Well, well, well, where to continue…

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Prologue:

So it is 10:00pm 10/17/15 Jenny just got home from work and was reading the draft of post you are about to feast your eyes upon. When she arrived at the photo gallery, she began thinking about recent the photos she took and could add to the visual goodness of this post. Well then, she checked out the last content we added to TransitionToTiny. WOW!!! Have you all missed a lot! Sorry for slacking on the blog we will make it up to you!

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First things first. We realize this may sound totally nuts that this far along in our transition to tiny we had never actually stepped foot in a completed tiny house. Well, thanks to the dynamic baking duo, Jess and Dan Sullivan now we have.  If you don’t know who they are, well you should. Check them out at Another Tiny House Story.

Jess and Dan have been living tiny in their TH dubbed “The Pod” for the last 2 years on an amazing spread out in the sticks of Rhode Island (yes there are wooded areas in RI however small it may be). They also have a small business called Two Little Buns and let me tell you when it comes to their specialty baked goods, they rock it! When we found out they were vendors at a local farmers market we had to go meet them in person. One thing lead to another and BAM we get invited for a tiny tour and an amazing dinner.

With some hard cider and donuts in hand we make the trek across lil’ Rhody for a visit with our new found friends. Jess prepared an amazing “wet meal” of wild rice and mushroom soup. As we dined under the stars we laughed and conversed. By the time we left both Mrs. T and I had just one complaint, our faces hurt from laughing and smiling so much!

The invite could not have come at a more perfect time and we cant thank them enough for opening their doors to us. Our tiny build has been a lengthy one and it can definitely wear on you. Getting to hang out and talk tiny with them re-inspired us to stay steadfast on our journey.

Now with winter bearing down, a fire has been lit under our rears and the sense of urgency has never been so great.  We are in the final push to beat Ma’ Nature, get in to our tiny house, and out of the RV. As most of you know, the Mallard has been our temporary transitional tiny home for the last 2 years. The winters were brutally cold and I cant tell you all if we are either crazy or just determined to reach our not so tiny goal.

We are dried in, the Ondura roof is on, 90% of the wiring is roughed in. For the last week or so I have been out of commission due to a back injury and Mrs. Transition has been killing it over at the house flying solo.  She has been hanging insulation like a pro and loving it. I think after seeing our breath inside the RV for the last 2 winters she is on a mission, a mission for warmth.

The interior will be complete in the next 2 weeks, for the most part, less items like cabinet doors and such. We plan to hold off on siding it until the spring when we have more funds to allocate for the job and we really cant make a decision on what type of siding to install. I have been against going with pallet siding due to the great deal of time involved in breaking down, stripping nails, plaining down, cutting lengths, ship lap, and installation. But, if it will keep us debt free…

We are somewhere around $2k over budget, as expected, and coming down to the wire with our build fund. However, part of our goal is to complete the build debt free and we fully intend on reaching that goal. I may even be easier convinced to use the pallet siding Mrs. T absolutely adores. One thing we are considering is reaching out in an attempt to secure sponsors. We figure any little bit will help; discounts offered, freebies, whatever. If anyone has some input or advice on nailing down a few sponsors drop us a line!

There were far to many happenings and a great deal of progress to cover in just one post. Below are the most recent photos of what we have going on. We will get some more details on our experiences with our build and materials used in a later post. Another leg of our journey is about to come to an end while another begins and we couldn’t me more thrilled!

Thanks for being here with us.

Let the (tiny) build commence…

Hey Friends! You heard it right, we are about to get going on our build!!!

Our tiny house foundation is 98% complete. The final punch list consists of:

• Weld last 4 lengths of threaded rod to the frame
•  Attach the belly pan
• Attach lights (temporarily)
• Touch up paint

Man!!! We can not believe the time has come to start banging nails. (I can say for sure I am thrilled to be done slinging the grinders around.) It seems surreal to be at this point after traveling on this journey for what seems like such a long stretch of time. Looking back at the pictures we have been snapping along the way keeps the memories fresh of progress made and the fruits of our labor. Every time I see the picture of the trailer the day we got it and look at the trailer as it sits now, it blows my mind a little.

This week when I was welding up the first few lengths of threaded rod I began feeling like something was off. Not wanting to have to do any additional cutting and re welding I decided to double and tripple check the placement of the threaded rod. I ended up going to the lumber yard and purchasing the lumber for the floor framing, super exciting! Having the lumber gave me the ability to lay out the framing to be sure the rods are right where they need to be. Sure enough, the first rod I welded up was in the wrong place.

Now, we have a decision to make on where we are going to build. We have a lot that was made available to us right down the road from where we have been transitioning to tiny in the Mallard. However there is intact male dog at the property that does not see eye to eye with Benny who is also intact. We like Benny to be relatively free range and have no interest in seeing what would happen if Benny and Cooper got nose to nose.

So here is our plan. Our neighbor owns a very large piece of land that includes 3 fields. One of which borders Jennys families property and is directly behind where we have been living for the last 2 years. There is a large section of briars that is about 20′ wide and runs the length of the field. It looks like the perfect parking spot for our TH. We are going to talk to the owner who is an older single hippie kinda lady about giving her $100 a month to park there. We will have to see.

It would make the build that much smoother having direct access to all the tools, not having to cart them around, saving on gas not having to drive to the build site. And setting up to live there would be a breeze. Power is run back to the RV already so I would have a very short run to get some juice to the TH. Benny would still be able to run free and hang with his lil’ bro Rocco. It seems like the ideal situation.

Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Trailer Progress Photo Update…

Here are some pics of our tiny house foundation. They are a couple weeks old now and at this point we are almost done refinishing it! (We will get a post out this weekend with some details on progress and photos of the finished product.) One more rib to weld in, a little bit of paint, running the wiring/breakaway switch, and we build. Vertical progress here we come!

Tiny Bit Inspirational…

Over the last couple of weeks since I lefty my job, when I run in to an old acquaintance or former co worker and conversation gets struck I very openly say “I just quit my job”. The reactions are typically priceless and are either at one side of the spectrum of the other. Some are in awe that in “this economy” omg you just quit your job! While others have the opinion of “that’s awesome, good for you”!

Let me tell you how amazing it feels to get either response. However, my all time favorite responses are from the people that don’t yet know the path we are on. The ones buried in debt with an insane mortgage they are slaving away to pay, yet they are still happy for us. Those are the ones that I truly love to tell about our transition to tiny and explain our journey to. You can literally see their head explode! In a good way of course. To me, I feel like it opens peoples minds and for a moment lets them see something that is not typical good ol’ American dream we are all sold. The 9-5 (more like 5-9) does not have to be the norm.

I mean, isn’t the country supposed to be the land of the Free? How Free can you be punching a clock racking up 50, 60, even 80+hrs a week? Driving hours upon hours to hit the daily grind. Is that really Freedom? I encourage you all to sit and contemplate what Freedom means to you. Your head may just explode too. Think about it…

Now, I completely understand everyone’s situation is totally different. Most don’t have the luxury of just being able to purchase a used RV, live in their family’s backyard, and save to build a tiny house. Shit, for that matter most don’t even want a tiny house! But you want something. We know we are crazy and this way of living is not for everyone. It is a HUGE sacrifice and a true testament of our inner personal strength.

And hey, at this point its been over a year and a half since we gave up our 2 level apartment and 90% of our belongings for a 27′ RV and a dream. You know what? It is possible. We are making our dreams come true. You can too.

What are your dreams made of? Think about it…