Its official, been here in our tiny house for 6 full months. Would I change my mind if I knew then what I know now ? Absolutely not. There is definitely some things I did not know or would had done differently. We live in Maine so that means we get to enjoy all four seasons, including winter. We were prepared for winter for the most part but there is a few things I will be doing different next winter. I have skirting around the house but next year I will change the skirting from plywood to insulation board. Though we haven’t had a lot of problems with freezing pipes as I do have heating tapes on the water pipes, I did have a drain pipe freeze and back up. Some of that might had been from not having the front of the house fully enclosed on the bottom and I keep the water dripping when the temperature drops below 20 degrees so there was ice build up in the pipe. As far as staying warm and any other cold weather concerns we are in pretty good shape.
When we were preparing to move into the tiny house I planned on the space I would have for our cloths and toys. I bought four big pretty cloth baskets, two for Noah, two for me. One would hold our pants, the other our shirts. I also bought four smaller cloth baskets, two a piece. One for socks and the other for underwear. What ever I could not fit in those baskets was sold at a yard sale before we moved. I did make an allowance for seasonal cloths and items that would be stored in plastic totes with the snap closers under the house. As for Noah’s toys, that was a hard one for me, I really had to buckle down and stand my ground with my decision and keep focused on the benefits and freedom living in a tiny house would afford us. I went through all his toys until I was able to fit the remaining toys in a large trunk , the rest went on the yard sale. This really was the hardest part for me. Moving into a tiny house takes commitment.
My tiny house has two lofts, one in the front of the house and the other in the back. There was a 30 gallon hot water heater in the front loft, in order to be able to use that space for Noah to sleep in I had to make a tough decision about the water heater. I had to decide if I would go with an on demand water heater or a 10 gallon water heater that would fit under the sink. In the end I chose the 10 gallon. With the 10 gallon we are able have just enough hot water for dishes, but there is definitely no enjoying long hot showers, ten minutes is about the max. I may revisit the on demand hot water heater in the future but really we are not complaining.
I think one of the biggest things I would change if I could had is I would have done all the interior work before I moved in. Everytime I do work on the inside of the house the whole house and everything in it gets covered in saw dust. There are a lot of projects that will need to wait for spring to be completed just because of that reason. Then of course life happens happens and I injured my shoulder so other projects will have to wait until I recover.
In the ended I don’t regret for one second making the decision to go tiny. As a matter of fact all the “stuff” I struggled so hard to get rid of we don’t even miss. Our tiny house has simplified our lives and changed what we value. We snuggle more and clean less, we play more and my relationship with my little guy is stronger than ever. Yes people do come to visit and are surprised how comfortable they are when they are here… many people have walked in my little piece of heaven a skeptic and walked out a believer. If you are reading this because you are considering a tiny home please feel free to comment or ask any questions in the comments below. Thank you for stopping by !!
Tag: Working poor
Tiny Houses and Working Poor.
I’m just going to dive right into things tonight. Addressing the solutions and causes for poverty is something I am very passionate about. I hear so many different point of views and everyone definitely has an opinion about this very heated topic. As someone who has experienced both sides of the coin I can relate to a lot of people. I think something that a lot of people don’t discuss is the working poor. What defines working poor ? I think working poor included a large portion of individuals in our country, a lot of them do not even know they are poor. Here is my definition of working poor : An individual who’s life would quickly come apart if 1. Their car broke down 2. They lost their job 3. They lost childcare 4. Suffered illness 5. Missed work . These people would quickly move from working poor, paycheck to paycheck to homeless and living in extreme poverty because they lack the ability to save money, build on their skills through education, find resources or more often are not eligible for many resources because they fall just a few dollars over the income limits. They lack credit because any different combination of events can cause them to fall behind on their bills . They have little ability to build a safety net. I am keenly aware of the struggles of this demographic as I drove my 13 year old car through a snow storm on quarter tred tires tonight, all the way home I worried. What if I crashed and totaled my car. What if I got hurt. Any of those things would severely impact our lives. Either of those situations could cause us to loose everything. I’m always aware that we are living right on the edge. ITs scary. Being here in this place also keeps me thinking, I can I change this for us, how can I change this for others like myself ? It always brings me back to the tiny house and the tiny house community. Attainable home ownership (not a 30 year mortgage )would be a game change for so many people. I feel fortune that I have a chance, that if I can keep my old car running for just one more year without car payments I can pay this house off in just 18 more months. I have hope even though I have fear and it drives me to work harder. It would be harder to be in this place paying rent with no end in sight. If I can get through this year, then I can buy land and build another tiny house and then another and the people who buy them can do the same, together we could change a lot for a lot of people. The working poor don’t need or even want a hand out, they need a break just to get over that hump. Share this vision with me, anyone can make a difference, big or small. Look forward to hearing from you.
Good Night Folks
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