Revisiting Homeownership

Last weekend was Memorial Day weekend and we cracked open The Lucky Penny, starting with My SIPs Wall Raising. This weekend I’m taking a break from tiny house building to focus on other small homes. Friday and Saturday I turned over my 800 square foot bungalow in Walla Walla for new renters. And today I’ll be leading The Inside Scoop bike tour as part of Portland’s Build Small, Live Large ADU Tour. Both my guided tour and the self-guided tour sold out quickly, so if you aren’t able to join us today stay tuned for the next one! It’s been amazing how much attention ADUs are getting in Portland and I’m glad the ADU Case Studies Project has played a role in that.

The past couple days it was interesting experiencing another dose of the Joys of Homeownership. I feel fortunate that I was able to purchase property while I was young but I’ve also been amazed by what a burden homeownership can be. During the four years I lived in my little house I spent most of my time, money, and energy on green renovations and creating an edible landscape with bird, bee, butterfly, and bat habitat. I anticipated I’d be moving back to my beloved house as soon as I finished my graduate program in Urban Planning, so it was hard to leave. However, I was excited about trying on tiny house living, so I entrusted my place to a visiting Whitman professor when I headed to Portland. Considering she and her husband added a puppy and a baby to their family in the year they lived there, they left it in decent condition. But it took me three days to get the house back into shipshape for the next set of renters and it got me thinking about how much a year of living little had changed me. I wrote all about this in Oh, the Joys of Homeownership.

Fortunately, the students who lived in my house the past two years took very good care of the place. And this time I had great help turning the house over for new renters. Marty Cook, who has helped me with a handful of home improvement projects in the past, was my right-hand-man for the weekend. Not only was it great having a second set of hands and another noggin for figuring out the best game plan, I also got to hear Marty’s stories. I rarely meet someone so integrious, so positive, so proud of his son, and so utterly smitten with his wife. (If you live in Walla Walla and are looking for a trustworthy builder and landscaper, let me know and I’ll put you in touch with Marty!)

As you might imagine, working on my property again the past couple days – taking a toothbrush to the cracks and coaxing the cheat grass away from the raised veggie beds (again!) – got me thinking about homeownership anew. Like how I was scrubbing and weeding instead of visiting with my friends in town. (If I didn't get to see you, please know I plan to come visit as soon as I can on a trip that's about fun instead of work!)

I have learned so very much from owning my home – about home improvement, about my decision making process, about Murphy’s Law. Most importantly, my garden cottage taught me how to make home. What’s interesting is realizing that now that I know how to make home I don’t necessarily need to live in this home. I have made home everywhere I’ve lived since.

As I sat in an adarondak chair on my front patio after the house was cleaned up, sipping a coconut water and watching the ducks in the pond across the street, I realized I still like the idea of moving back into my house someday. But for now living tiny is the right fit for me. And it seems my little Walla Walla house will be a good fit for my new tenants.

I’m not sure whether my house will ever pencil out as a wise financial investment. But it was definitely a good investment in my education and my wellbeing. I suppose it’s all in how you count. For now I’m glad I can rent my house out to others so that they can enjoy a charming home and I have housing flexibility for the future.

And I’m really glad I can clean my tiny house top to bottom in an hour instead of a full day! (Check out my Tiny House Cleaning Checklist for my how-to!)

Tiny House Conference 2014 Kick Off

Tiny house lovers from across the country have descended upon Charlotte, NC this weekend for the Tiny House Conference. I couldn't be more excited about this opportunity to geek out about one of my favorite things! We will spend the next two days watching presentations (I'll be speaking on Tiny House Building Basics later today), touring tiny houses, and mixing and mingling.

