Skip to main content

Tiny House, Big Living

I love hearing the stories of people on this show. Tiny House Big Living screens Sundays at 9.30pm on Channel 94 (in Australia). Each week there's two half-hour episodes.


While it's fun seeing (and critiquing) the various designs, I really get inspired when someone is making a big positive life change. Recently we got two good stories in one night.

Paul and Bekah Dreisbach

Paul and Bekah each grew up overseas. Their families were in the Philippines and Africa. Paul shares how this changed them.

"Our backgrounds of growing up in a third-world culture and country have affected why we're going to go tiny. People living in shacks or the smallest little places are just as happy and we've realised that it's not necessarily the place you live in or how many things you have but it's the people you're around."


Bekah reflects on the moving back to the USA:

"Here it's just a struggle to have more and buy more things and you surround yourself with so much stuff and yet you miss out on a lot of great experiences because of that."

Their destination of Oregon is more expensive than their home state, so "going tiny was a great financial choice for us. We'll be able to live tiny, save some money and do all the things we want to do."

Rich and Sonda Moriarty

Showing that it's not just for young couples, Rich and Sonya also talk about their reasons for downsizing and simplifying their life, now their five adult children have all left home.

"We're empty-nesters. We want more time; and the way to have more time is to live more simply. Less things to take care of."


They'd been thinking about this for couple of years before taking the plunge.

"I'm so glad that we took that leap and we decided to go for it, because it's just so liberating I guess - having just a few things now instead of all of this stuff. It's really made us think about what's important to us."

"I didn't think we'd be able to do this but I'm so so happy that we made this move."

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Offline

Yes, by now we all know that smartphones and social media are doing us harm. How do we harness the benefits of them without the destructive effects. The book Offline makes 5 main points. If you've only got a minute, here they are: The addictive design keeps us on online platforms longer. The 'brain hacks' disrupt our brain's ability to function. Humans need "real" interaction, and social media does not deliver this. Technoference (digital over-riding direct interactions at the play ground, coffee shop, dinner table) result in something valuable being lost. Speed of the transformation is astounding. 75% of people are connected, with almost half using social media. We have no idea what the long-term effects of this real-life experiment will be. Going a bit deeper, here are some of my highlights from the book. So what are side-effects? According to various studies, the effects can be grouped into the physiological (poor sleep, neural re-wiring, and increased str...

$500 free money for your super

If you're on a low-to-middle income, the Australian government will give you up to $500 co-contribution towards your retirement. Here's how to get it. Check your eligibility. What counts as "low-to-middle income"? Right now, people earning under $39,837 can get up to the full $500. People earning up to $54,837 can get at least part of it. There's some other technical eligibility rules , including that you are 70 or younger, have lodged your tax return (to verify your income) and that 10% of your income comes from employment or running a business. Not sure why that last rule exists, but it does. Oh, and here's the one that stops most people from getting their free money... Start saving yourself There's a reason it's called co- contribution. To get the money you have to put some of your own money into your superannuation. Some people don't like doing this. But really it's just giving money to your future self. It doesn't includ...

What is Black Friday? (and how to beat it)

Black Friday is a contest. It's you versus the retailer. Read on to find out how to come out ahead. Here in Australia the 'Black Friday' sales have emerged in the last couple of years - but what does it mean? When is Black Friday? Black Friday is the first Friday after Thanksgiving. Yes, Thanksgiving - that American holiday we don't celebrate here. Pretty weird, huh? It's like having Boxing Day without Christmas Day. What happens on Black Friday? In the USA, and increasingly here, stores hold simultaneous sales in order to get shoppers into a buying frenzy. Some offer deals like 20% off everything. Other have big mark-downs on specific items in order to get you in the store - to sell you other stuff you never wanted in the first place. Isn't 20% off a good thing? Not really. There's a psychological effect called anchoring . If there's a jacket for $40 it's no big deal. But if the shop says it's on sale from $50, suddenly we think it'...