We Built Our Forever Tiny Home in a School Bus & Never Looked Back!

Intention is the keyword to the whole thing. Everything about our life is intention. It's the kids, it's marriage, it's us individually, it's living tiny. The build itself, it's all intentional. You take control of your own life and your relationships and how you live it and your time and you run with it. Hi, I'm Morgan. Hi, I'm Glaucio. And we live with our four kids, Sofia, Mateus, Mariana and Olivia and four cats and a dog in our self-converted school bus. And where are we? We are in Oregon. We have been living in our self-converted school bus full-time for the last two years, but built it out in 2020. Started with a nine-month loop around the United States, kind of traveled off and on for the first few years and now here we are. Two years full-time. We have a 1996 Bluebird TC2000. It's a 40-foot bus with an 8.3 Cummins and an Allison 3060 transmission. So before Bus Life, we called Bozeman, Montana home. We lived in about a 2,800 square foot home on an acre lot on the outskirts of town. And now where have we called home? Well, we've been to about 40 states, including places that we camp right by the beach or we've watched some rocket launches from the bus and some marine life, some whales, some dolphins straight from the bus. Wherever we park, we call it home. And the last two winters, we've traveled down to Baja, Mexico, and that's also now a home base for us. Why don't you come check it out? Let's go. Welcome to our tiny home on wheels. We have about 320 square feet in this bus. The goal of this bus, if there's one word that we would use to describe it, is intentional. Every single decision made, every single design choice, every material used, it all was intentionally made to make this work for our family of six, plus our five pets on the road. So our build took about nine months. It was pretty long hours and nights and weekends. I did a lot of the build, including welding, carpentry, plumbing, and electrical. And Morgan did all of the soft surfaces, so curtains, cushions, and bedding. And the painting of everything, it was all her. So I built, she finishes. Starting here at the front of the bus, we have room for our hydration bags when we go hiking and adventure. We have two cabinets that hold the kids' shoes. We have our litter box for our cats that is easy to access and clean. By putting everything in one central station, I can also check this from my phone, but because of our Starlink, this is connected to an internet and I have access from anywhere we are. If we need to check on our cameras or our state of charge on the batteries or water levels or turn a light on and off to make sure people don't think the bus is empty, we can do it all from here. And it makes life simple to know where you're sitting and when you need to dump or get more water or charge your batteries. So we currently run two mini splits, one in the front of bus, one in the back. They are powered entirely by our solar array. We have about 2,700 watts bifacial, so we're actually able to see a little bit over 2,700 watts, I would say 3,000 watts, and we have a battery bank of about 21 kilowatts. It's lithium-ion batteries and about 840 amp hours at 24 volts. From the entrance, we go right into our living room and this holds five of us plus the driver, so plenty of room for all of us to sit here and hang out. Those couches, they all open up and connect making a big lounge for us when we want to watch a movie or just relax. Now the cool thing is this is not just a couch. We have kind of the love seat and the full size couch, but there's tons of storage on every single seat. So you'll notice we can move our cushions and behind every single spot is room to store whatever we need. So we have drawing items, we have piano books, but there's lots of space. Now underneath, he mentioned we can pull this out in order to create a lounge area, but it also provides extra storage. So each of our kids have a special drawer they can store whatever we want and we built everything over the wheel well with customized drawers in order to make the most of the space. So right here on this side of the desk underneath, we have our low voltage distribution panel. It holds one of our Starlink routers and our home automation system. So this is where the kids do their homeschooling. In fact, underneath we made custom benches for the kids that store all of their homeschooling materials. This way they can grab what they need when they need without asking someone to move or bickering over it. In addition to where they do school, this is also where we eat meals and if we want, it's an extra workspace because we have our TV or secondary monitor for working. Gas, groceries, eating out, even on the tightest budget, there's no escaping them. But here's what you can control. Getting cash back when you fill up, hit the grocery store or eat out with the free Upside app. I use the app as much as I can before I head out and run errands. Every tiny bit of cash back I earn really adds up. Then I can put that towards whatever I want. And yes, it really is cash back, not points you'll never use or credits that expire. It's just free money that you transfer straight into your bank account. Here's how it works. Open the app, claim an offer, pay with your credit card like you normally do and get paid. That's it. And I love earning cash back just from eating at my favorite Mexican place. Mmm, that cash is so delicious. Upside has given back $1 billion to its users. To find out how much you could earn, download the free Upside app and use promo code tinyhouse25 to get an extra 25 cents back for every gallon on your first tank of gas. That's an extra 25 cents back for every gallon on your first tank of gas This is our tiny kitchen. We chose to go with an apartment size fridge because with six of us we needed enough space for the food to last these kids. But everything in this bus is designed around a system of one week. So our water lasts about a week, our food lasts a week, laundry needs done on a week. This size fridge gave us that. So freezer on top, fridge below. Up above you'll notice everything is a drawer system