The Dark Side...

Not Star Wars..

I have spent hours planning and designing my new little home - collecting ideas on Pinterest and a list of materials I might like to use.  That is the fun part.  Renovate, refurbish, remodel, restore?

The other aspect, however, of tiny house living is down-sizing.  SERIOUS down-sizing.  And since I came in the "back door" so to speak  of this new life style, I'm not sure if it is temporary or permanent.  So for now I am "making piles" - give away/throw away/donate; trailer living requirements; and those things I would want in a more traditional home were I to return to one.  Heirloom furniture, unique Christmas decorations, those incredible oil paintings Gram did, family photos, and an extensive library.  I am a book nut.  That stuff is labelled "KEEP"!!!  My current plan it to set up bookshelves in  storage so they are easy to get to and I can rotate my "on-board" collection periodically.

Again, since I am approaching this from a financial angle rather than an ideological one - I have STUFF.  Two large storage units of stuff.  The one here has a lot more temporary and outdoors items than the one in Idaho, but there still is stuff. 

And there is the trash/treasure thing - I was so excited about those window sashes I collected for my greenhouse I had planned to make - but how do I find a home for them with another enthusiast?  Habitat Restore said they simply didn't have the room for them because of the HUGE variation in window sizes for homes that might use them.  And there are other building materials.  Maybe they could be repurposed into my new home, or...

I have a fun collection of gently to well-used tools.  Is that a Craigslist item?  I have a phone, but being "house mobile"  and them being in a storage unit adds another layer of difficulty.

And just how many suitcases does one person need?  Or clothes?  Certainly I will be living somewhere with a much broader range of seasons, but how do I make sure they are stored properly when not in use?  I'm pretty sure I will be joining the ranks of snowbirds for a bit, and just how many sweaters do you need in that case?  Or coats.  Maybe those go into the donate pile, and I get to rotate my wardrobe as I discover thrift store treasures and unique designs along the way.

Lawnmower, weed eater, and garden cart.  Portable dishwasher.  Sure I could put that in the trailer, but that is a electrical/water/wastewater nightmare for my little home.  And there really isn't room for enough dishes to make it worth the space I'd lose.

Now what to do about that rain barrel...

Tiny House Craze

I spent a couple months with my oldest daughter and her family this winter, and while there my granddaughter and I got hooked on Tiny Houses.  It's fun and inspirational to see all the things folks have done to switch to smaller square foot living.  And there are lots of different types.  Small houses, converting small spaces into houses, building little houses on trailer bases so they can be moved.  And lots of different reasons - from financial to ethical - with fun all along the way.  I must admit the parts about getting rid of "stuff" to fit seems pretty unpleasant for me.  And I have several family members who "retired" to RV living but didn't last.  The constant organization, minimalism, and time away from family took too much of a toll, and after several years they returned to more traditional housing.

In my case, due to ongoing changes in my financial picture, I find myself contemplating a limited time dedicated to my own version of "tiny house living" - converting a mini-van into a mini-home.  Van-essa and I, along with my service dog Keifer, are preparing to embark on a 6 month long adventure along the west coast of the US.  We'll be starting from Olympic National Park in March, and ending up at San Luis Obispo the end of August.

Where to start?!

• I have the van - paid for, and recently out of an extended visit to the car doctor to fix all the little ( and not so little) things we knew were ailing.
• I have my own business, but it is mostly virtual, so it will travel with me.
• I am disabled, so there are limits and accommodations that need o be built in.

Anyone who knows me realizes that the next thing to come is "the list" (with hours and hours of internet surfing for ideas).  What needs done before I go; what needs done to make traveling easier; what things that I simply take for granted every day might not be available "out there.  What records need to go with me, for instance.  What things should I take, and what would be better to acquire while traveling.  I have ideas right now what I'll need, after an extended camping trip last November.  But I may find better options and ideas while I'm traveling.

How far off the grid?

(This is a longer post than I usually add, but there is a lot I felt needed to be shared.)

