Jumpstart Your Journey

The Tiny House Experience That Jumpstarted My Journey

Thanks to the magic of Facebook Memories I was recently reminded of a memory from 8 years ago- a weekend I refer to as The Tiny House Trifecta. It was my first real life experience with tiny homes and it set me on the correct path, with a wealth of knowledge and heaps of inspiration to jumpstart my journey to tiny home living.

I began watching YouTube videos, mainly Tiny House, Giant Journey, with my boyfriend in late spring of 2015. Several months later, with my younger daughter freshly off to college, it was “our time” to follow our dreams. I was excited about the possibilities, but apparently, he wasn’t. He left very unexpectedly. The situation reminded me of the cliche you sometimes hear on TV, “He went out for a gallon of milk and never came back”  There was no milk involved, but nevertheless, he was gone and I was crying. A co-worker told me it was now MY time to do whatever I wanted, for me and no one else.  “So,” she asked, “What do YOU want?” Through a fit of tears I replied almost a whimper “I just want a tiny house.”  And so it began.  

I could answer the critical question of WHY I wanted a tiny house, now I needed to figure out how.. Two months after my tiny declaration, I was on a plane to Portland for my Trifecta- three tiny house events in one long weekend trip across the country.  The first event was the Build Small, Live Large conference. For the first time, I found myself surrounded by like-minded souls.  Finally, I didn’t feel like a fish out of water.  It was comforting.  What wasn’t comforting though, was the size of the tiny houses… They were so BIG!  Seeing them first time in real life, rather than on a computer screen, I realized my goal of hooking up to tiny house and driving it all over the country was in need of a slight adjustment.  

Next I attended a Tiny House Build Workshop hosted by non-other-than the pioneering woman of tiny home living, Dee Williams. Even though I had no intention of building my own home, the hands-on workshop taught me a lot. The biggest lesson was that I had so many options - tiny houses are not cookie cutter in size, style, amenities, or price. I had faith that I could find one just right for me. 

The third triad was a night at Caravan, “The World’s First Tiny House Hotel”. Not only did I get to see and touch a tiny home, but I got to eat, sleep, and shower in one as well.  By this time, I had already started forming ideas as to what would work for me. The overnight stay solidified my desire for something smaller than small: something micro, something I could manage with my limited skills and confidence.  (Both of which have grown wonderfully over the past 8 years, by the way.) 

The weekend of real life tiny home experience was exactly what I needed to jumpstart my journey.  Like Goldilocks, I sampled different options and shaped my ideas to find the tiny living dream that was “just right” for me.  Had I not taken to trip half way across the country to learn, listen and experience, IN PERSON, I would have spent months or years idealizing a house that was out of my price range and was designed perfectly for Papa Bear, or maybe Mama Bear, but certainly not for me. With my “right size” house in mind, my journey continued on a path that was both swift and true.  

Two months later I found myself in the backwoods of Kentucky pledging $10,000 to a man who told me he saw Sasquatch not once, but twice while building my soon-to-be tiny home.  But, that is another story 😉