Cubicco Cabana

For anyone living in hurricane prone areas of the U.S., a new prefab company is designing and building units just for you. Cubicco designs and builds various sized units that can be attached together to create a larger building, but the one that is attracting attention is the tiny Cabana concept, which is 8×12 and costs $17,000. The full package includes all materials such as insulation, finishes, roofing, steel support legs and lifting brackets and all screws, bolts and sealants. Optional packages like rainwater catchment and solar panels are extra.

Cubicco is a modular housing company with a focus on creating contemporary mixed communities designed around people’s health and well being. A Cubicco community is born from a profound respect for long term conservation of natural resources, energy-conscious building and pedestrian oriented urban design. Originally from the Netherlands, the company now has an office in Miami, FL.

All the Cubicco units (including the doors and windows) are designed to the 180 MPH High Velocity Hurricane Zone Florida Building Code. The pre-engineered, termite treated laminated beams are designed to withstand extreme natural conditions and are created in an assembly facility with a recycled, no-waste policy. The R-45 insulated panels are all made from recycled cellulose and the laminated beams come from FSC & PEFC Certified 15 year cycle forests. The units can be assembled anywhere in a few days and are engineered to be relocated.

Photos by Cubicco

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]

A Simple New Year, Free of Clutter and Stress

A Simple New Year, free of clutter and stress: Tiny Transition and Downsizing is Open for Registration

New year’s intentions? resolutions? goals? Here’s one that you can actually stick to, and feel good about it:

“I want to live a simpler, smaller life.”

What if this year you could…

Clear your space and mind of clutter, making room for what’s important to you
Change your entire mindset and outlook on “stuff”, finally finding peace and focus
Meet a group of soon-to-be lifelong friends who share your outlook and values and are on your same path towards simple living
Get the motivation and support you need to make major life-changes for the better
Make real, tangible steps to getting into a tinier, happier life

The upcoming Tiny Transition and Downsizing E-Course is now open for registration. Class will begin on January 4th, 2015. If you feel like the list above describes what you’re looking for this year, you should join us.

No clutter, no fluff, no “10 tips for organizing your life” tips that don’t work at all. Tiny Transition is just honest, practical, action-packed, life-changing lessons to change your relationship with stuff, change how your home feels, change your destructive habits and introduce better ones.

“This was the most helpful and inspiring course I have ever taken! I have learned so many things, gained new friends and have become more inspired to downsize my life. My life is forever changed (all for the better) after this course! Thank you for taking the time to create and make available to us this information to improve our quality of life!”— Shelby, Tiny Transition + Downsizing Course graduate

When you sign up for the Tiny Transition and Downsizing E-Course, you get:

8 weeks of downsizing lessons and challenges (it’s like Downsizing bootcamp!)
LIFETIME access to the private class forum
Accountability, support, motivation and camaraderie from me and your classmates
The tools you need to simplify your home, mind, and LIFE starting right now.

I hope that you’ll join me and your classmates for the January session of the Tiny Transition + Downsizing E-Course. If you’ve been thinking about joining but haven’t taken the leap, what better time than right now, at the fresh start of a new year.

We’ll help you get your life in order once and for all, not with gimmicky organizing tricks, but with REAL lasting, mentally and physically challenging lessons to downsize your stuff, your stress, your expenses, and your life.

I really hope to see you in there, and I look forward to supporting you on this journey!

What have others gotten out of the class? I’ll let them tell you.

“The content was very organized and easy to understand and definitely helpful! I have made so much progress by having this step by step map to know what to attack first instead of just looking at the mess and getting frustrated with where to start.”

— Darlene, Tiny Transition graduate

“Each lesson was so well planned and thought out, with appropriate suggestions (and homework!). I appreciated your personal recommendations and was challenged and will continue to be challenged as I make the transitions suggested. Thank you for taking the time to downsize yourself(!) and then to write it and share with us. I highly recommend the Tiny Transition E-Course. ”

— Bonnie, Tiny Transition graduate

Baking on a Boat

Last week Andrew Odom did a great post on Baking in a Tiny House. There are many similarities between the kitchen of a tiny house and the galley on a boat. It was quite an adjustment to get used to but over the last year I have learned how to make it work pretty well.

The holiday season usually presents more of a challenge than regular every day cooking simply due to the volume of food being prepared. I love to go crazy during the holidays with pies, cookies and chocolate covered pretzels.

Andrew’s post gives some great tips for overcoming the space limitations and use of propane. We too have a tiny oven. It’s only 15″x15″ and there aren’t very many dishes and trays that will fit inside. There are two racks but the height is not very forgiving. Baking in batches is pretty much done one batch at a time where in a full size oven you could probably do up to four cookie sheets of treats! It’s been so long since I’ve had a full size oven I really don’t even remember.

On our boat I had to limit the supply of all kitchen equipment. I have a large pan and a small pan, a large pot and a small pot. I have a large bowl and a small bowl. When using lots of different ingredients and when a recipe calls for several different steps of mixing, I have to get creative with what I put everything in.

When baking a pie, I usually use the pie plate itself for mixing the dough because both of my bowls are already in use. All the ingredients are placed on top of my three-burner stove on a wooden board cut to fit. My pastry cloth fits on top of my top-load refrigerator leaving barely enough room to roll out the dough. When the pie is done, I don’t have room to store a cooling rack so I repurpose my upside-down cupcake tray as a place to set the hot pie until it cools.

Baking cookies has to wait until all pie-making supplies are cleaned and put away, since I use all the same counter space, bowls, spoons and measuring cups. The Nav Station turns into a cookie frosting station (navigation station is where our VHF radio is and where we chart our courses).

Even though I’m short on space and baking takes longer with propane, I still love to bake on my boat!

Do you bake in a tiny space? What tricks to you use?

By Jody Pountain for the [Tiny House Blog]