My Tiny Home Transformed My Life at 70

Being alone could be the best time for you to evaluate your life. I pay less than 50 bucks a month. A tiny home is the best decision I've ever made for my elderly living. Hi, I'm Laura. Come inside and take a tour. My kitchen I love. This kitchen is laid out exactly the way my kitchen was laid out in my house in Arlington. And I didn't know that until I moved in. I guess I've always been happy with this space because this is what I've always had in my life. This kitchen is just too convenient. I just have everything at arm's length. There's nothing out of place or out of time here. It's just all together. I have the same, I like my appliances, but I wish the stove was a little smaller. I'm not complaining, but I only use one burner. So this is nothing but counter space for me. And the big sink is great. Always opt up for a big sink if you have a tiny home. My fridge is good. I just wish I had a bigger freezer. There's little things here that are too tiny, but I wish I had a bigger freezer. I love the freezer. It's good. I'm taller than my refrigerator and everything is in there. And I stack it, you know, as much as possible according to my budget. But I do and I'm happy with it. So I'm not going to complain about it. It's there. It's familiar. It's mine. And it keeps me happy. My tiny home came with all of my appliances intact. Okay. I didn't buy anything. If you're having one built, make sure you pick out appliances that are sturdy and good and also do search online. I added this cart. I got this, of course, off of Amazon. The whole world has Amazon at their exposal. And this is called my distilling section. I distill all my water, I do all my baking here and actually all my cooking, even though I have a stove, I use seldom. Here's my little baby right here. Does everything I want. I'm single. I know exactly what I love. I know how to make it. I'm a good cook. It's done. Right here. When you're picking out a tiny home, make sure you have a good pantry. Don't accept anything that's small deep because they make cabinets small, inside small. You can't put anything in these things except a couple towels, let's face it. A good size pantry is important and you can put anything in there and everything that you want. I have my food in there. I have my dry products in there. I have my storage bags in there. Whatever you want, you arrange it. It's beautiful. I have everything in order. How do I feel about my kitchen after four years? It's the most perfect thing I have for my life right now. This is where my life starts and ends every day. This is where I have breakfast, lunch and dinner. This is where I do my artwork. And there's no other place in the house where my creativity is accomplished. When I first moved in and I started, my daughter was gracious enough to bring furniture in for me even before I moved in. That was a wonderful thing. The table was over there on that wall. And I let it stay there for, I guess, about a year. I didn't feel right there. So from that transition, from there to here, my inspiration became stronger. The best move I ever made in this tiny home. Let's talk about being alone in a tiny home. For me, it has been good. I was married like 20 years ago and I've been alone that much, but really it's not a lot. That's only 20 years out of maybe I'll live to be 100, who knows. But being alone is really, could be the best time for you to bring yourself together and to evaluate your life and your thoughts and all that has happened to you. You want to be alone, this is the type of little tiny home you want to have. I'm so involved with what it is that I do as all the creatives are. You're not feeling alone. You're alone, but you're not feeling alone. All these things that I do, this little orbit of life here that I do, there's no aloneness here. But as far as being married and having a spouse and coming from that thing into, you know, here you are alone. If you were married to a man that had a good heart and who treated you well, I want to tell you, you'll think of him. I have thought about him. I have even dreamt about him. And there have been times that I really wish he was here so I could spend time with him. We traveled everywhere. He had a great sense of humor. Our personalities blended. I do miss being with him, but I still have him. You will always have a good man in your heart. Okay? So don't worry about being alone. Because spirits go around and they say hello and they come into your mind and into your dreams. And being alone, like I said, is no bad thing. Don't be afraid of it. Look at it. Turn around. See all that you have, all that you are, all that you do. And believe me, you're not going to be alone. I wanted to go tiny because I didn't want to do the house cleaning anymore. I lived in a high-rise for five years. Then after that, I got married and I moved into a 16-room mansion with my husband. Now, talk about more rooms. I just got done telling you I wanted less room. When I sold my home, I moved in with my daughter. I was going to move into an apartment. That was stopped. My daughter said, why don't you consider a little home here? And I said, okay, well, you know, I went with her. We looked and then we went into a few of those tiny homes. And lo and behold, this beauty stuck out. I paid cash for it. This cost $73,000. I live behind my daughter's home. They have property there that's sufficient and everything is good. The shipping of the home, from what I can remember, was expensive. $3,000, which I thought was astronomical because where I bought this home is only like 20 minutes from this house. They delivered it a week after I bought it and everything was in place, actually. I pay for all utilities, okay, in escrow. I pay less than 50 bucks a month. So this is not a free ride by no means. And it really shouldn't be because you are using, and I'm hooked up with them, so if I'm hooked up with them, I can't just say, well, yeah, we're going to do this for free because that wouldn't be fair and I wouldn't consider it anyway. It's important to keep that in mind and to talk about that way before you, especially the finance part, talk about it way before you make a final decision. But you have to have, you know, a family that is willing to do this and they have the property to do it. And it's a wonderful thing. It's truly a