Recipes for around the house!!

Hey guys,

I made a post a while back about when I was experimenting with homemade shampoo and deodorant. I also added a recipe that I had for homemade laundry soap. I still love that recipe, by the way, and will never use any other laundry soap. If you missed it you can see that here. 

So after using the shampoo for roughly 6 months, I really love it! I only have to wash my hair about once every 5 days, unless I am doing rough work and stuff falls in my hair. Then I have to wash it more often. It is gentle enough to use everyday, but you really don't need to. Commercial shampoos strip your hair of natural oils, making your glands work overtime. This shampoo cleans your hair, but does not strip the oils completely. This is good. This means that you wash your hair less. This also means that you have to be patient when first starting to use this shampoo. For the first two weeks with this shampoo I still had to wash every day and my hair constantly felt gross and heavy and oily. The second two weeks I graduated from washing daily to every other day, but the second day my hair felt really nasty. The second month, it gradually got better. After that, my hair started to feel normal again, and I just started washing it when it felt dirty. After about 4 months I realized just how long I could go without it feeling dirty. After I rinse the shampoo out, I put apple cider vinegar 'with the mother' mixed with water (1/4c vinegar to 2 cups water- do not use on colored hair! Just use coconut oil.) on my hair to condition it. Once a week I deep condition with unrefined coconut oil. I just put two tablespoons in my hair-starting at the ends and working up to about 3 inches below the roots of my hair- and let sit for 30 minutes before washing. 

Here is the recipe:
Note: I use an 8 oz bottle, so this recipe has the measurements for that.

• Fill bottle 2/3 full with Dr. Bronner's Liquid Castille Soap (I use peppermint, you can use whatever scent you want. My husband uses citrus.)
• Put in about 1 tablespoon of raw honey and 1 teaspoon of vitamin E oil. 
• Put in any additional essential oils you want- do not exceed 10 drops with scented soap, 30 with unscented. 
• Fill the rest of the way with homemade coconut milk. 
• Shake before use. 

Homemade coconut milk:

Put 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes and 1 cup water in blender. 

Puree for 3 minutes. 

Strain out coconut flakes with several layers of cheese cloth. 

Homemade deodorant was another story. I could not get the recipe right. If I used corn starch I broke out and if I used tapioca flour it always melted! We hated keeping our deodorant in the fridge, so we just went back to regular deodorant.

Side note- Dr Bronner's soap can be used for anything involving cleaning. I also use the peppermint for mopping (hands and knees kind) when I am deep cleaning my dads house. I am amazed at how awesome it is! I can clean the floor twice with the Mr. Clean Liquid Muscle and then when I use Dr Bronner's more dirt still comes up! 

Last thing of the day: Homemade "Swiffer" wet pads

Needed: 

2 rolls Bounty Basic paper towels (or any 2 ply paper towels that are NOT select a size) 

Floor cleaner (I use Mr Clean Liquid Muscle)

White vinegar

Baking soda

Warm Water 

Something to store in- old swiffer wet pad containers or Sun washing powder bucket w lid

5 gallon bucket

1. Rip off paper towels in sets of 3. So 3 paper towels are connected.

2. Fold those 3 paper towels at the seams. So you will have a pad that is the size of a paper towel, that has 3 layers. 

3. Fold each one in half and put in storage container. If using old swiffer containers, you will probably need 4-6.

4. In a 5 gallon bucket, put in 1/2 c floor cleaner, 1/2 c white vinegar, and 4 tablespoons baking soda. Add about 2 1/2 gallon of warm water. 

5. Pour this cleaning solution over paper towels.

6. After 1 day, pour out excess liquid.

That's it! You can use them right away of course, but after one day you want to pour out the excess liquid so the paper towels don't break down. I find they are best when used within 1 month, so you might want to only make 1 roll of paper towels worth if you won't use 40 in 1 month. 

Mollie

First update in September!!!!!

Hey guys,

It has been way too long without an update! Time is just flying by working away on our little house. So for all of you just joining us, here is a summary of what has happened so far in the past year:

August-December 2013 Got interested in tiny houses. Decided we (husband and I) wanted to build one ourselves. We are both college students, him working full time and me part-time, so we thought this would be an awesome way to start our lives.

January-March 2014 Planned tiny house.

April 2014 Bought camper to tear down and use trailer for tiny house.

June 2014 Started tearing down camper

July 2014 Kind of got sidetracked with work and school. Worked a lot. 

August 2014 Tossed building tiny house on a trailer idea. Bought slightly bigger tiny house instead.

This has REALLY been a crazy year! First tiny house, then no tiny house until 2015, then tiny house, and then buy tiny house instead! Wow! We change our minds too much! 

However, we are in it for the long haul this time. We are renting until January and then we sign the papers to buy the house contract for deed. We will have it paid off in just 6 years! Not bad for buying our first house. It is costing us just slightly more than most tiny houses on a trailer cost to build. 

