Before and After at the Tiny House

I was posting pictures like a madwoman when I first moved into the tiny house. Haven't done too many since then, but I thought you might want to see what I've been up to. Looking at these is making me tired.

Here's a bit of what I've done so far.

The first picture is what the garden looked like when I moved in. I filled the window boxes and the bare spaces with flowers. They are all in containers. All planters and holders were either donated or came with plants. Most plants were clearance. I made cushions for the "free" plastic chairs and I like them.

The next picture is my living room/front door. The reason I took a picture of just the door, is that other than a ratty old beat up sofa that I recovered in the second picture, there was NO furniture. Second picture, Ikea sheers, $70 clearance chair, donated and repainted curio, recovered sofa and pillows I made.

The side tables are mission style, dark wood. Two and a matching coffee table were $40 and I have one more brown chair that was $30. The ceramic elephant was my uncles, is very heavy and one of the few things I've been lugging around for years. Several elephants on the shelves too.

Finally a peek at my sewing area. I had a table and machines and some bolts. There were 2 shower rods, so I took the sturdiest one and put it in the nook to hold my bolts and spools. A few months later. a small storage unit holds a shelf for bolts and orders.

A cubby at the side holds tubes of fabric. There is a plank on the other side to hold the shelf and there are pegs in it to hold spools. The shower rod is still in use, holding threaded rods with nut ends for my spools of trims. The unit is completely freestanding and can come with me if I move.

I've done a lot more, but that's all I'll bore you with today. I still have much work to do in the dining room, but I'm really getting there.

Direct Foam an Economical Way to Hand Wash

I saw a blog this weekend, that gave a recipe for homemade anti bacterial hand soap that you use in a foaming dispenser. Then I remembered how economical direct foam was for doing dishes. I used to do it a few years ago, when we lived in New York, but never got a new foam dispenser in Cleveland.

This person had a favorite brand and she reused the dispenser, claiming that it was great, because the label was easy to remove. Can't remember the brand, but I looked it up on Amazon and it sold there for $15 a bottle. Well it did have soap in it.

I went to my local grocery today, and thought, I'll just do what I did before and buy the foaming detergent and refill that container. The name brand dish soap was $4.99 a bottle there, in the foamer. Ajax was $.99 cents. Is the foamer worth that much?

I looked around and found a generic antibacterial hand soap in a foamer. $1.09. Now that was more reasonable, bought 2 and took them home. I never got a soap dispenser for the bathroom yet, so I'm using one for that room. I emptied the other one into a jar to use for the bathroom later, and cleaned all the hand soap out of the foamer.

Because I've done this before, I knew you don't put detergent in full strength. It has to be diluted for the foam to work. I add 2/3 water 1/3 dish detergent. With that percentage of soap, I've never had the water go bad, but if you have well water, I would use distilled or filtered water. My foamer works perfectly, and now I will use much less detergent when hand washing. One pump can wash several dishes.

As for the label, here's a tip. The other blogger recommended soaking the glue in hot water and scraping off. Here's my trick. Adhesives HATE oil. Mineral oil is best for adhesive removal, Skin So Soft is great, but even cooking oil will work. Rub the oil into the adhesive and easily scrape with a spoon or back of a knife. When the adhesive is all gone, then use your soap to wash up all the oil and residue.

Tour of the new Homestead

Been in my new place for almost a month now. Hard to believe. That moving stuff was a pain, especially since there is not much storage here and I had to be creative.

Tiny, like an apartment, but my own house. No shared walls, just a shared driveway, which I hope does not become a problem. Not really a problem not, because it will be a while before I can swing a car payment/down payment. 

About 650 square feet. But the best part is the laundry room. Washer and Dryer included. And they are nice. Nice new kitchen too. Or maybe the best part is the quiet neat neighbors. Or maybe the best part is the walk to town. Or maybe the best part is the pretty yard. Or the deer, birds, bunny, chipmunk, and black squirrel (although the deer and chipmunk eat the day lily and roses).

First picture is the street view from my front door. The whole one side of the house is day lily, the other side has a little patio shaded by trees. The last picture is my front yard. Teeny but secluded and pretty. I have a nice back yard. too.

I don't have much in the way of furniture, but I'm getting there. I have a lot of wonderful friends and family who have helped me. I lost a lot moving from NY quickly after the fire. My DD lost a lot too, so I left her some things. I can't thank my friends and family enough for the things they've given me. From coat, hangers, to silverware, to dishes, sheets, sofa, and even that printer in the top picture. 

My daughter has been able to find me some really good deals on furniture too. I'm getting there. By the holidays, I should be in good shape. 

I don't have a car yet, so I have to walk to town. It's a mile hike just to the Post Office, but it will do me good. I did it in 80 degree weather and I managed OK. Besides, town is so quaint and beautiful that it's a pleasure to walk to. 

The first picture is the man made waterfall by the park, the second is our famous Popcorn Shop that is suspended over the natural falls. The last picture is just a sample of the beautiful Century homes here. 

I never in my wildest dreams thought that at this time, this year, I would have enough money to live on, and find a dream house in this town I love so much. I've had a lot of struggles the past few years, but today, I can listen to the birds chirping and go out and water my flowers. 

Deer in the Yard

I was so excited when I saw a deer in the yard last Sunday. As a matter of fact, I yelled so loud that my visiting Grandson tore off my headset and almost broke them coming to see what I was yelling about.

