{Editor’s note: Earlier today, I was digging through my blog archives and pruning old content. I stumbled across this interview with my friend Dee and I decided to repost it because it made me smile. And I had a lovely dinner with her last night. I feel so lucky to have such amazing friends in my life. Enjoy the interview! Ping me on Google+ if you have questions.}

Tammy: Selling your big house and moving into a tiny home was big decision. What inspired you to downsize your life?

Dee: There were a bunch of things that inspired me to down-size in 2004. My friend, Mark, had just died of cancer; my job as a hazardous waste inspector was increasingly reminding me that my (our) consumer choices have terrible consequences; and I had just returned from a trip to Guatemala, where I was brought face to face with my affluence and real-world poverty. There were lots of big things that were ultimately encouraging me to go small.

I just found this Wendell Berry poem that says it all:

“Like a tide it comes in,
Wave after wave of foliage and fruit
The nurtured and the wild,
Out of the light to this shore.
In its extravagance we shape
The strenuous outline of enough.”

Tammy: You live a beautiful, yet tiny, 84 square-foot home that’s been featured in Yes!Magazine, TIME Magazine, on Good Morning America, NBC Evening News, National Public Radio, and other media. Can you tell us about your popular little house?

Dee: Media is a weird thing. I think people are curious, intrigued, sometimes horrified, and sometimes simply entertained by the fact that a grown-up lady can live in a tiny space. I’ve been told people are inspired by my choice to live small, and have also been told that I’m what’s wrong with America – that I shouldn’t be allowed to visit the library or use any other public resource, and that I should be ashamed of myself for sponging off other’s hard work. Ouch. My mom’s response to the media is “it seems 99% of the people who have written really like your choices and the other 1%, well, they can’t spell.”

Tammy: What’s your favorite thing about living in your little house?

Dee: I love the loft. From there, it seems everything is good. I’m taller. Better looking and operating with a clear head. The moon is closer and all my problems, pinned so far away, look like tiny ants.

Tammy: Has your smaller lifestyle brought you more happiness? If so, how?

Dee: I think my smaller life has offered me a clearer picture of the difference between what I want and what I need. That discourse doesn’t always make me calm or happy; it challenges me. That said, living small does bring a certain satisfaction and awareness to life; a certain ‘ah-haaaa’ when you recognize that you don’t really need a bigger house or more ‘stuff’ to be in love with your life. And beyond all that… well, living in the backyard is simply awesome. I have wonderful neighbors, a nice garden, the food coop is only a few blocks away, there are bats that swing by at dusk, herons and whales just down the hill in Puget Sound, rain on the roof, wind in the eaves, sunflowers coming up in the garden… all sorts of things that make my life so incredibly gifted. All that makes me crazy happy.

Tammy: You recently started a new business with the awesome Katy Anderson. Can you tell our readers a little bit about Portland Alternative Dwellings and the services you offer?

Dee: Katy and I started PAD to encourage folks to dream big and build small; to think about extending their idea of home to something tiny. Henry Thoreau offered that “civilization ought to be making better people of us”. PAD believes our structures should do the same. That’s why we craft dwellings that are both functional and beautiful, tiny enough to fit on wheels and are grown out of environmentally friendly products and practices.

We want to help folks design their own space, or build from existing plans – ultimately, hoping to encourage folks to re-dream what’s possible.

Tammy: What book(s) are you always telling people to read? 

Dee: Here are my favorite books today:

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Morteson

Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracey Kidder

The Highest Tide by Jim Lynch

Material World by Menzel

Tammy: Everyone has unique skills; skills that I call superpowers. What is your superpower?

Dee: I’m really good at packing big things into small spaces. This is, perhaps, a genetic gift from my father who could pack our car for a road trip like a super hero.

I also think I have a lot of faith in people – to shake free of the ‘stuff’ that holds them back from their potential and from saving the world. I have very high hopes for humanity to pull its head out of its ass at any moment. Even people that bug the crud out of me… I absolutely believe they belong here in this place with me, and together we’re meant to change the worlds suffering.

Tammy: If you weren’t living in a tiny house with super power-abilities, where would you live?

