This is the second interview in my tiny house families series. Thanks, Korie and Alex, for sharing a peek into your home and family.

Enjoy!

Click any image below for a closer view.

 

Tell us about your family.

We are Alex and Korie and Abel (our five-month-old son.) We live in an 8×18 tiny house on wheels. I work full-time as a teacher (but I am becoming a stay at home mom soon!) and Alex works part-time at a tool and die shop.

Tell us about your tiny house.

We purchased our tiny house prebuilt in October 2014. The house was built by a woman who planned to live in it herself, then decided that it was too small. The house is 8×18 with a 3×8 storage loft over the door and a 7×8 sleeping loft over the bathroom/kitchen. The front door is on the short end of the house and opens to the living room. The right side of the room has shelving and coat hooks, followed by a Pack and play/changing table, a counter top, and a closet. The left side is lined with a desk, shoe storage, and a 7 ft long couch. The back of the tiny house has an L-shaped kitchen next to the bathroom. Our sleeping loft is accessed by a ladder and has a king sized bed and some clothes storage bins. Our house is parked on a family member’s property. We share a semi-finished garage, which functions as a workshop, greenhouse, storage area, laundry room, and holds a deep freezer.

How many sleeping areas do you have?

Abel sleeps in his pack and play on the first floor, and we sleep in the loft. Sometimes we cosleep. This summer, we plan to build a composing toilet outside and to convert our bathroom into a bedroom for Abel.

How did you build in privacy for yourself and your son?

Hopefully having a bedroom will give both him and us more privacy!

How old is your son?

Abel is 5 months old.

Describe a moment when you felt total contentment in your tiny house.

I recently informed my employer that I won’t be returning next school year. Soon after that, we found out that Alex may not have full-time work available to him where he works now and his hours may be reduced. For most people, this news would put them in a tight spot. But when we found this out, I only felt freedom. We paid off our debt last year and our living expenses could be very low if we needed them to be. It made me so happy to have made the choices we did.

Describe a moment when you felt like you might explode in your tiny house.

Maybe this is a “first time mom” mistake, but I had this idea that Abel would get used to his environment, especially with sleeping. I thought that if he got used to sleeping with background noise, we could be moderately loud in the house and it wouldn’t make a difference. Maybe this will prove to be true when he is 2 or 3, but right now, he is a very light sleeper. We’ve recently figured out that he has food allergies and pretty bad eczema which has been preventing him from sleeping well. The other day, I was trying to put the baby to sleep while Alex did the dishes. The kitchen was a disaster since I had done a lot of cooking that day. Abel was crabby because his last nap was too short. Every time Alex made a noise in the kitchen, Abel would open his little eyes and start whining. I was so frustrated. I just wanted to go lay down upstairs and relax, but I couldn’t. I got really mad that we didn’t have a proper bedroom with a door for the baby.

When we lived in our tiny house, we had to develop daily routines to maintain an orderly home and therefore our sanity (though we lost our sanity often, but that’s another story.) What sanity-saving routines have you developed specific to your tiny house?

Prior to having a baby, our rule was to put everything away immediately. After having a baby, that wasn’t so practical. Now, we have a dump spot. In a tiny house, all space is needed. We designated an area to place things before putting them where they belong. We have a counter across from the couch that we are supposed to use for eating, but really, we eat on the couch most of the time. This counter is the place where we put things before dealing with them. For example, I might throw one of Abel’s blankets there while I change him because I don’t want to fold it and put it away when I will need it again in 15 minutes. I’ll put the diaper bag there if Abel is crying and restock it after he has calmed down. Otherwise, those things end up on the couch or in the middle of the floor, which can easily get in the way of the other person in the house.

How important is solitude for you? How do you find time to be alone?

Solitude is important to us. One thing that I like to say if people question how we can manage with such little space is that of course I need more than 144 square feet to live my life… I just don’t need to own it. Going for walks, working at the library, and long car rides are the ways we manage to get alone time. Also, headphones. They go a long way.

Relationships with stuff—how has your relationship with stuff changed and what techniques can you share to stay on top of clutter?

My relationship with stuff has changed in two ways. First, I’m more willing to invest in quality items. We have the Stokke Tripp Trapp Chair that functions as a high chair, booster chair, and eventually, an adult chair. Second, I’m not afraid to buy items and then get rid of them. I enjoy shopping, especially at thrift stores. I have no issue with getting a shirt for $3, wearing it for 2-3 months, and donating it back to goodwill. The biggest thing we do to stay on top of clutter is to purge every 4-6 weeks.

