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| Photo credit: Tony Chen 2012 |
I'm Anna, a 20-something recent college graduate. My dad and I are building an 8'x20' tiny house on wheels in Washington State. This is my personal blog to document the building process and my thoughts along the way.
Here's a little background on me and my motivations for building my own tiny house.
This goes way back. I have fluctuated in and out of obsession with dwelling design for nearly as long as I remember, and I've always almost assumed that I would someday build and live in a home of my own design.
The direction of my obsession has shifted over the years: from treehouses to Southwestern-style timber and adobe to strawbale to yurts to cob to living roofs, and more. Over this time, two constants emerged. For one, I'm fascinated by the problem of optimizing the layout of a living space to fit the lifestyle that I imagine for myself. (What that imagined lifestyle consists of has changed somewhat since I was a kid. For example, these days I'm pretty sure I'll be able to live without a Hearst Castle-style indoor swimming pool!) And for two, I will never be satisfied with living in a typical tract-built house in town or--heaven forbid--in an apartment.
I don't remember when or where I first heard of tiny houses on wheels, but I dabbled in the idea for a year or two (or three?) before well and truly deciding to build one for myself in August, 2014.
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| Tiny house example (photo by Tammy Strobel, via Wikimedia Commons) |
Plus, they're so cute!
Here are my reasons for building a tiny house on wheels, in no definitive order:
1. A tiny house on wheels is a house that I can design and build myself--as I've always wanted to do--without needing to buy land. I studied environmental science at university, which isn't the most lucrative field I could have entered. I am unemployed during my build. I don't really expect to be able to afford normal real estate any time in the next ten years... at least, not in a part of the country I'd want to live in. A tiny house represents home ownership without the kind of capital that home ownership usually entails. (I hope to spend no more than $22,000 on my build.)
2. Living in a tiny house will force me to be disciplined about my possessions. Tidiness is not my biggest virtue and I sometimes find it hard to resist a great sale or thrift store find; however, the junk I accumulate and the stuff I leave lying around kind of drive me crazy. Living in a tiny space means I have no choice but to prioritize and organize, and I know I will be happier and more satisfied with my life if it involves less stuff. I already sold or donated about 2/3 of my stuff in preparation for my last move from San Jose, CA, to my hometown in Washington. It's a start!
3. My tiny house project will give me practical, hands-on skills. Prior to starting my tiny house build, my only experience with building anything had been helping with a set build for a theater production back in high school. I have a belief that know-how about building and home construction will serve me well through life, particularly if and when I end up buying land and building a somewhat larger house (or yurt) on it.
4. My tiny house will be tangible evidence that I am a super awesome, get-it-done, think-outside-the-box kind of person. Yeah! 'Cause that's me, all right. Or, it will be, once I prove it to myself by building a tiny house...
5. I am terrified by the whole concept of debt. I am exceedingly fortunate--in many ways, on many levels--to be debt-free after five years and two degrees at an elite and amazingly expensive university. For that I have to thank my alma mater's financial aid policies, my parents' and grandfather's generosity, and the fact that I worked part-time almost every quarter of my academic career. I will spend all my savings on my tiny house, but after that, my expenses for utilities and rent will be more than manageable. I'll more easily be able to save up to eventually buy land if I'm not shelling out the full cost of renting, heating, and lighting an apartment or house in the meantime.
6. Tiny houses are more sustainable and efficient than full-sized houses. As an environmental scientist by education, I can't abide the idea of living the kind of unsustainable, bloated consumerist lifestyle that is so common in America and elsewhere. Less house equals less stuff and less energy. I also have control over what products and materials go into my house. I will write more later about the "green" choices I will--and, unfortunately, will not (due to time, budget, and skill limitations)--be making for my tiny house.
7. And most importantly: No matter what town I eventually end up in for work, I can take my tiny house with me and always go home at the end of the day. I have a strong sense of home. The house where I'm living during the tiny house build has been in my family for three generations before me; I was born in the north bedroom and only moved as far as the upstairs east bedroom in the entire 18+ years I lived there full-time. But since graduating from high school, that comforting stability was toppled. I never lived in the same place for more than nine months at a time. I moved fully four times in the 16 months after graduating from college. It's exhausting!--Physically, mentally, and financially, but also emotionally. I crave a place that I can call my own, but at the same time, I'm not sure what the future holds for me. A tiny house that I can uproot and replant where needed is just the thing.
It's mainly for this last reason that I'm calling my project The Going Home (get it?). I hope you enjoy and learn from my tiny house experiences!
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