Next Chapter

Obviously it has been a while since an update here... I am sad to report my tiny house dreams as detailed in this blog have diminished. The house I was so excited about in the last post was a mess upon inspection, I have left my previous career, and now have a new goal I've been focusing on.

Last fall I began working towards a masters degree. I hope to find a career that is more financially supportive, while still making a positive impact. This has lead me to sustainability and environmental education/activism.

So while someday I do hope to have my own home that is smaller than average size and more environmentally friendly than the horrid McMansions that litter our country- first step is getting that degree.

I will leave my past posts up for the time, they may prove useful to someone somewhere whether for guidance or a good laugh at my naivete.

Happy birthday to me!

This past friday I turned 29. I also bought a house. Sort of.

In my hunt to find an apartment, my neighbor suggested buying property instead of throwing money away into renting. On a whim I was searching Craig's List for houses and found "Unique home for sale in suburbs". My jaw dropped.

It's a frickin' dome house! This house is located on a dead end street, around 600 sqft, even has a fenced in yard. Best of all- it is in my budget. I was almost jumping out of my skin in excitement going to tour the house. Coming up the walkway I was greeted by three big happy dogs, always a good sign. Turns out, I have met the owners and their adorable pack at the local dog park years ago! Their dog Balto is a doppelganger of my former foster, Kaiser (or is Kaiser Balto's doppleganger...). Small world or destiny?

This adorable derp belongs to an awesome family now who love him. to pieces.

The house is a little odd looking from outside (okay, it is kinda ugly)- but inside it is charming and spacious! The walls are composed of interlocking triangles, with triangle windows throughout. Much like the tiny house I was planning, the bedroom is lofted above the kitchen and the living area feels spacious with a high ceiling. The house also comes with a door into an H.P. Lovecraft universe...

Can't help feel a Zelda vibe with all the triangles.

Cthulhu, you there?

Friday I mustered my courage and made an offer that is just contingent on the inspection. Now I'm just trying to keep my hopes in check incase the inspector discovers the house was built over a cursed burial ground or was built using a hot glue gun, that may be a deal breaker.

This house could be the perfect transition while I continue to work toward my tiny house on wheels, or I may even find myself happy to remain there for years. It is a tiny house after all! Curious, I had made the goal a few years back that I wanted to be moved into my tiny house before I turned 30. That goal seemed unreachable recently.  This whirlwind seems designed more than coincidence, like God is pushing for me to get a tiny house too. I'm going to keep thanking him for it.

And that is how I bought myself a house on my 29th birthday.

If wishes were horses, we'd all be eating steak

Here is where things currently stand; there is a little pie shaped lot nestled in an older housing plan for $11,000. There used to be a house on the property but it was demolished a few years back- which means utility hook ups already in place! There is the ever present issue of legality and money. The township this pie piece is located in does not allow any RVs to park anywhere. Slowly there has been progress in different areas of the country to legally allow tiny homes, so I am not discouraged by the current zoning laws. The money is another battle.

Even with diligent saving, I am not even halfway to purchasing just the land. Then I'd need funds for the actual house. Loans for land, I'm learning, are not as easily granted as for homes. Factor in my limited credit history, student loans, and meager income- few banks are likely to be supportive.

When I left my apartment to move back with family, I believed it would be a temporary situation. One or two years tops before I'd be living in my tiny home. It will be three years in the fall, and despite small steps- moving into my house is still years away. Time to reevaluate my strategy.

At first it felt as though moving into an apartment would be giving up on my tiny house. But if I am going to invest such a large amount of time and money into a project, I want to do it right. I don't want to rush construction, buy subpar materials, and I really don't want another loan over my head. Not having my own place has made me anxious to jump into the water head first without checking the depth. One piece of advice from multiple tiny home builders is to take the time to research and plan before building.

So that is where things stand. My goal of living tiny before I'm 30 is no longer feasible, a realization that lifted a weight. The stress of bringing this large project together in a short amount of time has dissipated, just leaving the stress of finding an apartment, trying to find freelance work, getting some semblance of a social life, being aware of current events but not overwhelmed by the news, learning how to meal plan, planting the right flowers so bees don't die out....

Back in the Burgh

I have returned from my adventures in the Rockies in one piece, though burned in some places. But I climbed a friggin' mountain and now feel determined to fight just as hard to get my tiny home completed. Hopefully it be quite as physically painful... Here are some snapshots from the trip!

5th generation cowgirl lead us through the mountains.

Why am I smirking? Just conquered a friggin' mountain!

Even in the beginning of spring, it is magical here.

While I was away, my wonderful brother, his energetic wife, my supportive father, and a reliable friend from church picked up the science cabinets I hope to use in my kitchen. Even if they think I'm crazy (which I'm sure they did before I ever started this tiny house adventure!), my family has been wonderful through this journey. I don't think I would have ever attempted this without such open minded and supportive people in my life. :) My cabinets are now added to my accumulated inventory and await the construction phase.