Okay so for some facts about the house that we are buying:

It is NOT a tiny house on a trailer. It is a (bigger) tiny house. It is 681 square feet. It has 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathroom, a living room, and a small enclosed porch type room. It also has a covered back porch and a front porch/deck- I say deck because it is pretty big.

This is a drawing of the layout of the house

If you look at the drawing, you can see that there is NO hallway. To get from the kitchen and bathroom to the living room you have to walk through one of the bedrooms. Not a big deal, but it is sort of unusual. However, there is no wasted space! This house actually has some pretty cool history. In the 1940s a woman named Lula lived here, and she built a small restaurant next to the house. It was called Lula's Country Kitchen. The building still stands and a loft has been added and it is now a shed. In that same building around the 1950s a fallout shelter was added. It's still there. It's pretty cool. When the door is closed it just looks like floor and you can't even tell it is there. You open it and find a set of stairs and the door at the bottom leads into the shelter. It's just a giant concrete cylinder set in the ground, but it is still cool. Funny story actually- When we agreed to rent the house we were not told about this, and I took my best friend to see the house. We didn't look in the shed when we originally looked at the house, so when she came to see it she wanted to go in. The door in the floor was not shut all the way so we saw the door and were too scared to go down there. We made D and T go down there first. It was empty! :) The house was originally a 2 room house, just the current living room and smaller bedroom behind it. It also had an outhouse, which is still there and still in working condition if we ever needed it (on a side note, it has 2 holes! High class! ;D). In the 1950's, the master bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom were added. The basement was expanded and the steps to the basement were still outside the house. In 2013, Mr. S added an enclosed porch/3 seasons room, and in doing so enclosed the basement steps inside the house, next to the enclosed porch.

One bad part of this house is that it is so old. We originally thought we had to patch a small section of roof, redo a closet, put in a window and put in carpet and that would be it. We were a little wrong. And this brings us to- what we have been doing in the past month!

So, first we decided to tackle the roof first. The previous renters had added a closet to the master bedroom by added 2 walls to part of the porch. The closet has always leaked. We thought we just had to get under an eave and put some rubber roofing on. We soon learned the entire porch roof was rotten, so we decided to get rid of the closet and entire porch roof. The door that was to the closet is now sealed up but tearing the roof down is still underway. We still have a covered back porch and enclosed porch, though. 

Onto the inside! We put in a new window to replace the broken window. Next spring, all the other windows will have to be replaced too but that is not immediate. We also deep cleaned the whole house and started painting today! We have to paint the living room and both bedrooms. The kitchen and bathroom are the wood paneling. Next week the carpet will go in and then we just have to finish tearing down the porch roof and wait for the gas to be turned on and we can move in! :) Once the paint and carpet is put down, I will make another update with a video tour so you all can see the house for yourselves!

Mollie

Oh yeah, P.S., can ANYONE believe how fast this year has gone by??

Good Luck To All!!

Hello everyone,

It has been a long time since I have posted. I am very sorry about that. Several things have been happening and the plan has changed yet again (for good this time). I really agree with tiny houses, and I am still trying to live with that mentality, and will continue to do so for the remainder of my life.

Okay, so first off, we are selling the trailer that we bought to use for the tiny house. We are going to take off the rest of the aluminum (nope, we still aren't done with that, although the rest of the gutting is done), apply flashing to the entirety of the trailer and sell it as a trailer.

So here is what happened: A few weeks ago my grammaw fell in her house. She didn't get hurt, she is fine. However, now everyone is worried about her. So we put in a bid on a lot that is literally right next to her house and has a septic system, water and gas hookups, etc. We planned to put a small single-wide right there and live next to her for awhile to help her out and make sure she was okay so everyone would be quiet about putting her in a nursing home.

Well, we didn't win that bid. And as it turns out, we might not be able to use the septic system anyways so we kind of dodged a bullet (we were told septic system was a go by one person, and told by another it does have a leech field, so we have no idea what is going on there).

So, we kept looking for a place to live in the small town of 300 where my grandmother lives. We finally found a cute little house (500 square feet!) just a couple of blocks away from her. It needs some work- new carpet, a leaky closet fixed, and a new window put in the front room- but the guy who owns it agreed to let us rent to own it, and the work we put in is our deposit, and the money we spend on the house is taken off of our rent (so free rent for a couple of months! :)). So tiny house on a trailer is out, buying a tiny house is in! Okay, a small house. But it has just what we need (a bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, and living room) and nothing we don't (a second bathroom, a second living room, etc). We are really excited about it!

I will post pictures of the house when we get it all done in a couple of weeks and move in!

Mollie

Slowly but surely.

