Next week marks my 7 year anniversary of Tiny House living…!!!
You’ve probably all seen the video tour of my sexy new house (but if not, watch it on Living Big in a Tiny House HERE.
I’ve seen some people say “You’re so lucky!!”
But the truth is, I made my own luck, and you can too.
After my last divorce in 2016, I was in a pretty diabolical financial situation. As a single mum of two, I was renting a unit I really couldn’t afford- even with government subsidies. I was on payment plans for all my utilities. I woke up every day dreading the postie and debt collectors. And I certainly couldn’t remember the last time my poor car had been serviced.
Sound familiar?
It’s at crisis points like this in your life that you have a choice.
Are you going to “just keep swimming” for the rest of your life?
How long can you keep paddling like hell beneath the surface, on the verge of a breakdown, while telling your friends and family “I’m ok”?
You. Have. A. Choice.
In my case, I recognised the tell-tale signs of depression, and knew if I kept plodding down that path, my depression was going to lead me into a black hole I could never climb my way out of.
I knew I wanted to quite the rent trap and live Tiny, but I had a black mark on my credit from trying to stay afloat, so there was no way I could buy a Tiny House right off the bat.
It was a HUGE decision- but at the same time it was a no-brainer.
I sold literally EVERYTHING I owned- fridge, furniture, washing machine, books, crystals, everything I thought I could get money for- for the princely sum of $2,000. HUMBLING, right? My entire 40 years on this earth was worth $2,000. Yes, I cried for days.
BUT it’s what I DID with that $2k that both changed and saved my life.
I jumped on Facebook marketplace and bought a run-down piece-of-crap caravan for $2,000.
Over the next six weeks, I spent just under $1,000 gutting and renovating it til it was (relatively!) liveable.
I gave my landlord notice, and my two kids and I initially moved into a friend’s backyard for a month til we found our feet, before moving onto the country block of land I couldn’t afford to build on.
It was a HORRENDOUSLY cold winter, and our heating was basically two jumpers and three blankets. But it was the BEST thing I’ve ever done!!
I knew I didn’t want to live that way forever, but it was a fantastic stepping stone for us.
WHY?
It gave us a taste of Tiny living.
After living in a large 3 bedroom unit, it was a definite adjustment suddenly having the three of us living in 14m2 (only 10% the size of the unit). Learning to live in a small space is a definite eye-opener if you’ve never gone caravanning. I loved it and knew right away we’d be just fine in a Tiny House.
It got us out of the rent trap.
With rent and utility bills gone, there was an extra $1600 in my bank account every month!! This was MASSIVE for us. I paid off all my debts in the first month!! No more avoiding phone calls from debt collectors.
It helped us get into a Tiny House.
For almost a year, we lived very simply and I saved my pennies. It also meant I could take the kids out for lunch occasionally without checking my bank account. I even got my car serviced on time!
About a year into living this way, I came across a very cheap, rustic, Tiny House online secondhand, and I was actually in a position to buy it!
Fast forward to today- and I just moved into the Tiny House of my DREAMS, an absolutely stunning, luxurious 9.5m palace on wheels right by the beach!
Truthfully, if the Briony of 2016 could see the kind of life that one decision would lead me to- she would never have believed it. Every day is a “pinch me” moment, and I still can’t believe this is my life!!
When going Tiny has the power to be THIS transformational, I don’t understand why more people aren’t using caravans as a stepping stone, especially given the surge in Tiny House construction costs.
Back in 2017, my only option was the “absolutely bootstrapped it” version (100% would not recommend if you have an alternative…but they do say it’s about the journey, right?).
If my poor credit hadn’t completely ruled it out, I would have preferred to buy a better caravan.
You can get a really solid 2000-2010ish caravan with basic solar for around the $20k mark. Even if you needed finance, the repayments on that (over 7 years) would be under $100 a week!!
You could live on rented land in a caravan like this in many places in Australia, for a total of less than $250 per week right now!!
You don’t HAVE to start “living Tiny” in a top-of-the-line $150k Tiny House!
Many of our hosts are happy to consider tenants in caravans as well as Tiny Houses.
Right now, we even have a listing in NSW for a site that INCLUDES an onsite caravan!!
You can start to rebuild your life FROM NOTHING.
And you can probably do it right now.
2025 is the year we stop making excuses, and realise we have free will.
It all starts with a membership HERE
xBry
Comments