in this bus. So this is a projector. Down here is where we store all of the cat food items. Now this might just be one of my favorite parts of the bus organization nerd that I am, but it's my pullout pantry. So I decided to go with clear containers they're all pop top but it makes it really easy to see what we're running low on. It's accessible from both sides. Kids can get their snacks, they don't need me. But the best part of this is when we grocery shop, like if we're buying pasta, we'll empty it out of the box at the grocery store, put it in and we get to throw away the trash while we're there which leaves us with less to get rid of and it looks pretty. Now above this is all the spice storage. Everything is labeled and again clear to easily tell when we're running low on something. Now back behind me is our tiny kitchen. This layout came from the fact that we built this bus in Montana. So long winters, cold temperatures meant that for us the best decision was putting our water tank inside the bus, not outside. So the depth of our counter you'll notice is a lot deeper than most and that's because right under here we have our 100 gallon water tank. For our countertop, we chose to go with a DIY epoxy countertop. We love the look of marble and quartz and all of that, but we were paying very close attention to weight and weight distribution in the bus. So knowing that we already had a 100 gallon water tank below, we didn't want something that was too heavy and this DIY epoxy countertop was the perfect solution for us. It has now been six years, no cracks, it's holding up well, so it's worked for us. Again, we went with all drawer systems in this kitchen. We did not want to open up cabinetry, have dishes, things breaking, stuff falling out because we're moving. So we have very deep drawers. All of our pots and pans are stored in here as well as dishes. When needed, we pull up our electric cooktop and it gets stowed away when it's not in use. As you can see, what's out on the counter, that's what's there when we're driving. So our toaster oven, all of this is here. We do not have to put it away when we drive, which makes it very easy for both use but also travel days. Like I mentioned, you'll notice we do not have an electric cooktop nor do we have a full-size oven. That was very intentional because with the space that was being designated to our water tank, this is what we were left with with storage and I was not willing to give up storage space for an oven. So this is what we use when we need an oven. It works for everything from doing toast, I can fit a full-size lasagna, we bake birthday cakes, it does it all but it takes a lot less space. You'll notice behind me, we went with a full-size sink. Again, this is something that was very intentional. A lot of people overlook what size sink they actually need in a rig and they try and go smaller in order to get more countertop space. For us, we did the opposite. We wanted to make sure that we had a full-size sink. One, that was how we bathed our youngest when we first moved into the bus but also we cook using three methods. We have the instapot, we have our electric cooktop and then we have this countertop oven. We needed to make sure that we could fit our biggest pot in the sink, wash it easily and not have water spraying up everywhere. So with the addition of the sprayer and a deep sink, we can do all of our dishes by hand fairly easily. So underneath our full-size sink, again we went with pull-out drawers. We made sure not to overlook having a place to put our garbage and this pulls out for some cleaning supplies. Now a spot that often gets overlooked is kick-toe drawers. We wanted to make the most. So this one pulls out and all of our can storage is hidden under this. So you'll notice in our bus we chose to keep as many of the original windows as we could. Certain ones we did choose to delete and put in a metal partition because it helped with insulation. So we closed off behind our fridge to keep that as cool as possible and also the kids bed area to again help with that insulation. We love the look of the windows but with that meant we needed a way to cover them and we needed a solution that one would be washable was easy to take up and down and that the cats would not destroy. So our solution was I sewed curtains made a spot for a rod at the bottom but the goal with this was that it was easy to remove simply pull out the rod and I could wash them. Then with the use of marine snaps they easily pop back into place and the wooden rod at the bottom makes it really easy and quick to roll back up and use the leather straps to hold it in place while we drive. Being in a small space as a family you learn to rely on each other whether that's us whether that's the kids like you need something well yes we have friends on the road and yes we might travel with people but at the end of the day our family group of six is who we can count on day in and day out and so that communication that openness that trust we have built because of that has completely changed the way our family functions it's changed their interaction within each other as siblings it's pretty cool to watch. We've been together 16 years now we actually met in Brazil married for 15 and I am home with our four kids and do some side things I sell organizational binders and for fun we get to travel all over the place in our home. I am a software engineer I'm lucky that I have a career that allows me to do it remotely. What motivated us was the love for traveling the freedom that we have and the intention that we want to put in raising our family and creating a strong bond between all of us and the memories together we only have a limited time with our kids and a lot of people think that's a long time but it's not really so it goes fast and we wanted those years to be very intentional and to create those memories we know it's not going to be forever so we wanted to be really you know special for all of us to live like that. And we'd always been interested in tiny homes and all the different options and the creative solution like that was kind of our thing we would watch those shows or those YouTube channels and