it doesnt have to be completed quickly.. in my opinion what most matters is that you enjoy and dont stress over it.. if you start to stress over it then it loses its purpose for cleansing and simplification in your life..

I quit building hotrods and going to car shows because it became a stresser and not a stress reliever... as the number of remaining classic cars becomes less and less (they dont build them anymore and people do wreck them).. the car show circuit became more cut throat and competitive... the straw that broke the camel's back was when I got completely trashed at a show for a build I thiught was quite nice... I had saved an old monte carlo from the crusher.. a car that really was headed to the junkyard. I resto-modded it.. nice big engine, A/C, digital gauges.. all the stuff it never had.. but because it had been some sort of "rare" combination when it was built, it was like committing murder to these people... so I sold the car to a very-happy buyer who was moving to miami and appreciated very much the fact I had added A/C to it... I asctually saw the car parked along ocean drive a year and a half ago when I was in South beach...

the School Bus brings back to me the stress-free building and enjoyment.. ever since I was a kid I wanted a school bus.. then I had one.. and I did nothing with it.. oh I did a beautiful custom A/C job.. BUT I was still doing hotrods.. then I started a business.. and there sat my bus.. till a garage fire burned it up...

wierd thing when that fire happened i got excited about a school bus again.. then came along a business-deal gone bad from 8 years ago... where I finally collected on what was owed me.. money I forgot existed!.. so now here i am totally excited and into the school bus thing again.. had that fire not happened?? my old bus wouldve probably still been sitting in that garage.. I forgot how much I loved busses until I spent that friday and saturday with Greg down at BGA.. crawling all over and starting up and driving busses...

the thing aboiut skoolies unlike classic-car clubs is that they dont judge you on your build, but will help you out if they see you making a mistake that could compromise your build or your safety.. everybody's bus is a different color, shape,size,design, and purpose.. some are Homes,. others Campers, yet others toy haulers, art studios and even still Busses...

so YES your dreams can and will come true and No you dont have to do it right away... take your time.. make your bus what you want.. oh that can change as you get into it.. just like when I had my house built, as the walls went up I visualized things differently.. your bus will look different as you build it than it did in your vision... thats not bad.. its good because you can alter as you go..
-Christopher
Not joking, you need to start traveling the country being a motivational/life speaker. I know many people that would benefit from this little bit of your personal experience!
PREACH IT!

...just like those anecdotes you read online about the fisherman who had enough for the day and taking a nap by the shore, then a businessman comes along, and says "why did you stop fishing?"
Fisherman says "because i have enough for the day"
B.man "but if you keep fishing, you can make more monay, eventually buy more boats, become rich like me, enjoy life!"
F.man "what do you think i'm doing right now?!?"

Sorry, i went off on a bit of a tangent...

All i'm saying is, you'll be a-okay

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Old 04-25-2016, 04:54 PM   #62
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Progress!

Cleaning out the house is going slower than I’d like, so I occasionally remind myself how much we’re moving forward. This pile is just some of the stuff we’ve decided to let go of. Every day the pile grows bigger, and we are that much closer to liberation from the trap of excess consumerism.

My husband and I have been surprised at how easy it had been to let go of this extra stuff. We honestly expected it to be a lot more stressful, and that we might get snippy with each other, but so far, that just hasn’t happened. (Maybe I should knock on my wooden desk as I type this!) The toughest items to put in the pile have been the gifts we’ve received over the years - we know they were given in love, and I can’t help but feel a little guilty getting rid of them. I keep reminding myself that the thing isn’t the sentiment, and that the person who gave the gift would rather us feel happiness than guilt.

And so, my friends, we keep moving forward…
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Old 04-25-2016, 04:54 PM   #63
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P.S. Don't mind the pollen, that's just Spring in Georgia! :P
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Old 04-25-2016, 08:51 PM   #64
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Well hey, that pile in the garage looks like everything you're going to need clear through Christmas.

