Family ditches traditional home to live in a BUS?? & it's actually really nice!

We are a six-member family with four cats and a dog and have been traveling in our self-converted school bus for about six months. This conversion can best be described with intention. Almost everything happens here. This is our homeschooling area. This is where Glessio and I work and this is where we eat most of our meals. This is the bench from which we climb into bed and at the same time serves as a bench in the office. Oh, and for everyone who may have overlooked it, this was the most difficult part of the conversion. Let's make this house our little home. Hello, I'm Morgan. I'm Glausia. And this is our bus, the Flying Circus bus. So, we are a six-member family with four cats and a dog and have been traveling in our self-converted school bus for about six months. We have always loved to travel. With children, especially at their age, it was not exactly easy to just go on a trip like this. Between the diapers, all the clothes, the children's things and the logistics, just getting out of the house. There was always a lot to do. When he suggested the idea of ​​the bus, it was the perfect opportunity to realize our dream of traveling and at the same time to maintain our everyday life, to keep our jobs and our income and to show the children what else is out there. And we have everything we need in this twelve-meter-long bus. The conversion began in April and took about nine months. We got up at six o'clock in the morning and worked before work started. We worked until midnight. It was a lot of work for nine months. Yes, the first trip was a nine-month journey through the whole country. After our return in the first winter, we just looked at each other and said, I think we have packed up and made a plan. To pack everything together, to sell all our things, to sell the house and to try out full-time this year. That's how we started about six months ago. Many people wonder how much we spend monthly. We have found that a large part of our expenses are transferred to the expenses for a traditional home compared to the expenses for the bus. So we don't have a mortgage. Nevertheless, we spend a lot more than, for example, the normal person who just goes to work. We spend a lot on gasoline. If we move slowly and stay in one place longer, this amount is drastically reduced. We can determine the final height ourselves. As far as food is concerned, I would say, without the comfort of an Instacart right in front of the front door or a car, we spend what we have, completely, instead of buying it all the time. Otherwise, the costs are simply transferred. Hello, my name is Sophia. I am 12 years old and I like traveling and the many new places best on the bus, which we would probably never have seen otherwise. Behind me is our Bluebird TC 2000, built in 1996. It is a 40-foot bus with a Cummins 8.3 and a five-speed transmission. As far as gasoline consumption is concerned, we reach between 5 and 7 meters per gallon. I don't try to drive fast, but of course we are a big, heavy vehicle with very poor aerodynamics. So, we just do our best. We have four storage compartments on the side of the bus. Our battery bank and our electrical components are housed in these two. So we have three batteries with 280 Ah per hour at 24 volts, a total of 840 Ah per hour. Here we have a canister for our diesel heater. Underneath we have our mini split air conditioning system and propane gas and then a ladder to the roof storage space. The deck is about 8 by 12 meters in size. There we have many boxes in which we store spare parts, additional material for the bus and tools. The deck serves the view and the storage space. Now that you have seen the outside, let's go inside. So, when getting on the bus, we have some storage space for the children's shoes here. Here is the cat toilet for our four cats. They always clean everything. We wanted to keep the bus original in this corner and keep its character, but at the same time integrate a few more modern accents and furniture specially made for our needs. We have a drawer here for everyday items such as batteries and so on. Here is the main control area with our surveillance cameras and our home automation. Our battery system is completely connected here. I can check every battery and see the state of charge. We have our blinds here, which I can lower when camping to keep the sun out. Our mini storage space with a split hatch. And for everyone who may have overlooked it, this was the most difficult part of the bus construction. These are three set angles, millings and a curved piece of wood. I needed about a day for this and most people just look at it and think it's just a piece of wood. But yes, that was the most difficult part. And then we have our living room. In front we have our diesel heater. Behind the sofas there is storage space for children's books or toys. And this is not only our living room, but also a seating area for the journey. It can also be converted into a large sleeping couch. All five are detachable, so that more people can sleep if necessary. And as far as the storage space is concerned, here are the wheelchairs. On each side we have short drawers. And every child has a drawer for his personal things that he wants to collect or keep. And then we have a larger drawer here for family games, other electronics, music instruments and the like. I am Mari and 10 years old. And what I love most about the bus is traveling and just discovering. All right, now I'm going to inherit it from my wonderful wife. And she will continue. If you can describe this conversion with one word, then it is on purpose. Every decision we made during the construction had a good reason. Nothing was random. Almost everything happens here. This is our homeschooling area. This is where Glausio and I work. This is where we make and paint the children with clay. And this is where we eat most of our meals. Instead of the normal stool that we originally had, we built these tailor-made benches. Each bench has a lot of storage space inside and there is one for each child. Instead of distributing objects throughout the bus, we made sure that everything is in the same place for a certain activity and is easy to access. Every child has notebooks for homeschooling. A whiteboard. Here, too, we have to think. We are not allowed to waste paper. We don't have space in the trash can for all the paper. We are four children and use whiteboards for the homeschooling area, for many math