Hello from Indiana!

[WarningWordWindy]

Hey there! I'm not good at intros but here' goes...The hubby & I are both born and raised Hoosier. We d9nt own a skoolie YET. We started by seeing videos on van conversions and loved it. He's handy when it comes to "old school mechanics " (not all the news have to have special computer" to fix or even diagnose vehicles) I'm good with recognizing mechanical problems via sounds and inner woodworking and believe I'd be good and l8ve the challenge of a build out! I'm also seriously ill with lupus, RA and other various autoimmune diseases that have taught me(us after nearly 30 yrs together) to be pretty adaptive and creative. Well I got sicker several years ago and that led to having to travel to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville FL several times a year. The packing and hotel living gets old real fast as does leaving our fur babies behind...enter "We should just get an Rv so we're comfortably home anyplace" ..enter the van conversions. (Always fascinated with tiny houses!) Then we saw skoolies. We KNEW in a few years when he can retire, we wanted to move into a home on wheels and travel. He has a great job with GM but issues can still arise and it did. Now we have to move ASAP and I don't want to throw everything down the drain in rent. I'm shocked at rent prices today! But since it wasn't in the plan we didn't have much disposable income. Still not a big problem until spending over $5000 in emergency vet bills. SO essentially we're having to learn really fast along with constantly watching for our "unicorn" and argh! Everything I find it it's gone by the time I show the hubby and we discuss it! We can't do a full conversion in the short time we have, we're also not able to jump because we are waiting for attorneys to argue with a "predatory lender"..a big mess. We had to move ...well we moved because we lost our 20 yr old son. He passed in the house and ...that's difficult but it was a hasty quick move. And well any of us with life experience knows where that gets you.

Sheesh...see I share way to much! OK well we're in our 50's. Me57 and the hubs 54 as of just last week. Yes. BARELY 57 okay! as I said he's worked for General Motors for forever it seems. Plus he drives over an hour to work (one way) and is sick of that. I will say I don't know if it's good or bad that we discovered this mess with our house now or later? I wish we didn't have the issue period and while this is horrible timing...at least he still has a regular income and it wasn't after he retired and we were on a reduced income but this just stinks. It currently affects our credit and while we will..should be OK I don't see not having to move...(stop rambling.) I/WE are very open to suggestions. (Although like I said on a different thread..I am sensitive) we had two children..our oldest passed in 2012 essentially from complications of a flook football Injury in 2012. And our daughter, our baby just got married last September. Just after getting her bachelor's WITH DISTINCTION from IU. (Yes I'm a proud momma ) but this old house is too big for now anyway. It's just bad timing. I'm a crafter/furniture builder...I love turning trash into treasure! Love meeting new people...and yes I'm just as windy in person once I'm comfortable with you

 

[nikitis]

Hey there! I'm not good at intros but here' goes...The hubby & I are both born and raised Hoosier. We d9nt own a skoolie YET. We started by seeing videos on van conversions and loved it. He's handy when it comes to "old school mechanics " (not all the news have to have special computer" to fix or even diagnose vehicles) I'm good with recognizing mechanical problems via sounds and inner woodworking and believe I'd be good and l8ve the challenge of a build out! I'm also seriously ill with lupus, RA and other various autoimmune diseases that have taught me(us after nearly 30 yrs together) to be pretty adaptive and creative. Well I got sicker several years ago and that led to having to travel to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville FL several times a year. The packing and hotel living gets old real fast as does leaving our fur babies behind...enter "We should just get an Rv so we're comfortably home anyplace" ..enter the van conversions. (Always fascinated with tiny houses!) Then we saw skoolies. We KNEW in a few years when he can retire, we wanted to move into a home on wheels and travel. He has a great job with GM but issues can still arise and it did. Now we have to move ASAP and I don't want to throw everything down the drain in rent. I'm shocked at rent prices today! But since it wasn't in the plan we didn't have much disposable income. Still not a big problem until spending over $5000 in emergency vet bills. SO essentially we're having to learn really fast along with constantly watching for our "unicorn" and argh! Everything I find it it's gone by the time I show the hubby and we discuss it! We can't do a full conversion in the short time we have, we're also not able to jump because we are waiting for attorneys to argue with a "predatory lender"..a big mess. We had to move ...well we moved because we lost our 20 yr old son. He passed in the house and ...that's difficult but it was a hasty quick move. And well any of us with life experience knows where that gets you.

Sheesh...see I share way to much! OK well we're in our 50's. Me57 and the hubs 54 as of just last week. Yes. BARELY 57 okay! as I said he's worked for General Motors for forever it seems. Plus he drives over an hour to work (one way) and is sick of that. I will say I don't know if it's good or bad that we discovered this mess with our house now or later? I wish we didn't have the issue period and while this is horrible timing...at least he still has a regular income and it wasn't after he retired and we were on a reduced income but this just stinks. It currently affects our credit and while we will..should be OK I don't see not having to move...(stop rambling.) I/WE are very open to suggestions. (Although like I said on a different thread..I am sensitive) we had two children..our oldest passed in 2012 essentially from complications of a flook football Injury in 2012. And our daughter, our baby just got married last September. Just after getting her bachelor's WITH DISTINCTION from IU. (Yes I'm a proud momma ) but this old house is too big for now anyway. It's just bad timing. I'm a crafter/furniture builder...I love turning trash into treasure! Love meeting new people...and yes I'm just as windy in person once I'm comfortable with you

Well welcome to the community.

You can learn anything you need to here maybe minus some of the more complicated electrical snafus you may run into, but as far as building questions go we got it.

Feel free to ask away and we can give you advice on the best route to take based on your budget.

A skoolie can basically be slept in once the seats are removed, and throw a mattress in the back and a portable Coleman stove for a kitchen and a bucket for the bathroom. Can't say it will be comfortable in the heat or extreme cold, but you could lay your head down on something with the windows cracked and live like one would in a tent but slightly more secure and mobile with less setup.

That would be the bare minimum living standard however, but paths and directions depend on budget and what you can do and how fast you can do it.

 

[Bfuller07]

Also in Indiana

New to the forum, but NW Indiana skoolie owner here. We just bought our bus, so we're still navigating the paperwork before beginning the major work. Fee free to reach out if you want to connect.