Hmmm, maybe this calls for a new thread, LOL!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brandy, you have my sympathy for going through Katrina and living in a trailer - it must be so hard, I can't even imagine.

My situation is different to yours, but there is something in common in the sense of transience. Being in the army we move all the time, sometimes it can be a very short posting - we had several one year and 18 month postings - and you spend the first couple of months settlings in and the last six anticipating the move, and then the last couple preparing to move. You aren't supposed to paint or put holes in the walls, and most of the time the gardens aren't well cared for - we keep it maintained - grass green, shrubs trimmed - but that's about it. So it never really feels like home. 

So what I've learned as an army wife is that it is possible to spend your whole life living out of the boxes and dreaming about the 'one day' when you will finally own your own home. A day which might not be until you retire! So you really need to live for today. Make your home in the here-and-now, however humble that might be, while saving for a better future. So your thoughts about having to make the best of it are very good ones. Any small things you can do to make it feel more like home will help, and it sounds like you're already doing that.

We lived in a small 'townhouse' for four years (I thought it was going to be a short posting.....) and I found it really difficult, even with separate rooms for the kids. Decluttering is important though I'm guessing you don't have enough stuff to have clutter, but also, there is a certain amount of stuff that you need to have... so finding some effective storage solutions is important. Using wall space - vertical storage - is great - though in a trailer I expect that is pretty limited too.  I liked the suggestion someone made about having 'multiple use' items rather than single-use items. Great idea.

Colour is important. I painted my daughter's room knowing that I'll have to repaint it when I leave - it makes such a huge difference to have some colour on the walls.  What is your colour scheme like, and the fittings in the space? Good use of colour - can lessen the impact of things like cupboards intruding into a tight space.

It sounds like we have some similarities, certainly. And it doesn't take long to accumulate stuff and clutter.

Let me see if I can describe "my home", lol. We have a travel trailer on loan and an older RV. The RV had three people living in it but they moved out in Jan so we expanded our space into it. They are almost end to end in how they are set up.

The TT is one with a bedroom on one end, the kitchen and living space in the middle with a slide out to enlarge the space, then there is an open bunk area and the bathroom on the end. It actually has some nice touches with the interior which is done in a grey-blue and tan with some splashes of burgundy. I have been able to shove a metal shelving unit (the faux wrought iron stuff) next to the couch and across from that on the kitchen side, I got a plastic black shelving unit for additional food storage.

The RV is more narrow than the TT and is very much like a tiny shotgun house. There is living area on one end with two comfy captain's chairs. The kitchen and bathroom (neither functioning at the moment) are lined up with a hall that leads to the bedroom. It's an older RV with the old wood paneling, real wood cabinet doors and real wood for the dining benches. The upholstery is plaid, burgundy, tan and green. There are several mirrors about that add a nice touch and real leather on the dash board and driver side door.

When we decided how to make use of the RV to help with ridiculous living in the TT, we thought long and hard on how to spread out. My kids, a 16 year old girl, a 12 year old boy and a 3 year old girl have slept and lived in the same room for two years. Let me just say that this has not brought us together as a family...my kids who were once very close can not stand to be together, my 16 year old was social and warm at one time hates to be touched now and has trouble being around people and in small spaces. So we decided to move ourselves into the RV's bedroom, ou oldesr daughter has her own room with the bedroom in the TT, I turned the table in the RV into a princess's chamber for our little one and my son has the bunk area of the TT. We cook, eat and use the bathroom of the TT while the RV  has the TV and computers.

 

   

How much room do you have for setting things up? 

Would it be possible to set them up in an "L" shape and make a courtyard?

Maybe some fencing on the two open sides?  Some lattice work and some fast growing vines?

A fire pit in the middle? 

What is the weather like there?  Is it at all conducive to outdoor living?

Do you own these?  Paneling can be painted over, I'd recommend  melamine paint, but if it's out of your budget just give the paneling a good scrubbing with tsp, and a scotbrite type pad.  Check the lumberyards and paint stores for mistints, these often can be gotten quite cheap, and a small space doesn't take much paint.  Let your daughter pick out the colours, and do the work herself to help her make the space hers (help her of course, but make it clear to her that this is her project and your just there to help her, and if you don't approve of her colour  choices... just shut up about it and keep the door closed so you don't have to look at it)

We own the RV but not the travel trailer. I wish we had been able to set it up in an L shape but it's a thought toward the future.

I like the idea of the lattice, I am tucking that one away for now. Thank you.

 

 

 

 

 

Hope for some still in temp housing in Ms..we all hope it's hope anyway:

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2007/04/10/78592.htm

 

 For those who have followed the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast. I just finished going over a more than 20 page lay out of plans I found online for this. The homes look like the Katrina Cottage. Really nice looking from the drawings and plans. They are showing a porch and shutters so they will fit into southern neighborhoods and not look like TTs or mobile homes.

 

What a great opportunity that might be!  I've been praying for you daily, since I heard your situation, that you be able to find a less temporary home.  G-d bless you.

If housing was more available and in line with incomes here, it would help many people. I'll post if I find out more.

 

 

 

Brandy,

Not being from the States but from Europe I'm flabbergasted about what happened before, during and after Katrina and how it is handled. I feel so very sorry for you and for all those people who still don't have a house of their own. It's hard to believe how this is possible in a rich country like the USA! I can not imagine that after such a disaster your government is not taking better care of it's people. I would be furious!

In the fifty's, when my father was a young man, there was a big flood in the Netherlands when the levees broke. More than 900 people died. But I heard that within a year everybody was back in their houses or replacement houses. Within a year people that visited this part couldn't tell what had happened a year before. The army, volunteers and inhabitants cleaned the area and started rebuilding everything. The government decided that such a disaster could never happen ever again and started the most expensive project ever in the Netherlands: the building of an enormous system of dams, locks, dykes etc called the Delta Works.

In 1956 they thought it would cost 1.7 billion dollar, but when the works were finished in 1986 it had gone up to 6 billion dollar. Especially because our country was still rebuilding the damage of WWII this was an enourmous investment for every citizen in our country. But worth every penny! Nowadays that part of our country is save. But even now, more than 50 years later, it is difficult for the people who survived it, they don't like to talk about it and it the impact is still felt. I have always lived on the bottom of a lake, which is milled dry. But hearing the stories when I was a kid always scared me. I asked for an inflatable boat every birthday, but never got one!

I hope you will soon have a lovely house, and that you and your family will feel better soon and all will just be a distant memory.

Eurostretcher, I can't say I am pleased either but rebuilding isn't only the federal government's responsibility. The state and even the towns have control over areas too and don't seem to be progressing quickly at all. So it's a mess all around.

 Many people are looking at smaller homes to replace the larger ones they had or completely on new properties for them. Smaller homes are quicker to build and are running cheaper to build as well. But I still have trouble seeing many options as affordable or good deals when I still struggle with comparing prices to pre-storm housing.