blessing. And I do have to say it's the greatest blessing I've ever had in my life at this time in my life. Welcome to my bathroom. This is one of the cutest little places in my home that I love. And this is the first little spot that my eye went to when I opened the door to my tiny home. Everything is right here. Having closeness on certain things is great. So I have to say, don't be shy of a small bathroom. My shower is wonderful, clean, big, and I do get a good steam out of it. I have a window that's just right. It's not too big. If you're an elder and you misstep, like coming out of the shower, be careful. And you don't have to be an elder to do that. Watch your step. You'll have something to grab on. You have this to help you up if you fall. And you have this in every room in case you fall. Make sure you know where it is. And you don't have to be a senior citizen either. Keep canes around, because if you misstep and fall, then you can't get up. And a lot of people don't know how to get up. It's very important. These small spaces are a great help. And they may save your life. Just love this little place. I just do what I want to do in here, make myself beautiful. And when I'm done, I have a beautiful bedroom that hooks right up to this little bathroom. And I don't have to worry about a thing. Welcome to my bedroom. Here is a very cozy and very quiet room. This is where I come to heal and gain my health. This is all you need, really. I sleep through every night. There's no interruptions. It is so quiet here. It's sort of like being on a little heaven. And though I have limited space here, I've tried to make it as beautiful as I could for this time what it is that I have left over. I didn't buy anything new for this tiny home. I have everything here that I need for everything that's pertaining to the tiny home. And then I have storage over here where I have supplies, dry goods, my shoes, my hats, my purse, you name it, that type of thing. I have an extra chair here that I do actually use. Over here is an antique drawer that has a top that comes out. I just love these. I sure wish they made more of them. There's a big window here. I have this up over, this is a darking shade you put up here on this window. My house lights up with the moon. I have light almost 24 hours a day because it gets me here and it gets me in the kitchen. It took me a year to adjust to this. There's gonna be adjustment to this whole place when you finally move in. And you're gonna have to realize that, you know, you're not gonna be able to do what your heart desires always, but you will find a way and it's gonna be good. So don't worry about it. You just have to get the big out of you and you gotta get the small and the cozy and the beautiful in you. And it's gonna be good. And now let me take you into my walk-in closet. This is my walk-in closet. This is my laundry room. This is my storage room. I have more room in here than I had in my previous laundry rooms in my previous homes. Believe it or not, in a tiny home, this is wonderful. I have side-by-side by my choice because they had stackable, which is, in my opinion, very hard to deal with and very hard for servicemen to come and do their job. And I had to stop that struggling in my home. Welcome to my living room. When I first saw the living room, I had absolutely no plans. It wasn't gonna be like what you see now. This has all developed over these four years. And as you're in a tiny home, you're gonna see these small spaces develop and change through the whole time that you're here. Everything is gonna change. Nothing stays the same, not even in a tiny home. This is where I come to read. I'm an avid reader. This is where I display all of my artwork as much as I can on this little display board here because it's all I have. This is my comfort zone. In the mansion, I had a complete studio downstairs. And now that I have the smaller space, actually, there's no comparison. But what it does, it kind of confines you into an area. Now, in your life, as you are an elder, that you don't have to deal with the rest of the work. Everything is here confined for you. This is what you do. And it's like a little segment of a perfect organized envelope. I have felt restricted, absolutely, absolutely, especially if you're an artist. And I've had to deal with that. I take it outside. I have a porch. That's where I get most of my inspiration. But the inspiration is there. I bring it in here. And this is where it all begins. Now that things have evolved, I'm sort of in awe of this little living room because it means more to me than ever before. This is the great expression of who I am right now. And you don't have to worry about cleaning up a big studio. This is wonderful. Consider your tiny home to be the gem of your life because you're going to have it all right in front of you. You're going to love it. These are the stairs that go up into my loft. These are going to be very handy, especially for ladies who are gardeners. This is all my gardening things. This is where I use storage when I'm home from shopping. Elderly people, when you are going up these stairs, I want to warn you, you go up slow and easy. Hold on to the railing. And if you must, and I think you should, come down backwards. And that's going to be good advice for the world, I guess. Upstairs is all storage. I did not opt to make it a bedroom because it's going to be too much work. You're going to have to bring down laundry. For me, that would be too much work. There aren't many tiny homes where you can have, a loft is good, but you have to know how to use it. And you need the right size. When you finally decide that you want to do tiny, do research on every company, check the reviews, make sure this is what you want. YouTube is a great place to go to find out about these things. You don't have to do too much traveling. And there's numerous places. There's numerous builders and there's numerous, I think, communities. And then you just take it from there. You won't regret it. And it's one of the best feelings you have when you can do this. A tiny home is for many and a lot of people, including me, is the best decision I've ever made for my elderly living. You will love it. Hallelujah. Thank you for coming. And if you're interested in my art, my info will be down in the description and I hope to see you. Thank you. Bye.