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minimalist

Vincent Russell | February 9, 2014 | 10 Comments

The Tiny House Movement – Part 1

Do you recall one of my very first articles on this blog where creativity was defined as “the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, et cetera”, according to dictionary.com? Well, there exists a new movement across the globe known as the “tiny house” movement. Talk about a new form and/or method of living. According to TheTinyLife.com, the tiny house movement “is a social movement where people are downsizing the space that they live in. The typical American home is around 2600 square feet, while the typical small or tiny house is around 100-400 square feet. Tiny Houses come in all shapes, sizes and forms but they focus on smaller spaces and simplified living.” In this series, along with the help of the infographic and some research, I will further explain the movement itself and the advantages of owning a tiny home. But first and foremost, I want to cover the cost portion of owning a tiny house versus owning a standard-size house. 

tinyhouseblog

tinyhouse

Images by: tinyhouseblog.com

As a youth, I grew up wanting the typical “American dream” for my life. We all know the cliché American dream – corporate job, two and a half kids (where does the half come from and how is that possible?!), two story home, white picket fence, nice neighborhood, and for some a dog, although I relate more to the cat-loving individuals myself. I only want to touch on the “two story home” part of this dream and explain why I have discarded the idea of owning a standard-size house.

[box]Side note: In no way is this series meant to bash that idea or to say owning a standard-size house is a bad idea. My intent is only to provide new information and hopefully shed light to a movement that will help us all see how we can live a more simplified life.[/box]

“Too many people spend money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t want, to impress people they don’t like.” – Will Rogers

Debt, debt, and more debt.

TinyHouses-Infographic-1000wlogo

According to the infographic provided by TheTinyLife.com, “68% of tiny house people have no mortgage, compared to 29.3% of all U.S. homeowners.” That’s a staggering number, if I do say so myself.

– $272,000 – The average cost of a standard-sized house.

– $23,000 – The average cost to build a tiny house, if built by the owner.

One of the biggest factors drawing me to this new idea is how affordable owning a tiny house is. If you are like me, and most Americans for that matter, you have some amount of debt; be it credit card debt, student loans, car payment(s), a mortgage, et cetera. I want to be transparent and honest with you all. I am 27 years old and have been in some form of debt since I was 17. There came a point in my life where I got tired of owing someone money. Imagine owning your own home outright without having to make ridiculous mortgage payments for 15 to 30 years. Imagine what you could do, where you could travel, or the debt you could pay off without having those huge mortgage payments. How freeing would it be to have more money monthly to spend on doing the things you love, or having more money to pay off debt, or having more money to travel and see the world?

myballardDOTcome

 Image by: myballard.com

“I believe that a simple and unassuming manner of life is best for everyone, best both for the body and the mind.” – Albert Einstein

Stay tuned for next week’s article where I will cover more advantages to owning a tiny house such as solar energy, breaking away from materialism, and more!

Daniel Kosmala | February 8, 2014 | 13 Comments

Become A Minimalist

Photo Credit: PicJumbo.com

 

Are you familiar with minimalism?

[dropshadowbox align=”none” effect=”lifted-both” width=”autopx” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” inside_shadow=”false” outside_shadow=”false” ]“Simple living (minimalism) encompasses a number of different voluntary practices to simplify lifestyle. This may include reducing possessions or increasing self-sufficiency. Simple living is characterized by individuals being satisfied with what they need rather than want.” via Wikipedia[/dropshadowbox]

 

I have always been intrigued by the minimalism concept. I know a guy who swears by it. He moved into a loft in downtown Atlanta, with limited living space, and downsized to only the things he absolutely needed.

He loved it.

After having a conversation with him about minimalism and how it not only reduced physical clutter in his life, but also mental and spiritual clutter as well, I decided to do some more research.

There are people everywhere who have embraced this lifestyle. You can find some of the more prominent minimalists here:

  • http://www.theminimalists.com/
  • http://www.becomingminimalist.com/
  • http://www.missminimalist.com/
  • http://zenhabits.net/

Along with perusing those websites, I downloaded some eBooks to my iPad on minimalism to see what else I could discover about the trend.

I think what I found most interesting is the majority people who have ended up becoming minimalists did so because they were chasing stuff. They were convinced that by getting the big job with a six figure salary, the hot spouse, the nice car, etc.,  that they would somehow feel fulfilled. They felt that somehow all those things would fill the void they felt inside.

However, most of these folks ended up realizing that stuff cannot fill us and that life has more meaning than simply chasing material possessions. So, these people decided to do the complete opposite. They decided to run away from stuff and find personal fulfillment elsewhere and along the way they learned a thing or two.

Are you chasing stuff? Do you hold some notion, maybe even subconsciously, that if you can just get a raise, a bonus, that new car, that new girl down in sales, that new apartment in the trendy part of town, or whatever else, that somehow you will feel fulfilled? Do you think that you will no longer feel compelled to keep chasing? 

I think to some extent we all have this notion that some day we will “arrive” and the rat race of life will be over. Unfortunately, that is not how life works. The rat race will continue as long as people keep competing with blinders on to the rest of the world.

Maybe it is time for you to stop consuming and start minimizing.

When you have nothing to rely on but yourself and the things you need, not want, you will begin to learn who you really are. A lot of the minimalists with huge success stories are the ones who cold turkey decided to give up everything to pursue minimalism. For most of us, it is impractical to make such a drastic change in lifestyle.

So, here is the challenge I have found that best fits my own life.

For the next 30 days I am committed to throwing away or getting rid of one item per day.

It may not seem like much to start with, but as the days go by it will begin to add up. Some people have found this to be an addicting habit and end up sticking with it far beyond the one month time frame. And don’t reach in a kitchen drawer, take out a pen, throw it away and call it quits for the day. Really analyze the clutter in your home (come on, we all know it’s there!) and try to pick out stuff that has been gathering dust for years that you do not need. Board games, old papers and documents you do not need, trinkets, toys that are not being played with. It is time to let go and reduce the amount of junk in your home. At the end of these 30 days I will have less clutter in my life than I do right now.

If you are up for throwing away one item a day, go ahead and leave me a comment below to let me know you are on board. Or you can reach out to me on Twitter and let me know that you’re in it to win it for the next 30 days.

 

I’ll follow up with a post in a month to let you guys know how it went for me and what I learned by minimizing my life!

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Hi, my name is Adam Smith and welcome to asmithblog.com. I am the author of the book, The Bravest You. Because of my work as an entrepreneur, consultant, writer, and speaker, I have been named a top industry influencer by American Genius. I live with my wife, Jasmine, and three children in Shenandoah, IA.

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