tasks, spelling and the like. And the key to this is headphones. Every child has their own headphones. When homeschooling, they usually start at the same time, but the headphones are gradually distributed, depending on who is finished first. This helps the children to focus on their task, their lessons, and to use the small space optimally. Together with our table area, we have designed this room as a system center, so to speak. Instead of wasting space here again, we designed it especially for the children of our children. We don't have space for many books. We want them to read. This way, they can load, store and keep everything tidy and clear at the same time. Like most of us, we use Starlink for work, for the Internet, for school and for watching videos. That's why we have one here and one in the back of the bus. We use this monitor for different things. We do have a projector for film evenings, but that's not always the best time to get something out and set it up. If Glacio works and wants a double screen, he can connect his laptop, adjust the height and sit down here and work. Since we have a smaller space, we liked the original aspect of this bus window very much. That's why we decided to leave almost the entire wall with the original windows. My youngest was at school yesterday morning and said, Mom, there's a turtle. So they park here in front of the beach and go to school, but are still part of what's going on outside. And that's exactly what we want to do, to bring nature inside and vice versa. We'll be right back to our tour. But first I would like to thank EasyOptouts, the episode sponsor of this week. Sponsors enable us to create high-quality content for you. I am very grateful to EasyOptouts for sponsoring my channel. And do you know what else I appreciate? Online data protection. It's amazing how much information you can find out about yourself online. You can spend a lot of time removing your data from websites or logging out, but that's really confusing and, to be honest, not feasible for everyone. A data removal service like EasyOptouts does just that, and it's surprisingly cheap at only $20 a year. What I like about EasyOptouts, apart from the fact that it works and has a great rating, is that it's just a company with two employees. So they don't pass my data on to a group of employees. And they don't pass my data on to advertising or analysis platforms either. They focus on publicly accessible websites and don't ask for information that is not already available there. So don't worry, they don't ask for private information like your social security number. In fact, I only needed about five minutes to sign up and enter the necessary information so that I could be logged in immediately. So it's absolutely worth spending $20 to save me a lot of time and protect my online privacy. If you want to learn more about EasyOptouts, you can find a link to it in the description. But back to our tour. Our bus is about 1.80 meters high. That's enough from the floor to the ceiling. Perfect for my husband. It weighs just under 1.80 meters and can easily go through. Originally, it was an emergency exit in the bus. We love natural light. That's why we kept all these windows. Instead of closing them, we used this opening. We installed a tailor-made top light. I don't think we would change it. As far as the refrigerator is concerned, we are a six-member family, so we decided on a refrigerator from Apartmentease. We wanted something that is flammable. We can live with that for about two weeks. In addition, our storage cabinet. Here are all our dry supplies. We decided on uniform containers. These lid containers keep the food fresh and offer room for as much as possible. So I can easily see what we have to refill when. When shopping, I spend less food. The best trick we discovered? Instead of storing everything in the original packaging, we park at the parking lot when shopping. We bring our groceries through the side door, which leads directly to the kitchen, and throw away the original packaging immediately and pack everything in these containers. For garbage, we usually leave the place first. So we throw all our garbage into the garbage cans at once and only have groceries left. We used the space upstairs and built a special spice shelf. Now, let's go back to the bus kitchen. This is also about design and functionality. Four children, four cats, a dog, two adults. We have to make it work. We chose L-Shape because I like to cook so much. We have a large sink. Instead of an oven, we chose a toaster from Breville. It's big. I can cook a whole pan of lasagna in it. I can bake bread in it. I can bake a birthday cake. So it meets all my requirements, without having to make compromises when storing. We made custom-made epoxy worktops. We were looking for something in a stone look, a cheaper price and thought the lower weight was great. This plate has proven itself very well for four years. It doesn't discolor. It doesn't tear. It's easy to clean and very light. That's why it's very practical for us. That also means that I don't have to remove anything from the kitchen when driving. The plate is slip-resistant enough so that our appliances don't slip. They stay in place, no matter which street. Even in Baja California, nothing has moved. We use an electric induction hob. We pull it out to use it. When it's cooled down, it goes back into the drawer, so that the worktops stay free. Since we come from Montana, we wanted to have our water tank in the bus, to prevent freezing and reduce the risk of pipe breaks and the like. So we have a 100-gallon water tank. The front can be opened with a magnetic flap, so that we can easily see how much water is left. We fasten it with tension belts. And as Glossio already mentioned, we have small water sensors all over the bus near all water sources that are connected to our home automation system. So should there ever be a leak, we can fix it quickly and make sure that it doesn't become a bigger problem. Our water is comfortable enough for about a week, and we can extend it to two weeks if necessary. That's enough for showering, for washing dishes. This is a normal household routine for a six-member family. My name is Olivia, I'm six years old and I like everything about this bus. After we're done with the kitchen, we go down the hallway and take a look at everything. So, this is officially half of our bus. You've only seen half of it. We decided to keep the original emergency exit door. Here we load things in and out. The children