Tiny House, Big Whim

Randy and I have been doing some talking lately about grown-up things, like his next job maneuver, what we want/don't want out of life, etc. I can't tell you how many times we've discussed making X amount of dollars versus having more benefits/time off. It's always seemed absurd to me that employees can be okay with only ever having 2 weeks vacation, no benefits really to speak of (high deductible health care plans don't register as a benefit in my book), and long days (10-12 hours a day, on average). Our conversations usually leave me wanting to sit down with the owner of the company and give him a piece of my mind, mainly consisting of studies showing health risks of employees that are overworked & down-in-the-dumps employee morale that slow company production and growth. But, alas, that will never happen.

So, our very serious conversation yesterday about this matter took a whimsical turn when I (very aloofly) suggested that we sell our house and move into a tiny house. Therefore, we'd live mortgage free, allowing Randy to quit his job, become a part-time musician, and free us both up to travel in the summer. How wonderful! Except, my whimsical seed took a fast root into Randy's brain. While I know we are both very naive on this subject, we most certainly wasted a good couple of hours searching "tiny houses" online yesterday afternoon.

There were definitely a few things we quickly learned. First off, a "tiny" house (some being only 90 square feet) will probably be way too small for us to begin with... or ever to end up with. Our idea quickly expanded to a possible "small" house, being less than 900 square feet. This one in particular was one we liked. But then, we were faced with many issues of which we know absolutely nothing about, like where to build (land can be pricey and most neighborhoods have restrictions on a minimum house size), city regulations, and other ins-and-outs of daily functioning. And of course, price plays a major factor in the mix. If we want to be mortgage free immediately, we'd need to somewhere in the $50,000 range or less, which is near impossible after buying land, hiring a contractor, and paying for materials. Like I said, it was just a whim. But fun to think about, nonetheless.

If you're interested, here's where it all got started....

And for things a little closer to home