Speakers were invited to arrive yesterday evening so we could get acquainted with each other and the facility. It was great to finally meet some of the folks I've been following: Macy Miller of minimotives, Hari and Karl of Tiny House Family, Andrew Odom of Tiny (R)evolution, and, of course Ryan Mitchell of The Tiny Life. It was also great to meet some new-to-me-but-probably-not-you-if-you've-been-watching-the-tiny-house-scene tiny house builders: Kelly and Chris, Frank, and Teal and Gerry of Wishbone Tiny Homes. Their tiny homes are be-a-u-ti-ful and I'm eager for everyone to see them, especially if they've never been inside a tiny home before!

The conference is sold out and I'm guessing many of you didn't manage to get tickets and make the trek to North Carolina, so if you'd like to live vicariously, follow along this weekend. Internet access and cell service are limited on the site, but we'll do our best to facebook and tweet the event with the hashtag #thc14.

Home Again at Yestermorrow

Every time I return to the Yestermorrow campus, it feels like a homecoming. This is my seventh trip to Yestermorrow and the only time I’ve arrived here via Boston. (Special thanks to the dear folks in Boston – Jessica, Sage, Alison, and Maggie – who showed me a great tiny time there!)

The first four times I came to Yestermorrow I was a student, taking the three-week core curriculum Ecological Design in the Built Environment, then Less is More and Composting Toilets, then a splendid 2-week Natural Design-Build Intensive, and finally a set of 3 workshops: Sustainable Development, Green Remodeling, and Invisible Structures.

After completing my Yestermorrow coursework I headed off to Portland State University in 2011 to earn my Masters of Urban and Regional Planning and my Urban Design Certificate. In the summer of 2012, between my two years of graduate school, I also completed my Practicum Project for my Certificate of Sustainable Design & Building at Yestermorrow, when I finished out a tiny house on wheels. Tandem is currently located at Caravan – The Tiny House Hotel in Portland, OR where it’s available for nightly rental. Here’s a Teeny, Tiny Film about me and Tandem which fellow Whitman College alum Emily put together for my practicum presentation.

When I was a student at Yestermorrow, I had fantasies of someday coming back to teach at Yestermorrow when I had enough gray hairs to attest to my wisdom. So as you might imagine, I was pretty excited to return to Yestermorrow just a couple years later to speak at the first Tiny House Fair in June 2013 and then again in September-October 2013 as an instructor for the 2-week Tiny House Design-Build.

This time I was greeted with a big hug from Dave, who manages Yestermorrow’s facilities and plays a mean stand-up bass, a firm handshake from Eric who coordinates Yestermorrow's Semester Program, and another hearty hug from Heidi, maven of Yestermorrow’s incredible kitchen. I arrived just in time for lunch, so I had a chance to meet a couple of the interns and to visit with Jenna, one of our students who arrived early. After lunch Jenna and I went for a walk around the Yestermorrow campus. I haven’t been gone long, so I wasn’t able to identify any big changes since October, but it’s always fun to play I Spy and notice the subtle shifts. It was especially nice to walk down to the river and see how different it looks iced over.

Tonight we’ll kick off our 1-week Less is More class with a full studio of 12 students from as close as Montpelier and as far away as California. A couple students are also coming down from Ontario. I can’t wait to meet all of them and learn about their plans for small homes! Stay tuned this week for updates!

Happy Birthday to Niche Consulting LLC

A year ago today I started my own sustainable design consulting company, Niche Consulting LLC. So my baby company is one year old today! Happy Birthday, Niche!

For Niche, like for most start-up companies – and most human babies for that matter – the first year was full of experimentation and growth. Through Niche this year I taught workshops, met with clients for design and lifestyle consultations, sketched up tiny house designs, participated in conferences and working groups, and supported other sustainable development companies. I worked with dozens of great individuals and a handful of wonderful companies, including Intrinsic Ventures, Portland Alternative Dwellings, Caravan – The Tiny House Hotel, and Yestermorrow Design-Build School.