look at them yeah but I thought that's how it would stay. Yeah so then one day I found the bus. Let's back up this has a better story than one day he found the bus. I had this idea one day no I got a text from the bathroom like come on. As men do they go to the bathroom and they have great ideas you know and I was browsing the internet and looking for buses and then I found this bus and got out of the bathroom that was just when COVID hit in April and I asked her do you want to buy a bus and she was like sure so that was not much convincing that needed to happen because the bus was at a good price point that even if it didn't really work it would not set us back financially so it was more like yeah let's try it out and then we did it so flew to New Mexico the next day drove the bus back so between Friday and Sunday we had a bus you went from would you like to have a bus to now there's a bus on the driveway let's start building. You'll notice we went with an L-shaped layout again a very intentional decision we wanted the L-shaped kitchen in order to have separate living spaces so the kitchen living room and entryway of the bus are kind of the main living areas but if you follow me down this hallway I'll show you what's behind. With our bus and a number of people and animals we needed to make the most of every single wall cavity and possible storage solution so behind this is a bunk bed but look what we chose to do in the wall cavity this is one of our main storage areas we use everything from vertical storage of our vacuum to a few cleaning items but also the rest of the kids homeschooling supplies that are more to share instead of their own individual items are stored here as well so let's go check out the middle section of the bus back here you'll notice our four bunk beds this is where our kids sleep we chose to go with full length beds so as they grow they still fit in their beds and it's not something that down the road we're needing to do renovations you'll also notice that each bunk has curtains that close but here's the coolest part I sewed zippered bedding to make sure that it was easy to make beds in the morning there was no arguing and that's being in a small space blankets were not ending up piled on the floor I'll let the kids tell you a little bit more about their beds since this is their space hey my name is Mateus I'm 18 and this is my bunk here we've got some railings on both sides I like my hat so I have a little hat spot right there that my mom made so we have some shelving back here as well that I keep some decoration and whatever I need to be stored here right now I have some cologne I have some pictures and have my watches right back in there the beds are really comfy my mom made the zip-up covers for these and they're really easy to make and they're really comfy so I was 12 when we first moved into the bus I think with the house we were mostly inside a lot of the time it was cold we were in Montana but I really like being in the bus because I really love being outside and exploring all the new places really awesome the privacy part is definitely different than being in a house because you don't have your room and you can't go in there and shut your door but we have this space back here that for example if I need to go back and change I can just shut the door and I can change back here we all have curtains on our beds that if we need a little extra we can just go in there and shut gets nice and dark and you can't see anything out I think for me the big trade-off is the social aspect and friends we don't see people very often but I felt like the people that I have met while we've been on the road I'm so much closer with I love the travels and it's something I would keep doing and it's something I would want to do myself even moving on at some point I would love to get my own bus I would love to build it out I've been going through designs and different layouts that I like and yeah that's pretty exciting hi my name is Sophia I'm 14 years old and this is my bunk I have storage at the bottom of my bunk there is a outlet my binoculars I mostly just use it for sleeping but I read in there sometimes living in the house it felt like we had a bit more space but also we're a little bit more disconnected so now we see each other a lot more if I could give one message to someone else my age thinking about living in a bus just do it it's really fun the best part is probably the travel and I really like getting to see all the new places and pick up new hobbies I liked Mexico because I learned to surf at that beach and there are a lot of really great community and people a lot of people bought land next to us we play volleyball down at the beach and then we go to like a market or I do aerial yoga sometimes it's really cool hi I'm Mari and this is my bunk I have all my storage down there and then my mom's cat sleeps up above my head the trick to keeping my bunk clean is making it every morning and make sure I sit on top of it this is my underwear and sock drawer and this one is me and my sister's clothing drawer it's not very tough to organize because I usually roll everything hi my name is Olivia and this is my bunk so I have a little shelf right over here for my glasses and to make my bed I zip the bed and these baskets hold all my toys so welcome to the final section of our bus the bedroom again our goal was to go for intentional design and multifunctional space it's small so we had to make it work for us this is a fold-up table that allows us to sit back here and work and easily stows away behind me is where we store our clothes and this drawer pulls out and either becomes the seating area for the desk or because it's built on 500 pound capacity slides it's our step stool to climb up into bed this door to the bedroom provides privacy but also my husband tends to work from back here so if we shut this door and the one that is a multifunctional door for the bathroom hallway behind you then that means that we can move on with life up front we can play Alexa loudly with music kids can be dancing doing whatever they want and he can be back here having meetings working and it's completely quiet we went with