I opened an envelope from the mail recently, and started flipping through a beautiful glossy magazine about tiny houses. I didn't remember ordering it, and assumed it had to be a promotional issue to get me hooked—and it was working. Then, I turned the page, and there we were, Bill and I, standing side by side on our deck. And it all came back to me....

Months earlier, I'd been contacted by an editor asking to reprint one of our blogs and use some of the pictures off our site. He said he was interested in people who had lived in a tiny home for several years. As we're always interested in spreading the word about living more sustainably I agreed, later signing a contract—and then promptly forgot about the entire exchange.

I'm happy to report that Tiny Homes is a wonderful publication. The stunning pictures alone are worth a look. And the articles are varied—everything from home designs to heaters to tiny communities to composting toilet dos and don'ts to solar basics... and what it's like to live in a tiny house for four years.

You can't subscribe to the magazine. It's print-only and sold at newsstands. I keep meaning to look around for it, now that stores are reopened. I think I remember the editor telling me that Home Depot  is among the sellers. The current issue (featuring us!) should be on the rack through July 2020.

Though I'm just as committed to exploring what it means to live sustainably, I haven't been as active recently on the Simply Enough blog. I think I have a good excuse. For the past four months, I've had a full-time job—albeit volunteer and unpaid.

​But I have to back up a little.

For a year, I worked to help my little hometown become an Appalachian Trail Community. What does that mean? It means a formal commitment by a community to advocate for preservation of   Appalachian Trail lands. More than that, it means a commitment by a community to protect its natural resources, one of them being the Appalachian Trail. For the Appalachian Trail Conservancy to designate a town like ours as an AT Community, we needed to show that commitment through action. For us that meant creating and running an ongoing series of community hikes. It meant establishing a Screen-Free Week that encourages children (and their parents) to get away from electronics and spend more time outdoors. It meant hosting an annual AT Art Show, where people could see the beauty of our mountains as interpreted by some of their talented neighbors. And more.

​Last October, the town of Round Hill, VA, was approved, and we were asked to plan a designation ceremony. Most ceremonies of this kind, attract a few dedicated people and they inspire a paragraph or two in the local paper. But what if we made a bigger deal of it? What if we made it something people would want to go to? What if we made it something that helped them get to know a little better the very thing we were celebrating? 

Be careful what you suggest, especially if you really want it. It wasn't long before what-if-we-hosted-a-festival turned into months of obsessively working to make that festival happen. It's been frustrating sometimes, for certain. I've learned I'm not a natural leader; I don't inspire a lot of people to jump in and get involved. I've also learned I have to be willing to be uncomfortable if I'm going to move into new territory. (Begging for money didn't come easily, for example.)

​But here we are, closer to the Round Hill Appalachian Trail Festival than we were a month ago. Much closer to a festival that only existed in idea state just five months ago. A festival that promotes environmental stewardship. A festival that encourages responsible hiking and camping—and getting outdoors in nature, in general. A festival that puts the spotlight on some amazing groups doing amazing work to keep things like trails and parks open and available to the public.

The work has already been worth it. We have partner organizations geared up to talk to the public about their environmental work. We have great bands ready to take the stage. We have speakers prepared to share their hiking experiences. We have food and drinks lined up. (Beer, anyone? Did I mention a farm brewery offered to host this whole shindig?) And, as word has spread, we have sponsors lining up to help pay for the tent rentals and T-shirts and bands and all the rest. 

Join us, if you can on 15 June 2019. Rain or shine, we'll be the ones listening to Old-Time harmonies, eating BBQ, planning a hike with a neighbor, signing up to join the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club, testing out camping gear—and celebrating just how lucky we are to have wild, wonderful places like the Appalachian Trail.

Earlier this year, a production company contacted me to ask if I could spread the word that they were looking for tiny houses to feature in the second season of an AOL online channel. After I posted to a few tiny house groups, on a whim I decided to submit our house. Eventually, they contacted me and asked when they could send their camera man.

That was around the time I told Bill about the whole thing. How I convinced him to go on camera I still don't know. But he did. And for months I've been cringing, thinking about how awkward I felt in front of the camera and dreading the day the show came online. But guess what? The cameraman took incredible shots, and the editors worked their magic cutting our most awkward moments. 

Why put ourselves through this trauma? For the same reason I forced myself to accept an invitation to be interviewed on a tiny house podcast and the same reason we talk at tiny house conferences. It sounds a little evangelical, but we have a message: You can live better with less. If you're happy with a big house and lots of things, I'm happy for you! But, if like us, you find yourself working a job you don't like and spending all your money on your big house and its big bills when you'd rather be off on an adventure, then maybe you, too, will want to Dream Big, Live Small.

All photos and video courtesy of Dream Big, Live Small / AOL.com

I've answered several, individual questions lately about what products we use for coffee, kitchen composting and more. So, it seems time to post images and info about things we use every day in the tiny house. You'll find more info about all of these on the Products page.

Coffee setup. We have everything we need to make our morning coffee on one shelf near the stove: our mugs and stainless steel coffee canister, french press and kettle. We each get a mug and a half of coffee from one pot.

Kitchen composting. We've written before about our composting setup for kitchen and yard waste. What I didn't give details for is the compost bin, a thick stainless steel canister complete with a filter and vented lid. Before this one, we used a solid-lidded canister. The scraps inside stayed wet, and nothing kept the resultant smell from infiltrating the kitchen. No smell now. We also use a 3-gallon Biobag to keep the canister tidy and make emptying it easier.

Water filters. We're not on municipal water. We filter our spring-fed water for drinking and cooking with two Berkey water filters—one for the main house and a bigger one for the screen house. We love the function and the looks of them. In the screen house, the reservoir is large enough to use for washing dishes out there.

