We Cut Costs Living in a Tiny Home - No Mortgage!

The big advantage of buying a tiny house on wheels is it doesn't really matter where it is. We could literally buy a tiny house anywhere in North America and take it where we want it to be. We find places to park through Facebook, Facebook groups, and connecting with local communities. This can actually be our forever house because we'll never be bored of the environment that we're in. Hi, I'm Candice. And I'm Damien. Come take a tour of our tiny house. Welcome to the kitchen. Comparing the tiny house kitchen to our kitchen we had in, I suppose what they would call a regular home, we didn't have a big, big kitchen, but I think the differences you notice is sort of prep area. But I love the countertop space that I have, but I think it really brings it back to living tiny, which is living with intention. So I think when you have a lot of space, you fill it with a lot of stuff. And we don't have that when you live tiny. So we want to be just, you know, we're always mindful of, are we using things we keep like appliances? Do they fit in the space so that we can, you know, not have an overcluttered space? I think it also goes to show you how you don't need 20 pots and pans that just sit in a cupboard. We're able to fit all of our pots and pans in the bottom drawer, you know, plates, bowls, everything that we have, we use it. So if we're not using it in three to six months, we either donate or sell it. So I love that it's intentional that we use everything we have. It's low waste, low reduced carbon footprint. We like it to be aesthetically pleasing and having clutter-free spaces. So we did get quite creative with our storage and we have a lot of our pantry storage goes into the staircase to keep the countertops nice and clean and appliances get packed away. So we don't have appliances that need to remain outside of the electric kettle. When we're shopping, I'm very intentional about the week. So we plan like sort of a Monday to Friday and that way everything that we have, we can store it. Choosing appliances for the kitchen had to be as well, very intentional, very specific to the space. Actually, when we purchased the tiny house, it came with a fridge. Fridge was really, really large. It sort of came out and dug into our living space. So we sold it and we got something a bit smaller that really it's just the two of us. So it allowed for a bit of space. The stove as well, that it could fit. We do all of our cooking with propane. Most of what we do, our water heater and things like that, it's all propane. So we use very little electric, which is great. Saves money and also I feel is a nice reduced waste as well. So I wouldn't say that we are missing out on anything. Our previous kitchen that we had to living tiny to the kitchen that we have now, we're able to prepare meals. I've actually catered a full retreat for 17 people in this tiny kitchen. So it can be done. We really love that we have a washer dryer combo inside the tiny house. I know a lot of people that live in a van full-time or that do live tiny, having to go to a laundry mat, especially since we have animals. So it's really nice that if I need to put in towels, blankets, things like that, it fits within our lifestyle because we are living full-time and it's a really, really amazing appliance, if not my favorite one, that we can do all of our laundry at home. So it's really nice just having it on hand, having the washer dryer combo as part of the kitchen. We really love our tiny kitchen. I love that we got to design it ourself. I love the clean white finish, right down to the handles on the drawers. We did the design completely from scratch. We worked with an amazing builder. So I love how it feels. Often after I've put everything away, even after six years, I still look at Damien and say, I love the space. I love the kitchen. Living quality over quantity. Welcome to our living room. This is where we spend a lot of our time when we're indoors because myself and Candice do spend quite a lot of time watching TV in the evenings and stuff and spending time together. I really wanted a couch that was wide enough that we could both lie together lengthways and watch TV. We had this couch custom made for it. And then, yeah, we have a ton of storage underneath from the hinge between in the middle there. Our couch literally swings this way and it can form into a full queen size bed. So when we have guests over, that's where they'll be. We have our Anderson windows, which are amazing for sound and temperature insulation. But the screens, which are great for everything, except no seams, which fly right through it. Yeah, we have a little ambience, which my wife has mainly been responsible for. Dream catchers from around the world and our little lights. People often ask us how this compares to what we had in our full-size home in South Africa. And actually, I prefer this setup. You know, it was always a struggle to find exactly what I wanted. And because we got to make this couch custom, it is exactly the way we wanted. And it's compact, but everything we need is here. We're super comfortable. We spend a lot of time. You know, we can sit together with friends. We can, you know, lie and watch TV, have breakfast, whatever. And it's just super flexible and adjustable, caters to our every need. Our house, we actually bought it as a shell. You know, the kind of structure was there, the electrics and some of the plumbing, but that was it. So the nice thing is we got to design the interior exactly the way we wanted. So it really came out exactly the way we like it. Also, we