Even though we were close to a National Park, I think there were just too many dogs near us on the little lake to make it desirable for them to visit.

OK, so I love that the deer visit, and my DD said, maybe I should put out a salt lick, but I know deer strip trees for food in the winter and I was afraid my landlord might not like that. So I'm not tempting them with food or salt into my yard.

Then I took a friend to look at my lovely row of Day Lilies at the side of the house. I noticed that some of the stems were trimmed back, all at the same height, you know, nibbling height for a young doe. All the flowers on the front had been nibbled off. I plan to bring some potted herbs and tomatoes. I think I need to make sure they are out of mouth's reach.

I still love my new house. And I love the deer. I just need to learn how to keep the deer from eating the flowers.

Economy - Changing Your Perception

The goal of Marketing is to make you believe that you really need something. It would be unfair of me to say that I don't try to persuade you, that you need my lovely flowers. I don't do a very good job at it though. Maybe I don't sell my flowers much, because I truly believe that they are a luxury and not a necessity. (See akaCINDERS over there --->)

I was watching a commercial for a NuWave oven and thinking to myself, that that monstrosity that we have taking up half our kitchen is a totally unnecessary thing. We have the tiniest kitchen, and we could use more storage. If we had a cupboard, with a counter top oven and electric range, we would have more room, and more counter top. OK, maybe you can't cook a large turkey in it, but I've cooked them out on the grill in the middle of winter before, and they're great. The perception is that you NEED an oven with 4 burners to feed a family. We NEVER use more than one burner at a time. Do you?

Now lets look at your house. How much does it cost to heat your house in the winter (cool in the summer)? Look at your family all sitting together watching TV. How much space is there around them, and between them and the TV? Is all that space necessary. The bigger the gap between them and the TV, the bigger the screen needs to be. Now look at the TV, hold your hands about 15 inches away from your face and frame your TV. How big is that?

I usually watch shows on my laptop. We have a tiny house with a 36" HDMI. My laptop screen at viewing range is 4 times the size of the TV. I usually watch TV on a teeny tiny portable TV. Last night the boy wasn't in the room and I thought, what a great thing, I can watch on the big bedroom TV. As I was watching I did this measuring thing. The big TV at it's distance was half the viewing size of my teeny TV when I watch it.

I realize that some of these suggestions are impractical for a larger family. You can't all sit around a laptop, but you can consider a smaller, not larger house if you are buying. They are easier to maintain and cheaper to climate control. And you can use a smaller TV.

Consider alternatives to your kitchen, or bath to make them more economical and spacious. And my very favorite, hang your laundry and fluff in the dryer to soften. You can even do this in the house in the winter. After all, you have all that extra space.

My point is, that we've all been brainwashed to think that we NEED certain things. We need extra space and a larger TV and a large capacity dryer and a smooth cook top range and the biggest fastest newest car. It's not that I don't think that if you have the money, you don't need to spend it to help the economy. It's just that if you don't have the money, you should check your perception of what you're actually using and need. Then you'll have enough money to come to my new shop and buy my lovely flowers.

Goals and Tiny Houses - Setting and Keeping

Love this little cottage - click pic for more info

When I make goals, I do it in a big way. When the kids were little, I wanted to go back to school. I did  (even though it took me 11 years to graduate). In High School, I wanted to go to school in France, I did (Summer abroad in college). I wanted to become an artist/designer (from a very early age, maybe about 5) and I did. I wanted to travel around the world, and got to do that with my career. I've also started reading again, something I've wanted to do for years and made easy with my kindle.

It's really been about 5 years since I've had goals. I went through a period of depression when I lost my job, and decided I didn't want that life anymore. I really had decided it, before I lost the job. I hated working for the type of arrogant jerks that my business forced me to. It does seem, however, that working freelance, makes them a bit easier to work with. I recently returned to freelance and I get paid cash plus commission. I also have my online craft stores, as many of you already know.

There are still a few places I'd like to travel to. And when I can work AND collect retirement, I plan to do a lot of traveling. That will be soon. I will live meagerly so that I can travel, because my retirement will not be too great. Maybe my freelance income will pick up too. You never know.

I recently have set a new goal, but I'm not sure how I can accomplish it but I will figure it out. I want to build myself a tiny house, pretty much by myself. The issue is not so much the building of the house. I can do that pretty easily if I can do it fairly soon, before my old body gives out. The issue is finding a small lot, close enough to a city that will allow the building of a tiny, off the grid house.

Most cities have a minimum square foot limit, and I'm not even sure a trailer park will allow you to build something without wheels. There are small lots here, but our county will only allow a certain size lot for septic and well. They don't have provisions for composting toilet or water cistern, which I plan to use. I also hope to use minimal electricity via solar panels and maybe corn pellet heating. I'd also like to use as much scrap/junkyard material as possible.

This one is portable and has a porch - click pic for info

It's a dream, I'm not sure will come to fruition, but I won't give up on it. I would really love to design and build a house all by myself (cept maybe a little heavy lifting, like the tub. I built a big shed mostly by myself with one hand (the other was broken). I raised the walls myself with levers. The house I plan on building is not much more complicated than the shed. I can do wiring and plumbing too. Of course if you want to come and cheer me on, you're more than welcome.

Resources tinyhouseblog.com  - tumbleweedhouses.com