Hey guys! Long time no blog. :)

So first things first, we hit 100 views today! Yes! Hopefully all of you are following along. :) If not, I understand. Hope we get more people with us as we go! Second, according to the schedule, we were supposed to get the camper off of the trailer and have the trailer ready to build on, umm, three weeks ago. Unfortunately that did not happen. David and myself have been working very hard at work and putting in extra hours for the last few weeks and just have not had a whole lot of time. We did get the inside (mostly) done though.

We still have to:

• Rip out the last cabinet
• Rip off the walls and take out the insulation
• Take out the remaining electrical (what was in the walls)
• Take off the water pump
• Take the windows out- the inside is done, we just have to unscrew them from the outside
• Take off the seams outside (and the camper should crumple)
• Clean up! (and go sell the aluminum) 
• Take the remaining platform off of the trailer
• Grind any rust off of the trailer and paint it with Rustoleum
• Put ice/water barrier and metal flashing on trailer

Whew! So, after all of that, we will be ready to put the floor on the trailer! So exciting. We are so close, but still so far away! Tomorrow I will be working by myself and hope to get the rest of the inside destroyed and the windows out, which will leave Wednesday or Thursday to finish it up. Hopefully we don't get called into work. No video blog yet but here are some pics of the inside of the camper now.

 This is where the bathroom used to be.

 This used to be three benches around a table, the kitchen, and a wall of cabinets for storage.

 This is the loft bedroom, you can see the cabinet that still needs to be taken out.

It looks very small in the pictures but it really is pretty sizable, considering we will also have a full loft. So that is it for this update, cross your fingers I will have enough time to do considerable damage and have another update later this week. :)

Regards,

Mollie

Update.....

Okay, so first of all, I moved my blog to Wordpress and you can find it here. I will still be posting here for a while, but in the next couple of weeks will probably start exclusively posting there. You can also check out my youtube channel here and my actual website here. We will be doing video diaries and posting them to the youtube channel and my website, and my website also has an RSS feed back to my word press blog, along with a photo gallery and a how-to section. It's kind of a one stop shop.

Also, any of you who are following along are probably confused at this point. First I said the build would be starting this summer, then I said next summer, and now we have a trailer to start building! Okay, so let me back up a little and explain.

So, the original plan back in like February was to work on the plans and continue to save money until June, at which point we would begin the tiny house. We planned to order a custom pull behind trailer in April for the project. But then, at the end of March, my dad asked us to postpone our plans until next spring/summer, because he was going to build a garage. Well, we postponed and fast forward to middle of may, my dad finds out that it cost too much and he was already supposed to apply for the building permit (I thought he already knew the price and applied for a permit, hence why I went along with it. *face palm*). So, he decided he was just going to get a kit from like Home Depot for a giant shed that he could put up in a weekend.

So, now we are back to starting the build...soon. It was supposed to be June, but it's June right now. Technically, we already started because we started to demolish the camper that we got for our tiny house. But, there are some problems that we did not think about:

1. It is taking a lot longer to demolish than we previously thought. And the inside of that aluminum camper is like an oven, even with all of the windows open. We hope to have it demolished on Thursday. Weather permitting (I hope it rains! I would be so much more willing to work in a cool rain with the air cool and low humidity than sunny, HOT, and humid.)

2. I have to make new plans! I spent a month on the original plans, and they were awesome! But they were for a 24' flatbed pull behind trailer, not a 26' gooseneck (fifth wheel). So, back to the drawing board. We know the lay out for the floor so in the meantime we can get the camper off and do the floor and cover with a tarp, but the walls and such probably will not be started until the end of June. Hopefully I can get the plans done next week because I am off school this week and next, but I also may get called in because we are busy at work now. So we will see about that.

Okay, I think those are the only reasons. Maybe. Oh yeah, and sorry that my blogs are all choppy and weird to read, I am still new to this blogging thing and often times I don't proofread or edit, I just write it and then post.

So, that is my update. I will be doing another video diary probably tomorrow... but maybe I will wait until Thursday when we actually have something done!

Regards,
Mollie

Visit my website here, my YouTube channel here, and my wordpress blog here.

What are we doing?

Okay, this blog post is less of tiny house and more of like ranting/wondering aloud. So please bear with me, or just skip this post and go to the next post if you just want to read about our tiny house journey. :)

Basically, I just want to know why all of us are so dependent on having a job and having money. I mean, whatever happened to a self sustaining farm? My gramma says I am an old soul, so that may just be it. I mean, doesn't anyone else want to live a life where the work they do is meaningful to them and they aren't working to make someone else rich?