were picking a house from a different continent because we were in South Africa. Looking for it, really what you just wanted was like the door in the correct place, the right layout. And the roof was very important. You want a low pitch roof, either a shed style or a low pitch A-frame like this so that you can have lofts on either end. Because a lot of tiny houses like to do a very high arch because it looks aesthetically pleasing, but then you actually lose your loft space. And we definitely wanted that. And, you know, we were very fortunate to be working with an amazing builder who was just, you know, super trustworthy and, you know, followed through with absolutely everything that we wanted. Welcome to the bathroom. In our previous home, we actually had an en suite bathroom that just had a shower. And then we had an additional bathroom with a bath. I love a bathtub and I wasn't going to live tiny without one. So we actually used a reclaimed horse trough that our builder found for us. And it went really well with the aesthetics in the bathroom here. So I don't really feel like I'm missing out. In fact, this tiny bathroom is bigger than the en suite bathroom I had in my previous house. I love, again, that the space is white. It feels nice and big and clean. We have everything we need. And then again, just like the kitchen forces us to really live intentionally, use our products before we replace them. And because we live this way with also gray water, we don't have any chemicals in the house or soaps are natural. Everything we use, we are very mindful about that as well. We have a nature's head composting toilet. It was probably the one thing about living tiny that I wasn't totally sold on in the beginning. I didn't think that I would grow to love it, but I love, again, the reduced carbon footprint that nature's head does for the planet. And it gives us so much flexibility to live anywhere because we don't require septic. Now we are in our bedroom loft. This was why it was so important to have a low pitch A-frame roof. If it was a higher pitch, the pitch would have probably started almost at this level. So we wouldn't have really had any loft. But yeah, this works perfectly. We have a reclaimed pallet wood at the end there that was donated by Brian from Sasquatch Custom Homes. We have our little bedside tables that we put together. We spend quite a bit of time here reading in the evenings. Sometimes one of us will be downstairs working and the other one can be up here working or reading or having a nap. Candice made beautiful blinds that are blackout that cover our windows. She's also created her own little custom jewelry set up there so she can see all of her earrings and necklaces and everything like that. When you're in a small space, it's also important to have things displayed nicely so that you don't have to dig for them all the time because no one wants to spend their life digging for things. We have a six inch mattress, because space is at a premium here and it's on a frame which allows it to air and everything. And then across the way, we have our storage loft. Yeah, we have our drawers each. Candice has really put it all together. We have plenty of hanging space. It's actually really done well because everything is very easy to spot and see. Even the way that she has all of our clothing, you can pull up in the drawer and you can see every T-shirt without having to dig into it. So it's all just meticulously organized. Yeah, also the beautiful reclaimed pallet wood on that side. We usually have a little dehumidifier just running there, just making sure everything's nice and dry. But yeah, just very open and easy to find and plenty of space for all of the clothes that we need. Quite the process trying to buy and then build a tiny house from a different continent. The big advantage of buying a tiny house on wheels is it doesn't really matter where it is. We could literally buy a tiny house anywhere in North America and take it where we want it to be. That really opens up the options and it allows you to find something that really is perfect for you. The shell had actually been built by a family originally from Wisconsin, where they started to build. You know, I came across it, they were offering it for a great deal. It had excellent insulation, windows, had some really nice appliances. We really loved the layout. That all looked perfect, but it's homemade by some guy who's probably not an engineer. So the first step was getting someone to certify it, make sure that it's all good. So I was able to Google a bunch of builders in the area and one of them really stood out, Brian from Sasquatch Tiny House Trailers. He was such a great guy. He did, he went, he checked it. The axles did need to be replaced. They weren't quite heavy enough, but everything else was sound and he was happy to work with us, you know, designing it as we go. And yeah, we paid him in installments, you know, one amount at a time. And, you know, he sent us regular reports. It was just, we couldn't have got a better boulder and it really took a lot of stress off. So we were able to purchase it from the sellers. He picked it up. You know, he had a truck that could move it, took it to his property. And, you know, over the next year and a half, he built it out, you know, according to what we needed. And he was just amazing. And then right at the end, when it was nearly completed, I actually flew out to Houston. Him and his family were wonderful. They actually put me up in their home and I worked with them on it for the last, like month and a half, getting all ready, getting all