Forget Fear, Take The Plunge

Do you know that feeling of fear as you consider a big decision? That feeling of standing at a fork in the proverbial road and not really knowing which way to go.

You peer down both paths and honestly you probably can’t see that far ahead. So instead you choose to stand there hoping someone else comes along with a map to highlight which way to go.

1.5 years ago this was us. We stood there holding our dreams in our hands and we had to make a choice which way to go.

This dream of ours was growing. We’d planted the seeds as we decluttered and as we learned to reduce our waste. Every time we looked around our space and felt lighter our dream solidified itself. And it grew with every moment we wished for more time, more freedom, less stress and more self-sufficiency.
We had a choice to make.

Stay as we were in a big house with all the luxury, lots of space, all the comforts but very little money left each week knowing that our chance of not only being able to buy land but being able to buy land AND develop it into a homestead was going to be nearly unattainable.

Or

Take a risk. Invest some money. Do something that directly changes our future.

Man it was a scary decision. And not one that everyone who loved us really understood. We looked at the paths in front of us and walked towards the one that our dreams pulled us down.

It was scary.

But you know what would have been scarier?

Regret.

Looking back and knowing we stood there with a chance to change our lives and knowing we were too scared to take a risk.

What life choices are standing in front of you today? Which way do you really, truly want to head? What’s holding you back?

I’d love to extend the offer to you to jump on the phone for a free ‘virtual coffee chat’ and we can dig into this a bit together. To apply click here

Have an awesome Friday.

Sarah

How Tiny Living Has Affected Our Family Relationships

Do you know what the number 1 objection people had when we first started talking about living in a  Tiny House?

Space! Families need space they said.

Admittedly it was something on our mind too. To one way of thinking we were looking to Tiny Living to improve or solve a lot of our problems. My stress trying to keep up with cleaning. Our ability to save and do something to improve our future. As well as the time we could spend together. There were definitely aspects that made me nervous however!

One of the things I was really nervous about were relationships. What happens when you cram a whole family including all of those various dynamics into a small footprint. My fear was literally “Aren’t we all going to go a bit nuts?”

Well I’ve been doing some reflecting this week. We’ve been living Tiny for 6 months and its been super interesting thinking back on the time we have spent in here.

Well a couple interesting things have happened.

Lydia who suffered really badly with separation anxiety after an interstate move at 18 months has come in leaps and bounds. She was still sleeping in our bedroom when we moved out but she has transitioned to her own space beautifully. She is confident and an amazing communicator. She thrives on the closeness and knowing Mummy and Daddy are RIGHT THERE if she needs us.

Abi is 1 soon and just adores her big sister. She loves crawling over the walkway to go visit her big sister in her room. I’ve really loved watching them play together. They play in our little lounge room actually better than they do in a big lounge room generally. I think there is something amazing about the adaptability of kids and their ability to invent games.

Small spaces have also forced our family to communicate.

We spend so much time sitting around our family space with a hot drink talking. Normally the kids will play on the floor, I’ll get comfy sitting on the stairs and Jeremy will sit at the table. We naturally spend a lot more time just talking. Maybe because there isn’t so much stuff cluttering our time and energy?

There also literally isn’t the space to go sulk or give each other the cold shoulder. Sure we still have disagreements (we had one on the weekend) and this is something we are always working to improve on. Sometimes we need to spend time thinking it over before we talk about it and hug it out. Honestly though I think we communicate a whole lot better than we have in a really long time.

Meals and evenings are far more of a family affair again.

We eat at the table and night-time TV habits have really changed as we don’t have a TV in here. Sure, sometimes we will pull the laptop into bed and watch 30mins of something together after the kids are asleep but the habit of zoning out infront of the TV every night has been forced out of our lives. It was an easy habit to fall into during the build as we were both feeling tired, stressed and overwhelmed as we faced the huge learning curve and challenge of DIY building and downsizing drastically.

6 months in and I’m still learning.

We are still adapting our space and learning how to adjust to different phases of life.

Honestly I don’t think I could ever live in a huge house again.
I love the closeness.
I love the togetherness.
I love the small space and the fewer possessions.

DIY building and the huge downsize bought a lot of hurdles and struggles to work through. Its been worth it though.

Our Tiny Home has made us strong.

Sarah

Ps.
Make sure you are in our chatter group to hear first all the new stuff I have coming for you guys! Its gonna be epic!!!

What Life in a Tiny House is Like for Kids

It’s a wet, rainy day here and I thought I’d take a moment to share some photos of what life in a Tiny House is like for kids.

Truthfully – there is no such thing as bad weather! Mud and rain are fun too!

Bbbbuuuuutttt with a 2.5kg washing machine, mud being walked into the house, a business to run and an interstate move to prepare for I have to be honest and say I don’t want my kids getting wet and muddy right now o.o

Yep I said it.
It’s me that doesn’t want to deal with mud.

But we still find ways to have an awesome time! Kids are highly adaptable and find ways to have fun in a Tiny space too!

Tiny House for KidsLydia often uses the bottom step as a desk/table!
This is our ‘low supervision’ craft kit for 3/4 yr olds.

Its got paper, pencils, crayons, tissue paper, glue stick and crinkle scissors.

Abi (1) is quite happy with just paper and pencils right now.

The basket hangs up out of reach (so we don’t end up with pencils scattered everywhere for someone to slip on!) and comes down when I’m working on the computer or taking Abi for a nap!

I’d normally have playdough in there too but I need to make more 😉

I also have a collection of paint with water pages (you know the ones that you just brush with water and the dots turn to paint?), felt, coloured paper, beads and paints that come out when I have more time too.

The girls will also play in the kids corner (go check out the video in the Facebook group if you’d like to see the set up 😉 ) with books, pillows and blankets.

Or they will build towers together with blocks or duplo.
Or maybe they will just roll play and giggle together!

Sometimes we bake together or I’ll put on music and we dance even in the Tiny Space.

We don’t have a TV in our Tiny house but pulling out the iPad on occasion will typically buy me about 20 mins of quiet.

Sometimes though when we are feeling a bit cooped up and need some time out of the Tiny house there is a card up my sleeve! A list of other ideas!

  • Visit family or friends. Even if they are at work during the day you can ask if they are happy for you to use the lounge room and access the TV.  A change of scene can be super helpful!
  • Library or play cafe. There are often free nooks you can use for an outing! Even better if you can access a coffee right?
  • Run errands! Grocery shop, visit the post office, go to a shopping centre or whatever you have been putting off doing. I know it can be a pain running errands with kids but sometimes its actually the outing that you need!
  • Or you could go to a park and hunt for painted rocks (especially if the sun is shining!)
There are so many ways to spend time as a family!
We love playing, dancing and living in our Tiny House, even when it’s wet and cold! The togetherness is just such a different vibe to in a big house!

I hope these ideas have been inspiring for you!
Have fun today!