I guess I just think this because my ideal life would be my husband and I buying a farm and a bit of farm land, some cows and horses and chickens and pigs, maybe even some sheep. Have a big garden and grow our own food, can it, maybe some apple and peach trees as well. Farm the land and make our own flour and livestock food and sell the excess to get money to buy fabric for clothes and to buy shoes, gas, etc. I just think that would be a great life. Always at home with your family, doing productive things. Kind of like what the Amish do, I guess. Maybe I am just someone who was reincarnated from like the 19th century or something, LOL. I don't know. But that plan will probably never happen, because land is just so gosh darn expensive and farm land is so hard to come by here (and I don't want to move away, I'd like to stick close to my family). It seems like all of the farm land has been handed down from generation to generation here and no one wants to part with it. Oh and farm equipment is really expensive as well.

Okay, rant over I guess.

But still, I wish more people thought like me. And it's also hard because we are so young.

Oh, and people are really starting to make me mad. Like, my dad is like, "why are you building this tiny house just live at my house until you can use cash to buy a regular sized house." First of all, I love my Dad to death, but I don't want to live with him! And, it's not 1980 anymore, it will take 10 years in this economy to get the amount of money together to buy a fixer upper where we live. It's just not realistic. What is realistic is building the tiny house, then save money to buy some land, then save money to build the well, then save money to install the septic (even if we have a composting toilet I'm pretty sure you HAVE to have a septic dug where I live), then save money to build the strawbale house. And what's crazy to me is that having the septic dug and well drilled will cost like $10,000 more than the actual house. What's up with that? I mean, I guess if I built a big house it wouldn't but I want to just build an 800 s.f. house (that's the minimum in this county).

Ahhh, so frustrating! And even the people that are like, "How much is that going to cost? Just put a down payment on a house." First, no. I don't want that much debt hanging over my head. Second, no. It's the principal of living small! We don't need all that space! Even 800 sf. is huge to me! The house I grew up in is 800 s.f. and it has a big living room, and giant eat-in kitchen, a bathroom, and 6 bedrooms! 500 sf is perfect for my husband and I and a couple of our (future) children. Zoning laws make me so mad.

Okay, now, rant over. I promise. :)

Regards,
Mollie

Got the trailer!

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't posted in a while, things got pretty hectic here for a while. We cleaned out my dad's garage, built a chicken coop, got more chicks, our ducks got hurt, and I am in the middle of finals this week.

So, first things first, what's up at our house right now. Well we planted the garden (will upload pics when everything comes up), and built the chicken coop (see last entry). But that was when we had 6 chickens and 2 ducks. Since then, the dogs got into the run and killed 4, we got 16 bantams on sale, we rescued a gosling, and I ordered 16 more layers from a hatchery. I ordered 16 instead of 4 because it was cheaper to get more. So I found a place to get free pallets and will be adding onto the coop and making a fence for a run with pallets.

We also adopted a puppy! We already had a shepherd mix, and we got a little miniature pinscher.

And last but not least,  we have our trailer for our tiny house! Finally! Actually, it's a camper right now but it will be just a trailer when we get done with it. We decided to get a camper because it is on a 26' gooseneck trailer, and a trailer that size is REALLY expensive. But the camper was only $800 so we got a steal.

But that isn't even the best part. When we showed up to get the trailer, the couple that was selling it were building a tiny house in their backyard! In their city they can have a tiny house on a foundation not a trailer, and we got to go inside and check it out. It had two full floors and a real staircase. They do remodels for a living, so when we told them what we were doing they gave us a bunch of carpet, linoleum, and wood floor that were leftover from their remodels for free!! We have enough flooring to put tile in the bathroom, carpet in the bedroom, and wood floor everywhere else. They also told me about a place to get lumber for really cheap. I am so glad to have found someone near me that is also building a tiny house!

This is the trailer as it is right now (with the camper on it)

Now that we have the trailer I will be posting a LOT more because we will *FINALLY* be starting on our build! Yay!

Regards, 
Mollie

Homemade Shampoo and Deodorant

Okay, so I made my first batch of homemade shampoo and deodorant today. It is not organic, but it is all natural. And, okay, it wasn't totally "homemade" but, oh well! I made peppermint shampoo that is also body wash, face wash, hand wash, and shaving cream! Plus, you really don't need conditioner if you use this. But, if you want to and your hair feels too "waxy" after you wash, you can do a rinse in apple cider vinegar. APV gets rid of soap scum that may be left behind and when it dries it doesn't smell vinegary at all. Just remember to dilute it in water before you put it on your hair- I'd say about 1 part APV to 5 parts water. And steer clear of the eyes!