have their shoes stowed in the front of the bus, and we used the vertical storage and screwed on two baskets. One for my shoes, one for Glossio's shoes. You'll see these little magnet hooks everywhere in the bus, on the outside and inside. We can hang towels here, shopping bags, whatever we need. Vertical storage. It's about creating storage space in the smallest space. Right behind me is our multifunctional closet. This is where the children sleep. And behind me is even a bedroom. But we turn around and take a look at the bathroom. We wanted to make sure with our design, that we could separate the different areas for a six-member family functionally, to sleep, work or just have time for ourselves. This bathroom door is multifunctional. When I close it like this, we separate the entire front area from the rest of the bus. Right behind me is our little bathroom. As you can see, we used up all the storage space. Here, too, we installed a Max Air fan, which also serves as lighting. It removes the condensation water when showering and provides the necessary light in the small room. The storage space is right behind the kitchen. We used the two-by-four-inch space behind it and were able to store all our toothbrushes and bathroom utensils there. Right underneath is a small sink. Behind the toilet is our run-through heater. It immediately delivers hot water, warms it up very quickly and is powered by protein. Right underneath is our compost toilet. This Glaucio toilet is made of curved wood. We opted for a compost toilet because it was easier to find a place to dispose of the compost than to dispose of the sewage. We didn't want to hit ourselves with a black water tank and not have to worry about disposing of it. Because it is so easy to use and does not produce a smell, it is perfect for our family. This is our little shower. We used real tiles on the walls and on the floor. We opted for smaller tiles because we hoped that the risk of breaking them would be less if we drove to remote areas or on bumpy roads. So far, so good. As you can see above me, we have installed a roof window to create a little more space, especially for my husband, who showers, so that it is more comfortable. And the natural light makes a small room appear much larger. Right behind us we have attached a shelf on which we can store razors and everything we need when showering. This makes the shower practical. And behind me, one of the coolest innovations in our shower. We have attached shampoo and rinsing on the wall. That made the decisive difference, because the less we have to clear away and set up on site, the more pleasant the whole thing is. That means no more shampoo bottles on the floor, nothing breaks. Everything is always there. We have had it for four years. Nothing has ever fallen down. It works great. When we come out of the bathroom, we ask ourselves the question, where do our four children sleep? In the middle area of ​​the bus we have set up bunk beds. Each bed has the length of a full-fledged mattress. So we did not design it for children, but for children aged 18. Even as adults they still fit into these mattresses. The only difference to a single bed is that it is narrower. This gives us plenty of space to walk and yet there is a comfortable place to sleep for the children. Each bed has its own LED lighting. Each bunk bed also has a shelf and another in which the children can store their personal belongings and have their own area. Although the children have their own beds, we wanted to ensure that they have their own time and their own space. One of our rules in the bus is that if the curtains are closed, you are not allowed to go inside. This is your private area. You have to relax, switch off, whatever. I made sure that the inside of the curtains consists of a softer and warmer material. So the beds stay a little warmer even in cold nights when they are closed. For each bunk bed I designed bedclothes with zippers. I wanted to make sure that in a small room there are no bed covers, blankets and pillows lying around. We made sure that every child can choose their own bedclothes. So every bed is unique. They have small blankets over it that make it comfortable and with a simple zipper in the morning even my six-year-old can make her bed problem-free. Every child has their own drawer for socks and underwear and then there is a large drawer for all their clothes. Let's turn the drawer over again. Here is our third and last drawer. Like the other one, it is provided with a lock. This gives us privacy and allows us to work back here and reduce the noise from the front. Welcome to the sleep-work area. Since we both work from home, we wanted several areas to sit and work in the bus. We have a chopping block, just like the tables in the front, with zippers that can be folded up and thus provide us with a small desk to sit and work. We have a multifunctional bench on a 227 kg heavy rail. We use this bench to get into bed and serves as a bench in the office at the same time. It is perfect for this. To store our clothes, the clothes are bigger for adults. We need a little more space to store everything. That's why we use a similar method. We have a drawer. In it we roll our clothes together. We use these small plastic containers. So everything stays tidy. One half is for me, the other for him. In this small drawer, we keep socks, underwear and something like that. If you look behind me now, you can see our bed. We have a double bed that fits in here. And just like the children, I made bed linen with zippers. Two simple zippers. The bed is ready. And we have a single blanket that comes in at the bottom. My name is Matthas and I am 17 years old. I love to travel by bus and see all the great places we visit. What do people think about us living by bus? I think it's a mixture of word madness and that's really cool. Especially in the USA. On trips, you meet retired couples who have finally given up their jobs, have saved enough and can travel together. But so many of them look at us and say, you are doing what we have been waiting for our whole lives and you are doing it now with your children. And then we hear, oh, you can only travel now. But your joints hurt. You have health problems. You know, the children are grown up, whatever. And they say, we would have done that earlier. I think that's actually the biggest resonance we get. Thanks for watching this week's episode. I hope you enjoyed it. Please like, share and subscribe to us. See you soon with another unique house tour.