Well, my parking spot is now finalized. I am very happy with the location and have been exploring the nearby trails with great delight! I have bought several family members out to see it and everyone can see the potential in this spot. I can't wait to make it my own! Mum is helping me with designing a small natural garden around the old pond. I will need to invest in some fencing to have a safe area for Nova. I plan to have a sitting area (and possibly my fairy garden)under the trees and beside the lovely ivy-covered well. And lots of bird feeders - I plan to put some up this week so that the birds have a chance to find them even before I move in.

Here are a couple of photos of the new spot:

The only downside about this spot is that it is not legal so there will always be a nagging worry that someone will report us for living there. The landlord is putting up some privacy fencing and hedging to minimize the ability to see into the property but we won't be invisible. I'm hoping the fact that the last tenants lived there in a RV for 5 years will mean that the neighbours are not likely to complain.

Exciting week!

It has been an exciting week!

My trailer arrived a few days ago. It will get delivered to my builder this week so that the build can begin. He expects to have it finished by the end of May. It has already been redesigned several times so hopefully I have it just right now.

Even more exciting than that is the fact that I have managed to find a spot to park the house once it's done. It is at the back of a 4-acre farm. It doesn't look like much - just neglected fields and an old shed - but I can do whatever I want in terms of fencing off an area, adding grass or plants, etc. Who knows, maybe I'll even have a garden (everyone else in my family does so why not me). I haven't had much luck with indoor plants - maybe I'll have better luck outside. I could even have chickens or goats or horses - I probably won't but it is nice to know I could. There are two trails within a 5-minute walk (one is even right across the street) and I am a 5-10 minute drive from two of my favourite beaches.

There is a second spot that will also be available and I am meeting another woman who will have her tiny house done this summer who might be interested. There is plenty of room for two tiny's and the main farmhouse without anyone feeling crowded in any way.

Now I just need to tell my landlords I'm moving. I've been procrastinating because they have been so good to me but now that I definitely have a place to park, I will need to let them know.

Design Changes

So, I thought I was positive that I wanted my bedroom on the main floor of my tiny house. However, I recently had the opportunity to visit a tiny house that was 90% finished. Her tiny house had very do-able steps with a landing at the top instead of going straight to bed level. In addition, I realized that having the bedroom downstairs was limiting my everyday living space while having a loft area that I had planned to only use for guests (and I don't often have guests anyway) was really a wasted space. So I redesigned with the bathroom at one end and the kitchen underneath the loft.

My builder suggested that it would be easier to have all the plumbing closer together. And the location of the wheel wells would also impact the design. I have now done one with both the kitchen and a small bathroom under the loft and a bigger living room space. I am meeting the builder to see if this design is better and can be done in the available space. It may impact my barn door and "wall of whales" but we'll see.

Soon the build will begin and I won't be allowed to make any more changes :)

Along with excitement comes the doubts!

Most of the time, I am excited to watch the build of my tiny house take place. The trailer has been ordered and the build will start next month. Lately, I am finding that doubts are sneaking in alongside that excitement! My house will be finished in a few months and it is still not legal to park it anywhere. I knew that when I made the commitment but lately, it is feeling like a crazier decision than it did at the time. I'm also concerned about the price of somewhere to park. When I first started looking into the reality of going tiny, I had several people who were willing to offer a spot for $300/month. Now that I am actively looking for a place, I am seeing listings for RV pads in the $600-800 range. I currently live in a comfortable apartment with great landlords and all expenses included for $900/month. My biggest motivation for going tiny was to retire with a low cost of housing so that I could still afford my car, my groceries and maybe some spending money for travel once I was relying solely on pension money. Now I'm starting to worry that I will have spent my life-savings on a house (as well as going back into debt for a couple of years to pay off the line of credit I'll need to pay the final payment for the build) and not be any farther ahead than I am right now. I hope that I am worrying unnecessarily - and I am trying to stay positive - but it is definitely a concern!

A house in search of a home!

I don't yet know where Happinest will end up when she is finished. Even if a tiny house community in this area becomes a reality, it is very unlikely to be ready before June, when I will be ready to move. I really don't want to have to put my new home into storage unless absolutely necessary. I have created a flyer to start distributing to find at least a temporary parking spot. There is an RV parking spot on the lower lawn of a house just across the road from one of my favourite beaches so that just might be my first ask. It's a long shot but you just never know!

Vancouver Island - future home of a Tiny House Community?

It is in the very early stages yet ... but there is a good chance that southern Vancouver Island may have a Tiny House Community in the not-too-distant future!

Our planning group is looking to buy or lease a piece of property of at least an acre that is large enough for 15 tiny homes. It will probably be a combination of THOW's and ones on foundations. We have one municipality willing to work with us at this point and are having conversations with other local councils. We are also in the process of following up on some possible land options.

If this is something that may be of interest, please email me at pawprintscanada@gmail.com to be added to our mailing list. I will send you a brief survey to get a little more information about you and will send out updates as they become available. No commitment is needed at this point - we are just at the information-sharing stage.

If you live in the Victoria area, I would encourage you to join our Living Tiny on Vancouver Island Meetup Group. We meet monthly to learn more about tiny houses and to discuss the progress of the tiny house movement in this area.

Small business :)

Well, I think that a business that you can hold in the palm of your hand gives new meaning to the phrase "small business" :)

I was recently introduced to essential oils by my sister and have decided to become a Wellness Advocate for doTERRA.

If I'm going to do any form of self-employment in my new home, it will definitely need to be compact. I'm also an advisor for Forever, a company that provides online photo storage as well as digital scrapbooking and photo gifts. That business is all done from my laptop.

So I now have two businesses that will only take up one square foot of the 240 that I will have in Happinest! I wasn't looking for space-saving when I chose to represent these companies but I do think it's rather interesting that they will both easily fit into my tiny home!