Okay, here are the two recipes--

Shampoo:
2/3c Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps Pure Castile Soap, Peppermint
1/2 c coconut milk
1 tsp vitamin e oil
1 tsp almond oil
10 drops orange essential oil
5 drops peppermint essential oil

That is the basic recipe. All you do is put all of the ingredients into an old shampoo bottle and shake it up! But, the contents will settle so shake it up before each use. This is for peppermint shampoo with a hint of orange, but Dr Bronner's had tons of different smells for the soap so you can chose one you like and add essential oils to fit as you feel you want them. Just remember not to use too much- 15 is plenty, but if you want a wider mix of smells just don't go over 30 drops. It might irritate your skin.  And don't use too much. Even for long hair, a nickel sized amount is plenty. I use 2 nickel sized amounts- 1 for my hair (which is over halfway down my back, and really thick) and 1 for my face and body. It doesn't lather like normal shampoos- those have chemicals added to make it lather. It will lather though; just add water after its on your head and scrub well. If you have long hair, bring a comb or use your fingers and run it through your hair to get out tangles before you rinse. And rinse well: rinse all the soap out, then rinse again like it's full of soap. After using this for a while, most people realize they only need to wash their hair about every 2-3 days. It's good stuff!

Okay, deodorant. This is made a variety of ways.  You can replace corn starch with arrow root if you are sensitive to corn starch. I HIGHLY recommend you take a trip to your local whole foods store and get these ingredients in their organic form. Your pits will thank you. :) (p.s. one swipe under each arm is more than enough to keep B.O. away)

Deodorant:
6 tbsp coconut oil
3 tbsp beeswax pastilles
4 tbsp corn starch (or arrow root)
4 tbsp baking soda (definitely organic if you can)
20-30 drops essential oils

Needed:
old mason jar with lid
small saucepan
stovetop
deodorant container (optional)

1) Fill the saucepan about half full with water and heat on the stove to medium low temperature.
2) Put the coconut oil and beeswax in jar; put the jar in the water to melt coconut oil and beeswax
3) When melted, remove jar from heat. Add cornstarch and baking soda. Put top on jar and shake until blended well. (about 1 minute, longer if doubling or tripling the batch)
4) Add essential oils of choice. I love matching, so mine was 20 drops peppermint and 5 drops sweet orange. My husband's was 20 drops sandlewood and 10 drops lemongrass. You really can mix and match however you please. The sky is the limit to essential oil concoctions.
5) Shake again
6) You can let harden in the jar and scoop it out with your fingers when needed or put into an old (or new and empty) deodorant container. You can find these for sale at Amazon easily, and I've heard Costco has them too.
That's it! Let harden in container for about an hour and you have a wonderful, non cancer causing deodorant.

Now, I realize these things are not cheap. But, the ingredients you buy now to make these will last about a year! I paid $70 and easily have enough to have shampoo, body wash, face wash, hand wash, shaving cream, and deodorant for a year. Now considering I was paying $30 a month for all of these things, I will be saving nearly $300 in the next year, just for being healthier! How great is that! And I also make my own laundry detergent, it's not all natural, but it costs just $30 for a year's supply. Considering a $20 thing of Tide used to only last us a month,  we are also saving over $200 on laundry detergent! I am on a mission to find healthier and cheaper option to continue to save even more!

Here's the laundry detergent recipe, if interested:

1 big box of Borax
1 box Arm and Hammer super washing soda
1 small container OxyClean
2 bars Fels Naptha
1 big box Arm and Hammer Baking Soda
2 big bottles Purex fabric softener crystals

1) Grate the Fels Naptha bars.
2) Mix all ingredients in a 5 gallon bucket ( I did it in layers, each ingredient in a layer, 3 times)
3) Mix well (I used the stick of an old mop- worked great!)

That's it! Now you just have to find a place to store all of your wonderful smelly goodness- and it does smell fantastic! I love that it has the fabric softener built in. I never have to add extra fabric softener, even for the bed sheets or towels. Works out perfectly. To store, I used an old Sun washing powder bucket, but you could you any 5 gallon bucket with a lid, or several gallon ziplocks. It only takes about 3 tbsp for a BIG load. I add about 5 for bedsheets (cause those can get gross, and need to be extra clean) but for everything else I use 3 tbsp for a big load, 1 and a half for a small. That's about a capful using the purex crystals cap for big, half a cap for small.

I still have recipes for bar soap, lotion, and chapstick to try out (hopefully in the next couple of weeks!) and then I will be posting those recipes on here as well. :) Just need to see what has to be changed for the better and what can stay in those base recipes before I tell you all to go do it! And remember- even if you don't like these things, someone you now may want some for a gift!

Regards,
Mollie

Busy Busy Month!

Long time with no updates! So sorry about that. We have had a very busy month over here. We have retiled the kitchen floor, got chickens and ducks, built a chicken coop, and now are in the process of cleaning the garage and (hopefully!) about to get started with adding onto my dad's garage. Busy busy year!

So, here are our 6 Red Sex Link chicks and our 2 Pekin ducklings! They are 3 and half weeks and boy are they getting big :) Here they are enjoying and exploring their brand new coop! Pen is still pending.

 This is the base of the coop and walls up.

 Trusses up and secured.

