13 Ways to Save Your Cabin Living Dream

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City noise fades fast, but so does unprepared optimism. We pull back the curtain on cabin, RV, and rural living with thirteen candid realities that decide who thrives and who bails before the first winter. From bidding wars on properties to the slow truth about deliveries, contractors, and internet, we share the practical steps that turned a daydreaming sketch into a working address in the woods.

0:00 The Rural Dream Meets Reality

1:17 Thirteen Realities To Master

3:41 Movers, Supplies, And Contractors

6:01 Isolation, Community, And Sanity

8:35 Disaster Prep And Relationship Stress

10:03 Trauma Kits And Life-Saving Readiness

10:39 Food, Water, Power In Harsh Weather

11:51 Preparedness Pays Off

By the end, you’ll have a clear checklist for turning wilderness into home without losing your nerve or your budget. 

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Thinking about a cabin, RV, or rural living,
you're not alone.
75% of Gen Z and millennialswould buy a tiny home, cabin, or
rural property.
Yet the hard truth frombuilders, realtors, and online
communities is that 50 to 80% ofpeople abandon the dream before
they ever move in.
I refuse to be one of them.

(00:21):
After four progressive movesthat finally landed me in my
cabin in the woods, I discoveredexactly why most people quit and
how to make sure you don't.
These are the 13 realities I hadto master to turn my daydreaming
sketch into my rural address.
In 2021, roughly 200,000Americans lived full-time in

(00:42):
RVs.
By year end 2025, that numberwill top 486,000 and keep
climbing.
Another survey shows that 73% ofAmericans would consider a tiny
home a cabin or a ruralproperty.
With 50 to 80% of peopleabandoning the dream of cabin
living, I want to help you keepyour dream alive.

(01:05):
I discovered exactly why mostpeople quit and how to make sure
you don't.
These are the 13 realities I hadto master to turn my dream of
cabin living into a successfulreality.
Number one, bidding wars nowhappen in the woods.
Multiple offers on raw land innorthern Idaho and Tennessee are

(01:26):
commonplace in 2025, notesRadiant Reality's latest rural
land report.
Cash-rich remote workers aredriving prices up fast.
Start looking 12 to 18 monthsearly and lock financing.
Number two, distance from familyis bigger than map shows.

(01:47):
The biggest shock is realizingyou now measure family visits in
full vacation days instead ofSunday dinners, says full-time
RVer Lynn Martin.
Build that into your plan fromday one.
Number three, moving companiesgo to rural addresses.
National firms often refusegravel road deliveries and long

(02:10):
distances from their base ofoperations as little as one
hour's drive away.
This happened to us.
Local companies in popularcounties are booked six to ten
weeks out.
Book early or rent a truck andentice friends with grilled
steak and cabin vacations inexchange for helping you out.

(02:30):
Number four, supplies cost moreand take longer to arrive.
Amazon Prime is a myth in manyrural locations.
You can still get your delivery,but it will not be fast, and
returns are a hassle.
Budget 30 to 50% above yourspreadsheet estimate and plan to
exercise patience.

(02:53):
Number five, quality contractorsare scarce and they choose their
clients.
During our cabin renovation, wehad trouble getting contractors
to return our calls because ofour out-of-state number.
Some assumed we wererobocallers.
Others thought we were cabinersliving in the area only during
peak season.

(03:13):
These customers usually don'treceive a callback until the
contractor has extra time ontheir hands.
Switching to a local number andincluding that we live in our
cabin year round during themessage resulted in faster
service.
And remember to be polite toyour contractor because word of
mouth that you are a rudecustomer will spread.

(03:38):
Number six, the not from aroundhere syndrome is real but
beatable.
I haven't experienced thischallenge in the Midwest, but
the mountain west and someplaces in the South were less
welcoming to newcomers.
I can understand why.
The culture of these places haschanged rapidly and not for the
better in the minds of locals.

(03:59):
The assumption is that thechanges are caused by people
moving from other regions andcountries changing the local
culture.
You might never experience thewelcome at feeling, but here are
a few ways to overcome thischallenge in time.
Show up to town meetings, buyyour coffee locally, be a good
neighbor, and volunteer in yournew community.

(04:20):
Reputation compounds faster thanyou think.
Number seven, jobs vanish unlessyou already have remote work.
Rural unemployment can be doublethe national average in some
places, while others have anabundance of local jobs in town.
Secure income first.
The beautiful view won't pay thebills.

(04:43):
Number eight, isolation is thesilent killer.
I almost sold after the firstFebruary, one Redditor with
78,000 upvotes confessed, knowhow you'll recharge before
moving rural.
If you're an extrovert andrecharge by feeding off the

(05:03):
energy of others, havingconversation, going out, being
super social, rural living mightnot be for you.
If you're an introvert, you'llneed to be mindful of how little
human contact you have on anongoing basis.
Going to town or visiting a bigcity can feel incredibly
overwhelming.