As I've embarked on Lina's Next Adventure, I've learned a great deal through trial-and-error as well as from the advice and support of friends, family, colleagues, and a few perfect strangers, too. Sometimes it’s felt like I could barely hold my head up and sometimes it’s felt like I was crawling, but now that I’ve got my feet underneath me, Niche and I are eager to toddle out and explore what this second year of life is all about. (Hopefully, it won’t be the terrible twos!)

Of course, I’ve also been overwhelmed by the support from my friends and family. Special thanks go to Sandy Hall, Amy Gammill, Rose Jones, Kathy MacMaster, and Pat Hovis for being my cheer squad! It’s also been great to be starting up my company while several friends and two of my sisters start companies of their own.

These friends and family members of mine also welcomed new businesses into the world this year:

• My sister Sarah created Farthest North Films so that she can pursue her love of documenting life in Alaska. (Her company is so new the website hasn't been built out yet - stay tuned!)
• My sister Katie created Bring Baby Fitness so she (and her infant son Caleb) can help other new parents take good care of themselves and their little ones. (Her company is so new the website hasn't been built out yet - stay tuned!)
• My friends Derin and Andra Williams have created Shelter Wise LLC to build tiny houses and do energy efficiency work.
• My friends Deb Delman and Kol Peterson created Caravan - The Tiny House Hotel.
• My friends Jeremy Beasley and Kelly Nardo are creating a film about tiny living called Small is Beautiful.
• My friend Karin Parramore co-founded Good Life Medicine Center (and its development overlapped with construction of her tiny house on wheels, Serenity! Two new babies for Karin this year! She deserves a medal – and a break!)
• My friend Lindsey Thompson started up Thompson Family Acupuncture Clinic and began blogging at Stick Out Your Tongue.
• My friend Lisa Curtis has developed Kuli Kuli Bars which you can now request that your local Whole Foods carry.

Meanwhile, I continue to be inspired by the friends who have blazed the entrepreneurial path before me and created sustainability-focused companies of their own:

• Brittany Yunker rents out her sweet Bayside Bungalow as a tiny vacation rental.
• Tammy Strobel teaches e-courses on simple living, writing, and photography (I've just registered for her latest one A Simple Year and I'm so excited to get started!)
• Dee Williams and Joan Grimm provide inspiration, education, and information for people creating tiny houses through Portland Alternative Dwellings
• Matt Eppelsheimer does web development through is company Rocket Lift Incorporated
• Corey McKrill builds websites through Jupiterwise Design
• Curt Bowen supports sustainable farming practices in Guatamala through Semilla Nueva
• Emily Dietsman and Andy Asmus grow amazing food, flowers, and community through Welcome Table Farm
• Apologies to anyone I left off the list! Remind me and I'll add you!

It’s been an honor to work alongside these impressive folks as we create companies that strive to do well by doing good. Here’s to supporting small businesses with big hearts this year!

Another Year of Little Living

The end of the year presents us with a great opportunity to look back and reflect upon what we've accomplished and what we've learned. I cataloged A Year of Little Living back in 2012. In 2013 I wrote 87 posts about my Little Life experience and you can read the best of the best here. I'm grateful for the opportunities that were presented to me in 2013 and I'm already Looking Forward to 2014.

Here are some highlights from 2013:

This Is The Little Life

I started blogging two and a half years ago, but I was shy about it, so I didn't tell anyone at first. For all intents and purposes, this month marks my two year anniversary as a blogger. It's been an incredible experience to share my vignettes about my Little Life with all of you. I've enjoyed engaging in fascinating conversations with followers from around the world. It's especially been a pleasure to meet many of you over the past couple of years at gatherings or during visits. Word Press conveniently showed me yesterday that in 2013 This Is The Little Life was viewed approximately 140,000 times by people in 155 countries. Thank you for your support, encouragement, ideas, insights, and for following along!