Dee: Maybe Portland with my friends; maybe in California, where I could possibly fall in love; maybe on a boat in Puget Sound. Lately, I’ve been infatuated with the Sound. I worry about it and want to keep mud from flowing into it; I want to understand how the tides rise and fall, and how sometimes you see very weird, completely unexpected stuff.

Tammy: Thanks Dee!

///

Want to learn more about building a little house? I highly recommend reading, Go House Go! Check out PAD’s website for more information.

I wasn’t sure if I would be able to sleep on Saturday night because I was so excited about the delivery of our little house on Sunday. Plus, I had an incredible amount of coffee on Saturday afternoon! Sisters Coffee Company celebrated their 6-month anniversary and they were giving away coffee, treats, and wine to all of their customers. It was a fun event and a great place to edit gala photos.

After getting high on coffee, Logan and I spent the last night in our apartment eating a simple dinner of soup, bread, vegetables, and cheese. Then we packed our kitchen and went to bed. Luckily I slept like a baby with two kittens snuggled up by my feet.

On Sunday morning, I woke up with butterfly’s in my stomach. To release some of my nervous energy, Logan sent me on an errand to Goodwill. After I dropped off lights, clothing, and an old laundry basket, Logan and I headed to the Portland Bagel Company for breakfast. As I was eating a bagel that tasted like french toast I received two photos from Katy, both of which contained pictures.

My favorite photo caption said: “Resting with the big boys.” 

We couldn’t have asked for a better moving day. Katy and her dad, Steve, left Gig Harbor early Sunday morning and drove down to Portland with the little house in tow. There wasn’t much traffic and it was sunny!

Logan and I pedaled over to our new neighborhood with silly grins on our faces. Serendipitously, as we pulled up on the bikes the little house was being backed into the driveway and our friends Andrew and Michelle showed up at the same time. Talk about amazing timing!

Then the crew got to work. I stayed away from the electric power dolly and let Dee and Logan take over. They were able to navigate the house through a 90 degree turn into the yard, with a mere six inches to spare at the gate. Without the dolly, the house would not be in such a beautiful backyard.

Logan noted, “The electric dolly worked flawlessly and I think this will be an excellent tool that can help other tiny house folks park into small, beautiful places. We were able to aim the front of the house between two trees, so that we have a view of the sunset!”

We closed off the evening watching the sunset from our front porch. I’ve never seen the sunset from the numerous apartments I’ve lived in over the years. Watching the purple, pinks, and orange hues light up the sky was incredible. My eyes filled up with tears; tears of happiness and gratitude. I’m grateful for our new neighbors and all the kick-ass friends that showed up to help on Sunday.

Lessons from this wonderful experience:

Making a dream a reality takes longer than expected and I think that’s a good thing. For instance, we’ve spent the last 4 years dreaming, designing, and saving for this little house. I’m glad we didn’t charge the house on our credit card.

The culture of consumption makes it easy to buy now and pay later. I’ve often bought belongings in the moment because “I had to have it.” That type of process doesn’t offer a whole lot of time for reflection or planning. In the past, I seldom asked myself if an object would contribute to my life over the long-run, instead of just being a drain on my energy.

Our little house has already brought us an incredible amount of joy and we’ve only been in it for two days! I expect we’ll grow to love it even more in the long-run. Waiting and planning has made this process a whole lot sweeter and saner.

///

You probably won’t hear much from me this week. I’ll be working on my manuscript and settling into the little house. I captured a lot of video footage on Sunday, so I’ll be sure to share the tiny film once it’s been edited.

Also I don’t have Internet at the little house yet, so it might take me a while to approve comments. Please be patient. In the meantime, take a look at the photos I captured over the weekend . . .

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Gneti kept biting Logan’s ankles as we sat in the sun and talked with Dee. We were on the front lawn of our soon to be home. The sun was shining and we all had our shoes and socks off. It was a perfect fall day and playing puppy games with Gneti made it both fun and relaxing.

As we played with Gneti, Dee asked, “What are you looking forward to most in your new home?”

On the surface this seemed like a simple question, yet it was difficult to answer. So I told Dee, “We’re looking forward to a lot of things, like living in a quiet neighborhood and being in tune with the seasons.”

Logan looked up from his tug of war game with Gneti and said, “We’re really looking forward to hearing the rain on the roof.”