Have you noticed your relationships with your spouse and/or your children changing as a result of living tiny?

We moved into our tiny house when we got married, so we don’t have anything to compare it to. I think this is a good thing. One thing that I know being in a tiny house has taught us is the importance of communication. Every single thing we do affects everyone else who lives here. One time, Alex agreed to clean the kitchen while I went grocery shopping. When I arrived home, he hadn’t cleaned the kitchen. I couldn’t put the groceries away AND I couldn’t make lunch. Small things like this become a big deal in a small space.

How do you deal with cabin fever—say it’s snowing or raining, and outdoors aren’t an option.

I try to have a good attitude, but if I get really desperate, I start house shopping. Then I think about how expensive they are. So I pull out my calculator to see how much money we would need to make. And how I couldn’t be a stay at home mom. Then I look at our bank account and think about how much money we’re saving. Then I’ll google about the plight of student loans for our generation and pat myself on the back and congratulate myself for paying them off. Then I’ll look at the weather report and hope the rain is stopping soon. By then, I’ve usually killed an hour or two and moved on. Just being honest!

What do you miss the most?

I miss having a bath tub. I also miss being somewhere that I don’t hear the baby. It can be hard to turn off “mom brain”, and physically leaving the house (especially in winter) isn’t practical when baby will need me again in 15 minutes.

What are your long-term plans? How does your tiny house fit into these plans?

At first, we had planned to buy land and design a small house to live in long-term. We decided that we like living in town. We plan to buy a small fixer upper (under 1000 sq ft) and gut the interior to make our dream house. While we love being debt free, we will likely get a mortgage when we buy a house, but plan to pay it off in 5-10 years. We plan to keep the tiny house to use as a guest house, school room, or income property.

What advice do you have for families considering the move to tiny living?

Living in a tiny house is HARD with a family. You make sacrifices. The sacrifices are worth it though, at least to us. I think it’s really, really important to think about your goals and the best way to accomplish them rather than to romanticize the idea of a tiny house and finagle a way to make it happen. Downsizing is generally (in my opinion) a good idea for most people, but be flexible about what that will look like for you. Be willing to change, and prepare for the unknown. We didn’t buy our tiny house planning for a baby, but he has been a very welcome surprise!

The post Another Tiny House Family! appeared first on Tiny House Family.

Once upon a time, #TinyHouseFamily was our very own Instagram tag, now look! So many families have joined us that you have to scroll back quite a while to get to our early days of sharing.

I am happy that so many families are living tiny these days, and I thought it’d be fun to interview some of them. Here is the first interview in the series. Enjoy!

Thanks, Meg and Brand!

1. Tell us about your family.

We are Meg and Brand MacGabhann, and together with our son R.A.D, we are the TinyHouse43 family. Meg is a Registered ER Nurse, Brand is a SAHD and full-time online college student, and R.A.D is our precocious 4yr old and reason for everything we do! We started our tiny house journey officially December 26, 2013 with our first blog post, but we had been researching ways to downsize from our 3193 sq. ft. house for a couple years prior. The idea to travel in a THOW came about after Meg’s mother was diagnosed with a late stage cancer just a few months after R.A.D was born. We decided life was too short to wait around for the perfect time to chase our dream – a cross-country road trip ending with a land purchase in our favorite area of Washington state – and after Meg’s mother died we started the ball rolling full steam ahead. We picked up our Barn Raiser in May 2014, spent the summer saving up cash and parts, started work earnestly in August 2014, and got the house to a livable state in October 2015, just in time to move to Colorado for Meg’s job transfer. Six months later, however, we’ve concluded the cost of living in Colorado is too high to allow us to achieve one of our primary goals – paying off all our debt over the next 12-18mo before we start to travel – so we are heading back to Texas at the end of March 2016. Unfortunately that means no longer living in the THOW full-time for a while, but it does give us the chance to FINALLY finish the build, improve upon some areas we identified over the winter as needing attention, and live a rent-free year dedicated to paying off ALL our debt. While it isn’t what we’d hoped for, it definitely does NOT mean the end of tiny house living for us – just a brief pause to regroup and improve our finances so we can REALLY live the traveling tiny house life we dream of! You can follow along with our ever-changing journey at TinyHouse43.com

