Retiring Alone? Why She Chose a Tiny Home Community

I chose to buy a tiny home. When I walked into the house, I thought, oh my God, what have I done? This is so tiny. But I met so many wonderful people, I chose not to go back to Florida. And that was... After 23 years of owning my own boutique and retiring on Friday and driving up here on Saturday. So was it the plan? No. Did it work out? Yes. It was the perfect change for me. It was a need that I needed to be a part of a community versus being in a home or a condo, which is what I lived in last before I came up here. But the next chapter of my life after After retiring, I needed... I didn't know I did, but I needed something different and this was a new challenge for me and being able to have a small home and garden. I loved a garden. I have all the amenities and it became a wonderful life. So here I am nine years later, still here and happy. I picked the kitchen because I love the counter space. My countertops are granite. And that's great because I can take things out of the oven, put hot things on the surface, so it functions well. One of the drawbacks with the kitchen is I have a wonderful dishwasher, but you lose drawer space because of that. I wouldn't be without a dishwasher. It's a piece of cake. I run it at least twice a week. If I didn't have the dishwasher here, I'd probably have a stack of drawers, and I'm willing to let go of that and have something else in order to have the dishwasher and the convenience in my kitchen. So for that reason, I put this cabinet over here, and that holds all my hot pads, utensils, and that kind of thing. So the kitchen functions well from the sink to the dishwasher to the stove. I do a lot of entertaining. I can add two bar stools and seat four people for dinner, and it also works well as a buffet. If I want to put stuff out and have more people sitting in the entertaining area, it works. Some of the things that I did, even though the kitchen was laid out, I did some upgrades. I took some cabinetry out because I love floating shelves. Easy to serve, easy to do. All my storage of food and things are up above. And then, of course, the upper cabinetry being open holds so much more than closed cabinetry. The stove is a full size. It's a five burner. It's electric. It functions perfectly, as does the microwave. Toaster oven's wonderful for one person. I do a lot of roasts, bake cookies, and then a lot of big pots with soups and things. So I had the big burners. So, you know, I didn't have to really sacrifice. My pantry is my love. But organizational skills are a must. When I talk about organizational skills, I like a trash can inside a closet. So I've got the trash can in here, the dog food's in here, my vacuum cleaner's on the back side. So I have to take a couple things out to do all my cleaning, but then they all go back in place. Point is, I keep things in containers. That's all things for my cat. Then I have another container for dog. And you have to stay organized or you lose track of stuff. And in a small space, if it's organized, it works beautifully. The refrigerator has an ice maker and it's a regular sized refrigerator. And we have some great local places here that do prepared foods. And I buy a lot of that and freeze it and then thaw it as I need it because it's just me. Above, I have area to have decorative things. I have a tendency to rearrange. So the pottery and things I change with seasons, sometimes some of my art I change as well. I would say the kitchen, you know, even though it's smaller, it offers. I've got ice maker, full refrigerator, full stove, dishwasher, nice sink. I've got all the amenities that I would have in a larger home. Just shrunk down and easier actually to move around and work. My living room to me is very cozy. It's the most important room. We spend more time here than any place else. I have a wonderful fireplace that I use in cold weather. Obviously a nice TV. I enjoy watching TV. I like listening to music. My furnishings Again, a little bit of a challenge with the tiny homes. You're limited as to how you can arrange. I've had a number of arrangements in this room. Matter of fact, initially when I moved into this house, I had my bedroom, my extra room, as the living room. I found that didn't work after a short period of time because we all seemed to gravitate to the kitchen, so it was too much back and forth. It was more comfortable out here. So this is definitely the hang spot. It's challenging to get a full Full-size sofa, I had this one made. There was a place in Asheville, unfortunately it got wiped out when we had the hurricane, and they basically do the stressless furniture, but they have one manufacturer that's based out of Dallas that does custom furniture. So you could go in and pick your color, your quality of leather, and the length that you want. So this was, I wanted more than a lot. loveseat, you feel like you're sitting next to somebody in an interview. A sofa you can spread out and look at one another and be more comfortable. So that's how I opted to do that. And at the same time, I got the chair. Of course, we love chairs that swivel. When we move from a home to a tiny home, we think we're going to bring all this stuff from our house. And it doesn't. Most of the time does not fit. So to me, because I like my animals as much as I like my people, it was worth it to me to custom do a sofa the color I want, the quality I want, the comfort I want. I'd rather have less and have really good stuff than have a bunch of inexpensive things that you just keep changing out. I have an ottoman here that pulls out. And actually is a seat or can be propped up if you want to get your legs up. I've got portable tables I can move around. And that's the thing, it's all these little details and things that suffice when you get a house arranged. I had all custom blinds done. from my house and throughout the house. These shades I have up in the wintertime. I bring