Dee retorted, “Well, you’ll get a lot of that.”

After we visited with Dee we went to a local coffee shop and relaxed with some Rooibos tea and an americano coffee. Logan looked up directions to a local bike shop and I thought about Dee’s question. I wrote a more extensive response in my journal and wanted to share a small snapshot with you.

I’m looking forward to . . .

- Living in a home that fits like a glove.
- Sitting on our front porch.
- Living in a beautiful backyard and having access to green space.
- Watching the light stream through the french doors.
- Observing how the experience of living in a little house will change me.
- Cleaning less.
- Being more generous with my time.

We’ve been living in the belly of an apartment building and we’re looking forward to being outside more. Our apartment is cute, but it doesn’t get much light and sometimes I feel like I’m living in a cave. In 14 days, that’s going to change. We’ll be moving into our little house on October 23rd!

How does your home give you a sense of peace and happiness? Share your thoughts in the comments section.

{Every Tuesday, I post a short essay or update about the little house we’re building. Enjoy!}

To your right, you’ll see a few shelves and the beginning of our very tiny kitchen! I’m super excited to display my diminutive library on those shelves and boil water for coffee on our tiny range.

In addition to the latest tiny house photos, I have a few big updates.

First off, we’re heading to Gig Harbor this weekend to see the house and talk about final design details with Katy. A few people have jokingly asked if we’ll be biking up to Gig Harbor. It’s a little far for a weekend ride, so we’ll be using ZipCar.

Second, friends offered to let us park the little house in their backyard for the winter. We will be paying rent, but it’s going to be less expensive than our current apartment. I’m excited to explore North Portland!

Finally, I talked to Katy last weekend and asked for an estimated completion date. To my surprise she said the house will be done by mid-October! My 33rd birthday is on November 6th, so moving into our tiny dwelling will be the perfect gift.

One of my articles, From Large to Little: My Tiny House Saga, was updated and syndicated on BlogHer. Check it out!

***

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Editor’s Note: Every Friday, I post a Simple Living News Update that includes links to some of my favorite articles of the week. In addition to the update, I answer a reader question via video.

During the World Domination Summit, I met a lot of amazing RowdyReaders. (Thanks for saying hi!) At least 30 of you asked about our little house and it’s status. Below is a tiny update:

For those of you who can’t watch the video, here’s a summary:

The Foundation. In early May we ordered the trailer for our little house. Essentially, the trailer is the foundation of the little house. It’s 16 feet long and 8 feet wide. The trailer is being built by a company outside of Portland called Iron Eagle.

Dee, our tiny house designer, emailed me and said the trailer will be ready next week. They are running a little behind, but that’s okay. Construction is still set to begin sometime this month.

A Tiny Range. Logan has been scouring craigslist for recycled materials we can use for the little house. Some of the things we’re looking for include a front door, windows, and a kitchen sink.

Last week, he found a tiny range (a small oven)! The model is called an Origo 6000 Alcohol Range. Normally it retails for $1500 (US) after shipping, but Logan found it for $800! The original owners were going to use it in their boat, but it didn’t fit. It’s been lightly used and it’s super cute.

Why an alcohol stove? You can read a detailed description about the range at Kai and Shelia’s blog. We bought the same tiny range.

Learn more about our little house by reading these articles:

• Viva La Tiny Revolution: Why We’re Building a Little House

• From Large to Little: My Tiny House Saga

Now onto the news . . .

Everybody Have Fun: What can policymakers learn from happiness research?

“Bok, who served two stints as president of Harvard, begins with a discussion of prosperity and its discontents. Over the past three and a half decades, real per-capita income in the United States has risen from just over seventeen thousand dollars to almost twenty-seven thousand dollars.

During that same period, the average new home in the U.S. grew in size by almost fifty per cent; the number of cars in the country increased by more than a hundred and twenty million; the proportion of families owning personal computers rose from zero to seventy per cent; and so on. Yet, since the early seventies, the percentage of Americans who describe themselves as either “very happy” or “pretty happy” has remained virtually unchanged. Indeed, the average level of self-reported happiness, or “subjective well-being,” appears to have been flat going all the way back to the nineteen-fifties, when real per-capita income was less than half what it is today.”