2. Tell us about your tiny house.

TinyHouse43 (read: Tiny House For Three) started as one of the first Tumbleweed Barn Raisers, which is a 24′ Cypress based on Jay Shafer’s original Fencl model. We did all the finish work ourselves. Really, Brand did about 90% of the work while Meg worked a ton of overtime to pay for parts. We used a mix of new and reclaimed materials, but we hired out professional closed cell spray foam insulation. We also hired Tiny House Systems to design our mechanical-electrical-plumbing systems based on our specifications to be both on-/off-grid friendly, and we did the install work ourselves. From the front corner porch walking through the house, it includes:

• Study/video game nook with storage bench seating & tabletop game storage table with small “attic” overhead
• Living area with “real” sofa/custom storage base for comfy movie watching
• Wall-mounted iMac for movies/computer
• Kimberly wood stove for heat/cooking
• Custom galley kitchen with hacked IKEA island that holds dishes/pulls out for more counter space, deep square copper sink, 3-way sink faucet, all-refrigerator, 40gal fresh water tank/12V pump plus city water hookups, and portable induction cooktops
• Custom stairs do quadruple duty by housing our pantry, cat litter box, and additional storage
• Split bathroom with Nature’s Head compost toilet (dry side) and wine barrel tub/steel walled shower area (wet side) with steampunk accents
• Deep clothes closet with storage cubes; utility/broom closet for electrical panels
• 4’x7′ wide bedroom for our son with window seat bump out, custom 3-level Murphy bed, storage base chaise, and clothing storage cubes
• Added a loft extension to make stair ascent easier/extra storage space leading to king-sized sleeping loft with 5 awning windows
• PEX plumbing inside the house to reduce freezing; mix of 120V AC/12V DC all LED electrical; propane on-demand water heater in insulated compartment on trailer tongue

Meg and Brand have two photo galleries of their tiny house on TinyHouse43.com. View photos here.

3. How many sleeping areas do you have?

Two, though we’re adding a flip-up piece on the sofa base end to allow it to convert to a single bed for guests or for me if I’m lucky enough to get pregnant again and can’t navigate the stairs.

4. How did you build in privacy for yourself and your son?

We wanted to make sure our son had his own private space to play and sleep, so we basically designed the entire house around his bedroom. We added sound barrier insulation into the underside of the loft over his room, closed in the ceiling, and used a wood sliding door to block more light and sound. Eventually we’ll add curtains on the loft end as well.

5. How old is your son?

R.A.D is 4 going on 14 these days. He amazes us with his grown-up conversations until he has an epic baby meltdown and needs snuggles. It’s an interesting age for sure!

6. Describe a moment when you felt total contentment in your tiny house.

We had a local college student come interview us for her thesis, and we cleaned the house top to bottom for the first time since moving in. Even though we still have so many unfinished projects, seeing the house clean and organized gave us both a great sense of pride. Meg was happy she took a ton of photos before it got messy again which was about 3 days later, of course!

7. Describe a moment when you felt like you might explode in your tiny house.

The first few weeks in our THOW were particularly stressful because the hospital I came to Colorado to work for was delayed in opening which meant extra driving, too much eating out, and not enough sleep. Needless to say, it didn’t take long for the stress to boil over and end in a screaming match. We got it all out and it’s been back fine since then, but the tiny house seemed microscopic that day.

8. When we lived in our tiny house, we had to develop daily routines to keep an orderly home and our sanity (though we lost our sanity often, but that’s another story.) What sanity-saving routines have you developed specific to your tiny house?

This is definitely still a work-in-progress for us, and it depends on what we have going on that day. When Meg manages to have a day off while R.A.D is in school, she stays home to sleep in and lets the boys go on their own. We value those days because Meg gets a much-needed day of solitary silence at home, Brand has a whole day to himself away from the house, and the munchkin has a fantastic day at his mixed-age Waldorf farm school.

9. How has your relationship with stuff changed and what techniques can you share to stay on top of clutter?

We are quite happy to have offloaded so. much. crap. when we moved out of our Big House, but we do still find ourselves having to resist the urge to buy toys for the kiddo. Meg originally said, “As long as they all fit in his two 18×18″ cubes, I don’t care how much he has.” She changed her mind the day a Lego stabbed her foot and broke the skin.

10. How do you deal with cabin fever—say it’s snowing or raining, and outdoors aren’t an option.

We’ve gone to two coffee shops that have kids areas, driven to Wyoming and Estes Park just for the heck of it, and have visited a couple local museums. We still go out when it’s snowing though!