Niche Consulting LLC

In January 2013, I started up my own sustainable design consulting company, Niche Consulting LLC. I created Niche so that I could work with clients from across the country and around the world who want to create a little home of their own. I've enjoyed doing individual consultations, teaching small group workshops, and assisting clients with small home design work. It's a real thrill to see a design that I helped a client develop be constructed in real life! I've also been able to partner with fabulous sustainable development companies like Portland Alternative Dwellings, Caravan - The Tiny House Hotel, Yestermorrow Design-Build School, Shelter Wise, and Intrinsic Ventures.

Workshops

I kicked off 2013 by teaching a tiny house workshop for my cousin's fifth grade classroom and discovered Ten Year Olds Design Awesome Tiny Houses! In February, April, July, and November I co-taught Tiny House Basics Workshops with Dee Williams and Joan Grimm of Portland Alternative Dwellings. In April, I worked with Shelter Wise, PAD, and six amazing students to build a tiny house in two days for the Casa Pequena workshop at Casa Verde in McMinnville, OR. In a July PAD Tiny House Build Workshop we constructed the floor of Dee Williams' vardo and built three walls for Naj Haus. In October, I co-taught a two-week-long Tiny House Design-Build class at Yestermorrow and in December I taught Unstuff Your Holidays: A 1-Day Decluttering Workshop.

My 200 Things Challenge

Before Downsizing from a Tiny House to a Tinier House, I decided to embark upon My 200 Things Challenge. This time last year I was half way through the challenge. I did a New Year's Re-Inventory and spent some time Taking Stock Without Stocking Up. I also made a New Year's resolution to go paper-free, so I was Strategizing Digitizing and Getting All My Docs in a Row. I recapped What My 200 Things Challenge Taught Me in October.

Masters Degree & Urban Design Certificate

From January through June I worked with Five to Nine Consulting to develop a framework for reintroducing housing into downtown Oregon City. This was our workshop project for our Masters of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) degree. In June I graduated from Portland State University's College of Urban and Public Affairs with a MURP and I wrapped up my Urban Design Certificate the next month.

Tiny House Fair

Unfortunately, I missed graduation because I was at Yestermorrow in Vermont, presenting at the Tiny House Fair. Fortunately, it was one of the best weekends of my life. I joked that I was taking commencement really seriously and getting on with my career. It was a treat to be back on the Yestermorrow campus and to meet so many great tiny house enthusiasts, builders, designers, and dwellers. My posts about the Tiny House Fair were republished in Tiny House Magazine.

Pedalpalooza ADU & Tiny House Tours

In June, Kimber and I coordinated the Pedalpalooza ADU & Tiny House Tours. I'd coordinated the tours in 2012 while working with Orange Splot. In 2013 we put both tours on one epic day, which you can read about in the Pedalpalooza Recap. It was great fun to meet so many small home enthusiasts and show off great spaces. We wrapped up at Caravan - The Tiny House Hotel, where we showed off Caravan's Tiny Houses, including Tandem, the tiny house on wheels I finished out in the summer of 2012 as part of My Summer Dream Job: Tiny House Design-Building with Orange Splot.

Moving from Home, Sweet Yurt to Home, Sweet Pea

In August, I moved from my Home, Sweet Yurt into Sweet Pea, a tiny house on wheels located in POD49. It's a great little place with really great neighbors in a wonderful location. (And the Sweet Pea Plan Set is available for sale through PAD.) I've thoroughly enjoyed this little home. I've had a Snow Day in the Tiny House and I've even tried Sharing Sweet Pea with my Sweetie.

Site Managing at Caravan - The Tiny House Hotel

In July, my friends Kol Peterson and Deb Delman opened Caravan - The Tiny House Hotel. Their soft opening was serving as the final destination for the Pedalpalooza ADU & Tiny House Tours, but the Caravan Grand Opening in July was a truly wonderful party. I loved visiting with the people who stopped in to take a look at Tandem, the tiny house on wheels owned by Eli Spevak of Orange Splot that I finished out as my Practicum Project for my Yestermorrow Sustainable Design-Build Certificate. Speaking of parties, I celebrated my 30th birthday with a Big Birthday Bash at the Tiny House Hotel. In September I served as site manager of Caravan for two weeks while Kol and Deb were getting married then on their honeymoon. I got to know all the little houses a whole lot better as I developed my Tiny House Cleaning Checklist and I joked Everything I Need to Know About Designing Tiny Houses I Learned From Cleaning Them.

