Living Debt Free in a Used Mobile Home

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We’re choosing to renovate a double wide mobile home in order to live a debt free life. Come see the before photos and learn why we decided to go this route!

If you’ve ever wondered if a renovating a used mobile home could work for your family who desires to be debt free, sign up for our email list so you can follow along with our renovation!

Our journey of living in a mobile home started because of a desire to live debt free and has since blossomed into a desire for an overall simpler way of living.

You see, I’m not content with the typical “American dream” lifestyle – the one that seems to be based around financial success and material possessions.

Well, at least not anymore.

There was absolutely a time that I was okay with it. I can’t pin-point the exact moment it changed. But it was somewhere after having children. I realized I don’t like the fact that “stuff” is determining my life choices.

And so, we decided to change it…

The Decision to Sell Our House

Back in 2020, we chose to sell our house. It was a beautiful brick home that my husband and I had built several years prior. It sat on a couple of acres with a nice shop in a quiet neighborhood.

It really was a beautiful property, and I am so thankful that my family was able to occupy it while we did.

double wide kitchen area with brown cabinets, green counters, and yellow walls
View of kitchen area before the remodel. Yes, it is THAT yellow 🙂

But once we decided that we wanted to be debt free, we had 2 options:

We could work really hard and live really frugally to get everything paid off as soon as possible.

My husband could work overtime. We would hustle until we could get it all paid off. And all it would cost us is several years of working long hours and we could keep our house.

OR

We could let it go.

We could sell the beautiful house that we brought our babies home to, take our equity and find something we could buy for cash. We could start looking for land that would allow us to pursue homesteading (another dream of mine). My husband wouldn’t have to continually work overtime, and we could enjoy these years together as a family – without the burden of debt lingering over us.

Based on the title of this post, you already know what we went with.

The First Mobile Home Purchase

We took our equity from our home sale and bought a used Clayton single wide mobile home for cash. We found the home on Facebook Marketplace. The single wide was in excellent condition and allowed us to move right into it.

We were fortunate enough to be able to place it on family land until we found land of our own. During that time, we paid off all other forms of debt – mostly by selling the assets attached to them. My husband opted to “downgrade” his vehicle and purchased a reliable older model that gets the job done.

Sheetrock repair work in the living area.

We also sold some things that we owned outright.

The proceeds from selling those items went into savings to go towards our land purchase.

Since we were debt free, we were able to save more and more of our monthly income (which was cut in half because I decided I wanted to be home with my children during this time).

But even with the lower income, we had no debt, so our monthly living expenses were low.

The “Homestead” Mobile Home

Fast forward to now – 2022 – and we have purchased land and been working on getting it ready to live on. Bit by bit, we pay for land clearing and utility hookups.

And we’ve purchased another mobile home for cash. Again, we found it for sale on Facebook Marketplace.

This time, it is a 20-year-old double-wide that needs some TLC. Structurally, it is sound – has a new roof, solid floors and walls. But cosmetically, it needs some love to make it feel like “home”.

Afterall, it is 20 years old, so it is dated. There are also some spots on the ceilings that need repair due to roof damage during a hurricane.

master bathroom with ceiling ripped out
This is in the master bathroom. The ceiling had damage from a hurricane, so the sheetrock had to be replaced here.

Little by little we will be renovating it. First, starting with having the popcorn ceilings removed and the walls textured and painted (bye-bye little strips on the walls that are so common to old mobile homes).

I’ll be documenting our renovations and DIY projects on the mobile home on this blog.

My hope in sharing all of this is that it will be an encouragement to someone who is desiring a simpler life and is looking for options.

MORE MOBILE HOME RENOVATION POSTS

DIY Mobile Home Remodel on a Budget (Part Two)

How to Update Your Bathroom Light Fixture with Spray Paint

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Thanks for stopping by and I’ll hope you’ll follow along with our journey!

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