11. This is a cliché question and I was asked it so much it became annoying, so I want to know what you’d say (Ha!): What do you miss the most?

That’s easy: our garden tub! Brand will throw a real computer chair into mix since he has to sit so long to do his online classes.

12. What are your long-term plans? How does your tiny house fit into these plans?

Our THOW was never intended to be our permanent house, but then we’ve also never planned to get rid of it. Long term we want to buy multiple acres in Washington state after we travel North America in the tiny house. We want to live in the tiny house while we build a 500 sq. ft-ish Whidby cottage (another Jay Shafer design) and connect it to the THOW parking area with a screened porch. With any luck we’ll convince my dad to come live with us as well!

13. What advice do you have for families considering the move to tiny living?

Be realistic with your needs now, and don’t forget to plan for the future. We’ve heard of several young couples who built a THOW and didn’t plan for having kids, and they ended up selling it just a few months later. Also, be honest with your kids about whether or not you intend the tiny house life to be your permanent lifestyle, be willing to be flexible on that answer, and try to involve them in the process as is age appropriate. It was a first priority to us that our son help choose toys to take or donate, and since he’s so young and really had no say in the decision to go tiny, we felt it was our duty to make his space as personal and fun for him as possible.

On a more personal note, we suggest if at all possible starting off with as little debt as possible rather than using the theoretically lower overhead of a tiny house lifestyle as your chance to pay stuff off. That was our plan, but there are so many variables at work that can derail even the best laid plans – we know first hand! Obviously, several folks have managed to go tiny and pay debt off in the process, but it’s not a guarantee and folks need to know that.

The post Interview with Tiny House43 appeared first on Tiny House Family.

Check out the Tiny House Bundle by clicking here.

When Karol Gajda emailed me asking if I wanted to participate, I wasn’t sure about it since I’ve never done anything like this before. But lately I’ve been determined to stretch my comfort zone, and enter my zone of proximal development which means I need to do things that scare me a little bit, and learn through engaging with my peers.

Besides being a good practice in stretching my comfort zone, I decided to participate because I wanted to offer you a great deal and learn about this way of working with my online community.

I created a mini-course to add to the bundle. It’s called Mindful Money: Intentional Spending, Saving, and Creating Your Dream. 

This mini-course will give you specific steps to get your spending in line with your values. It’s an emailed course that is only available through this bundle. But my course is such a tiny part of this package, you should check out the line-up!

When you buy the bundle, you are not only getting a great deal, but you are supporting my writing and the work of many other folks in the tiny house community who are working to build intentional lives. This is good for all of us. Thank you!

There are so many great products in this bundle! You can check out the entire list here.

The bundle won’t be available after Saturday, December 5, 2015 at 10 am, so get it while you can!

The post The Tiny House Bundle appeared first on Tiny House Family.

I packed that box when I didn’t know it’d be awesome, but I wanted to believe it’d be awesome. I wrote that to convince myself, but I signed it -Mommy.

Those were dark and scary times, but they were also bright with faith, trust, and connection.

Looking back, I can see my own courage. I can see Karl and myself holding each other up, even though our words were harsh at times. I can see us believing we were doing something awesome even when we loaded the moving truck after we got the eviction from the purple house. I can see us pretending it was an exciting adventure for our kids. I can see that pretending makes it so, but it’s exhausting.

After we moved into the big house, I collapsed on the couch for a few days, and then I buried my hands in those boxes we stored in the shed. I uncovered some treasures and some things that went straight to the thrift store. (Why did we keep this!?) I spent most of my August and September moving things in and creating systems for how we live in this house, and I closed the curtains.

I mean not real curtains, we don’t need to hide from these trees, but I closed the view from the outside world–I silenced my online voice. As much as I enjoy sharing and interacting with you, my Tiny House Family community, I needed to go within, and I didn’t have any energy to share. I was confused about my new need for privacy. I didn’t expect it, but I went with it.

And suddenly I felt afraid. Who am I now? The tiny house was a big part of my identity. I wasn’t the only one. One night, Archer was sad. “I miss the tiny house.”

“But it’s right down the hill.”

“It’s different. Our stuff isn’t in there, you guys aren’t in there. Now we won’t be on TV anymore. We’re just a regular family.”

From the mouth of babes.

We are just a regular family who keeps doing regular things to reach extraordinary heights. That’s what I know now.