Tiny House Mixers

In 2012 I helped coordinate several Tiny House Potlucks. They were a lot of fun, especially when we had them in parks during the summer months, but it was hard to find a place big enough for us to meet in the winter since we all live in small houses. Fortunately, in 2013 PAD began hosting Tiny House Mixers, which have been wildly popular. The November Tiny House Mixer drew nearly 50 people and the December Tiny House Mixer drew more than 30. I'm already looking forward to the January Tiny House Mixer and February Tiny House Mixer.

TinyHomes.com

In October, I began building out TinyHomes.com, a new website which I've co-founded with web developer Kenny Bavoso. TinyHomes.com is a website for tiny homes and the people who love them. Kenny and I are both huge fans of small spaces and we look forward to making TinyHomes.com an in-depth, engaging, and informative website for people interested in tiny homes. You can learn more about what we're up to and how you can contribute in Looking Forward to 2014.

Coordinating the ADU Case Studies Project

In December I began Coordinating the ADU Case Studies Project on a contract with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. I'll be compiling a series of case studies of permitted accessory dwellings throughout the state of Oregon over the next couple months. Read about the ADU Case Studies Project to learn how you can contribute or follow along.

The Things We Don't Carry

This post was originally written as a journal entry this time last year when I was on a study abroad trip to Havana, Cuba. I was looking back over the entry today and decided it would be a good one to post here. Enjoy!

One of the things that has struck me while I've been here in Cuba is that people carry things here. It's made me more aware of how infrequently we Americans actually carry something. If we have anything we need to transport we do it by car, even if we're not going very far and even if it’s something we could easily carry. It's almost as though we are ashamed to have anyone see us porting an object from one place to another!

Okay, maybe we do our hauling by bike if we live in a place like Portland where transporting things by bike is cool, but Portland is a special place.

It certainly isn't the first time I'd traveled to other countries and seen people carrying objects by foot or bike. Walking and biking are primary modes of travel in many place where the cost of motorized transportation is prohibitive. However, I've also traveled places in Europe where people transported things by bike or foot even if they could afford to use cars because a car simply wasn't necessary. (An image that lingers was the man who bought a recliner chair at a Dutch flea market and threw it over his shoulder as he climbed on his bicycle and pedaled off down the cobblestone streets!)

As I've embraced the Little Life over the past couple of years I've often had these flashes of insight in which I realize that the American lifestyle is the exception rather than the norm. And in America we don’t often just walk around carrying things.

In Cuba I've seen people walking with all sorts of things: a plastic bag full of eggs, a lawnmower motor, a table, a mattress, a fifty pound bag of beans.

Oh, and the cakes. So many cakes. One of my favorite images that I didn’t manage to capture on candid camera was two men on a motorcycle, speeding down a little cobblestone street in an old part of Havana. The man on the back of the motorcycle was holding a little round pink cake. I loved seeing people with their pink cakes! Come to think of it, I’m not sure why so many of them were pink, but they were lovely! I couldn’t help but grin at them, happy for this little clue that they were off to celebrate something. This is probably the same phenomenon that makes me grin at people carrying flowers. How can I help it?! It’s so sweet knowing they are on a mission to cheer someone up. I love seeing people carry things because it gives me a little glimpse into their lives.

When we put things in our cars other people don’t get to see what we’re up to. So much of the joy of life that’s visible when we carry things in our own two hands is hidden when our cars do the schlepping. Seeing people carry things throughout Cuba has made me wish that more Americans carried things about if they are able. Not only would it be better exercise for us and more environmentally friendly, it would also provide more conversation starters.

