However, I’m sending the trailer back to the trailer dealer so they can flash the whole underside of the trailer and paint it to keep the elements out from under my house as I drive and while stationary as well as give the spray foam something to spray to (subfloor OSB will be installed directly on top of the steel cross-members, maximizing my vertical interior height in my tiny house).
Try selling your stuff – “pairing down” as it’s termed in the tiny house space – and you too will experience the feelings of liberation and freedom like I’m feeling this morning…
As you may know from many of my posts on both my facebook profile and my facebook page, I’m going Tiny. You can read about why I’m embracing the Tiny House lifestyle in this previous blog post here, but the how is what’s beginning to take shape right now.
I currently live in a 4 bed, 2 bath house in Huntsville, AL. It’s a great house I bought 8 years ago and added a custom extension to with a large covered deck, hot tub, etc. Of course, a lot has happened over the last 8 years and for most of my adult life my aim has been freedom (and more specifically, helping others achieve freedom in their life).
I’ve set my life up in a way that allows me to travel a lot and see the sights, visit family, take courses and classes in other cities, set my own schedule and hours, etc.
However, I was still a slave to the bank.
Each month I still had to make a mortgage payment, and pay my required insurance premium, and real estate taxes, and utilities… even if I was somewhere else across the country skiing in the awesome Colorado powder, at the beautiful beaches on the gulf coast, or catching up with family in California I had still had make all those payments.
On top of that, when I really thought about it, I only used a few rooms in my house (office, bathroom, bedroom and kitchen) but still had to pay for the rest of the house that was essentially just for storage or guests whenever they came to visit…
So fast forward to this week. Here’s a before and after of my master bedroom in my house:
All I have left is my bed and tv which I’m taking with me in my Tiny House. Everything else has gone.
And it feels great!! I highly recommend it!!
I’ll be honest the process of selling and disposing of my stuff at first seemed like it would be hard to do.
After all I’ve had a lot of this stuff for 8 years – some things over 16 years from when I moved out of my parents house!
There’s a lot of attachment to these things but knowing that my tiny house is going to have all the furniture built in and custom created, there’s just no space or need for any of these attachments (couches, side tables, lamps, dining table, armoire, dressers, etc). And that made it much easier to let go of a lot of this stuff because it just wouldn’t fit with the vision I had with my tiny house.
And now that the stuff is gone, I feel so much lighter, free-er, liberated!
Amazing how simply getting rid of stuff and creating space can make you feel so good!
It puts me one step closer to living the ultimate freedom lifestyle in a Tiny House, a house that is super efficient, bright, smart (utilizing all the latest tech) and mobile so I can take my office, my house and my life with me wherever I go (thanks to my internet marketing business). Now when I travel I can still always be at home.
Does it get any better than that?
Oh! Yes, it does. My black lab Claude can also now come with me wherever I go, instead of having to stay behind with a friend for most of my travels which is how’s it been up till now. Very excited.
So stay tuned for further updates. I’ll be sharing pictures of the trailer my tiny house will be built on and the other steps in the process of going Tiny as I continue to pair down stuff from my house and being building my 2 bed, 2 bath tiny house. Talk to you then!
I appreciate you!
– Hans Schoff
(That’s me last week hiking up Horsetail Falls there in the distance near Lake Tahoe, CA)
Work 40 hours a week for 40 years of your life and retire with (what once was) a 40 carrot gold watch.
That was the “DREAM” of the last era, in the industrial age, where most people could in fact stay employed with just one company…
…and make it 40 years there…
…and be offered a 40 carrot gold watch afterward in retirement…
Well, this is 2015 and we’re in the midst of the information age, in the new economy.
As such, I personally haven’t had a job since I was in college over 15 years ago (I’m right now 34 years old).
I’ve been self-employed as a self-taught, self-educated entrepreneur and have never worked a standard 40-hour week (let alone week to week for 40 years)…
I’ve only been in the work force about 15 years…
…Yet despite all that, ironically, I retired and got the watch! 😉
Me in the apple store, where they do actually have a Gold Watch, though I only got the sport model, full disclosure lol…
Haha.
I thought it was funny.
I didn’t work the 40-40-40 plan and I’m not 65, but I did get to retire my properties by selling the community (and my house) and now I’m free!
And you know what?
It’s the BEST feeling in the world to no longer be indebted to any one or any institution (banks all paid off!).
I had control of my time and schedule before, as I’ve been a self-employed entrepreneur for years…
… But I was still subject to the whims and demands of 4 banks with over $1 million in combined mortgage/business loans.
So after having sold off much of my properties and brick-and-mortar type business and having paid off all the corresponding bank loans, to celebrate my FREEDOM, I decided to go out and get my (apple) watch, a symbol of my new complete freedom.
What a rush!
(Perhaps I should have gotten the GOLD Apple Watch to really signify my status, but I felt that a bit pretentious… lol).
Let me know your thoughts and comments down below! What do you think? Cool symbolism or am I just ridiculous? Lol. I’d love to hear what you think down below…
Take care!
– Hans
PS> Snow’s falling! Time to hit the slopes real soon! Are you ready?
