This is a guest post from Ryan Mitchell who writes at TheTinyLife.com about tiny houses. I know many of you, including myself, have talked on the forums about building one, but here is someone who actually builds one!
It started one Friday afternoon, my colleague and I stood on the side of the road outside our old office with our cardboard desks; the whole company had just been set up and a million things were going through our heads. How will I pay my bills? Hiring is due next week! How will I find a job in a down economy?
Fortunately, I was able to find a job quickly, but that feeling never left me. I started looking at the way I was living, my relationship with money, what was important to me and how I could be sure not to worry again. After taking a hard look at my spending I realized that most of my income was going into housing, at that time, a whopping 50%! That’s when I decided I had to figure out how to get rid of that line item and get that part of my income back. I started exploring options to address this and stumbled upon the concept of tiny houses.
Tiny houses are small homes usually between 100 and 400 square meters for one person. They focus on design, efficient use of space and ease of living. They are usually built on a trailer for easy transport along with skirting codes. One of the most attractive features is that you can build one of these for much less money than a traditional house and in a very short time, you can have a debt-free tiny house.
Tiny houses vary in cost from a few thousand for your own lot to $50,000 for a custom build. Many people choose to build for themselves, even if they have never built anything in their lives. The scale of a small house is very manageable for anyone who is willing to work hard on it.
For my small house I chose to build it myself. Since I have no construction experience, it was a great learning experience, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. In the end it will cost me 2 years worth of rent, but I’m walking away with a house I can live in for the rest of my life at no cost. More importantly it allowed me to never have to worry about where to live and now I can pay back that part of my income.
I knew going into this that my financial situation would change drastically, but now that I’m only a month away from moving into my house I’m starting to see that the impact is much bigger than I realized. What I need to live now is nothing. My monthly expenses are down to $900 per month (food: $250, gas: $125, utilities: $75, insurance: $150, cell: $30, clothing: $25, car: $100, entertainment: $100, other: $45. All income goes to savings), which is more than Jacob’s monthly expenses, but not in full and there are a lot of cooling devices built in. I must point out that this cost me my life; my salary is much higher than this.
Putting money aside, living in a small house brings something precious. It brings opportunity and peace of mind. Since I have reduced my monthly expenses significantly, it has opened doors for many things. It means I can leave my old 9 to 5 job and work for myself. It means that I don’t have to work at a job I don’t like, not to forget the full suits, I can work anywhere. It means that 2014 will be the year I live in another country; I will take more vacation time, and I can focus on what is most important to me. It also means that if something happens, I can live with savings for a very long time (measured in years, not months) if I have to. Peace of mind is something I have started to see as very important to me.
I am 29 years old and retired. I still have to do the work, but honestly if I had $10 million in the bank, I’d probably still be doing what I’m doing because I chose it and I love doing it. Since moving to work I have found that I can make the same amount of money, but with fewer hours at work, on the phone and with a lot less stress. It means I can pay off my student loans early, save more and start exploring some of the strategies Jacob uses at ERE.
Some common questions about tiny houses:
Question: How big is your house and how can you live so small?
A: My house is 150 square meters plus a loft for my bed. While my house isn’t for everyone, you’d be surprised what a well-designed space can do for such a small footprint. It also means that I extend my house to the outside and to my community. I have a nice outdoor space with an outdoor kitchen when the weather is nice. Otherwise I’m out in coffee shops, out with friends, in the park, traveling around the world or working in an office.
Question: Where do you put all your things?
A: The question is not where do you put all your things, but how can I reduce the amount of things I have, which I have to store later? By reducing your belongings to the essentials and a few precious items, furnishing the entire small house is not that difficult. I always tell people to pay off their property and design a house around what’s left. I have some things (tools, camping gear, outdated clothes) stored in a small enclosed trailer. To be honest I don’t miss things, if I did, I would just go for a bigger house because now I have that flexibility.
Question: Do the tiny houses have running water, flush toilets and lights?
A: Of course it is! In fact it is like a house, but smaller. I specifically chose electronics designed for small spaces (RVs and boats). In my house I have a full grid-tied power system, a standard plumbing system with a demand water heater, and my bathroom is standard plumbing, I currently use a composting toilet.
Question: I’ve seen tiny houses often built on trailers, it’s not just an RV or motor home.
A: There is overlap, but the main difference is the small house that looks like a traditional home. When you look at a small house, it says to you a house, not a trailer. It also has the highest grade of materials and is designed to last a lifetime. RVs are designed for seasonal use only and will not hold up well if you live in them full time. Most RV’s have r-4 insulation which will keep you very cold in the winter months, while my house has r-20.
Question: Where can I find out more or see the cottage in person?
A: We blog about tiny houses on our blog TheTinyLife.com. In April 2014 we have our Tiny House Conference (tinyhouseconference.com), where you can see several tiny houses in person and learn all about them from our amazing speakers!
Copyright © 2007-2023 earlyretirementextreme.com
This feed is for personal, non-commercial use only.
Use of this feed on other websites violates copyright. If you see this notice somewhere other than your news reader, it makes the page you are viewing a copyright violation. Some sites use random name changing algorithms to hide the origin. Find the original, unadulterated version of this post at earlyretirementextreme.com. (Digital fingerprint: 47d7050e5790442c7fa8cab55461e9ce)
First posted 2014-01-01 07:15:54.
Source link