 End walls up and screwed on.

 Got the side walls up.

 Got the shingles and roof on with a coat of paint!

 Finished product! This is the side with the door the hens will go in. The door is plexiglass so in bad weather light will still get in

And the door! Made of scraps and not yet painted, so it looks out of place, but it is totally functional!

So, this is what we have gotten done so far. I didn't bother to take pics of the kitchen being retiled, although a time consuming project it is not really picture worthy. Although I love the new tiles!

We are hoping to get the garage cleaned out this weekend, and hopefully start on the building of the new addition of the garage by the end of May! If we do not get started on it by then, we will start on our tiny house! We will just have to see how it goes. 

In other news, I have decided to start making our own household products. I already make our own powdered laundry detergent, but now I will start making our own deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, soap, chapstick, and dish soap. I have found some really good recipes, but am going to experiment and will post the finished recipes (and how I like them!) soon.

Also, last term I got on the Dean's list. Looks like my crazy studying paid off! :D

Plans Changing, D:

Well, our plans to build our tiny house have been set back a year. I had hoped for this blog to be more interesting soon, with the build going on, but it will not be.

Nothing bad happened to make us wait, but a few things did influence our decision. 

1) If we start building this summer, we will have to pay as we go. We will be able to purchase the trailer and the materials to get the house up and waterproofed by June (like the studs, windows, roofing, sheathing, flashing, and housewrap) but the rest will be pay as we go. It sounded good at first, but would take a LOT longer to finish anyways. We wouldn't even be able to be in the house until December, and would have to build during cold weather. If we wait until next April to begin, we can buy ALL of our materials and store them in my Dad's garage, which leads us to...

2) My dad is planning to update his house and extend his garage from a 3 door to a 5 door. If we wait to build our tiny house, and help him with his house and garage, we will get a TON of building experience and be able to build our tiny house faster, more efficiently, and better. This is because not only will we get the experience of building, but we will also have my dad right there telling us if we are doing something wrong and showing us the right way to do it for the next time (if we ever happen to mess up, not like that would ever happen, though ;D) 

3) If we build this summer, we can't help my dad, and he will need lots of help building this garage. And if we weren't helping, he would have to spend all of his spare time building it. That means his health might decline, and also he wouldn't be able to do our electrical work. Since he already knows how to wire electrical stuff in a new building to code, we really need him to help with that. I don't really want to burn our tiny house down with an amateur job. 

So, those are the reasons that we decided to wait.

In further news, a video of the tree we cut down falling.

We have a lot of work to do in the next month. We currently live in my dad's basement while awaiting our tiny house. So, we are redoing his floors for him for his father's day present. This includes the tile for the kitchen and the wood floor for the living room and hallway. We also will be tilling the spot for the garden within the next month and fixing up the yard. We have a fire pit to build, bushes to trim, and junk to get rid of that's just sitting in the yard. Plus cleaning out the garage. And this brings us to....

Chickens and Ducks! We have 6 chicks and 2 ducklings. Which means another thing we have to do is build an insulated hutch and pen/yard for them. We would like to have them free range but with the dogs and cat, we are not sure that is a fantastic idea. 

So, even though our tiny house is not yet built, or being constructed, I will still have plenty of posts about living a more sustainable life by having our own chickens for eggs and growing our own food in the garden (and canning the leftovers). If we just had room for a couple of cows and a pig, we would be set!

Regards, Mollie

Springtime Is Here!!!

With the weather getting warmer, I am so excited to get going and building this tiny house! Unfortunately, we are still saving the money to get going on this endeavor. We want to be sure we have enough to get a good trailer, and to get the shell of the house up and waterproofed before we start, plus have a "rainy day" fund set aside as well. Alas, the construction will not start until June. But, it is so nice out!

We had a long and hard winter here in Illinois. The electric bill was always $150.00 and we spent $1,000.00 in gas payments for 4 months. That is a lot of money! We had more below zero days than I remember ever happening in my 19 years (I'm still very young, I know, but still). In October the temperature randomly plummeted and stayed down mostly below freezing until November. At the beginning of NOVEMBER we had several tornadoes around where I live in Central Illinois. Everyone I know and their houses are fine, but the city of Washington, IL, only 20 miles away from here was devastated. Clean up is still in process. After that, we had snowstorms that dumped 8"-10" of snow on the ground every two weeks until the end of February, with 2-3 days being below zero each week.

Now it is 55 degrees and sunny today! People in Florida would think that is cold, but after this winter in Illinois, it is so nice out! My puppies have spent the last week outside all day, from the time they wake up after their breakfast until they come in at night and go to sleep. They are loving it and are so much happier than they have been. Plus, they're not inside tearing stuff up because they are bored.

I am so excited that spring is officially here and I wish you all the best!

Regards,
Mollie

Why are we doing this?