Denying the Earth’s growth and depleting resources is just eating into our future

”How many people,” Gilding asks, ”lie on their death bed and say, ‘I wish I had worked harder or built more shareholder value,’ and how many say, ‘I wish I had read more books to my kids, taken more walks?’ To do that, you need a growth model based on giving people more time to enjoy life, but with less stuff.”

Sounds utopian? Gilding says he is a realist. ”We are heading for a crisis-driven choice. We either allow collapse to overtake us or develop a new sustainable economic model. We will choose the latter. We may be slow, but we’re not stupid.”

JoyFear

“Having only joy is great. Having only fear sucks. But having both … that’s life-defining.

Do not shy away from Joyfear. Seek it out. Recognize it when you happen upon it. Joyfear will change your life, and you’ll never forget the moment you find it.”

Cool Stuff

• Deek’s $100 Homeless Hut Video

“The more intentional you are in your choices, the more every change makes room for more changes … I just love that there’s this endless potential.” ~Dee Williams

3,000 square feet. 4 bedrooms. 3 bathrooms. A huge kitchen. Two garages. Two people.

I spent New Year’s Eve with family friends in Longview, Washington and what I described above is a small snapshot of their very big home. Even though the house was big, we spend most of our time together hanging out in the living room or the kitchen. The rest of the house wasn’t being actively used. And that begs the question: Why have such a big house if a majority of the space is empty, most of the time?

During my time in Longview, my friends and I had a lot of conversations about tiny homes. Specifically, they wanted to know why I was so obsessed with these little dwellings.

Building small comes down to two concepts: saving money and freedom.

1. Saving money.

Our little house will cost approximately $35,000 (on the high end). That’s about three years of rent. In the long-run we’ll be saving a lot of money and we can use those funds for other purposes, like travel and donating to charities.

In addition, I have no desire to spend $300,000 on a “starter house.” I don’t want to be tied to a traditional mortgage and building a house on a smaller scale suits our needs.

If we built the house ourselves, it would be less expensive. However, I want a professionally build and designed house and that cost will be reflected in the final price. Dee Williams and Katy Anderson have experience designing and building tiny spaces and I value their knowledge. I admire folks who can build little homes themselves, but I don’t have the desire to take on that kind of project.

In addition, Dee has lived in her little house for six years and has a wealth of information on what works and what doesn’t work for small space living. And if we’re going to live in a tiny space, it needs to fit us like a glove.

Creative design and building are important because we don’t want to pay for something that’s too big. We want just enough space.

2. Freedom.

Owning a little house is one path toward freedom. The freedom from cleaning. The freedom from renewing a lease. The freedom from excessive debt. And the freedom from being committed to one place. Since our little house will be on wheels, we can move it (and us) whenever we want.

What’s next?

Last weekend, we spoke with Katy, of Portland Alternative Dwellings, about the building details and the next steps. At the end of March we’re going to order our trailer and the windows. Construction will start in May or June. In the meantime, we’ll be working with the lovely Dee Williams to map out the design. (You can check out Logan’s rough sketch of our design. Just click on the image).

I feel like a little kid a Christmas. I’m so excited about the planning process, but I’m also a little freaked out. Why?

• I’m scared that we won’t be able to fit all of our stuff in the little house.

• I’m scared of running over our small budget.

• I’m scared that we won’t be happy in the little house.

And then we still have a lot of questions to answer, like:

• What if we can’t park the little house on our friends piece of land?

• Will we be able to fit our bulk food in the little house?

• How will our eating habits change?

Thinking about all of this stuff is overwhelming and scary. My concerns are valid and we’ve got to address these issues. But I’m not going to let my lizard brain stop us. We’ve been talking about building a little house for the last three years and we are finally at a place where we can afford to make this project a reality.

And it’s pretty amazing that two of our good friends will design and build this house for us. I know it will be built with love and that’s a beautiful thing.

Join the Revolution

Living small isn’t solely about counting up your stuff or living in a little house. It’s about making time for family, doing work you love, and building community. Getting active is key because creating any kind of social change requires working with your community.