them down in the summer because afternoon sun hits on the television. The shades go down, give me all the privacy I need, but I can have the pleasure during the day of my porch. So I really couldn't bring a lot of the furnishings because it was too large. But one thing that I did value most and had to have was my art. I used to be a big supporter of a art show in St. Petersburg and attended it every year, so very special kind of eclectic but cool stuff. So you surround yourself with the stuff that you really love that feels good to you, and it kind of all comes together. Once I got the right furnishings and the right comfort, it's very warm and cozy and everybody always says to me when they come into my house, your house is so warm and cozy. I like that vibe. That's what makes me feel good. I came up to the area and rented a house with my brother for two weeks. The following year, I came up with my sister because she was in the process of buying a villa-type home in a gated... community with golf and country club and all that type thing. And I had heard about the tiny homes and I thought, you know, let's let's go take a look at these things. So we did and we thought they were adorable. So it took me about three weeks when I got back to work to my store. I thought to myself, you know, that'd be a great vacation. My sister's up here. I can come up here, spend my summers, go back in the winter. So that was my plan until I got up here. and was here three weeks and thought to myself you know what i really don't need to go back and when i saw this home with the extra room i thought okay i think i need the extra room i've got two dogs and i have more furnishings now since i had moved so i came back to this home when i walked into the house i thought oh my god what have i done this is so tiny But it took, honestly, three, four hours to go from feeling tiny to this is so cozy. It was beautiful weather. I could have the doors open and it... It really didn't take me long to fall in love with the size of my house or my place. And in my negotiations with the village, I wanted to make sure I could have a shed, I could have covered parking, I could put a dog run in, I could do the AstroTurf, all the amenities and things that I needed to make my home for me, and they were very agreeable and worked with me. When you move into the home, you don't necessarily have all this, but you certainly have the backbone of Simple Life to upgrade and make it a beautiful place. They do work with you. The tiny house living, I think, is a gain on a financial end. It's not near as expensive as a regular home or a condo. When I lived in a condo, even though it was a I had two different ones, beautiful locations. You walk in your door and you close your door and you're not interacting with your neighbors. Here, because of the way this is set up, you get out and walk around in a lot of activities, a lot of activities if you want to participate. The cost versus a condo or a home, I think this has so much more benefit because I'm in a home and not a condo. I'm not isolated. I think for anybody who has retired recently or is like at a stagnant point in their life, I think to cash out of wherever you are and buy a tiny home and have a community where you're not lonely. On a daily basis for me to go over and sit on the pergola across the way and talk to my neighbors or go for a walk and run into people and talk to them, you know, it doesn't have to be the best friend thing. But there's interaction and it's just not isolated like I feel you are in a condo or sometimes in a neighborhood. You don't even know your neighbors. And most importantly, the concern and care that this area and this neighborhood gives. I'll give you an example. I was gardening on a Friday afternoon in the summertime. It was very hot and I forgot about a hole that I had dug days before and I stepped into it. And I went down and I had never broken a bone in my life. I had two compound fractures sticking out of my leg. My neighbors came, they called the ambulance. They iced me, stayed with me until I got in the ambulance. They came in, I had two dogs at the time. One person took one dog, one person took another dog. I came home three days later. There was a therapist that lived in the neighborhood waiting to get me out of the car to bring me in the house. There was food here for me. There were flowers here for me. People checked on me every day. Tell me what neighborhood or where you live that you have that kind of community and people that watch over you and care about you. Had I been in a home somewhere, I might not have been found. The function of the bathroom to me is perfect. I have a full-size shower, Corian walls, not plastic. I have good storage below. I have good storage above. I like to keep things away so it's clean for guests and people to use the bathroom. Again, we have granite on the counter. So those kind of upgrades make it really, really nice. I have a mirror. Not that we want to see when we get out of the shower, but that's reality. My towels go up above. To me, it's almost a standard bathroom. My shower may not be quite as wide as some, but everything else in the bathroom, I've got plenty of space. High boy toilet, full counter, full size sink, you know, nothing shrunk down, so it functions well. Welcome to my guest room. It's small, but it functions beautifully. I have a single bed in here. I have sisters that come and visit, a girlfriend from Florida, different people have come and stayed, and I've even had couples stay. I go into this room and give them the larger bedroom, which you'll see soon. In this, again, I've done custom lines throughout. I love leaded windows. We have built-in chest of drawers, television above, We have granite countertops again and one of the really nice things again about storage is our closets are double hung. So again we're back to organizational skills. Pants get hung below, tops get hung above, and then above