We have been asked this question a lot since we announced our plan to construct a tiny house. From my older brother, "If you have the money to build a tiny house, why don't you just put a down payment on a house?" From my dad, "Why would you even want to live in a house on a trailer? Do you realize how small it will be?" From my boss, "What, you don't have enough money to live in a real house?"

Our society has really messed up thinking in regards to thinking. In America, bigger is conceived as better. Bigger houses, bigger burgers, bigger fountain drinks, bigger trucks, bigger everything! But, is bigger really better? I don't think so. The way we are living is destroying our planet. All of the pollution going into the air and into the ground from us. We are a parasite to the earth. We take and take and never give anything back. However, that is not the only reason we decided to live tiny.

So, one part is to reduce our footprint. Yes, we are only two people, but if 1 million people did this, imagine how much pollution could be reduced. What if everyone used composting toilets? That's even more pollution gone. Instead, every person would be giving back to the earth (if done correctly). Check out the Humanure Handbook for more info on that.

Another reason is the simplicity of it. Less house means less time cleaning, less time working for the money to pay for the house, and more time doing what you love. A tiny house that is paid for completely will allow us to work part time and still live a very comfortable lifestyle. This gives us more time to read books, go on hikes, visit family in Alabama, start a family, and just enjoy each other and our dogs. Enjoy the world, and everything it has to offer. And if anything happens, we will always have

So let's review. We decided to do this to reduce our greenhouse gases and to live a simpler life, working less. But that's not all. How many people can say they built their house themselves, completely, from the framing to the siding to the cabinets inside? Not very many. That is a major accomplishment, and that is the final reason we are going to build a tiny house.

Notice that we are NOT doing this to impress anyone. We are NOT doing this because we cannot afford a "real house," and this IS a real house. We are NOT doing this to go against society (although ultimately that is what is happening). We are doing this for us. A cozy, well built, well designed, beautiful tiny home that is designed for us and our lifestyle is way better than a large house that was just thrown together to please the market and get as much money out of it as possible while building it as cheaply as possible. Large homes are built to sell. Tiny houses are built to live in.

I hope this clears up the reasoning for some people. Everyone building a tiny house has different reasons, but one this is always the same: we do this for us.

Regards,
Mollie

Officially Going Tiny!:D

So  I want to start out by saying: I learned SketchUp, put my designing cap on, and got down to work yesterday! Two hours later, the house was finished! I will be posting those as soon as I figure out how to, so all of you can see what the house will look like when it is finished! :)
Now, we officially started going tiny today! First step: throw away all of the clothes! Since it is getting warmer, we had to get out our "summer" clothes anyway. When we started, we had two upright dressers PACKED full of clothes, and those were just our winter clothes. We also had a bookshelf with about 40 t-shirts and three boxes full of summer clothes. When we were done, we had pared down to just two dressers full of both winter AND summer clothes, and the dressers are not even packed full like they were before. It is amazing how much clothes you can own and not wear. Honestly, I do feel a little bit "more  free" right now, or at least REALLY happy our bedroom is a little bit less packed.
Second step was to go though everything else and throw stuff away. We really haven't gotten too far on that one, we went through a trunk and a couple of baskets in our bedroom and threw away a big garbage bag full of junk. We had empty envelopes just sitting around. What is wrong with us??

These are the clothes that we are giving away/throwing away (some have rips,etc.). It was enough to fill 2 55 gallon trash bags to the very top. Amazing!

So that's just my little update on what's going on today. Have a great weekend!

Regards,

Mollie

Got The Budget and Materials List Done!

As promised, I put together the (official) materials list and budget! The design is finalized now, I just have to put my blueprint drawings into SketchUp to make sure it all fits together like it should. :D I do not see us modifying this design at all; we finally got it how we wanted it. I will be sure to post the blueprints when they are finished. I am getting more and more excited. I found the PERFECT trailer, but it is an hour away in Springfield and is a goose-neck, so hopefully I will be able to find someone that can tow it here. If not, I have found a few others a little bit further away that my dad will be able to pull with his truck, if I cannot get a towing service or U Ship to pick up and deliver the trailer that I would like. And no, my design is not for a goose-neck, but my design is for a 24' trailer and this trailer is 28', so we will either enclose the goose-neck and put the grey water tank in it (so it doesn't freeze in the winter, although I am not sure if that will be a problem if we keep the tank open, I am not sure yet), or we will just use the goose-neck part as the outside platform for our propane tanks. Okay, here are the details!

