why tiny?

Why did we choose to live in a tiny house?

There are numerous reasons, but the main factors in our initial decision were:

1. Our life goals… include living on some land, off-grid, and building a house debt-free.  Raising chickens, gardening… living simply so we aren’t living just to work for someone else, so we can enjoy life… traveling, exploring, just being.
2. The Economy… has gotten bad.  Both Shane and I are in the construction industry (I’m an architectural designer, he’s a custom home builder) and our industry has tanked since the mortgage/banking debacle of 2008.  Which isn’t all bad – we were over-building here in America.  But how could we accomplish our life goals without the guarantee of consistent work?  With our monthly housing costs exceeding $1,400?  We started thinking of ways to save money, so we could save up for our dreams… and Shane thought of designing, building and living in a Tiny House.  He eventually convinced me.
3. The Environment… is our only home and we feel strongly about making counter-cultural lifestyle choices to live within natural ecological constraints.  Construction accounts for a large percentage of raw materials used, land-fill waste, and energy usage so if we can all live a little smaller, we will use less natural resources and pollute less by lowering our heating and cooling costs.
4. Mobility… When we built our tiny house we didn’t know where we wanted to live, and we wanted to invest in our future while lowering our expenses, but weren’t ready to commit to a certain town.  So a house on wheels was the perfect solution.  We could live in an area and get a feel for it, and move on if it didn’t fit.

Poetically: Why tiny?  well mainly because we are tired of paying mortgages and rent and having nothing to show for it.  we want to put our time and efforts into something of our own – something we can call home – and hopefully something we can learn from and put more back into the river of life.  Also, we want to make a change toward smaller, simpler living.  we have too much stuff.  and if everyone has too much stuff then how can the earth possibly sustain us?  we’d like to develop a lifestyle that is simple, adventurous, and fun!

As I’m writing this, I realize that we are already meeting our life goals!  We have built our own house debt-free and are living on some land (rented from family).  This tiny house has really created a lot of freedom and flexibility for us and I am so grateful for my tenacious husband who built this beautiful home for us.  🙂

going under the freeways in Albuquerque…