Being in the midst of job hunting, I’ve had a good deal of time on my hands, even outside of doing applications and interviews (they weren’t lying when they said finding a job is a full time job). For the past few months I’ve been thinking about what I’ve really wanted in life, not just in career, but in life in general.
Like most college students, I graduated from university with student loan debt. Recently I’ve been seeing a lot of college graduates/young professionals buying lots of things once they get a full-time job and have a steady paycheck. Even though they have student loans and a million other bills to pay, they choose to add more debt to the equation by getting a new car, overspending on clothes, buying frivolous accessories, and so forth.
Our society is so materialistic and we keep fueling it.
Having a gigantic house is a sign of having made it and being successful. Driving a slick new sports car gives people the perception that you’re well off and doing good. Bigger is considered better. Did you know the size of an average american house today is 1,000 square feet larger than homes in 1973. People buy houses and never use certain rooms Or worse, they buy houses and buy more things to fill it up.
I don’t get it.
Growing up, my mom was obsessed with having the big grand house she always imagined. Under the direction of my dad, my siblings and I would help build and renovate over a dozen additions to the the house we lived in and two other rent houses my parents owned. As an 11-year-old, my Friday night plans consisted of going to an auction house, located next to a strip club, and seeing my parents buy dressers, furniture, and decorations. My dad would haul all of the stuff in a trailer back to the house and the next Friday the cycle would continue. The majority of the stuff my parents bought ended up just sitting in storage and not being used.
I didn’t understand the need to have so much stuff. At age 16, dissatisfied with my large bedroom, I moved into my closet (no, seriously). In my 6.5 ft by 6.5 ft closet, I fit my twin sized mattress and a night stand. It was all I needed and I was happy. This was the moment when I started wondering about building a tiny house.
Fast forward a few years to 2015 and I have now become super interested in it. I want to build a tiny house on wheels. I started looking at trailers and decided on building the house on an 8x20ft trailer. It’s still a few years before I start building the house, but I’ve already gotten an idea of how I want it structured.
(Above) This is sort of how I want the outside to look. The house is built on a 20ft trailer just like I want to build mine on. Instead of the little porch, I want to bring the door out to the end of the trailer like the walls are and have a 2ft overhang (where the circle window is) to provide a shield when it rains and you’re trying to get in the door.
(Above) In the first photo, you saw dormers on the roof. I want dormers on my tiny house because, as you can see, it provides more room in the loft when sleeping/moving around. Also, in this photo you see the house has a second loft used for storage. With the extra overhang on the outside, I hope to have a bigger second loft to use as storage or for an extra mattress. Twin size mattresses are 3’3 wide and 6’3 long. Accounting for wall thickness, the loft will be 6’8 across, big enough to fit a twin mattress length wise. I want the loft to be about 4ft long, enough to fit a twin mattress width wise and have a little extra few inches for having knick knacks.
(Above) I’m thinking a workstation near the front of the house like the picture above would be great. The wood paneling is awesome.
(Above) The white in this house from Tiny House Nation is awesome! The layout is very nice in the house and the ladder to the loft is creative.
I’m strongly committed to building a tiny house. I love the aspect of it and could see using it for years to come. When I start building on it within the next few years, I want to keep costs under $15,000 to make the 160 square foot house on wheels. Interesting to know how I’m in the minority demographic when it comes to tiny home dwellers. A lot of the people building them are married couples or women, not many single men seem to be building tiny houses.
I’m keeping tabs on supplies I want and hope to make this a reality within the next few years. Sometimes bigger is not always better! I want to be part of the tiny house movement.
The photo below explains the differences between a tiny house and “just buying an RV or camper trailer”