Last week a friend of mine said, “I see your tiny house experience as the birth canal. Things were dark and quiet, and you were compressed. Now you are out. What will you do?”

Maybe that’s it. It’s easy to be defined by the dark compression of 168 sq. ft., and quite another to define yourself.

What will I do? I will go with it, as I always have, and see where I’m led.

Many folks have asked for pictures of the big house. I will share more pictures in the coming weeks.

The post What Happened to You? appeared first on Tiny House Family.

I am delighted to share Sue’s story of perseverance. Sue participated in our eCourse in Spring of 2014, and it’s been such a joy to watch her plan unfold. The thing I noticed about Sue right away was that she was serious. She read every lesson and really put her all into the tasks. She made a plan, and even when things didn’t go as she planned, she stuck with it. As time went on, her vision got clearer. She recently shared in our private forum about her exciting move to the place of her dreams, and I asked her to write a guest post to share with you.

The synchronicity that Sue experienced is what happens when you do the work–you are met halfway! Congratulations, Sue, we couldn’t be happier for you. And thank you for sharing your story. -Hari

If you’d like to join Sue and the rest of us on the pathway to mortgage-freedom, there are a few more days of open enrollment for the summer session. Click here for details.

Hi, I’m Sue Resnik, and I’ve been dreaming of living a simple life for a long time. Living in Texas 2000-2009, I ran across log cabin kits for 600-800 sq ft homes and dreamed of building one on the neighboring 6 acres. That never happened, but about 2010, having moved back to IL and hearing more and more about tiny homes, I signed up for blogs, read more and more about tiny houses on wheels (THOW), signed up for Deek Diedricksen’s Design and Build: A Tumbleweed Workshop in Boulder, CO in the fall of 2013 and Hari and Karl Berzins’ online workshop in the spring of 2014 entitled The Plan: Creating your Pathway to Mortgage-Freedom, this last one having me actually taking specific steps toward my goal of building my own THOW. Because I learned I’d need to cut my expenses by sharing space with someone, I began my quest for a roommate in IL.

I woke up one day mid-late May 2015 and realized because I was unable to find anyone to co-house with, I was not getting any closer to my goal of building a THOW and because I’ve felt a draw toward North Carolina, I checked Craigslist to see if I could rent something for $500 a month, about half what I was currently paying. I saw many homes that I’d feel comfortable sharing near Asheville, so I thought, “Good…when the time is right, I’ll know I can do this……But wait, what’s this?” And that’s where I saw Caroline’s ad for a 450 sq ft cabin on her 50 acres about an hour west of Asheville.

The cabin, her passive solar home, the organic garden, the goats, the chickens and bees were all calling me. I emailed for more information, and learned we had even more in common. When we spoke, we felt like life-long friends. We eat the same (pescatarian), we both have drums—both Native and African. I mentioned tiny homes and, sure enough, building some on her property is one of her goals! WHO WROTE THIS SCRIPT!?!?

Within two weeks I flew into Asheville for a 2-day visit. Not only did Caroline meet me at the airport, but two of her friends, Ann and Anthony, joined her as well, and they were as excited as she was to meet me! I was treated to lunch at the cafe attached to the food co-op and was in heaven. I felt encapsulated in what felt like the warmest, friendliest, amazing place and people on earth!

And then I saw the land in person and I just HAD to be in a science fiction movie! Hours earlier I was in a place where I was surviving—even with some close friends. I was just getting by. I went to work, paid my bills and hoped something magical would happen to help me achieve my goals.

And magically there I was in an enchanting place, surrounded by people who already felt like friends, considering the possibility of living in this cabin surrounded by koi fish, bullfrogs, beehives, a creek with waterfalls, chickens and goats up in the Smoky Mountains! There are potlucks on a regular basis with neighbors in the community! A COMMUNITY!!! This was SO surreal! I’ve wanted to break bread with like-minded people for as long as I can remember. And, get this, my rent would be $550, plus half of utilities; which is less than half what I was paying in IL, exactly what I envisioned.

I knew I had to go for it. At 64 years old, I had no time to waste. So there I was—a person who makes lists, likes a schedule, prefers to know what’s around the bend, considering taking a leap of faith that I’ve never done before in my life. But it felt right….the people, the place, the dream… if I TRULY wanted to live my reality, this was the Universe shouting ‘here it is…this is just what you want!’

