Welcome back! Its another wonderful Monday morning and the beginning of another work week… Have I ever mentioned that I can’t wait to get off the rat wheel?

 

   I noticed an interesting thing over the weekend, preppernation.com has past its first milestone, 10,000 page views. We are at the 2 month mark and 10,000 views both in the same weekend. I say milestone more for me than the site as this is a new endeavor for me andto have literally 1000′s of folks interested in what I write about is kindof cool! The emails that I have been receiving are for the most part kind and encouraging, thank you! I will continue to try to improve the site and keep you all interested.

 

   I would like to ask all of you to keep helping me spread the word about preppernation. Also, please keep the feedback coming, when I see a trend in the questions or comments I can use these to make adjustments and even add content that will benefit all of us!

 

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   Like I said, when I get multiple emails asking about something specific I will try to accommodate you with an answer publicly so others that want to know get the benefit as well.

 

   A number of folks have asked about the interior of the mobile home, so I thought I would share a few photos and describe it the best I can… First, it is a home manufactured by Fleetwood and is the Barrington model… As far as I can tell this particular model has a unique floor plan. The way the kitchen is setup, kind of divided off from the living room with a built in bookshelf on the living room side. Also, the bedroom’s are at opposite ends of the house. This is a nice feature but I think the homes with bedrooms all at one endare a little more efficient. Either way this home is what we found that met our quality criteria.

 

   The home is what’s referred to as a 14×70, that is 14 feet wide by 70 feet long. It sounds so strange to hear it described this way? It seems like with those dimensions it would have to feel like living in a long skinny tube. It really is quite homey and more than comfortable enough on the inside. As you can see in the photos we have a good sized sectional couch that maximizes seating capacity in the living room but doesn’t mess up the scale of the room either. Its not like there are more than 3-4 people at a time using the place but it’s nice to have more than enough capacity if we were to need it!

 

   At 14×70, we have just under 1000 square feet. 2 bedrooms and 2 full baths. As you can see in the photos, the kitchen and living room are adequate but no dining area to speak of… We have the laundry area in the hall way just inside the back door. There is more than enough space for a full sized washer and dryer, Mrs. Prepperwas quite happy to have these. That sounds kind of sexist but she really is happy to have em, just ask her!

 

 

The bedrooms could have been done more efficiently but hey there’s two of them and that fits our minimum requirements. The inefficiency is in the size disparity. The master bedroom is very roomy but the 2nd bedroom is overly small. So small that it would be nearly impossible to have even a full sized bed in there without it being pushed into a corner and the whole room feeling claustrophobic. We haven’t come to a conclusion with how to have that room permanently setup yet, so we just have a full sized futon in there now. I haven’t personally slept on it but the folks that have thought it was adequate. Time will tell, maybe some bunk beds or a Murphy bed, so we can close it up during the day and have more space.

 

   The master bedroom isn’t what I would call a master suite by any means but is plenty large enough to accommodate a king size bed, a dresser or two and still have room for a couple chairs or a couch. There is also a walk in closet, not a large one but a walk in none the less. It probably measures 6×6 and is more than enough for us at the moment.

 

   As I was saying there are two full baths. The smaller bathroom is directly outside the 2nd bedroom. Between the bedroom and living room, it has all the fixtures but not alot of elbow room. The master bathroom is much larger. It doesn’t have the jetted bathtub but it does have what’s referred to as a soaking tub. Its much bigger than the standard home sized tub. Now, I have yet to try it out myself but have heard on good authority that it’s real nice and roomy. There’s also a large closet opposite the tub, we use it for all kinds of stuff. Plenty of room for the linens and blankets as well as cleaning supplies and the vacuum cleaner.

 

   As I’m sure you can all tell, I like this place real well. It isn’t perfect but it is a far cry better than just a place to get out of the weather. I also want to, reiterate that this is my first and could be my last mobile home. I have owned and lived in traditional stick built construction all of my life. Its with this stick built background that I make my comparisons. I haven’t yet found anything about this structure that I’m uncomfortable about or thats much different than other homes I’ve owned.

 

   There are a number of upgrades that I would want to complete at some time in the future. The kitchen and bathroom cabinets are of the lowest quality and even though they are still quite serviceable will need to be replaced as soon as they make the top of the to do list. The interior walls are only 2 1/2 inches thick but you have to really look to even notice, really only possible to see when examining the interior doorjambs. I will want to upgrade the doors from the plane jane stock ones to something more substantial and aesthetically pleasing when I get that far down the list as well. Lots to do but nothing that’s critical or even sub standard in anyway that matters much.

 

   So now you’ve seen it inside and out. I’ll keep on top of sharing the changes and improvements we make as they’re completed. Unless you have something against living in a modern, clean and most importantly, paid for home, I highly encourage you to expand your thinking on houses and see what benefits you might have with one of these little golden nuggets…

 

Prepper