The next time I bake a cake I think I’ll just carry it to the party myself and enjoy the conversations I start along the way! How's that for reinventing the Cake Walk?!

December Tiny House Mixer at ADX

On Thursday night more than thirty people filled the loading dock at ADX for the December Tiny House Mixer. There was a great November Tiny House Mixer which I cross-posted about on TinyHomes.com.

This Mixer was the debut of what I can only imagine will be an incredible partnership between ADX and Portland Alternative Dwellings. PAD is committed to educating, inspiring, and empowering people to create tiny homes of their own. ADX is a collective workspace for builders, makers, and tinkers. I think PAD and ADX go together like butter cookies and apple cider. Yummy!

It's awesome that PAD's upcoming Tiny House Basics Workshops, Tiny Chair Workshops, and Tiny House Mixers will be hosted at ADX. There is already one PAD Grad, the intrepid Ben Campbell, who has claimed a tiny house building spot at ADX and he’s well on his way to a wee home of his own. You can follow along (or better yet, help him build) by checking out Ben Builds a Tiny House.

At the Mixer, Joan Grimm welcomed the crowd and shared information about PAD’s newest products and services, including a holiday sale on plan sets, a series of winter and spring workshops (including Tiny House Basics in February and March and a Tiny Chair Workshop in January and February), and PAD’s new Consulting Partners program. Then Dee Williams gave a teaser for her soon-to-be-released book The Big Tiny and reminded everyone to explore our world with curiosity and wonder.

Then I invited up a series of guest speakers who had 2 minutes to share their 2 cents. Nathan Miller of All-Ways Electric and Ian Bruner of Bruner Plumbing offered information about their tiny house services. Then Karin Parramore described building her wee home, Serenity. Ben Campbell talked about his experience building his vardo at ADX and Whitney Johnson talked about her project to facilitate insurance options for tiny home owners. (If you’re a tiny homeowner, please take her survey!) Four of my students from the 2013 Tiny House Design-Build class at Yestermorrow attended the December Mixer from as far away as Boston. We think that's quorum - or at least a reunion!

After the mini-speeches Ben offered a tour of his tiny house in the ADX parking lot. Then there was much mixing and mingling next to the snack spread. There was talk about tiny parking spots available and discussion about which on-demand propane heaters are the best. Many tiny housers also swapped tales of frozen hose woe (Portland had an unusual cold snap this year which left most tiny house folks hauling water for a whole week!) It was, as always, fabulous to see so many connections being made and I'm already looking forward to the January Tiny House Mixer at ADX. Please register so you can join the fun!

My Chiller: A Natural Refrigerator

I've just created My Chiller - an electricity-free, propane-free, noise-free natural refrigeration system. And the best part is it only cost $7, so it was almost free-free!

Years ago I worked with a colleague who grew up in Astoria, OR. She explained to me that in addition to an icebox, her childhood home had a chiller. The chiller was a cabinet in the kitchen that had a screen on the exterior wall so it was open to the sea breezes. The walls and the door of the chiller were insulated, so this box was outside the building envelope. I’ve been fascinated by the concept of natural refrigeration ever since.

Other tiny house dwellers I know have lived without a refrigerator. Dee Wiliams uses a cooler and ice packs to keep her beer and half-and-half cool. Tammy and Logan decided they would live in their little house Smalltopia without a fridge, too, and they have explored How to Eat Yummy Without a Fridge. The first time I visited Tammy and Logan they showed me that they kept veggies in a hanging basket on the porch and their half-and-half in the gap between the kitchen window and the screen. Six months out of the year the outdoor air temperature in Portland, OR presents the same conditions as a refrigerator. Seeing Tammy and Logan’s set up convinced me that it’s rather silly in this part of the world to use electricity or propane to run a refrigerator when the outdoors present the ideal chilling conditions!

