Tiny House Blog

A couple of weeks ago I had the chance to go out with a friend on the bay in a small boat they plan to live in part time. It gave me a chance to see what it would be like to live on a boat. Teresa Carey shares her experience here.

When Teresa Carey lost most of her possessions in a house fire years ago, she felt liberated.  “I didn’t miss a thing. It was almost like a burden lifted off my shoulders.”

This was the first step toward a more minimalist lifestyle. The second motivating catalyst was her decision to life aboard her sailboat. Before making the move she began to downsize her stuff keeping only what would fit in her car. When she finally made her move to her 27 foot sloop she had given away or sold the majority of her belongings.

Today, Teresa lives on her sailboat Daphne with no flush toilet or shower, an icebox for a refrigerator, no television and few electronics. She doesn’t see it as a sacrifice, but as an opportunity to live a bigger life unfettered by her possessions.

In this video, Teresa gives us a tour of her boat and shows us a few days in the life of a liveaboard.

Video via faircompanies.com

Logan, Tammy Strobel’s husband from the Rowdy Kittens blog sent me an article from The Oregonian that I think is very import for us all to read. It is an article about Rich Daniels who did a guest post on the Tiny House Blog a couple of weeks ago. This article was written by Richard Cockle at the Oregonian and covers some of the issues facing tiny house builders and those wanting to live in them. Following are some quotes from the article but please take the time to go read the complete article at The Oregonian Website.

Photos by Richard Cockle at The Oregonian.

What’s next for minimalist houses? How about a subdivision of tiny houses in Eastern Oregon?

Rich Daniels, a former gold miner and timber cruiser, now builds tiny homes for a living and dreams of creating an RV park for the houses on the edge of his hometown of North Powder in eastern Oregon. The 8 1/2-foot-wide, $42,000 model behind him is small enough to be towed by a pickup, which a thief did last summer. Police returned it to Daniels after finding it abandoned at a service station near the Oregon-Idaho border.

“The biggest problem with the whole (tiny home) movement is the counties and cities are having a hard time accepting these small homes,” Daniels said. “It has to do with revenue — small homes don’t generate the tax revenues for the counties and cities.”

Jenkins, the Union County planner, thinks Oregon land-use laws will put the brakes on several uses people make of the new breed of tiny, wheeled cabins in rural Oregon. For example, siting a self-contained cabin without utilities on a tract too small for a dwelling is illegal under state land-use regulations, he said. A minimum 240 acres generally is needed for a dwelling in a timber-grazing zone and 320 acres is needed on rangeland, he said.

As for using a cabin as a spare guest bedroom, that, too, is a violation because a cabin then constitutes an individual dwelling, even if it’s cute, hand-crafted and on wheels, he said.

“Oregon land-use laws say you have to get land-use approval for a dwelling,” and buyers of cabins on wheels need to make sure they have a legal place to put one before they buy, he said.

Read the complete article at The Oregonian Website.

Leo Babauta of Zen Habits, one of my favorite writers and bloggers, just introduced a new ebook that fits right in with living in a tiny house.

The ebook is called The Simple Guide to a Minimalist Life and it is Leo’s goal that the book will help you live a simpler, happier life!

“Simplicity, clarity, singleness: these are the attributes that give our lives power and vividness and joy.” - Richard Halloway

What will this ebook help you with:

* Clearing clutter and reducing your possessions
* Figuring out what’s necessary, and how to be content with less
* Simplifying your schedule, your work, and living a less stressful life
* Creating a minimalist workspace, home, computer, financial life, diet and fitness program
* How to go paperless and digitize your life

Look at the preview below and than purchase the pdf ebook for $9.95  

Minimalism Preview

by Kent Griswold (Tiny House Blog)

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