Living in the Tiny house full time!

 

 

 Living in the house full time!

 

 

 I apologize for such a long time between posts. I could not for the life of me remember my password! So much has changed sense my last post. 

Currently we our living in the house full time. It is amazing! I love it so much! I can't believe the difference in my life now. I for one have so much more time. It is so relaxing. I am amazed how great everything has worked out! Nothing has failed. I don't feel so crowed or cramped. I do think I need to downsize more of my clothes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not the best picture.

 

 

 

 

Works great!

 

Selling

 Yes we did put the house on the market for a short time. It was not because we did not enjoy living tiny.  Matter of fact I am beyond happy with my house. It was for 2 different reasons. The thought of carrying such a heavy load to Alaska begun to scare my husband and I. Fear can rule you if you allow it. The other reason was because of a circumstance that I thought I would need to tend to in my life. For the grace of God he worked these things out. I am still beyond afraid to move such a large house to Alaska. So are half the other people in my life. I have a game plan for this. One is to pack enough food to last close to two months. That is the amazing part of trucking your house. That way if God forbid I am stranded. No worries. I have food and water and heat. Basic needs will be met. The other is to give it to God. I have faith he can get me to our new home. Oh and to the others who complained for my listing price. Really!!!!!!!!!!! The materials alone cost close to $20,000. Why on earth would I just give away something I worked so hard on! Be realistic!

 

 

 

 

 

Off the Grid.

 

First let me explain what off the grid means to me. I have been getting several negative response to when David and I say we our off the grid. Everyone assumes because we still have a cell phone and an internet that we are not off the grid. I did not say hiding in the woods preparing for Zombies. I said off the grid. Meaning not connected to a power source or water source. I still have a lower amount of bills than you. So blah on you saying I am not off the grid. I eat all organic. My seeds can be dried and reused. Meaning I have food for life. I eat raw cow’s milk. I boil the water to drink. I don't have an electric bill. I do not have a water bill. I also don't have a mortgage. So I think I am pretty good. Writing that sounds pretty good. Boy! Now to explain. My husband and I met the most amazing person. He has been off the grid sense 1994. He has so much inside information. Coming into his house was amazing. Wood cooking stove. Amazing old doors. He has so much information. I thought we were going for maybe an hour to pick up a solar system. I think we stayed for 8 hours. He designs such an amazing system. He has a vent system for the corrosive acid that it releases. I never saw ANY system with that. He GAVE us a 5 foot trailer. He answers any question I have when I call. I believe I made myself a friend in this purchase. I can't really go into information about the system. I am still in the process of learning it myself. I can tell you that it works great. We also managed to lift a 230 gallon water storage container into the loft. It did somewhat change the space. This is fine. Our shower and sink is currently being feed by gravity. We added gravity pumps to add more pressure. Everything seems to work fine. We will be trucking water in from the base when we get to AK. This is fine. 230 gallons last close to 2 months. So it’s not often. Plus we have a system were the water feeds from the rainfall as well. Oh and today we purchased a windmill! Can't wait for it to arrive! So that means we have 2 solar panels plus eight batteries and soon a windmill!

 

 

Well I am just going to add some pictures to see the progress. I apologize for my horrible grammar and miss placed words tonight. I am exhausted from a long day.

 

 

The wood stove that is also a cook stove.

 

 

Update with Pictures.

The future view!

Sorry for the long time between posts. We have been so busy with building and working our full time jobs. The postive encourgament we have been getting has been wonderful. We were futured in a local newspaper! I will be posting the link and the story once I have a full day to sit down and add to this blog.

We sold our big house. Well the mobile home we live in. It has been a home to use for four wonderful years. We though we would spend the rest of our lives living in this log cabin theme mobile home. God had other plans. He wants use to live in a very Tiny house in Alaska. I assume most days that God made me for laughter. I really do. The adventure he has us on. One of the things  I have to do is sew. I mean come on, I can't stay focus enough to tie my own shoe. Anyways. I am excited for the new owners to come and take this mansion. They have a huge piece of land and I find I am selling it to another family who shares the joy and love of farming. I pray that she stays in one piece on her journey to their lot. With that being said. I have to actually get focused now. We need to be in the Tiny home by the end of next week. That gives us about 1 week to fully downsize to our new home. Also finish up any last minute things needed to be done in our home. I of course waited for the last minute. Which is the story of my life. I am grateful that my husband understands I work best under pressure. So I need to get moving. With that said. We have put the house on the lot that we will be living on in till we leave for Alaska. We also wont be heading out in till December. The Army said they wont pay for a PCS if we leave early. Good job Army. You think I would be use to this by now. So here is some quick updated pictures of the house right now. By next week I will be fully settled and will have time to do a full blog on the roof and the route. So thank you or being patient.




The future lot.

The distance needed to tow.

Getting it ready.