that scarves and things, shoes below. But I hold all my clothes in here. And I have two closets to work with. And, you know, pay attention to these doors. Everything in these houses are solid doors. All of my clothes are kept in here. Because this originally was my bedroom when my bedroom was a living room. Which is fine, because when I get up in the morning and I'm getting ready to get a shower, I come in here and pick out what I'm going to wear, get everything, and I'm good to go. We're talking about small steps here and there. So, it's a very functional room. Right now, the only person using it is my kitty and I have a little robot. So again, spend the money, make it comfortable because there's no odors. It's where we prioritize. This is my heaven. I love this room. I painted all of the room. Again, the blinds. I have a split unit and a ceiling fan. My pride and joy is my bed. I love my Tempur-Pedic bed. You spend so much time out in the living room, on the porch and everything, I like to wind it down around 6:37, come in here, get in bed, and watch TV. Nice size television, I have everything that I possibly need. I have a beautiful piece of art. This is another piece of art of dogs that was done. That's another piece of art. This is New York, another piece of art. And so, you know, I kept the really special things that I could fit and work. And let go of other things, but I highly recommend you get a bed that you love, that you can enjoy all the square footage of these homes because you need to move around. You need to enjoy all of it. This is a full size. I'm okay with a full-size bed. It's primarily just me and a 60-pound dog in bed and then a little kitten, but it all works out well. I had a queen-size when I first came up, but I found, you know, I really didn't need it. And if I have a couple like my brother and his wife come and stay on a temporary basis for a week or so, they can sleep on a full-size bed. You know, I don't have to accommodate everybody just in case. All this is for... myself. I think this room basically is about 12 by 12 and I think it's fine. I mean, I've had bedrooms that were so big that had sofas and all this other stuff in to fill the rooms and then you never used it. This, I use every part of it. So, you know, the size wise, I don't feel like I'm giving anything up. I'm totally content. And then, you know, the other benefit I have is Because when the weather's really nice, I can open this door right out to my porch. And the dog and the cat can pass through and do whatever they wish, so it can give a more open space. We've now come out to my screened-in porch, and this is one of my loves of the house. When I first moved in, this was just an open deck. Actually, when you came in the front, you came up the steps, which is the front of my house. When you came up those steps, you turned and went in a screen door onto the screen porch that was separate. So over time, I tried the retractable awning. That didn't work. So I opted to spend the money enclosing the porch and put a hard roof on it so it was solid and secure. And then I added drop-down shades because late afternoon the sun can hit here if I'm entertaining and be warm. One of the pleasures that I have to this house and to this porch is I can open the door, I have a really nice dog run for my dog, and I put in dog AstroTurf. So She will go out and go potty and come right back in. I would say from this time of year, which we're in the beginning of April, probably to almost December, we live out here. You know, this is where this is where we entertain, cook out on the grill. And enjoy life. It's comfortable, it's beautiful, and it's private. That's a big key. I'm a corner unit. I have a hedge on the side, so I have total privacy. I don't have neighbors on top of me. And I think when you're inside the house and you look out and see this porch, it gives a much more larger illusion that it's a bigger space. And the fact that this is almost a room, you can't call it part of the square footage because it's not heated and air, air conditioning, but it certainly gives a more open feeling, plus allowed me to put my dining area around the corner so I can have a living area and dining area outside, away from the bugs. You know, one thing I will say about the simple life living is I think all of us have a need. And when I say that, I'm reaching out to the people who are widowed, divorced, never married, or just retired, and they're by themselves, and they think, God, is this, do I want to change? A lot of people don't know how to change. But I think a place like this fulfills that loneliness, gives you a community, gives you people who will keep an eye on you. I'm not talking about spying on you, but I'll give you an example. I didn't get my garbage out one morning until 8 o'clock, and my neighbor across the street sent me a text to make sure I was okay because it always went out at 7. That's the kind of looking after that our neighborhood does. And when I think of being alone, I'm not alone because I have all these people around me who are so nice. Now, you never get 100%, but I would say more than not are kind and supportive people. So going back to being by yourself, if you're at that point in life and you want to make a change and something that maybe is more financially affordable, I think this is something we really need to consider. I want you to understand why I did this. It's not my cup of tea. But I did it because I believe in simple life and I believe in the tiny home lifestyle. I actually like to call them small cottages. So, you know, it's I'm doing this to reach out so that maybe other people will consider it because I could have well afforded to do other types of lifestyle and my family thought I was shocked for doing what I did. But Now they're proud of me, they love it, and I love it. So I hope it reaches somebody that will come and want to give this a try. And thanks for listening to me. Bye-bye.