And the thing is, helping others will make you happy. Positive psychologists (a.k.a. happiness researchers) have labeled this phenomena the “helper’s high.” Meaning you get more joy out of helping others than solely focusing on yourself.

Micro-action: Answer the following question: How are you making an impact in your community? If you aren’t doing anything, what small step can you take today to start helping others?

Now onto the Q & A:

Yesterday, I asked my Twitter followers and Facebook friends if they had questions about our little house. Below is a brief Q & A:

Question: How will you have any sense of privacy or personal space, or does that not concern you?

Answer: Honestly, that doesn’t concern me. If I need space I go outside or do yoga. As a writer, I already spend a lot of time alone and more time away from Logan than I would like. Logan is my best friend, partner, and I love him like crazy. So when he’s home, spending time with him is a joy. Also, we will have a buffer spaces in the house. There will be a loft (our bedroom) and the great room.

Question: How about what is storage space?

Answer: There will be plenty of storage space in the little house. Last weekend, we met with Dee and started hashing out design ideas, which includes storage space.

If you look at the rough sketch of the little house, you’ll see a bump out couch. Under the couch will be storage space. In addition, we’ll have a small closet, pantry, small kitchen cabinets, and storage space in the loft. And remember, we don’t have that much stuff.

Question: Will it be close to town so you can commute easily?

Answer: Right now we’re planning on parking the little house in North Portland. So the location will be close to town. However, if that falls through we’re considering a few other spots. One place is in Milwaukee (just outside Portland) and the other is in the Southeast part of town. Ideally, we’d prefer to stay within the city limits. However, we’re flexible.

Question: Where does your poop go?

Answer: Well, that’s an awfully personal question.

In all seriousness, we will be using a composting toilet. Composting poo is a huge topic. If you want to learn more, listen to The Pee & Poo Show and read the Humanure Handbook.

Question: Will the kitties have dedicated nooks?

Answer: I don’t know about dedicated nooks, but we are going to install a few KatWALLKs; that way both cats can get into the loft. Christie is very agile and theoretically could climb the loft latter. However, Elaina is overweight and isn’t a ninja kitten like Christie. So she’ll need extra help getting up to the loft.

Question: What about multipurpose rooms?

Answer: The whole space is multipurpose. For example, in the “great room” (the lower level of the house), we’ll have a fold out desk that will also be a small dinning room table.

Really it’s all about how you design a space and what suits your needs. For more design ideas, I highly recommend reading Little House on a Small Planet. The book contains a wealth of information about living and design small spaces. Plus the author profiles families who live in little homes.

If you want specific technical information on building a tiny house, read Go House Go by Dee Williams.

Question: What about water, electricity, and heat?

Answer: We have a few options for water, electricity, and heat.

Water: If we’re completely off grid, that means we’ll have to bring our own water in and store the water in containers. Or we can plug-into the grid.

Electricity: At this point, we’d like to purchase a small solar panel.

Heat: We are going to buy a tiny fireplace and it’s called the Sardine.

Question: Can you give us a cost break-down?

Answer: Yes, but not yet. The cost won’t be finalized until we get the design completed. Then our amazing builder, Katy, can give us more detail on the cost of all the materials, plus her labor. Like I said above, our tiny house budget is approximately $35,000 (on the high end).

Question: What about guests?

Answer: Guests can either stay in the loft or we’ll put them up at a lovely hotel.

Question: What about the building codes?

Answer: If you want to build a little house, check in with your local city planning department because building codes vary from city to city. Some cities are more flexible than others. Luckily, the City of Portland’s Planning Department has been supportive of building small, sustainable homes.

For more on Portland tiny homes, check out the post I wrote for Kent last year.

Question: Will you have a porch and room for something like a garden?

Answer: Yes, we will have a porch and a garden too! We’d love to have kitchen garden planters outside the windows and hopefully we’ll have permission to garden wherever we park.

Question: Are you planning on having children?

Answer: No, we aren’t having children. But keep in mind, it is possible to have kids and live in small spaces. If you need design ideas read Little House on a Small Planet and check out the resources listed at the bottom of the post.

Question: How many square feet is the little house?

Answer: About 150 square feet.