I do know the feeling. It took me several weeks to get the stuff I wanted to keep in the bus, and for the past three months I keep shucking stuff. If I don't use it for some purpose, it goes. There is sentimental stuff from when the kids were small and that's kind of hard to let go of, so it's a good thing I've still got bus #4 to off load the sentimental stuff. Yeah, I know that's cheating.
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Old 04-25-2016, 09:07 PM   #65
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Haha, we're wondering how big of a fleet we're going to need! After much consideration, my husband decided that he doesn't want to get a storage unit after all, so this might just be the tip of the iceberg. He figures we can get the sentimental stuff down to 1 box each, then get rid of everything but necessities. I'm somehow doubt we'll end up being quite that spartan, but I appreciate his enthusiasm.
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Old 04-25-2016, 09:58 PM   #66
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What I did was move into the bus. Set up a kitchen, TV, fridge, a couple 5 drawer file cabinets, wood stove, craftmatic (not good for storage underneath), a couple 55 gallon plastic drums of spring water and a couple of those chrome kitchen racks with wheels. I am parked 30 feet from the back door of my house and as I need to use things they become part of the bus. Anything I have in this bus but don't seem to use gets put into another bus or back into the house for storage.
You're doing something different because you're actually getting rid of stuff right now. I'll have to do that too at some point. It is hard when you remember how you got those possessions, but people that die spend their lives safeguarding those possessions just for them to end up at Goodwill. I'm not good at selling stuff so when I find someone that wants something I just give it to them. It becomes their anchor.
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Old 04-25-2016, 10:49 PM   #67
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That sounds like a smart idea! Our situation is a little weird, though. We are trying to clean out the house so that we can stage it all pretty and put it on the market to sell, and THEN I can head off halfway across the country to go work on the bus, so our current plan is something like:

- Declutter at least 50% of our stuff
- Fix up the house so that it's show-ready (using our existing furniture to stage it)
- Put the house on the market this summer
- Order gets a little vague here, but we plan to pack up the stuff we think we will actually use day to day, and basically live like we're staying in a hotel. Once the house sells, we will get rid of everything else (wave 2 of decluttering)
- Hubby and older daughter will move into an apartment or friend's house (still working that out) while younger daughter and I head up to my mom's house in Ohio. We might do this before selling the house if we find it too hard to keep it show-ready while living in it.
- I will either buy a bus once I get to Ohio, or possibly get my CDL and buy a bus down here and drive it up to Ohio. (My mom doesn't want me to sell some of the things I was planning to sell, like my guitars, and I'm not selling stuff like my grandmother's china or my great-grandmother's cedar chest, or the silver that my great aunt left me... I somehow ended up with most of the family heirlooms.) Anyhow, she said I can store all of that sort of thing at her house, but I need some way to get it up there.
- I work on the bus with some help from my stepdad and stepbrothers (who are awesome!) while my husband keeps making lots of money. Selling the house should pay off our debts, and rent on a smaller place will be significantly less than our current mortgage payment, so we should be able to bank a decent chunk of change over the next year.
- When the bus is converted, I drive it back down to Georgia and we move in. (yay!)
- Enjoy my daughter's graduation, and set off on adventure!

That's the best we've come up with, anyway... we're sort of figuring it out as we go.
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Old 04-25-2016, 11:06 PM   #68
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Yeah, plans often change like the wind. I moved around a lot in the military and I've had most of my things ripped off in the past so I don't have much left except junk stuff. It's easy to get rid of things you don't feel connected to. I don't understand how you guys are going through the process of giving things up twice.
You'll make it and you'll have some major memories from doing this.
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Old 04-26-2016, 09:57 AM   #69
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Originally Posted by mysty View Post
That sounds like a smart idea! Our situation is a little weird, though. We are trying to clean out the house so that we can stage it all pretty and put it on the market to sell, and THEN I can head off halfway across the country to go work on the bus, so our current plan is something like:

- Declutter at least 50% of our stuff
- Fix up the house so that it's show-ready (using our existing furniture to stage it)
- Put the house on the market this summer
- Order gets a little vague here, but we plan to pack up the stuff we think we will actually use day to day, and basically live like we're staying in a hotel. Once the house sells, we will get rid of everything else (wave 2 of decluttering)
- Hubby and older daughter will move into an apartment or friend's house (still working that out) while younger daughter and I head up to my mom's house in Ohio. We might do this before selling the house if we find it too hard to keep it show-ready while living in it.
- I will either buy a bus once I get to Ohio, or possibly get my CDL and buy a bus down here and drive it up to Ohio. (My mom doesn't want me to sell some of the things I was planning to sell, like my guitars, and I'm not selling stuff like my grandmother's china or my great-grandmother's cedar chest, or the silver that my great aunt left me... I somehow ended up with most of the family heirlooms.) Anyhow, she said I can store all of that sort of thing at her house, but I need some way to get it up there.
- I work on the bus with some help from my stepdad and stepbrothers (who are awesome!) while my husband keeps making lots of money. Selling the house should pay off our debts, and rent on a smaller place will be significantly less than our current mortgage payment, so we should be able to bank a decent chunk of change over the next year.
- When the bus is converted, I drive it back down to Georgia and we move in. (yay!)
- Enjoy my daughter's graduation, and set off on adventure!

That's the best we've come up with, anyway... we're sort of figuring it out as we go.

Consider including some or all of the staged furniture in the house sale. Often this may sway the person considering your house to buy, often at a higher price than they would normally offer. They often need furniture too so it's a win-win situation!
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Old 04-26-2016, 10:01 AM   #70
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If we can find a buyer who wants the furniture too, I am all for it!
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Old 04-26-2016, 10:06 AM   #71
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I would more likely buy a bus down south and drive it up north to ohio as you are much more likely to find a bus that has less rust issues down south than you are in ohio..

