Mama's New Mini

What a crazy week it's been.
My husband started his new job this past week as a firefighter!
Ashton LOVES going down to the station to see all the big trucks and equipment.

 With a new job, comes a new work schedule which much different from when he was a teacher. He now works 24 hours and then has 48 hours off. My weeks and days are all jumbled now because ever few days feels like it should be the weekend with him home! nonetheless I love having him around more and putting him to work helping with the kids or washing dishes. Hehe It's much easier to get tasks done around the house now or run errands.

We took advantage of his days off and have been on the hunt for a new vehicle. We had an old 96 buick lesabre with 155k miles on it. She's still had a lot of life left in her but we desired something a little more convenient for a growing family. We lucked out and found a great deal on a new mini van!

And when I say new, I  mean new to us! It's actually a 2003 model but that doesn't bother me. Like I said, I was driving a 1996 buick lesabre  (aka grandma car ).

We cringe at the idea of making payments on anything so knew we wanted to pay cash for a vehicle.

I'm not sure how long we would have had to wait to 

get a van if we still lived in our "Big House" as Ashton calls it.

In our bigger house our financial situation was quite tight.

I'm a stay at home mom so we live on one income and that income is quite small! Our old house's mortgage was twice the size of our house now! Not to mention in our old house the taxes were $2,400 a year compared to our now tiny $180 payment a year. So our tax payment for the entire year in our tiny house is less than the MONTHLY tax payment we were making on our old house. Jeesh! 

Did I mention I love my tiny house?

Tiny House Love

We have gotten a lot of mixed comments since moving into our tiny home. 

That was to be expected though. 

We knew not everyone would understand why or how we could possibly live in a house under 500 sq ft with 4 people and throw in a less-than-small puppy! 

When we tell people we love our tiny home some ask "Do you really love it?"

As if we aren't telling the full truth or don't want to admit if we don't like it.

So I want to take a moment and express my true thoughts & opinion of our tiny home.

I DO love it! Honest.

Here are a few brief reasons why....

I love having less stuff.

I love having my kids close by.

I love having a smaller mortgage.

I love having smaller energy bills.

I love that it makes me less needy.

I love living closer to my sister.

And my favorite, I love having less to CLEAN!!! 

I'll dwell a little more on these reasons another time. 

But to answer the common questions we get... 

No we aren't crazy.

It's a one bedroom home. 

476 square feet to be exact.

Yes there is room for you to come visit us.

And yes, we really do love it!

All Moved In

We are all moved in!! 

Now I can take a seat & catch my breath.

Downsizing and getting rid of everything out of our old house was a lot of work. 

Especially considering...

#1. I didn't have a truck to haul junk away

#2. I have a 2 year old and a 5 month old (they are time consuming in & of themselves)

#3. It's the middle of winter

#4. In one weeks time 

Had it been summer, I would have just thrown everything in my front drive and had a garage sale & giveaway. But I couldn't because the windchill was like -10 degrees. 

A truck also would've made my life much easier. The house came fully furnished so they only thing we packed was clothes, toys, & some kitchen utensils. That means I got rid of garbage bags upon garbage bags FULL of stuff!! Most was given away, thrown away, or donated to Salvation Army. I'm amazed it all got done in one weeks time. Did I mention I have a 2 year old and a 5 month old?! Those two alone are a full time job-add on having to pack you can probably imagine how overwhelmed I felt.
In the end, this is all we took to our new home.

And not even that much because I went through everything again to get rid of even more!
(And yes, my tiny house now is pretty much the size of the living room in my old house.)

My sister was a HUGE help in watching my kids, offering her van to haul stuff away, & helping with an extra hand in downsizing and packing. She kept me sane in the week of insanity. Now that the crazy week is over & we are all moved in I think it's time to relax and settle in.

So good to be home.

Samson thinks so too.