Within a few hours, I called in my 2-weeks notice. What relief, freedom, excitement and sheer joy knowing my three years at this job would all be over in two weeks.

How did this magic happen? I had intentionally put my dream out into the Universe. For several years I’ve shared with anyone who would listen: my meet-up friends, my friends from UU, my writer’s group, my landlady, the realtor who was showing my duplex that was for sale, and my sister. At first I said ‘I thought maybe…’ or ‘I’m hoping to……’ Then it became ‘I plan to…..but, I don’t know when or where’ then I got clearer: ‘I see myself somewhere in North Carolina.’ And after the trip I said it ‘I’m moving! I’m doing this! I’ll be gone before the end of the month!’

At this point, I felt a buzz like never before. Regardless of what time I went to bed, I was ALWAYS up by 5 making lists—in this case, it was VERY necessary!

• what will I take?
• what will I attempt to sell at my yard sale?
• what will I donate?
• what about relaxers for my two cats?
• what kind of vehicle will I rent?
• have my daughter help go through photo albums/pictures in frames
  • pull out all the pictures to have digitized
• check on flights for my son to come out from Portland, OR to help and drive with me.

I had lists upon lists and I’d never been so exhilarated in my life—EVER!

I needed to rent a vehicle for the move. To save money I decided to go with an SUV. I wanted a cargo van; but they were never one way—by anyone! The only SUV available, however, was a ‘standard,’ which wasn’t overly big. It was obvious NO furniture would be going. OK, I can live with that. I also would have to leave behind my 6-month-old 5-cubic-feet chest freezer, microwave, toaster oven, juicer, vacuum, pots and pans, dishes and 3-level cat tree. There wasn’t even room for all my linens, so packed a few pictures in towels and put anything ‘soft’ in bags so they could be squished into crevices. I already simplified my clothing, so I packed most I had.

And after deciding what I’d give away or sell, I divided things into 3 piles:

1. Things I HAD to have
2. Things that were totally optional–could take or leave
3. Things that if there was room, I’d get into the bags or boxes and pull out a few favorites of things I wanted, but could certainly live without. In the end here’s what I took:

• my stand mixer (I’m a baker)
• a few baking items (can’t live without my ramekins for crème brûlée)
• blender (gotta have my smoothies)
• box of photographs (ran out of time for digitizing)
• 3 pillows
• 2 sets of sheets newly purchased because I was downsizing from Queen to double bed (and got 50% off at thrift store where I worked)
• desk-top computer and printer
• an African and Native drum (leaving another African drum behind)
• a hat that was my dad’s that I bought him when I was 10 years old and that he wore until he could no longer get out of bed
• 4 framed photos including a 78-year-old one of my father in the Army when he was 26
• my yoga mats
• my cats and their crates and all their paraphernalia
• a few odds and ends

When asked if I missed the things I left behind (‘You’re not taking your cedar chest?’), the answer is no, not really. I do miss several of my closest friends, but we can still stay in touch, thank goodness.

Unless they’re super personal items, mostly photos that I limited, I can live without ‘stuff.’ Because I’m sharing space in Caroline’s home instead of renting her cabin, I need very few things. Living with Caroline will help her to reach her goals of completing her co-housing building and beginning her tiny homes sooner. This, in turn, helps me since I’ll eventually live in one of the tiny houses on Caroline’s property.

Having so little makes me feel lighter, totally unencumbered and at peace. Life is good.

Thanks, again, for sharing, Sue! Enjoy your new life.

The post The Magic of Sticking to The Plan appeared first on Tiny House Family.

Sometimes, hard work seems like a miracle. The miracle is waking up each day and doing something to get a tiny bit closer, and then doing it again the next day. And someday, you wake up, and you are there.

The post The Miracle of Tiny Steps appeared first on Tiny House Family.

When Mint contacted me for an expert interview, my heart jumped. More people to help! They asked some thought-provoking questions, and I’m happy with my answers. Click here to read the interview and let me know what you think!

The post Expert Interview on Mint.com appeared first on Tiny House Family.

The amazing thing about getting super-clear on intentions is they have a way of working themselves into reality. Setting clear intentions is one of the tasks I ask the participants to do in our course, and it’s working for them, too.

So here we sit in this place we dreamed up. This place that has roots of community deeper than my old white oak up the hill. There’s something deeply moving about finding a place where you belong. There’s something deeply satisfying in knowing you are there because your people are there. Do you live in a place that stirs you this deeply? Are you in love with your place? Do you mark time by the buds on the trees and the familiar bird songs–the ones you can’t name…yet?

