Trailer Trashing in SC

By Jillian Owens
September 27, 2013

from the state where 20 percent of our homes are mobile ’cause that’s how we roll, I’m Brooke Mosteller, Miss South Carolina.

When I first heard her words, I thought Well…that’s irrelevant.

I didn’t get it.  Of all the cutesy intros Miss Carolina could have chosen on September 15, she went with that?  Who actually cared about the percentage of mobile homes in SC?  What other lines did she try?  from the state where 6.3% of our population is under 5, because that’s how we procreate! or from the state ranked second-highest in humidity, because that’s how we sweat!

 
South Carolina:  Where earrings are 75% too large!

While I didn’t care, plenty of others took great offense to her attempt at humor.  Her comment was distasteful.  It made the state look bad.  It gave other states fuel to laugh at us.  Facebook and Twitter were all abuzz with angry commenters.

Then, a few days later, an infographic named The United States of Shame – What is your state worst at?  from the humor site, PleatedJeans.com started to make the rounds on Facebook.

Guess what SC is apparently worst at?  Care to take a gander?

South Carolina is worst at most mobile homes.

Well, I’ll be darned!

 

Miss SC is on to something!

There it is again!  SC has the most mobile homes, and this is either a bad thing or something to poke fun at.

What’s so bad about mobile homes?

Seriously.  I don’t understand.  Lots of people, especially in rural communities (which SC has many of), opt for this inexpensive form of homeownership.  Why does living in a trailer carry a stigma that living in an apartment, a duplex, or a house doesn’t?

Allow me to let you in on a little secret. 

I used to live in a mobile home. 

Are you done spitting coffee all over your desk in shock?  Years ago, when I was a wee tyke, my parents moved to a rural town in Kentucky.  Unable to find a decent rental with room for two kids to run around and play, my parents opted to rent a trailer on a plot of land while their new home was being built.  It wasn’t a particularly nice or particularly awful dwelling.  But it was fine.  We lived there for several months and none of us died or became meth dealers.  I’ve lived in apartments and houses that were far less nice than that trailer.

Growing up in this small town, I had several friends who lived in trailers.  Some of them were swanky doublewides with garden tubs and upgraded appliances.  Some of them were more basic.  I knew lawyers, restaurant owners, teachers, and farmers who opted for mobile homes.  There really wasn’t a stigma attached to their decision.  Lots of people lived that way.  It wasn’t a big deal.  

 
C’mon guys!  I’m not so bad!

People choose to live in mobile homes for good reasons. 

• They’re an inexpensive homeownership option for people who don’t want to rent, but can’t afford a more expensive house.

• They’re built to the same fire safety standards and building codes as site-built homes.

• They’re built with a lot of the same features you expect from nicer houses, such as crown molding, open floor plans, and garden tubs.

• They’re a quick solution for a couple just starting out in a rural community (live in your private home on a family member’s land until you can buy land of your own…then just move your home there).

• You can have a mobile home built much faster than a stand-alone home (if you’re in a hurry).

• If you’re drowning in student debt, finding a 3 bedroom/ 2 bath living option might sound like an expensive fairy tale….but it’s doable if you go mobile.

Hmmmmnnn…Not so bad!  (image by NY Times)

For a lot of people, living in a mobile home is a really smart way to have exactly what they want in a dwelling, and in a way they can afford it.  Lots of normal, hardworking, likeable people live in trailers.  You might even talk to some of these people as you go about your day.  So, let’s stop being ashamed of their (very practical) life choices and treat each other with dignity and respect.

Jillian Owens is a writer, designer, motivational speaker, and eco-fashion revolutionary.   A Columbia SC transplant, she graduated from the University of South Carolina with a BFA in Theatre and English.  When she’s not gallivanting about, she’s busy refashioning ugly thrift store duds into fashionable frocks at ReFashionista.net.  Jillian has been featured on The Rachael Ray Show, Good Afternoon America, ABC Columbia, Jasper Magazine, Skirt, Columbia Metropolitan, The Free Times, Grist, and NYC’s Guest of a Guest.  She also reviews local theater productions for Jasper Magazine and Onstage Columbia.

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