of our appliances and pots and pans and inventory and all of that. And it's just worked out perfectly. And, you know, we've been very happy here and yeah, lots of amazing, exciting things on the horizon and just loving life and loving the freedom and flexibility that having a house that moves gives you. And there is really no limit to what, where we can go and what we can do. And it's just been the greatest blessing. A great resource is social media, joining community Facebook groups. So for example, the property where we are currently, by the time we leave, we would have spent seven months here. We just created a Facebook post with pictures of the house, some information about us, the fact that we have two small dogs, some fun just pictures about who we are. And we'll create the post mentioning the hookups that we need and people reach out to us, especially people with bigger property, bigger pieces of land. And it's also nice for them to know what the house looks like, you know, that it's newly built, it's in really good condition. We take care of it. It's not an eyesore. And then we'll put that across a few Facebook groups or platforms via social media and just have some video calls like this and see if it's a good fit. So that's a really good place to find if you're wanting to live on private land. And then in terms of RV parks, it depends seasonally if you've allocated enough time. Very often you've got to get about six months in advance to get into some of these parks. If you're going to destinations that are super popular based on the weather, like Florida. During their peak time. Right. So if you kind of decide, I want to go, let's say it's August and you're wanting to go in November, you might not get a spot in an RV park. So RV parks are nice and they're easy. And when we're traveling on the road for two or three weeks, we'll use them. But for longer term, private land is exactly that. You get more privacy. You can create a nice relationship and often use it as a repeat spot if you move seasonally like we do. So it's just putting yourself out there. It can feel a little vulnerable, but when you realize, you know, you actually want to be part of the community and it is such an amazing lifestyle and movement, you'll be surprised how many people want to help support that. Good example is we were in North Carolina recently. We were planning on coming back to Florida and they had that big storm there and it kind of changed things around. And then suddenly we were kind of struggling. We couldn't get in any campsites and it was looking like, you know, it's going to be a bit of a battle. And we ended up putting a poster on a Facebook site. And within a few days we had like probably about 10 different people message us, you know, and we were able to kind of pick and choose, you know, in terms of proximity and just the connection with the people and it worked out great. The rental I find is dependent on proximity. If you get a really good location, when we say good location, close to work, close to the shops, close to restaurants and things that you may want for that season, the average is about 600 a month. If you're further out, some people will pay for 25, 500. It depends on proximity too. But on average, it's around 600 a month. We RV parks have gone pretty expensive now. What they often do is for your first three months, you might pay seven, eight, 900 for three months. And then if you become a long-term tenant in an RV park, they'll take your rent down a little bit, you know, on a year contract, for example. I think it's also helpful if people want to make a strong case, like they're putting themselves out there, is also just to confirm what they do, that they do have income and that they can actually afford the rental of the lot or the rental of the private land. You know, if you're giving people peace of mind, like, hey, this is actually what we do, they're not having to have that uncomfortable conversation. Like, so, you know, you live tiny and you're nomadic, you know, do you have income type of thing? So I think letting people know what you're about and being kind of open book about that. This is who we are, this is what we do. You know, this is also how old we are, so we're not going to be throwing parties, being disruptive. We want to be part of a community. Those kinds of things gives people peace of mind and they're often a little bit more open to hearing you out and giving you the option to come and stay. Absolutely. What I've learned most about living tiny is for me and my personal journey is living with intention. Every item that we purchase or that you're choosing to bring into your life, really you have to think about it because where do you put it? So I actually really love that. I love that it's brought me to living with more intention and I love the freedom. If we decide we want to move for whatever reason, for a new experience, or if it's too hot, too cold, whatever that might be, I love the freedom and I love living with intention. The fact that you have a house with wheels means you can take it anywhere. Our house has been a mountain house, a lake house, a beach house, a desert house. A forest house. Like, you know, you can take it for short trips, you can take it for long trips. Like, this can actually be our forever house because we'll never be bored of the environment that we're in. Thank you guys for checking out our tiny house. If you'd like to follow more of our journey and what we're up to, and maybe join us for some travel retreats, you can find us on Instagram at d__cadventures365 or yoga__health__candice. Ciao. Bye.