Tiny House, thats insanity?!?! Maybe not, here me out

Its been way to long since I've posted a blog I'm definitely overdue and I hope after reading this you think it was worth the wait (That is if you follow my Blog)

I recently came across the website:

www.tinyhouseblog.com

I am absolutely fascinated by the concept of this. But only parts of the concept I will go furter into that in a bit. I found this website while checking out some random small cabin build that some guy build which was way to small, but then I found the tinyhouse site and well maybe I'm crazy but something about the whole concept of living in a pretty small place made lots of sense to me. This could very easily be because I'm unfortunately still living at home and never envisioned myself there at this age in my life, I honestly cannot help but feel kind of stuck. This concept might also interest me because Ive always wanted to build my own house and doing in in this type of manner is completely possible even on my "Nothing" salary. Dont get me wrong for a SECOND there is some INSANELY small houses on that site that I would NEVER EVER consider living in full time. But after lots of searching and browsing tons of ideas and concepts online I wholly feel that it is absolutely possible and not crazy at all. If you are a close minded person that thinks you need a 3,000 sq ft house and a 5 car garage stop reading this right now! Please proceed with an open mind before you continue reading.

Why a small house, there are some very solid reasons and I will go into more detail:

-COST
-Enviormental concerns
-Less waste
-Our country's economic State
-My current situation
-Design possibities
-Dream of building my own house
-The "Property Value" argument

The cost of building a small house is of course exceptionally affordable by anyone really. Just think of building the shell how many of the materials you could get on Craigslist for VERY cheap or even free. When I say materials I mean 2 x 4's, plywood, windows, doors,tile, toilets, insulation etc. (Last week I saw and entire kitchen for free cabinets, counters, and sink and it was all really nice) You could honestly build a "Cabin" like small house for less than $5,000 I do completely feel that when you build a dwelling that you have to follow construction guidelines and build and wire it to code. I do not for one second condone any "Shady" construction or wiring for that matter. I also feel that you'd need to build one of these small houses in the properly zoned area. Which in lots of places could get tricky, but it def can be done. The main thing you'd have to be concerned about is your septic, well etc. If your really wanting to save water they have very expensive nice looking composting toilets that are really well designed check out sites like envirolet.com Its amazing what they have out there.


Waste is something that I truly feel that we as a country need to produce less of, I don't think there is many people that will argue with this fact. If you live in a small house and you have fridge is lets say half the size of a normal fridge you are going to obviously have less waste and also become a smarter shopper. I find it hard to believe that when you have leftovers from dinner that you eat all of them all the time, I think its silly how most peoples refrigerators are 80% filled with old food that's bad and needs to be thrown out, over a course of a year that's a lot of money! Also, there is a very good chance that you'd use less water and energy to heat and cool the home.


The job situation is well for lack of better words completely awful right now. I truly feel that its never going to be the way that it was. The other sad thing about the state of our country is that average household incomes are never going to be what they were. Salaries were truly in someways absolutely inflated to pay for these homes, credit cards etc. I might be wrong but I just don't see incomes rising to what they once were. Lots of the views that Ive expressed in this blog could very easily be being shaped by my current situation which is working 2 not so great paying jobs and still living at home, but the concept of a much smaller house does make sense. Its important that you know that if you build a smaller house you must be able to add on if you one day have a family etc. and I don't feel that living in much smaller house is feasible at all for a married couple with lets say 4 children, but a family with one child it could be absolutely possible with some modification to an existing small house.

What absolutely intrigues me about this building a small house is mostly my dream to build my own house someday. The past few years I have became very interested in building and home improvement etc. After coming across this "Small house" concept its absolutely possible for me to build my own house even on a small income. That for some reason empowers me to research this further and really dig deep into this concept locally and see what my real options are. I have to touch on the topic of property value in this blog because its so exceptionally important when your talking about homes etc. Lots of people argue that a small house would hurt property values. My argument back to them is how could a small house that is affordable and immaculately kept because finances allow impeccable upkeep of a home bad for property values? Is it the size? Okay if so then I argue that I guess that person would rather have a 2,500sq ft house next door with shingles falling off and broken windows, and a rotting porch because their neighbor lost their job or were laid off and cant make the appropriate home repairs makes sense for your property values.


I leave you with this to think about

What is wrong with having a home thats along these lines:




That is designed functionally, has room for a few friends to come over and have dinner and its kept up exceptionally well. Has high end hardwood and tiles etc. because it is sized smaller ie cheaper to construct and keep up. What is wrong with calling a place like that home?? I say NOTHING

*Like always please negate and punctual and grammer mistakes, that is totally not a strong suite of mine! I was a geography major!

That Magical time of year is ALMOST upon us

What time of year is that?? Well, hunting season but more specifically BOW-SEASON! I cannot tell you how much I love fall for Bow-Hunting, its simply so great to be in the woods. My step-dad introduced me to the sport and let me tell you my passion for hunting Whitetails especially with a bow for some reason gets greater and greater each year that passes by, I hunt with a shotgun also but how. For example, when I started I when my alarm went off Id shut it off and go back to be simply because I just wasn't that into hunting. Now, I love to get up early and hit the timber so to speak and pay attention to things such as; wind direction, barometric pressure, and even things such as the moon phase. Ive learned that all of these things seriously affect your hunting. For the next few months well until Jan 1st the bulk of my blogging will be about my experiences in the woods. Before I continue any further I have to say this, if you think for a second I hunt just too shoot something YOU COULDN'T BE ANY MORE WRONG, also I believe in fair and ethical hunting. Thursday marks the opening day of Bow-Season and I couldn't be more excited to be able to start "Hitting the Timber" once again. Im going to be talking lots about my hunting in the few weeks. Im so incredibly blessed to have access to 3 family owned properties. I have made little nicknames for each of them. They are: The Faithful 10, The Woodlot, and The Farm. I will describe them a little bit.