***

For more tiny house fun, check out these websites and interviews:

• The Tiny House Blog and my interview with Kent

• Tiny House Design and my interview with Michael

• Relax Shacks and my interview with Deek

• Portland Alternative Dwellings and my interview with Dee

It was a cold, windy New Years evening. Logan and I were wrapped up in the covers; he was surfing the internet and I was reading a book. It was a perfect and cozy night to be at home.

Suddenly, Logan looked over at me and said: “Tammy, you’ve got to see this!”

“Dude. I’m reading. Is it that important?”

“Yes! You’re going to love this little video.”

Logan was right. The video featured Dee Williams and her little house. The house was adorable. It looked like a miniature Victorian or Carpenter Gothic home on wheels.

I looked at Logan and said: “I want one of those homes! They are so cute. And think of all the money we’d save. We could pay for the house up front. Then we wouldn’t have to worry about paying rent anymore, at least not in the traditional sense. And maybe, just maybe we could park the little house in someone’s backyard.”

My mind started racing while thinking of all the possibilities this tiny living idea presented. Logan had no idea he’d unleashed a monster. For the next few months all I could talk about were tiny homes, decluttering, and how we could finance a little house.

The idea of buying a tiny house was appealing. So, I started doing research on little homes and was shocked by some of the statistics I stumbled across. For instance:

• In 1950 the average American home was 983 square feet. By 2004, the average American home swelled to 2,349 square feet; that’s about a 140% increase in size.

• Garages account for over 15% of the size of the average house.

• Appliances, both large and small, account for as much as 10 percent of the increase in house size since 1948.

• A majority of North American homes have refrigerators that are twice the size of European models. And a typical refrigerator uses as much energy as leaving six small television sets on for 10-12 hours a day.

While I was doing my research, I discovered that there are many benefits to living in a smaller dwelling. On average little homes cost more per square foot, but that’s typically because they are made with higher quality materials. Plus, you don’t have to spend so much time on home maintenance or cleaning.

At this point, we had just moved into a large one-bedroom apartment. We loved the new place, but we still had a lot of stuff. And after watching Dee’s video we decided to move to Sacramento into a smaller one-bedroom apartment.

As we slowly downsized our space, we started tracking the types of things we did in our apartment. If you’re thinking of moving into a smaller place, I highly recommend doing the same. Teachers and designers, from Natural Building Movement, created the following exercise to help people figure out where they really live.

Where do you really live?

1. Before you get started, make a list of all the activities that you do at home and things you need in your house. Be as detailed as possible.

2. Over a period of one to two weeks, keep a log of where you go in your house, and what you do there. You might post paper at doorways, and accurately record exactly where you go and how long you spend there, or just take notes from memory, once a day. In larger rooms, be specific about which part of the room you use.

3. Look around your house for spaces that you never inhabit. Imagine what would change if that space magically disappeared.

4. Make another list of “activities and needs,” without reviewing the first list. If you have patience, make a new list one a week for a few weeks.

5. Uncover your first list and compare it with later ones. You may be surprised. More than likely there are probably some areas of your home you don’t use as much as others.

Even if you don’t want to live in a tiny house, you can start living better right where you are. Here are a few ideas: start decluttering, stop buying stuff you don’t need, and consider sharing your home with others. For example, my friend Victoria recently cut her living space in half. She is using her 375 square foot living room as her primary living space and renting out the other two bedrooms in her home!

From Large to Little

I’ve received a lot of emails from readers asking questions like:

“What was the tipping point? How did you go from living so large to living in such a small apartment?”

I think the tipping point was watching Dee’s video. It changed my perspective. Before I watched the video, I was still unsure if we should move into a smaller place and I was still feeling stuck. Dee’s video lead me to a number of resources like the Small House Society, the Tiny House Blog, and Tiny House Design. The stories featured on those sites inspired us to keep chasing our dreams and focus on paying off our debt.

I also have to give credit to my grandparents. They taught me many valuable life lessons. I just wish I had started listening to them sooner.

Micro-actions…

• Complete the exercise above.

• Read Little House on a Small Planet. The book contains a wealth of information about living in small spaces and profiles a number of families who live in little homes.

• Finally check out Dee’s new book: Go House Go! And watch the video that inspired us to go small and think big:

I have exciting news to share with you! My friend Dee Williams was featured on PBS last night. For those of you who are thinking of downsizing your life watch this incredibly inspiring video.