So last weekend I made a chiller of my own. My mini fridge was nearly empty when I returned from Family Time. I figured it was the perfect opportunity to defrost the freezer before plugging it back in and filling it back up. I packed my handful of chill items into my dishpan and set the dishpan on the porch while I was waiting for the ice to melt from the mini fridge. That night I hauled the fridge back in since it started to rain, but I realized the food was perfectly fine out there, so I covered my dishpan with my laundry basket to keep the critters from digging in. It seemed to work just fine so I decided it was time for a trip to the ReBuilding Center.

I found a drawer that was the size I wanted and a cabinet door that would fit with it (hinges and all!) The components put me back a whopping $7. At home I chiseled out a spot for the hinges, attached the cabinet door to the drawer, repositioned the handle, and drilled holes in the sides. I ran out of daylight at that point and I've been busy with other projects. But as soon as I can I'll sand it, paint it, and attach a pest screen that was repurposed from an old shelving unit.

I’ve been using my chiller for a week now and I’m perfectly happy with it. Yes, it’s slightly less convenient to step onto the porch to get food items out of the chiller than it was to grab them from the mini fridge in the kitchen. But considering that we’re talking about just a few feet of distance, no complaints here! I figure I should be able to use my chiller until about April when the temperature here starts to warm up again. So I have another 4 months of free refrigeration, thanks to living in a mild climate!

The added bonus is that since I’m not running my electric mini-fridge I was able to relocate my Envi Heater to the end of the kitchen cabinet. I Installed my Envi Heater on this wall back in October, but since the wall is shared with the fridge both were working too hard. So I relocated my heater to an exterior wall in early November. Once I shifted my food to the chiller a couple weeks ago I was able to put my heater back in end-of-kitchen-counter location, which means it’s on an interior wall and right at the edge of my loft. It's already cozier in my little house.

Luckily, the same time of year that I need to run the heater it's cool enough to chill my food outside. Now that's what I call elegant simplicity! Yet another reason I'm Giving Thanks for Tiny Living!

Unstuff Your Holidays

With Black Friday less than a week away, even a minimalist like me cannot help noticing that the pressure to buy Stuff has already ratcheted up to a frenetic level. (For more on Stuff, check out one of my favorite little spoofs by George Carlin.)

So what do you give to the person on your list who has everything? (And what do you do if that's you!?) How about reversing the trend? How about organizing and purging to make room so you can find the things you actually like and spend more time with the people you care about?

I’m excited to be teaching Unstuff Your Holidays: A 1-Day Decluttering Workshop on December 8th and Organize Your New Year: A 2-Part Decluttering Workshop in January. I look forward to sharing the tips and tricks I’ve learned as I’ve lived in a tiny house on wheels, taken on My 200 Things Challenge, and explored the difference between Simple Living & Intentional Living. If you'd like to give a spot in the class to a loved-one (or yourself) this holiday season, you can claim one of the five spots left in the December workshop and six spots in the January workshop by registering for Unstuff Your Holidays or Organize Your New Year on the Niche website.

Meanwhile, as I make plans to visit with family for the Thanksgiving Holiday, I know I'll encounter the throngs of Black Friday shoppers. So I'm fortifying myself and building up my resolve. I admit that one of my best minimalism strategies this time of year is just plain avoidance. I don’t expose myself to much advertising. I don’t have a TV so watch movies on my laptop and I’m not bombarded with television commercials. My New Year’s resolution was to go paper-free by Strategizing Digitizing so I don’t subscribe to the newspaper, which means I don’t have to deal with all those glossy print ads I can’t shred and compost. My sisters and I have decided to produce a holiday card in PDF format to send out to our loved ones. I intend to avoid the mall completely. Anything I do acquire during the holiday season will probably be the result of comparing my wishlist against the deals at the after Christmas sales at REI. Like everyone else, I do have things on my list. I, too, wear through my rain gear, accidentally shrink my favorite wool sweater, and occasionally need to buy replacement parts for my favorite gadgets.