The new view.

What I see looking out my window.



Mommy and Daddy's loft.

The kitchen. Reclaimed barn wood.

Stove.

I need to make coverings still.

So far behind

I apologize for not being up to date with my post. I have so much going on that I have not had the time. Next week I will have new pictures and the progress. Thanks for being patient.

Off the Grid

Denali National Park.

Having fun helping.

 

 

 

Off the Grid.

I am so excited. We have been thinking about this idea for several years. I believe that if my husband had not married me, he would already deep in the woods doing this. I am somewhat scared with this  new idea.  It has many important benefits.

• No electric bill.
• Not dependent on an electric company.
• Environmental friendly.
• Free
• Free
• Did I mention free
• Not bound by another man.
• Easily mobile.
• It helps with the concept of disappearing into the woods.
• I can be self-sufficient.

I enjoy the many comforts of the modern world just as much as the next person. I am a big fan of sitting down and relaxing with a good ole computer. I would not be very thrilled with giving that up. So I needed solution to fill that need. The whole trying to figure out what would work is overwhelming. I was amazed at what the options were available to go off the grid. You can buy a solar charger for your computer.

 This would work great for small stuff. Unfortunately this would not be the best option to power the house in Alaska. Alaska has not so many hours of sunlight during the winter. So the next option had to be wind. Now to start the process of looking into wind mills. I soon learned that it was not as simple as plug and go. It required several different parts. The wind mill could not work without a certain amount of wind speed. Great. So you are saying we need a darn wind storm to run the fridge. Thank goodness my husband has more knowledge than me. He quickly began the research. We soon learned that an expensive form of wind mill was run on small wind speed. That would not be in the budget. The only option was to build. I am so blessed to have a husband who minored in engineer. We soon found an amazing site that will help us design the windmill. He designed and built his own wind mill. I believe he may be a genius. I am not, so thank god for him.

http://www.mdpub.com/Wind_Turbine/index.html

The view from David Jr's loft.

 We will start that at the end of the process. This will need to be detailed and correct. Sense it will run the fridge, and washing machine and water heater. We purchased a tank less on demand water heater. We will only be running it to the shower. To save energy. I can boil water to wash the dishes. A small compromise.  The tiny house will feature wonderful options to assist with the idea of going off the grid. My kitchen stove will be run by propane. I got the wonderful idea from watching another member of the Tiny House community building his home. A camping stove. What a super idea. It is compact and adorable. That is a very simple solution.



This face is funny.

 

Here it is!

The fridge.

 The fridge is very compact and does not require very much electricity. Thank goodness for that. It has just enough space for a family of three. I will have to grocery shop more often. A benefit is, that it allows us to eat fresher produce more often. I am very pleased with that idea. You can not expect everything to be the same when you go tiny. I can no longer venture into large chain stores and stock up on a large number of frozen food. Which in the long run will be much healthier for my child. One of the biggest issues was going to be water. A person can not live without water.  The current lot that we our going to has a private well. That was simple solution. I looked for months to find that. I posted an Ad on craigslist for a lot for a family. I have to say. Craigslist should work on weeding out the crazy people. I had so many individuals argue with me. Argue with me about how I am crazy! I had one man offer to allow me to sleep in his bus. Sure I will get right on that crazy man. My husband and I did need an alternative solution to water storage for the future. We purchased 270 gallon water storage containers. Two of them. We will then place them inside the house. The half of the roof that is removable will slide. To allow the water storage container to be heated by the house. It will be sitting at the top of the roof line. Creating a down flow of the water. It will resemble a dormer. So that it will still be attractive. It will allow us the option of being connected to a private well, or use the storage containers. Now the other issue was lights. We have decided that we want several LED lanterns. We currently can not afford to add the additional wires needed to run lights through the house. So we have the only option of purchasing several lanterns. I have this wonderful lantern that my father in law gave me for Christmas. I have left it on several times over night. I have had it close to a year. It currently still works just fine. So this will do. We will just need so many of them. The sun does not rise till almost 11:00am were we are going. That will be an adjustment in itself.


If you would like to donate one to us. I can be contacted at davidvicki05@yahoo.com
You can purchase them on amazon.com for $12

In the end it will be worth it. We have the opportunity to do what others dream of doing. We have had mixed reviews on what we are doing. Some have out right called us crazy. Others have awed with jealousy. Life is to short to do what others deem acceptable. We have to live this life. So it must be done how we deem joyful. The process is exhausting in itself. Which will explain my many faults in my writing. Can I please have a nap? It will be worth it in the end. We have moved along very fast in the process. Yet it seems to be never ending sometimes. We will get there though. My family will pack up and head 4,000 miles in a Tiny house. That is our new American dream.

All I have left!

Mommy and Daddy's loft.



Tila the dog!





   

My husband is so creative!

My space.

David's storage.