For more tiny house awesomeness, visit Portland Alternative Dwellings, read my interview with Dee, and watch this segment!

Watch the full episode. See more Need To Know.

Friends and family always inquire about our tiny house obsession. Usually they ask: “Why a tiny house?” Living a tiny lifestyle appeals to us on a number of levels. Below are the top 10 reasons for choosing a tiny solution:

1. Exiting the Consumer Lifestyle

Living in a tiny house is one way for us to exit the consumer lifestyle and decrease our consumption of stuff. (Watching the The Story of Stuff drastically changed how I view my own consumption patterns).

For instance, there is no reason to go shopping for more stuff when you don’t have a place to put it. I don’t need 20 pairs of shoes or 50 different outfits to wear to the office. Earlier this year, I downsized my wardrobe and personal items. For me that meant donating an incredible amount of books and clothing to the thrift store.

My policy is 1 in, 1 out. Every time I buy something new, one of my personal things must go.

2. Saving Money

The cost estimate for our tiny house is about $25,000 (about 2 years worth of rent). The low cost of the tiny house will enable us to save money for future expenses and help friends and family members in need. Our tiny house will be about 200 square feet. Our heating and cooling bills will be so tiny! Right now we live in a 400 square foot apartment and our PG & E bill ranges from $4.00 to $25.00 a month. I can’t wait to see what our power bill will look like in a tiny house.

3. Freedom

Downscaling from a suburban, 2 bedroom apartment, and 2 car life to an urban, 1 bedroom apartment, and no car has given me a sense of freedom and lightness. Our stuff doesn’t own us anymore. As long as we have each other and our cats, we will be good to go.

4. More Free Time

Last summer one of our family members became suddenly ill and almost died. Since then, I’ve changed my life dramatically and have chosen a simpler lifestyle that allows me to spend more time with family.

Downsizing to a smaller apartment (and eventually a tiny home) enabled us to devote more time to outdoor activities, writing and the important things in life like friends and family.

5. Debt Free

Within the last year we sold our car, paid off our student loans and moved into a smaller apartment. These changes have allowed us more flexibility in our finances. If all goes according to plan we will either build or purchase our own tiny house in 2010.

6. Working Less

Eventually, I want to work part time. The United States is notorious for a workaholic culture. So owning a small home will enable us to work less and pursue career goals that didn’t seem possible a few years ago. Eventually, I want to get out of my cubicle and telecommute. Telecommuting is a feasible alternative to the cubicle forest because it allows people to do their job from any location.

7. Less Cleaning

A tiny house requires significantly less cleaning and maintenance and that make me very happy. I didn’t realize how much time we spent cleaning our large apartment until we moved to our new home in Sacramento. Instead of cleaning we spent more time riding our bikes outdoors. Yay for less scrubbing, vacuuming and sweeping!

8. Ease of Movement

Ease of movement to a new location is a great feature. Being tied down to a traditional home doesn’t appeal to me because they can’t be moved. But with a tiny home, if we decide to move we are free to bring our tiny house with us.

9. Going Off-Grid

We plan to take the tiny house off-grid. Hopefully, this will allow us to learn how to live more self sufficiently and insulate ourselves from a system we believe to be unsustainable. The looming peak oil energy crisis is scary.

10. Economic, Environmental and Social Merits of Compact Housing

Last year, I read a few books on tiny tiny homes. Two of my favorites were: The Small House Book and Little House on a Small Planet. After reading these books I realized there are enormous economic, environmental, and social merits of compact housing.

Here are some interesting facts from the books:

• The average American house, which is about 2,200 square feet, emits more green house gases than the average American car;
• The average American house, produces 7 tons of construction waste and;
• The size of New Jersey is lost each decade as a result of urban sprawl.

I see over-sized homes as a debtors prison rather than a source of enjoyment. The average American has a 20 to 30 year mortgage. By going small, we will have our tiny tiny house paid off in less than 1 year.

For the sake of the environment and economic sanity (ex. sub-prime mortgage fiasco), it is clear that we must change our attitudes about house size, building codes and the basic home financing structure.