While living in an RV with four kids might sound like most people’s worst nightmare, blogger and entrepreneur Allie Casazza, a mom of four from Ocean Side, CA, sees it as a dream come true.
Casazza, 29, is a minimalist expert and business owner who, along with her husband Brian, 30, recently purchased and renovated a camper for their family.
Casazza, whose four children are 8, 6, 4, and 2, became a household name after going viral five years ago by throwing out her children’s toys — almost every single one of them. She proclaimed that the move was one that saved both her enjoyment of motherhood and her marriage.
At the time, she and her family were living in a big house. She was a stay-at-home mom who had just given birth to her third child, and her husband was working 90+ hours a week at work.
Feeling as if she was drowning in stuff, Casazza tells Babble:
“All I did was clean and and change diapers and I was like, ”I hate it, this sucks.’ I basically just set out to find a way that it wasn’t just about cleaning and picking up and not yelling [at them to] go play so I could catch up.”
As a mom of four myself, Casazza has just described my life.
But instead of just accepting this as the reality of having a bunch of little kids, Casazza set out to change things. And in the process, she changed her entire life.
That initial move prompted her journey into minimalism; launching her brand, Purposeful Housewives, a podcast, website, eBook, and an online course on how to declutter.
Since taking her first baby steps into the world of simple living, the demand for Casazza’s expertise as a self-proclaimed “intentional living coach for moms” has exploded. In fact, business has been so good that she has since employed her husband on a full-time basis, and has a book deal and a potential TV show in the works.
To her, minimalism is not about following a strict set of rules or guidelines. Rather, it’s about getting real and addressing the degree to which “our stuff” affects the way we live.
“It’s about getting rid of all the excess stuff that takes up our time and is sort of taking the power from us,” she explains. “What takes up your space takes up your time, and so we should be very intentional about what we choose to allow. What’s the purpose for each item in your home, why are you giving it space and power? Why are you letting it take away time from your kids? It’s more about the intent behind each item.”
So, with the benefits of simple living laid out so clearly to her, where’s this minimalism mama to go next?
To an RV, of course.
Casazza says that because both she and her husband did not travel a lot as kids, one of their priorities as a couple has always been to live an adventurous life seeing new places.
After experiencing a miserable move from their home state of California to northwest Arkansas to pursue a job for Brian, the couple decided to get serious about making their own business successful so they could change their lives in ways that made more sense to them.
At that point, they bought and renovated an old camper, and have spent the last two-and-a-half months living in it full-time with their kids. All while homeschooling their children and running a business from the 25-foot RV that doesn’t slide-out.
For Casazza, the day begins bright and early. Her and her husband wake up between 4:30 and 5 AM so they can get their work done before the kids wake up. Then it’s time for breakfast and school outside on the picnic table. While the rest of the day is spent exploring, once evening hits, it’s back home to grill for dinner. The family usually enjoys a post-dinner walk on the beach as their current location is a luxury beachside RV resort, so they are right on the ocean. The kids then get ready for bed around 7:30 PM.
“We’ve worked really hard over the years to create a life that we don’t need a vacation from,” Casazza says of their current lifestyle. “I love that we have that now.”
And while a schedule like this sounds dreamy, Casazza admits that full-time RV living with four little kids does have its challenges. After all, trying to run a business that requires video streaming, editing, and a lot of digital work while dealing with spotty Wifi and limited space is difficult.
Which is why the family’s adventure of full-time RV living will probably be coming to a close soon.
Casazza and her husband plan to live more part-time in the RV, and find a rental home that can serve as a “home base” for their business. This will also provide them with a place to go between trips. They plan to be in their rental about 40% of the time, and then take trips for two months at a time.
Eventually, the goal is to have fully toured the U.S., with trips to Florida and the Midwest on the horizon.
“We were trying something crazy,” says Casazza. “We adventure pretty hard. And we tried it and you know, it’s good, it’s fun, but it’s definitely difficult and I’m not about, you know, trying to stick with something that’s just not working if it’s not going to work. But it’s been the most amazing two or three months.”