Materials List:

Materials	Amounts	Uses
Trailer: 8’x24’	1
Tie Downs	10	To help secure the foundation
Metal Flashing: 2’x50’ roll	1	To protect the trailer underside
Lag Bolts with locking washers		To secure foundation to trailer
2x6s: 8’	32	For floor foundation
Foam Board Insulation: 4x8’ panels	6	For floor insulation
½” OSB: 4x8’ panels	40	Sheathing material
2x4s: 12’	54	Wall framing
House wrap: 100’	1	To protect wall sheathing
Roof underlayment: 900 s.f. roll	1	To help keep roof from leaking
Steel roofing: 3x10’ panels	8	Roofing
Non-galvanized screws		For framing and sheathing
Construction Glue		For framing and sheathing
Hurricane Ties	26	To secure roof to walls
Windows	10
Front Door	1
Siding	7 boxes
Wiring	100’
PEX pipe: ½”	100’	For plumbing
Fuse box	1
Inverter	1	To convert solar d/c to a/c
Shower: Bricks	576	Building our own shower
Barn Doors	2	For bathroom and bedroom 2
Carpet	160 s.f.	For lofts and bedroom
Wood Flooring	128 s.f.	For kitchen and great room
Tile	32 s.f.	For bathroom
Paint	4 gallons
Cabinets	7	Kitchen and to enclose heaters
Bathroom Vanity	1
Couch	1	Built-in w/ water storage under it
Table	1	Built in: fold down (will build)
Benches	2	Built in: fold down (will build)
Shelving: 2’x4’	2	Built in (will build)
Stairs	1	Will build w/ storage underneath
Loft Ladder: 6’	1	To get to second loft
Countertops: 2’x4’	3	For kitchen counters
Sink	1	Kitchen sink
Grey Water Tank: 100 gal	1	Store water from sinks/shower
Water Storage Tank: 300 gal	1	Store water for use (not hooked)
Hot Water Heater: 25 gal or O.D.	1	25 gal or On Demand
Composting Toilet: Box and Seat	1	Building our own Lovely Loo
5 Gallon Bucket	5	For toilet
Propane Tank: 40 lb	2	For heaters and cooking
Solar Panels: 300 w	3	For electricity use
Propane Heater: up to 400 s.f.	1	Cold winters here in Illinois
Countertop Oven	1	Uses less energy than standard
Stovetop: 2 burner	1	“”
Refrigerator	1	Full-size
A/C Unit	1	For those hot summer days
Wind Turbine: 400w	1	For the water pump/back up
Washer/Dryer Combo	1	One unit does it all, saves space
Lights	10
Ceiling Fan	1

Budget:

Materials:	Cost Budgeted
Phase 1: May	$2,075.00
Trailer	$2,000.00
Flashing	$50.00
Screws, lag bolts, etc	$25.00
Phase 2: July	$1,350.00
Floor Foundation: 2x6s (12) $1.98	$25.00
Insulation (foamboard)	$120.00
Subfloor: (1/2” OSB) $11.15 (6)	$70.00
Wall Framing (2x4s) (47 10') 2.98	$140.00
Lofts (framing and flooring) 2x6s (8)	$150.00
Wall Sheathing (15/32 OSB) 24	$300.00
House Wrap	$100.00
Roof Framing (2x4s) 1.98	$25.00
Roof Sheathing        (6)	$70.00
Tar Paper	$50.00
Steel Roofing (3'x10') 19.98	$200.00
Screws, lag bolts, etc	$100.00
Hurricane Ties (26)	$8.00
Phase 4: August	$660.00
Windows (10)	$240.00
Exterior Door	$200.00
Window flashing/caulk/insulation	$20.00
Siding	$400.00
Phase 5: September	$675.00
Plumbing (PEX/PVC)	$125.00
Wiring: wires, fusebox, outlets	$100.00
Inverter	$100.00
Insulation (26 rolls)	$350.00
Phase 6: October	$700.00
Inside walls	$200.00
Shower	$200.00
Interior Doors (barn doors)	$100.00
Flooring	$200.00
Phase 6: November	$675.00
Paint and Trim	$100.00
Kitchen Cabinets	$250.00
Bathroom Vanity	$35.00
Built-In Couch	$50.00
Built-In Table/Benches	$50.00
Built-In Shelving	$50.00
Built-In Stairs	$50.00
Kitchen Countertops and Sink	$90.00
Phase 7: December	$710.00
Greywater Tank	$70.00
Water Storage Tank	$200.00
Water Heater	$120.00
Composting Toilet	$50.00
Propane Tank	$50.00
Solar Panels (homemade, 3 300w)	$300.00
Phase 8: January	$500.00
Heater	$50.00
Countertop Oven	$100.00
Stovetop: 2 burner	$100.00
Fridge	$100.00
A/C	$50.00
Wind Turbine	$100.00
Phase 9: March	$1,000
Washer/Dryer combo (maybe)	$1,000
Total:	$8,345.00

Hopefully this helps some people, or at least you can see what I am doing a little bit more. I will be posting the blueprints as soon as they get finished, but that part will take me a little bit longer. :D

Regards,

Mollie