The trailer home process is continuing. The trailer has been ordered and is being made. We have gone to a few recycled home stores, picked up a tiny door (craftsman style and is LOVELY), victorian ceiling tin to use as the backsplash in the kitchen, a tiny bathroom sink, and various other items.
Inside our normal house, I am starting serious purging. Read a book "Fifty Things" that has inspired me. Sadly, I did not manage to throw away fifty things. I have been too busy with school starting, band rehearsals, etc, to work on the purging she is talking about (she counts 5 pair of shoes as ONE thing). I dropped off a very large pile of things to Goodwill this weekend, and am tossing item after item into the trash.
I am also reevaluating my art on the walls. We repainted our living room this summer, and I purged quite a bit at that time. But, now I am purging even more. Giving things the critical eye---will it fit into a tiny space? Does it bring me joy? What will I give up in order to keep this item?
I know I have a few years before we transition to a smaller home, but I am already shifting my thinking to that direction. Looking at my closet, my shoes, my coats, my kitchen supplies. Knowing I will have to cut all of those items by less than half to a third of what it is currently.
It would be nice to not have that junk drawer any more!
Friday, September 30, 2011
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Downsizing and the 6 year plan
If you don't have a plan, you won't get anywhere, right?
We, my husband and I, have a long-term plan. To build a travel trailer home to live in once the children are grown (6 years from now), sell the house then, and move to where my parents live (Montana). Live in the trailer house for a few years while building a small house up there.
It is a plan! I was super against moving BACK into a trailer for a few years. Hubby had been talking about trailer living for a while now (just while the house is being built), but I have lived in a trailer. As a child (twice while a house was built), and an adult (twice, once with three other adults, once with another adult and toddler). It isn't as if I was being snobby or "too good" to live in a trailer. I know the logistics of it. Sweaty windows. Mildew everywhere. Cramped space. Tripping over people. And, WHY, for the sake of all that is holy, do they CARPET the blasted things?!! The area is too small for a vacuum, but gets dirty so fast with that kind of foot traffic. GAH!
*breathing* As I said, I have lived in one before. But, I finally recognized, that in order to get what my final outcome is---home ownership by my parents without having a mortgage--- means that I am going to live in a trailer for a year, or two or three, I want it to be on my terms this time. MINE.
We are going to embark on building a tiny house, on a trailer frame, from scratch. Based on the Tumbleweed House idea, and other tiny trailer house ideas gleaned from the internet. We intend on using these next 6 years to build a house (a HOME) in such a way that it will be cozy, airy, and well thought out. A place for everything.
Our current house is just under 900 square feet. Of those feet, I don't touch my son's room. Still, our new home on wheels will be about 130 feet. And I am already looking around my house thinking to myself "what will I be getting rid of?" I am NOT a clothes horse. I have a nice size dresser, and about 5 feet of closet space. But I will need to cut my clothing in half before we move. OUCH. I am an artist. I have tools that I have owned since I was 16. My workspace overflows with the stuffness of creativity that I NEED to function. (yes, a workspace is on my MUST list on our living space in the trailer, much to my husbands consternation) But I recognize that much of this will need to be stored, not out and visible the way it is now.
The art on our walls. Handmade blankets. Heirloom crystal candy dishes. Things I love but that won't have a place in a tiny home. Will need to be stored or let go of.
And here, at 900 feet, I always thought we lived small already. Thank goodness I have years to sort out the truly important things from what I am willing to part with.
Wish us luck, and I will be posting about our big adventure!
We, my husband and I, have a long-term plan. To build a travel trailer home to live in once the children are grown (6 years from now), sell the house then, and move to where my parents live (Montana). Live in the trailer house for a few years while building a small house up there.
It is a plan! I was super against moving BACK into a trailer for a few years. Hubby had been talking about trailer living for a while now (just while the house is being built), but I have lived in a trailer. As a child (twice while a house was built), and an adult (twice, once with three other adults, once with another adult and toddler). It isn't as if I was being snobby or "too good" to live in a trailer. I know the logistics of it. Sweaty windows. Mildew everywhere. Cramped space. Tripping over people. And, WHY, for the sake of all that is holy, do they CARPET the blasted things?!! The area is too small for a vacuum, but gets dirty so fast with that kind of foot traffic. GAH!
*breathing* As I said, I have lived in one before. But, I finally recognized, that in order to get what my final outcome is---home ownership by my parents without having a mortgage--- means that I am going to live in a trailer for a year, or two or three, I want it to be on my terms this time. MINE.
We are going to embark on building a tiny house, on a trailer frame, from scratch. Based on the Tumbleweed House idea, and other tiny trailer house ideas gleaned from the internet. We intend on using these next 6 years to build a house (a HOME) in such a way that it will be cozy, airy, and well thought out. A place for everything.
Our current house is just under 900 square feet. Of those feet, I don't touch my son's room. Still, our new home on wheels will be about 130 feet. And I am already looking around my house thinking to myself "what will I be getting rid of?" I am NOT a clothes horse. I have a nice size dresser, and about 5 feet of closet space. But I will need to cut my clothing in half before we move. OUCH. I am an artist. I have tools that I have owned since I was 16. My workspace overflows with the stuffness of creativity that I NEED to function. (yes, a workspace is on my MUST list on our living space in the trailer, much to my husbands consternation) But I recognize that much of this will need to be stored, not out and visible the way it is now.
The art on our walls. Handmade blankets. Heirloom crystal candy dishes. Things I love but that won't have a place in a tiny home. Will need to be stored or let go of.
And here, at 900 feet, I always thought we lived small already. Thank goodness I have years to sort out the truly important things from what I am willing to part with.
Wish us luck, and I will be posting about our big adventure!
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