We've had the pleasure of meeting tiny-house guru Ethan Waldman as co-speakers at a couple of conferences. We've interviewed him for this blog and included his website in our list of e-resources. In addition to having built his own micro house, Ethan has written a guidebook on the subject (Tiny House Decisions), he coaches would-be tiny-house dwellers and, now, he hosts a podcast, Tiny House Lifefstyle.

I've listened to, enjoyed and learned from all nine episodes of Tiny House Lifestyle now out. Well, one was a little nerve-wracking to listen to, so maybe I didn't quite "enjoy" that one as much as the others. That would be the podcast where Ethan interviews me about our house: Tiny House Lifestyle Podcast #009: How to Rightsize Your Life and Retire to a Tiny House. 

When I had finished cringing over every stumble in my speech, I listened to the podcast again, this time attempting to pay attention only to the content of what I'd said. That was more enjoyable. It's the hallmark of a good interviewer when he/she helps the interviewee articulate the things that matter. So, thanks, Ethan, for helping me think about this "tiny" life we're living.

​
Subscribe to the Tiny House Lifestyle podcast on iTunes, Android, GooglePlay, Stitcher or TuneIn—or by email or via RSS.

Who knew AOL is still a thing? And it has programming? 

I didn't know until a production company reached out to me, asking if I would let people know they're currently casting for season two of "Dream Big, Live Small." So, I went to Aol.com, clicked on "Shows" and found the eight-show series. If you haven't seen the video series, you should. Among my favorites: the guys who throw huge dinner parties and host concerts in a studio apartment. 

I've enjoyed watching all the edisodes. Each has its own theme: living green, entertaining, fashionista, raising a baby, beach house, etc. If you're interested in micro living spaces (and I'm assuming you are, since you're reading this post), check out the series. 

And if you're living in a tiny space, you might want to spend a few minutes and fill in the application. Maybe we'll be watching your story in season two.

An update: After sending out the word to other tiny house dwellers, I decided to fill in an application for our house. It looks as though we'll be one of the second-season episodes. I'll blog again after the filming. Stay tuned...

While we don't advocate a one-size-fits-all solution to homes, it is refreshing to spend a weekend talking to a group of people who think less is more when it comes to housing. Around 100 folks, all considering building or buying a tiny house, came to this year's Tiny House Conference in Charlotte, NC. Their collective curiosity, open-mindedness and sense of adventure made speaking with them  a pleasure.

Our topics this year: Off-grid living and Tiny House Budget & Finance. I'll save the off-grid discussion for a future post.

We had given the money talk before, but found updating prices of houses currently for sale or recently completed especially interesting. The average price tag for a home in the U.S. is $207,000 and the average price in the D.C. Metro area, where we live, is a whopping $548,000. Compare that to the price tag for most tiny houses (under 500 square feet): $20,000-$80,000. 

It's not a fair comparison without taking into account that traditional houses come with the land they sit on, and tiny houses on wheels don't. We surveyed a group of tiny house dwellers to ask about their home sites; some had bought land, but the majority were renting or bartering for their spot. This adds anywhere from $0 to $800 a month.

One of the joys of tiny living is having a living space that's a custom fit—with just what you need and nothing more or less. But when it comes to value, buying someone else's dream house can save money. One example: a resale currently located in Chapel Hill, NC, for $21,500. If you don't have to move the THOW too far and you have a place to park it, it's hard to beat the price.

A few interesting discussions came up regarding the build or buy decision. One woman told us she'd done the math and figured it wouldn't really save her much money to build her house herself. If she kept working and earning a paycheck, she could afford to have someone else (with experience and tools and lower materials costs) build the house for her. So, unless building a house yourself is part of "the dream," you won't necessarily spend a lot more money buying something already built or being built for you.

Partial builds are another way to save. Buying a shell (without adding on too many upgrades!) and finishing the interior yourself can give you some of the custom build experience. Tumbleweed "barn raiser" shells start at $15,000, while finished models start at $58,000. Buying the shell gives you a weather-tight package—saving you the build time of framing and then saving you money by finishing the build yourself.

We found good news from last year to this year when it comes to financing. More tiny house builders are making arrangements with banks. Tiny House Building Co of Fredericksburg, VA, for example, has partnered with People’s Community Bank to provide financing for their houses. SunTrust Bank has a division, LightStream, that specializes in tiny house financing with rate discounts for houses with NOAH or RVIA certification.

The good news for anyone hoping to go tiny, is that there are options for just about every budget. Ways to save money (borrow tools, design around reclaimed windows, buy second-hand appliances) and ways to find money (sell your stuff, move in with a family member, take a "hardship" 401K withdrawal). We closed our talk by saying: "If you've got the will, there's a way." We believe it.

​Four years ago, we were thinking about building a tiny house. What got us from "thinking" to "doing"? The Tiny House House Conference.
 
Recently, I wrote a post for The Tiny Life, the blog of conference founder Ryan Mitchell. In my post, I share the story of how attending the conference clinched our resolve to design and build our own house.
 
Two years after that first conference, with our house built, Ryan invited us to speak about our experience. This year marks our third year as speakers at The Tiny House Conference. We'll be talking about off-grid living and tiny house budget and finance. Other speakers will cover design and layout, building techniques, finding land and more. And, just as importantly, you'll get to tour a variety of small dwellings.
 
If you're looking for that nudge to get started on your tiny house, I hope you'll join us in Charlotte, NC, this March 17th and 18th.

The images below are from the 2017 Tiny House Conference in Portland, OR.