But my consumption feels sensible these days. I own beautiful and practical things. I don’t feel deprived in the least. But I’m so glad that I rarely get that feeling greedy feeling anymore that I used to always get this time of year. Of course, sometimes I do. For instance, my rate of impulse-buying hot cocoa soars this time of year! But I recognize now, more than ever before, that money can't buy happiness. (Actually, tiny houser Tammy Strobel's book You Can Buy Happiness (and It's Cheap) is the counterpoint to that, but only sort-of!)

The stuff is Just Stuff. It won't bring me as much joy as the stuff that money can't buy: the pine scent of the wreath on the door, the twinkle of the lights in the trees, the squeals of glee from kids on the carousel, the flicker of candles in the menorah in the window, the coziness of cocoa and fires and scarves and walking mitten-in-mitten with someone I love.

Unstuffing my holidays helps me focus on what really matters: Giving Thanks for Tiny Living!

The Flexibility for Family Time

I'm a little backlogged on blog posts, so those of you who subscribe to This Is The Little Life will get to catch up with me! Cheers!

As I became acquainted with other tiny house dwellers in the Pacific Northwest, I discovered that for several of them the ability to be present with family members is a key motivation for adopting The Little Life. Dee Williams explains that the passing of a dear friend was a big part of her decision to downsize and simplify her life. Tammy Strobel of Rowdy Kittens noted that by right-sizing her life she was able to be present during a family member's illness. This week I, too, became grateful that my decision to embrace Intentional Living has freed up my time so that I can be present for my family during a hard time.

One of my cousins had to go in for surgery last week so I was recruited for childcare. When I first received the request to travel to the Seattle area to take care of my 8 and 11 year old cousins I went through my old thoughts of “Oh, no, I can’t do that. I have too much on my calendar. There are too many people counting on me here in Portland.” I told my family I’d see what I could do and I’d get back to them.

But as I looked at my calendar I realized that many of the things on it could be shuffled around to accommodate me being out of town. Most of the tasks and appointments that couldn’t be postponed could be done

remotely. When I contacted one of my design clients to ask about rescheduling she was gracious about it and she said it would actually be better for her to rebook because she’s was busy this week because she’s moving. When I talked to Joan of Portland Alternative Dwellings, she reminded me that one of PAD’s key roles is helping people to create the freedom to focus on family – in good times and bad. So I arranged a room for Raffi at Meowhaus, booked a Bolt Bus ticket, and told my auntie I was all set to come to Seattle for the week.

I was, of course, distressed that my cousin needed surgery, but I was grateful that there was something I could do to help. My aunt and another cousin were able to care for my cousin before and after surgery while I spent most of my week playing parent. Turns out I’m really good at cutting the crusts off PB&J sandwiches, I’m better at reminding kids to grab their homework packets than I am at remembering to grab the car keys, and when I make Annie’s mac and cheese it’s ALMOST as delicious as their babysitter Hannah’s. I also got to reminisce about middles school dances when I took my 11 year old cousin to her very first one! It was an honor to help her get ready for that rite of passage.

The younger kiddo was home sick most of the week, so I didn’t end up getting much work done remotely, but I got more quality time with her than I’d ever had before. She introduced me to Totoro and Animal Jam. She also taught me just what order all her blankets need to be arranged in when she’s tucked into bed. And when she woke me up in the middle of the night to tell me she was too hot, I suggested she take off one of her blankets. She headed padded back to her room. The next morning I asked how that had worked out for her and she confessed “Not very well. I couldn’t figure out which blanket to take off. I didn’t want any of them to get cold.” Fairness is very important to this child! How amazing to see how her mind and heart work!

These are the moments that make me remember that THIS is what it’s all about! Yes, I recognize that The Little Life isn't possible or even desirable for everyone. And yes, I know that it's harder to be a full-time parent than to stand in as one once in a while. But nevertheless, I'm glad that The Little Life I've created for myself allows me a flexibility that I've never had before.