The following is a guest post by MargaretAnn “Muffy” Morris, a courageous woman who is chronicling her adventures on her blog, Muffy On The Move. If you’d like to submit a guest post on Money Q&A, please check out the site’s guest posting guidelines.
Note from Hank – I’ve known Muffy for years. We went to college together. And, I have to admit, I was skeptical like many of our friends when she said she wanted to live in a tiny house.
But, we could see how serious she was when she sold all of her possessions, sold her house, and bought an RV in order to get ready to build the tiny house of her dreams. While tiny house living isn’t for everyone, you have to admire someone for going for it and following their dreams.
Be sure to follow along and learn more about her adventures on her blog, on Instagram, and Facebook.
How To Live In A Tiny House
I didn’t want debt to control my life. In fact, I decided I didn’t want debt at all. There are a billion advice columns on how to save: get a part time job or skip Starbucks. What I really heard them say was “be miserable, exhausted, and have no free time” or “deny yourself the little things you enjoy.”
The thought rattled around for awhile until I just couldn’t shake it. My possessions began to suffocate me. Time to redefine my own success. I was downsizing my life. Send over HGTV, I was going tiny!
While I’m not a hipster or “crunchy,” my gypsy soul is pretty recognizable. Always been one to dive right in instead of ease into cold water. For me, once the idea struck, it was time to put it into action. I had a complete life turnaround in under 3 weeks.
After deciding mortgages weren’t for me, there was no way I was going to lay down $60k for a tiny house. These hands of mine are going to build that sucker themselves. I set a goal of 3 months to learn how to build and how to live in a tiny home and $3,000 to get it done.
Purging All My Possessions
The mentality went from just saying “goodbye to stuff” to a chant of “buy my stuff.” It only took a couple of weeks to get rid of all I had accumulated in my thirty-four years. I paid cash for an old RV with a price tag far from having a comma in it with the intentions to live in it while building my tiny house.
My larger more expensive items all went in the first week of the plan. They were the hardest to see go, these material possessions that I felt defined me as an established adult. After that, everything was sold, traded, or given away during a strategic 5-day sale. When it was all said and done, only 6 Rubbermaid bins of belongings moved with me.
I mentality went from just saying 'goodbye to stuff' to chanting 'buy my stuff'.Click To TweetLiving In an RV While Building a Tiny House
I paid cash for an old RV with a price tag far from having a comma in it with the intentions to live in it while building my tiny house. My larger more expensive items were all sold in the first week of the plan.
They were the hardest to see go. These material possessions that I felt defined me as an established adult. After that, everything was sold, traded, or given away during a strategic 5-day sale. When it was all said and done, only 6 Rubbermaid bins of belongings moved with me.
As much as I leaped, there has been a great deal of planning. How else could I stick to my tiny timeframe and tiny budget when I was trying to learn how to live in a tiny house?
I’m also following my city’s regulations instead of slipping through a loophole and living off grid. That definitely has not been the easiest choice, it has resulted in lots of field trips to city hall.
For my 6 pound pup and myself, 200 sq ft is plenty especially when neither the pup or myself cooks nor has need of a full kitchen. Now if you’ve got a handful of kids maybe we should chat about other options that don’t include wanting to drive your family off a cliff in your new tiny house on wheels.
My path isn’t right for everyone. Most days, I seriously wonder about it for me.
People either immediately tell me how they want to go tiny or how they could never do it. Everyone I come across has started to think about it, though.
Maybe it’s just pairing down your wardrobe or doing something extravagant and relishing in it. That’s what I hope rings true with people when they hear my story.
Muffy is chronicling her adventures on her blog, Muffy On The Move. Be sure to follow her adventures on her blog, on Instagram, and Facebook.
What about you? Is tiny house living for you? Have you ever wonder how to live in a tiny house?
Nice job. Downsizing is liberating, although a bit daunting at first as you indicated. We are intrigued by the Tiny House idea and may pursue that course down the road.