Episode 61

Colleen

Colleen Valles, a mother of a 10-year-old and just about now, of a tiny new baby, is also a writer, a knitter, a pet mama and a Tiny House enthusiast. When her 10-year-old daughter got excited about the Tiny House idea, Colleen decided to take action on her dream. She explored all different ways to downsize and move to her parent’s property, but found that building codes pretty much nixed all her good ideas.

Converting the garage to an apartment: No. Can’t build a kitchen.

Building an addition to the house like a granny flat: No.

Adding a second structure in the large yard: No.

Colleen had to get creative and instead of building a house on the ground, she decided to build a tiny house on wheels. Now, her new home is considered and registered as an RV and can legally be parked in her parent’s yard. Yay!

A RV is the Tiny House Answer

The brand new, custom build RV featuring 275 square feet of living space will be completed sometime next month and Colleen and her family, including the cat and the dog, will make the move. But to be able to move from a about 1000 square feet apartment to the Tiny House took many month of preparations. In most cases, to prepare for something new, one must acquire the necessary paraphernalia, but in this case, Colleen needed to get rid of most of their possessions. This proved to be more difficult than one might think.

Items which are not going to make the move

First, there is the question: “What will I need to keep for life to be comfortable?”

The second hurdle is trying to avoid to send anything to the landfill. Even giving your things away can be a challenge. In this interview, we are exploring the tactics and strategies Colleen and her daughter used to bring them towards their goal of a more sustainable life.

Colleen has written a wonderful guest blog for us. Please check it out.

Read her newest blog on the tiny house development here.

Colleen also agreed to come back for another interview after they have lived for a while in their new home. She then can tell us in detail what life in a Tiny House really feels like.

You can find Colleen’s blog at www.slowsimplelife.com

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