I hope so. What a world this would be if we all loved our place so deeply that we wanted nothing but to nurture its growth. The more we nurture our communities and the greater community of folks around the world making a shift to local commerce and self-reliance, the more profoundly we will impact the world. It is with the intention of nurturing community and sacred economy that I share the project of our friends and community members, Scott and Cassie Pierce.

We met Scott and Cassie shortly after we moved into the tiny house. We noticed a familiar entrepreneurial spirit in them and quickly found out that they also planned to build a mortgage-free home (It’s been fun building alongside another family, but that’s another story.) We weren’t surprised when they announced that they were opening a kombuchery. What is a kombuchery? you might ask. It’s a place where kombucha is brewed. Here is an article about kombucha.

Inspired by the idea of sacred commerce, they decided to start their business with cash and grow it in the slow and steady way that all things with good roots grow.

“It’s easy to imagine a world where businesses lead the shift to a sustainable, authentic workplace for all when you live in a community where local business owners practice living an inspired life.  With so many mentors in Floyd County, we felt supported in implementing practices in our own business that reflect our deepest values.  We weigh each decision with true intention, from our glass bottles made stateside, to the hand written mantras affixed to each glass fermenter.  Sacred Commerce launches the idea that commerce can be a vehicle to raise consciousness, allowing for a collaborative community to swim collectively in the spiritual current.  With this in mind we create, market, and sell our kombucha to you ~ a complete, unadulterated lovefest of a product born from our truest Selves.” –Cassie Pierce

Now, they’ve reached a milestone. They’ve outgrown their equipment and they are ready to take this labor of love to the next level. I’m inspired by their willingness to ask for help after working their business to the point where it naturally needs to expand.

Check out their Kickstarter video and their website. These guys are so close to reaching their goal on Kickstarter, but if they don’t reach it, they get no funding. If their story resonates with you, if you like kombucha, local business, sacred economy or just want to give some good folks a hand up, please consider donating $5 (or more, of course!) It feels good to help others reach a dream.

Thanks for reading, and happy spring forward day!

The post Growing Sacred Economy appeared first on Tiny House Family.

I wrote a bit more about the project in this post.

Watch the video here!  We love how it turned out; it really sums up our story. (Be sure to let it load before viewing.)

I’m thrilled with the image gallery, too. I took over 1000 images for this project, and these are the best of them. If you click on an image, you’ll find a quote from me about the picture and then expert insight in “Behind the Shot.” Truthfully, I had no idea I was doing these expert things, so I’m learning here, too.It sure is fun to see my pictures on the Nikon website!

Enjoy!

The post The Nikon Video is here! appeared first on Tiny House Family.

When I don’t know what to do with a stained t-shirt or other worn-out piece of clothing, I usually cut it up for napkins or rags, but sometimes the fabric isn’t absorbent enough, so I stow it in a milk crate for future use.

Just before Christmas I deep cleaned the tiny house and found a forgotten basket of fabric scraps in the storage compartment under the couch. Yes, even in a tiny house we accumulate stuff and forget about it. Since I had to make room for the influx of gifts, it was time to use or trash this fabric.

Since it is the season of intentions, I decided to make an Intention Flag. Flags dancing in the woods make me happy. I love the idea of the gratitude or intention floating on the wind and permeating the space. The kids and I make Gratitude Flags every year and they turn our woods into a sacred space. Adding not just our intentions but the intentions of our family and friends to the gratitude excited me.

I wrote about 10,000 intentions, okay maybe 10, and, man, I still had a ton of fabric left, so I decided to expand the project. I took the basket along with a bag of permanent markers to a few gatherings between Solstice and New Year’s Day. At least forty people added intention to this flag.

When my mom was with me for Christmas day, we sewed the scraps of fabric onto strips I tore from an old flat sheet. Hanging the flag in the woods was a beautiful and powerful way to spend Christmas night with Mom. (Read more about our Christmas and other stories in our Winter Newsletter.)

My commitment to my friends and family was to create this flag and then to hold the space for their intentions all year. Walking in our woods and seeing the intentions of so many reflect the light in the shadow of my great white oak is pure art. What’s striking about this flag is the similarity of our intentions.

We all have similar desires and they’re really very simple.

What are your intentions for 2015? Let them fly!

The post Making an Intention Flag for 2015 appeared first on Tiny House Family.