I live here and see the way MANY busses look after as few years.. I got Crazy lucky / (unlucky?) in that my bus originally came from ohio.. but ended up in florida for sale.. so I'll drive it back to its home.. LOL.. but ohio is not a kind state to the bodies of busses..

that said, Ohio *IS* a good place t ofind Mechanically sound busses as the inspections here to run school busses are some of the Toughest , so busses with very recent inspection stickers are probably in pretty decent shape running-wise..

once you get a bus here, its pretty easy to title / register it as an RV.. (bed..frig..cook(micro is fine)..table) and thats all thats required.. no plumbing required..

if its under 26,000 GVWR and has less than 16 Seating positions you can believe it or not register it as a car / van.. then no CDL required. No CDL required in ohio on an RV either.. even with air-brakes.. (at least thats what I did with the last one)...

-Christopher
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Old 04-26-2016, 10:18 AM   #72
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My stepdad said he sees them everywhere up there, and that no one bothers to get a CDL. They seem to be a little more picky about that down here in Georgia, though. Several of the Craigslist ads I've looked at state that you must have a CDL to test drive the bus. If I can find one already titled as an RV, I can probably avoid it, but those are few and far between.

I do have a couple of friends with CDLs, so I was hoping I could maybe persuade one of them to come with me to test drive it, and then accompany me to the DDS to take my road test if I end up buying down here. Buses do tend to cost a little more down here, but I haven't been able to truly compare the condition of those buses, since I'm not seriously shopping yet - just doing a little research while getting the house ready to sell. If I go shopping up there, I will take my stepdad with me to help inspect before I buy.
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Old 04-26-2016, 10:36 AM   #73
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mysty View Post
My stepdad said he sees them everywhere up there, and that no one bothers to get a CDL. They seem to be a little more picky about that down here in Georgia, though. Several of the Craigslist ads I've looked at state that you must have a CDL to test drive the bus. If I can find one already titled as an RV, I can probably avoid it, but those are few and far between.

I do have a couple of friends with CDLs, so I was hoping I could maybe persuade one of them to come with me to test drive it, and then accompany me to the DDS to take my road test if I end up buying down here. Buses do tend to cost a little more down here, but I haven't been able to truly compare the condition of those buses, since I'm not seriously shopping yet - just doing a little research while getting the house ready to sell. If I go shopping up there, I will take my stepdad with me to help inspect before I buy.
I tend to over-think things.. and was freaking over a lot of this stuff at one point.. but yeah there are schoolies Everywhere up here.. many of them still yellow and they arent supposed to be.. go to any ohio state buckeyes game and plenty of busses titled as RV's still with all their seats and just black rattle can over the word "school" and "stop" and the beacons...

im siure its like anywhere.. IF you get stopped and the officer wants to be serious about it you can get in trouble.. but my guess is as long as you arent driving recklessly or parking your bus where it shouldnt be or treast the officer like crap, you will probably be fine.. but thats just an Opinion.. not fact...

no one ever said a word or stopped me or questioned that my last bus was registered as a passenger car / van .. DOT never gave me a second look even parked at rest areas.. I also didnt drive that bus near as much as I plan to drive this one..

-Christopher
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Old 04-26-2016, 11:02 AM   #74
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It can all be a little overwhelming at the start, that's for sure! I am trying to make sure I cover my... umm... bases. ;)

That said, you're probably correct - it's unlikely I would get stopped and hassled about it while on the road. I do, however, have a few persnickety neighbors who seem to have nothing better to do than spy on the neighborhood looking for things to complain about. We've had the compliance office called on us for "litter" in our fenced in backyard after a storm blew a tree down and we didn't have it chopped up and cleared within a week - over the Thanksgiving holiday, when the weather decided to send Georgia some sleet. The officer was as nice as could be, totally understood, and we were not cited. However, it was still vexing to know that someone was petty enough to call over such a thing in the first place.

Another neighbor got a visit from a compliance officer just this year when they bought a new camper. They had planned on laying a nice gravel parking area for it, but the officer was kind enough to let them know that such measures weren't necessary, so guess what camper is now sitting proudly on its code compliant pavers? ;)

I'm sure the moment a bus shows up in my driveway, I can expect a visit from my friendly neighborhood compliance officer, and I'd like to make sure all my ducks are in a row, you know?
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Old 04-26-2016, 11:06 AM   #75
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Of course, if we sell the house as intended, the bus would end up parked at a storage facility anyway, so uppity neighbors become a moot point!
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Old 04-26-2016, 11:32 AM   #76
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mysty View Post
Of course, if we sell the house as intended, the bus would end up parked at a storage facility anyway, so uppity neighbors become a moot point!

my neighbors never gave a care about me bringing a bus home previously.. however the HOA Nazis did..

stating no commercial vehicles actively being "used" (ie delivery truck delivering).. or RV's were to be parked on the streets or driveway...

until I brought up the fact everyone else was doing it.. including the nice shiny SWAT van brought home each night by the officer... and the statute should apply to EVERYONE... including the nice man who just fixed her garage door late at night because his truck was there...

not a word was ever said about my Bus ever again.. though I didnt leave it there long periods of time.. i had a storage spot for it.. but the storage place made it clear that anything more than washing / cleaning and general startup / shutdown work was NOT to be done on premises..