(05:24):
I experience that.
If you're an ambivert, a personwith both introverted and
extroverted traits like me,you'll find it easier to
transition to rural living.
I'm naturally extroverted andlike meeting new people, and I'm
very comfortable being alone orjust with my family.
My advice is to schedule regulartown trips and foster a few

(05:47):
local friendships early by beinga good friend and neighbor.
I started the informalNorthwoods Women Club.
At first it was the two of us,then three, and now we are six
members strong.
Number nine, outdoor choresaren't optional.
Everyone needs to know how to doall the jobs and use all of the

(06:09):
equipment.
Chores need to get done whetheryou're sick or well.
If the power is out and the onlyperson who knows the right wood
for burning indoors versusoutdoors is too ill to function,
this could become an expensiveproblem.
Consistently burning woodindoors that contains
significant amounts of creosotecould require professional

(06:32):
chimney cleaning mid-season whenit's too dangerous for a
contractor to go on the roof.
In this case, you may be unableto heat your home or supplement
your home heat with yourfireplace or wood stove until
you have it professionallyserviced.
Creosote, high-content woodshould be burned outdoors.

(06:56):
So everyone in your householdneeds to know about choosing the
right wood for the job.
Chainsaws, snowblowers, roofshovels, forest management,
avoiding introducing invasiveplants, wood splitting, and
septic maintenance are skillsyou'll need to master before
you're snowed in.

(07:16):
Too often, people moving into arural cabin who are used to
picking up the phone and gettinga contractor within hours to a
day are shocked to learn that itmight take months for a repair
or installation.
There are many factors causingservice call delays, such as
some projects not beingcompleted during the winter

(07:37):
because the ground is too hardor due to safety issues.
Number 10, tools are your newbest friend.
Start buying quality tools andlearn how to use them now while
you still have easy access tostores and YouTube tutorials
with a decent internetconnection.
It took my family friend morethan 10 years to get internet

(07:59):
service at their cabin.
It took us 18 months to gethigh-speed internet service.
Number 11, disaster prep decideswho thrives and who flees.
During the 2021 Texas freeze,prepared neighbors helped
unprepared neighbors, accordingto reports.
The unprepared neighbors quicklyleft the area and moved back to

(08:23):
the city, realizing rural livingwas not for them.
Water, heat, and communicationsredundancy aren't paranoid.
They're basic when you live inrural areas.
Number 12.7 Togetherness testsevery relationship.
Therapist Esther Burrell hasdescribed the situation of

(08:44):
sudden full-time cohabitation inconfined spaces, particularly
during the COVID-19 lockdowns,as a Petri dish moment that
amplifies existing relationshipdynamics and serves as a stress
test.
She noted that disastersgenerally operate as an
accelerator in a relationship.

(09:05):
Talk through conflict styles andalone time needs long before the
moving trucks arrive.
As an experiment, Matt and Ispent one month in our cabin not
talking to anyone.
We even made it a point to avoidthe package delivery trucks and

(09:26):
the mail carrier because wedidn't want to communicate with
anyone except each other just tosee how we would do.
And guess what?
We didn't miss people.
We enjoyed each other's companyand our alone time so much that
we had to start forcingourselves to leave the cabin.

(09:47):
Number 13.
Per the National Rural HealthAssociation.
A solid trauma kit and trainingliterally saves lives.

(10:08):
A home use trauma kit is aspecialized collection of
supplies to control severelife-threatening bleeding and
injuries until emergencyservices arrive.
It differs from a standard firstaid kit by including more
advanced items such astourniquets, pressure bandages,
trauma shears, and chest seals.
These kits are designed tostabilize a person with severe

(10:32):
injuries, such as from anaccident, fall, or other
traumatic event.
By mastering these 13 realities,you'll be ahead of the game and
ready for the challenge ofmoving to a rural cabin, RV,
country home, or cottage.
Up next in this series, we'lltalk about the rural challenge
of food, water, and power duringthe harsh weather seasons.

(10:55):
Many obstacles can stand betweenyou and access to these
necessities.
If you don't have power, youmight not have access to your
water well.
And obstacles like Up next inthis series, we'll talk about

(11:23):
the rural challenge of food,water, and power during the
harsh weather seasons.
Many obstacles can stand betweenyou and access to these
necessities.
If you don't have power, youmight not have access to your
well water, and obstacles likedown trees, flood water, or snow
can block your trip to town forfood.

(11:44):
Two blizzards without powerduring our first winter in the
new cabin could have cost us ourlives if we weren't prepared.
So sign up for our freenewsletter for future articles
in this series.
It includes actual off-gridbudgets and contractor vetting
scripts to help you on yourcabin living journey.

(12:04):
We live the dream now because wetreated these 13 realities as
mandatory homework, not optionalspeed bumps.
The silence, the stars, thefreedom, it's all worth it, but
only when you're prepared.
The words are waiting.
Come prepared and stay.