a smaller bed we sleep on a full-size bed because we wanted to prioritize giving space in our 40-foot bus to our living areas we utilize zippered bedding that I made again to make it easy and we also behind the bed we put in custom storage solutions to give us a little bit more storage put those things like seasonal clothing our laptops and things like skincare and headphones get stored neatly away and are easy to access welcome to our tiny bathroom so like the door in the back we made this a multifunctional door because it can close off this area or close for the bathroom as you can see this is a very small bathroom we chose to go with a DIY composting toilet one it saves a lot of money but in all reality we wanted something that looked good and was functional and this did the trick again like the rest of the bus we utilize the wall cavities to fit whatever we needed in the bathroom so we use dead space here to store all of our towels toilet paper a tiny sink fits in the wall cavity and this is where we store all of our toothbrushes we chose to go with small tiles in our shower because with the movement of the bus with the roads we drive on especially going down to Baja the smaller tile is less likely to crack and we felt like a lighter color will make the small space feel a little bit bigger than it actually is you'll notice above that we put in a skylight that was for two reasons one being a small space and no windows in here we wanted to bring in a little bit more natural light but also for shower height when actually showering we wanted to be a little bit more comfortable for my husband because obviously for me that's not much of an issue at the time our school district had gone to distance learning because it was during the pandemic so the two older girls were sitting in front of a computer and watching their instructors their teachers but it was an eight-hour day sitting in front of that laptop and it was a disaster like okay instead of doing this let's go travel on a bus we can't change what's going on we can't change that you have to sit in front of the computer and that's how you're going to be learning but those other times so before school those recesses the lunch break and after school weekends we can do a whole lot more and we're going to be in fair weather so being from Montana it's nine months of winter and so they got really excited because they're like oh we can be in flip flops we can go hike we can go play they love like little animals legos all of that and so they were really excited about it I had a budget in mind we absolutely did not blew through it in like two days yeah very unrealistic I said oh we can probably do for 15 ended up being more like 24 with the bus so the bus was 4,200 then we put you know another 20 on top that was the first build since then we've upgraded the batteries for a little bit more capacity put the two mini splits and then upgraded our solar so I would add maybe another 10 max so we're close to 40 by now which is still very reasonable for what we get out of the bus if you buy it just a class a you know you're looking at 80-90,000 for something that is reliable good you know not custom not bomb proof like a tank like the bus and not built for six not built for the lifestyle yeah and you can build as simple or as fancy as you want which makes it available to so many people right because it's not the set price of an RV you would buy off a lot where you either afford it or you cannot a bus you have to be able to afford to buy the rig itself but then you can do it in phases you can do upgrades along the way you can do simple you can elaborate you can do anything in between and that's what's so cool is it makes it available to so many people I think the biggest takeaway is that less is more and simplifying life across all aspects has really changed the way we function as a family and where we find happiness it's a small space it forces us to get outside so is it really that you're bored is it really that there's nothing to do is it really that you need this playroom full of entertainment or different toys or the team no like they are just as happy with less we are just as happy with less the less you own the less owns you right so you the freedom comes from traveling light from having less to take care of and maintain and do all those things and coming to the realization that especially modern society we overcomplicate things it can be a lot simpler by living with what you have within your means you know like not in a sense that you're giving up on luxury or quality of life it's just in a sense that you're being really intentional with what you have what you own and what you do when you strip away all those extras or the distractions or what society says you need to be doing to keep up you're left with what really matters and you're left with time to focus on that focus on yourself focus on your kids your family and just slow down and be and that's been when we talk about other families that are thinking about doing this with kids there is a common misconception that if you live in a tiny house or a small space that you're confined and that is a that it couldn't be farther from the truth yeah you live in a tiny place but our backyard is literally the whole world so our backyard is the beach our backyard is in the forest our backyard is a national park so yeah we come here for shelter we sleep we cook we eat we do school but all the other time we're out enjoying what's outside so i think you know don't think about just the living space it's what the freedom that space brings you because of where it is whether if the house moves or not you know you want to build a small house that allows you to be in a city or that allows you to be in nature go for it because that's why you put in the house there it's what you can do outside of the house thanks for stopping by tiny house expedition i'm alexis and i'm christian and this is our diy tiny house on our homestead in oregon looking for more tiny inspiration watch these videos but if you're looking for something specific visit our channel home page to browse tiny homes by category and don't forget to subscribe hope to see you soon