-Christopher
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Old 04-26-2016, 12:38 PM   #77
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Ten years ago when I was living in the city I had a nasty neighbor who's mother worked at the Police station. If I parked on the street and opened the hood or any vehicle she would have a code enforcement officer there within 20 minutes. That was often motivation to work quickly. If you're legal, insurance and tags, there isn't much they can do about a privately owned bus or any other vehicle. I did have a little trouble when I had two buses in town. It turned out my x-wife was also calling the code enforcement about me while we were still married.
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Old 04-30-2016, 10:01 PM   #78
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Today I drove to Gainesville to meet up with some friends who are truck drivers for a living (they were a husband and wife team, although she recently retired and he only drives regionally now). I got to ask all sorts of questions about engines, transmissions, maintenance, and life on the road. He showed me the insides of a couple different trucks so I could see all the different parts and what sort of things to look for when inspecting a bus. He also gave me the book he used to study for his CDL complete with highlighting and notes, and told me what phrases to memorize if I decide to take the exam. (Never say something is "ok" - the instructor wants to hear that things are securely attached and appear to be in good condition.)

I was expecting to be a little intimidated by all the stuff to check out, but it actually was pretty straightforward. He confirmed a lot of things I'd already read online (mostly thanks to you guys!) and it was good to see a few engines in person. I also learned that the big trucks use Diesel Exhaust Fluid - DEF for short - to make the exhaust cleaner. This is not something I'd read about in buses, but it may be because most of the buses I've seen converted are older and it's still a relatively new technology. Do any of you have a DEF tank on your bus? He also showed me the air compressors and explained that condensation builds up inside of them and needs to be drained periodically. (There was a little drainage valve on the compressor, so it's pretty simple to do.) That was also news to me. Overall, I'm feeling a little more confident now.
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Old 04-30-2016, 10:04 PM   #79
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cadillackid View Post
I would more likely buy a bus down south and drive it up north to ohio as you are much more likely to find a bus that has less rust issues down south than you are in ohio..

I live here and see the way MANY busses look after as few years.. I got Crazy lucky / (unlucky?) in that my bus originally came from ohio.. but ended up in florida for sale.. so I'll drive it back to its home.. LOL.. but ohio is not a kind state to the bodies of busses..

that said, Ohio *IS* a good place t ofind Mechanically sound busses as the inspections here to run school busses are some of the Toughest , so busses with very recent inspection stickers are probably in pretty decent shape running-wise..

once you get a bus here, its pretty easy to title / register it as an RV.. (bed..frig..cook(micro is fine)..table) and thats all thats required.. no plumbing required..

if its under 26,000 GVWR and has less than 16 Seating positions you can believe it or not register it as a car / van.. then no CDL required. No CDL required in ohio on an RV either.. even with air-brakes.. (at least thats what I did with the last one)...

-Christopher
I still find it crazy that you bought a bus all the way down here, but its an ohio bus!
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Old 06-06-2016, 02:55 PM   #80
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It's been over a month since I checked in, so I figured it would be good to post an update - we are STILL decluttering. I'm pretty sure we have gotten rid of at least a bus-load of stuff already. (I'd estimate about half of our possessions, not counting the furniture.) It's liberating to get rid of so much stuff, but my goodness, there's a lot of it! Surprisingly, my extended family are having a harder time with this than we are - my aunt keeps threatening to drive down to Georgia to collect all the stuff we're getting rid of, and my mom keeps telling me things I'm not allowed to get rid of (she did offer to let me keep them at her house if necessary.)

A friend mentioned a charity called "Foster Cares" that takes toys and children's items and gives them to families with foster children. My younger daughter is now super eager to give her toys away, and my older daughter has already finished cleaning out her room. (She is travelling most of the summer, so worked extra hard to get it done before she left!) I'm so proud of both of them!

I'd really like to start looking for our bus within the next month, but I've promised my husband I'll wait until we get the house on the market. We are working day and night to get it "show ready" so we can list it.

Seeing pictures of all of the conversions here is helping us stay motivated. We can't wait to start our own conversion thread! Thanks again for all of the encouragement and inspiration!
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