Tiny House Blog

Michael Vaughan and his friend John live in school buses that run on veggie oil that they’ve converted into RVs. Both buses run on used vegetable oil and have a refinery on board the bus so that they can put any oil in their “bulk tanks” and filter it into their “day tanks” while on the road.

Michael’s has a refrigerator, sink, bed, and two couches.  There is a solar panel on the top that he can use all the electricals on board the bus (fridge, lamps, laptop, etc.).  Michael lived in his bus full time last summer and both he and John are planning on living in their bus full time this summer and tour the festival circuit (they would do it full-full-time if we weren’t currently in school).

Both conversions were done by Joseph Hollay of Cheney Technical High School in Manchester, CT for around $1,000. Continue Reading »

I receive a lot of emails every day and one of the questions that appears quite often is how do I insure my tiny house? Since I don’t have personal experience I usually pass on the question to a few people I know who own their own tiny houses and I hope they are able to respond with a good answer.

Yesterday I received an email from Australia from “Gypsy” or Kushti Bok who has been rejected or taken off of previous insurers once they see his unique mobile Vardo. He is trying to find a new insurer and is asking for help.

I need your help in answering this question. Those of you have have tiny houses, especially on wheels, how do you insure your home? If you live in a trailer based tiny house, bus conversion, house truck,  or vardo, how do you insure it? Please respond in the comment section and share your knowledge with the rest of us.

Click here to view more pictures of the Kushti Bok Kombi.

Guest Post by Victoria Drake

I’ve lived off the grid a few times, successfully and unsuccessfully. I’d like to share with you those experiences and my plan for living off of it full-time for the remainder of my days. Now I’m not a rich person. I won’t have a pension and I’ve always made around $1,200 a month, give or take. I have been homeless, by choice and completely unrelated to living off-the-grid, to learn from the experience, and I did just that. Essentially, I took it too far and changed my mindset so much, I didn’t know how to reintegrate into regular society again without first coming back home to my family and relearning it again. But I did learn the valuable lesson of the importance and preciousness of having a home and possessions.

This was my very first dream. And I may still do it, although as most first dreams, very pricey. Around $40,000+

The Successful Experience: My boyfriend and I had a converted school bus in the high mountains of the southwest desert. It was successful because we never suffered once and it could’ve gone on forever. Continue Reading »

Rev. Charles Cain says: “I don’t know these folks, but I found their story to be pretty inspiring.” How would you like to convert an old school bus into a RV and than travel with a family of 9 across the country?

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” Mark Twain

Check out their story here.

Continue Reading »

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

The other day when I posted the bus for sale and talked about sharing some bus conversions, I was surprised by how many responses I received. There is quite an interest in this idea and I see several posts in the future on this subject.

Jake was one of those who emailed me the other day and shared his story with me. I decided to postpone the bus conversion I was originally planning to show you and share Jakes story instead.

In 1982 I was a sophomore at a small college in the Midwest. It was the beginning of second term and I was again standing in line at the on-campus book store waiting to pay for a too-heavy stack of text books. The line was not moving at all so I put my books down on the floor and started flipping through the coffee table books on display. The book I chose to pick up first was titled Rolling Homes – Handmade House on Wheels by Jane Lidz. Thus the seed was planted. Continue Reading »

I’m heading out to the Oakland Airport to pick up my daughter who is coming home for the Thanksgiving Holiday, so I’m putting up just a quick post this morning.

Here is a Gillig Bus for sale here in Healdsburg that was on Craigslist but just came off. I know the bus is still there though as I saw it yesterday. This has the potential for a tiny house and I plan on showing some bus conversions later this week to give you some ideas.

Here are the details: 1971 Gillig Bus. Diesel…easy conversion to Bio Fuel. 30 foot, 48 passenger. Has clean DMV and CHP inspections for 2009. Less than 100 miles on a new clutch. Low miliage. Call 707-756-0556. Asking $3,500.