Anyone else ever travel halfway across the country to avoid heavy lifting?

On the subject of land, I may have mentioned before there were two properties I was excited about possibly purchasing. They were in neighborhoods I liked (close to work and good dog walking roads) and under $20,000. Before my trip I had driven past them both and was very disappointed to find the land very uneven and wooded- making them practical for my home would likely be out of my budget. My aunt is in reality and was able to talk with the representing agents, but I haven't touched base with her since returning from Colorado. Fingers crossed she has encouraging news!

Another big purchase I made recently was for a tiny house bundle from Ok Tiny that included blueprints for multiple houses from multiple designers, books about downsizing, personal tiny house stories, classes on Sketch Up, etc. It was $99, and I cringed making the payment but think the plethora of resources will be worth it.

I'll leave you with an image of the creepiest motel sign in Colorado, possibly the nation.

Blinded with Science (furniture)

As the lack of activity on this blog has likely relayed, I've hit a roadblock with finding a place to park my home. 

But I did just buy these awesome cabinets from Construction Junction for my kitchen. They used to be in a chemistry lab. 

Tomorrow I leave for my first vacation in almost 8 years to spend a week in the mountains, so radio silence will continue.

Sometimes You Can Choose Your Neighbor

Macy Miller is a big name in the tiny house world and has some great resources. One of these I found extremely helpful was a video class, I grabbed one on parking your tiny house. Fantastic buy! Macy is an architect and has a great understanding of the building codes and zoning laws.

Here is the low down. There are a couple different ways to classify a tiny house on a trailer, the most logical for my situation is calling it an RV. This means my home would fall under the jurisdiction of the Department of Transportation- not the Department of Housing that has stricter regulations on what spaces you can live in. While there are still regulations and inspections required, these are fairly simple.

My trailer, which is the foundation of my house, is required to have specific safety features (most trailer builders are very familiar with these). The completed house also has to fit within certain measurements.  These measurements are pretty standard across the country to make sure someone doesn't take a bridge out with their trailer. All this info can be found buried on your state's transportation website.

In PA the trailer cannot be more than 8 ft 6 in wide, longer than 40 ft and have a gross weight under 38,000 lbs. Again, most tiny house builders are very familiar with these regulations and work within them.

The next step would be zoning. This part is a little more wobbly... There isn't a residential code for tiny homes, though most would be legal in trailer parks. That is not always an option or favorable choice. The thing with zoning is there are not zoning officers going around checking that a hair salon isn't opening up in a neighborhood or a tiny house isn't parked in someone's backyard. If no one calls to complain, you can park your tiny home in a residential area.
Macy recommends not just getting permission from the landowners where you are parking but the neighbors as well. If everyone is on board with your house, there should be no complaints to zoning (as long as you aren't an obnoxious neighbor). But should any issues arise, houses on wheels are relatively easy to move!

Now comes the awkward part. I don't have any close friends or family with land to park, so I have to look elsewhere. So anyone willing to let me park in your backyard? If anyone owns land with space, preferably in the North Hills not too far from I-279, and would like a considerate renter (who also wouldn't mind doing yard work). Must be okay with a friendly but occasionally loud beagle.

Look at that sweet face!

If this sounds even slightly interesting, feel free to contact me via the messenger on the right.

Miss Lippert Goes to Washington

A little break from the tiny house journey to share about a different adventure.

Yesterday was an amazing day, the magnitude of which I was not aware of until today. I attended the Women's March on Washington with half a million other women and men.

The day was amazing in a multitude of ways; the sheer number of people that attended filled the streets we were supposed to march down. While in the thick of the event, we did not understand how momentous our gathering was- no one could get on the internet to figure out why we weren't moving after the planned march time. It was a sea of black, white, brown, young, old, men, women, gays, trans, straight people wearing pink hats. There were people playing drums, response chants being shouted, humorous and serious signs.

What there wasn't? A single arrest. A single moment I felt unsafe. No one was rude or aggressive. We were packed like sardines and everyone was smiling and laughing. I met people who had been on a bus for 11 hours from Vermont who were crammed in a metro car with us- they were joyful to be there.

Today I was giddy reading the news stories of all the sister protests world wide (even in Antarctica!). My steel city also joined in with a sister march, so proud! This is the most hopeful I have felt since November. I feel encouraged, invigorated, to make a positive change! There were many different causes represented; women's rights, environmental protection, health care, etc but they all have the same roots in something very simple- love. Sounds cheesy but it is true. I think the event was truly blessed and it wasn't a coincidence the weather was so nice, the crowd were never agitated, the police were respected.