Researching how to create a skoolie of our own has been challenging and rewarding so far. In the process of looking for buses, solar panels, plumbing options, and appliances, we have learned so much about SO many things. Sometimes, unfamiliar waters, like diesel mechanics for instance, can be intimidating, but we continue to read and push ourselves to be productive and learn about new things everyday that we will incorporate into the bus.

   Sites like Skoolie.net have been extremely helpful to our research, but at times can be even more confusing. Members create threads asking for simple advice about how to build something, which appliances work best, or how much something costs and before you know it, it’s a full-blown debate with no real conclusion. We didn’t expect for the information to be handed to us, but we also didn’t expect this much disorganization. So we decided that we would create a platform for our viewers who are interested in building their own skoolie to explain in detail exactly what we’re doing to our bus, how we’re doing it, how much it costs, and how long it will  take.

   Something that we noticed almost no one did was draw an actual floor plan. Perhaps they were flow-goers and didn’t feel like they needed one, but we are extremely organized people who need a solid plan to work from. Taping the floors in the outline of furniture a few days before building was not going to cut it for us. We had to draw a real blueprint of all of the features in the bus and agree on them before we bought the bus for our own sanity. (or insanity?)

   We designed the floor plan to our bus based on our typical movements and daily activities at home. Being aware of our subconscious movements like where I throw my purse when I get home or where Jake feels comfortable kicking off his shoes has really implemented some personal touches to our plan and is making it more than just an arrangement of furniture.

   This is also been a huge part of our minimizing goals and shedding things we don’t need for the purpose of fitting everything into the bus. When we moved here, we had already reduced our material possessions by about 75%. Now that we’ve been in New Jersey for over 7 months, we realize that there are still stacks of boxes in the basement that we brought with us that we haven’t had to open or take anything out of. We’ll have to review those items again and decide what we really don’t need for bus life. You can read some more about minimalism and what it means to us as well as some helpful tips on how to start letting go of your stuff in our other post.

   Our floor plan also incorporates cat-centric pieces so that our kitties have a happy and functional life on the bus, too. We plan to build a catwalk in some areas so that the cats can sit above us and have the vantage point they instinctively desire. We’re also incorporating their litter box into an area of the bathroom so that the vents function to clean the air in their bathroom, too; it’s only fair.

   We want to share all of the details of our build with you and now that the winter weather is impeding on our outdoor productivity, we can produce more blog content, how-to videos, floor plan designs, and expense reports as our conversion remains paused.

   We hope that we can fill a void when it comes to finding some concrete answers about what people are doing with their skoolies. It’s easy to get discouraged when you’re a planner and you can’t find the answers you need to make said plan. If anyone can relate to that and are having doubts or hesitations about pursuing the skoolie life, we hope that we can ease your worry at least a little.