I read an article on Tiny House Blog this morning about a young couple who took their family of five and headed to a Yurt in rugged eastern Idaho.  The story continued to list all the things they were doing without, and brought in the ethical issues and the social stresses a choice like that could bring.

And that brought me to the mental list and reasons for my moving to tiny house living.  I don’t actually want to give up “everything” – a moving target concept there – and drop off the grid.  I’m not antisocial or flighty.  But the economic and practical applications of the change in lifestyle are the pivot point. 

I see it everywhere.   Even the forums I look thru to give me technical ideas and tips for projects I have are permeated with assumptions and perspectives radically different than my reality. 

Economically – I am a single woman, almost a senior, who is disabled.  It happened abruptly in my career, and before I could make the transition financially or mentally – I had fallen thru a huge crack in our social system.

Ideologically – I believe we have become wholesale consumers with a disposable expectation and no basic sense of responsibility to the resources we have.  Therefore I want to limit my footprint, use renewables whenever and wherever possible, approach every resource allocation with a reuse solutions, and recycle.  Compost, rainwater, grow my own, zero trash… 

But side by side with that – I LOVE technology! I don’t believe it has corrupted us in itself, but maybe the reasons we demand the ever- increasing range of abilities have. 

I don’t want to get back to anything.  I want to move forward from where we are.  Take the puzzle apart and make a new picture.  I find no conflict whatsoever between leaving my tiny house each day to go work in a lab, nor do I want to eschew my connections to the World Wide Web for a campfire and pit toilet. I love my sewing machine, I want access to medical care, and I love my truck.

My ethical decisions are my commitments to my family and whether to use propane.  But trying living in America today without a lease, mortgage, or land.  Functionally – without those things – you don’t.  You don’t live anywhere.

As to tiny houses.  They are great – but they have wheels for a reason.  They aren’t connected to sewer, water, electric, gas, or trash.  People continue to find ways to outfit them with as many of those needs addressed on board, but even that is expensive and regulations can make them a struggle to incorporate.  On the other end, full-time RVing has become a solution – but only if you can afford it.  They pay for all of those connections thru a campground or RV park – or someone’s driveway. 

Apart from the expense of acquiring them and then parking them, somehow you have to pay for fuel, insurance, licensing, and maintenance for the new craze.  The number is growing, but you don’t find too many single women out there on the road – and our society still frowns on a capable older woman.

Another fact.  I simply won’t be welcome in one of those parks with chickens in my laundry room - or anywhere else for that matter. ;-) Nor can I build a moveable garden in my 20’ travel trailer.  (However, I will grow cilantro and basil and have a really nice spider plant.)  We don’t understand how anyone could want to live in a house on wheels as their primary lifestyle – owning (and owing for) a piece of ground is the American dream!!  Having a travel trailer or tiny house costs to park it.  How many of the stories you’ve read are about someone who lives in theirs on the property of a family member or friend.  Walmart lets you stop on the way, and for free.  Very little else is available.  We don’t want riff-raff and ne’er-do-wells hanging out littering the landscape.  We’d prefer they live ugly in a box on the street in some terrible part of town.  America does not want the homeless to live – well, or otherwise.  It believes that no one could be homeless unless they chose it.  Sure they did – they chose medical bills to save the life of their family member over the mortgage.  They chose to have an accident that made them unable to work just long enough to lose everything.  They chose not to pay a bill with the money they didn’t have.

No matter how I got here, I’m creating a life I can value and respect.  I have an old travel trailer I will be lovingly (and economically) restoring.  I have truck to pull it.  Piece by piece I will be creating – as I live in it – systems that move me off the grid.  Probably do a tour of Habitat ReStores, salvage yards, and Walmart parking lots.  Electric will be tricky until my solar panels are up and the system connected.  And I’ll be using propane – like most every rural resident these days.  Composting toilet and visiting dump stations for grey water.  Libraries for internet, because I need to stay connected…

See you on the road!