The Faithful 10 is a pretty nice 10 acre parcel, what is nice about this parcel is that its actually the location of my parents house. What I think is interesting about this parcel is sure its my parents house and they have their lawn and stuff, but the back 6 acres has all been pretty much growing wild its gotten to be pretty thick. Also there is a small pond on the back corner. That is interesting because when the pond was dug the spoils were all stacked up on one side so there is a little mound and that mound divides the back portion of the property into 2 unique sections. When hunting at this location I have the option of hunting out of a covered tower blind or sitting on the ground by the pond its pretty neat. I call this location The Faithful 10 is because every year there is always at least one serious scrape and numerous tree rubs, buck sign is definitely always awesome but this location you always see tons of does and if there is does in the area you know there are some bucks running around also. This is my favorite hunting spot because this is where I learned to hunt and Ive hunted many many hours.

The Woodlot is simply a thick thick 12 acre stand of timber. It's so thick that when its early bow-season and your walking around on the property you have to pay great attention to where you are going because you are going to get lost its that thick. Ive hunted this parcel a little bit and like it alot and have seen some deer. There is some serious potential in this woodlot, I just need to hunt it more. Its located in one of the best county's for big deer in southern Michigan.

The Farm is my stepdad's and his brothers property. I really like hunting here because I usually hunt here with my stepdad and my uncle and cousins are normally out there also, its just so great to be able to spend time with some members of my family in this fashion. This property is almost 60 acres. Its not really a farm but it has a 12 acre field that we have planted with a crop each year so its pretty neat in that respect I think. I call it the farm because well its a decently large piece of property and it has a big pole-barn. Ive hunted a few gun season openers at this property and have seen some very large deer here. What I really like about this parcel is that it feels and hunts much larger than 60 acres because of how its laid out its not just one big rectangle. One really cool thing about this property is that from the entrance to the back of the property which borders a creek its almost a half-mile back its pretty unique. I will be spending some time here this fall you can bet on it.

So there is a little preview of what I plan doing with my blog for the next few months and properties I hunt and all that jazz. Be ready for a new post soon, Thursday is the opener and I plan on hunting The Woodlot the forecast calls for some crisp cool conditions and with it being the opener deer will be moving. Take care

The day it all hit me......

Most of you know now but a few weeks ago I made one of my biggest decisions in probably the last 5 years of my life.......I decided to leave the company that I was working at for the past 4 years. I know I know a stupid thing to do in this economy right?? WRONG!! I simply cannot tell you since Ive been home how INCREDIBLY happy I am. Sure the job was a pretty good job salary wise and stuff but the bottom line was that I was NOT happy doing what I was doing anymore,. How did this decision come about?? Well most of my good friends know that I was starting not to like it anymore, the last time I was home on vacation I was pretty much dreading heading back. I knew that I needed to make a change because in the past I would get excited to get back to Alaska and be with my shipmates and stuff but it was not the case this summer at all. Once I got back to work after my last vacation, I was in the dining room setting up and it hit me like a semi for whatever reason I DONT want to do this anymore. After that all hit me a few days later I really thought about why I felt so strongly about not wanting to do the cruise thing, to make sure that I had a reason to feel that way. After lots of thought and a very long pro's and con's list I came to the conclusion that I just simply want to pursue other things and see what is out there, also I just want to live a normal "Land" life. Ive realized that being able to sleep in my own bed every night is something that I want also just being able to see the family and friends whenever not every couple of months. Sure those things might seem small and I don't expect you to understand those small wants fully at all you have to do what I did for 4 years to understand it all. The bottom line is this......MONEY DOES NOT BUY HAPPINESS I learned that lesson very well this summer and will never forget it. Where I'm working now Ive taken a very large pay cut......But like Ive said I'm so happy its unreal!!!! Don't get me wrong working where I was at was an AMAZING experience and I wouldn't change it for a bit: I grew tons as a person and that's simply priceless. I also grew an amazing amount professionally, met incredible friends that I hope to have for life and wouldn't change anything during the past 4 years of my life. I just wanted to be home and be able to be around the people I want all the time and want that normal 9-5 life and have the option to have a dog that kinda stuff!! For some reason I feel the need to explain every little detail about this decision to people but I know I don't have too all people really need to know is; that's my decision. But I want everyone to know that I'm way way more happier now :) Have a good one!!

First Blog

I'm sitting here watching CNN and I just watched President Obama talk about why we should pass the Stimulus bill. I myself do not know enough about how to jump-start this economy, but I really hope and pray that Washington is doing what they should. I cannot criticize anything really all I can do is hope. BUT the BILLIONS of dollars that we apparently need just boggles my mind that's an INSANE amount of money. I just hope it works and creates jobs, but I have to ask is who will get these jobs? Will it be a fair job market?? If you have a college degree and you wanna get a job that would build a road would you be considered?? I ask those questions because lets face it people of ALL walks of life and income levels are seriously financially stressed right now. I hope that these jobs are offered to everyone because EVERYONE needs to prosper from all of these jobs created. Finally, once again I thank God that I have a job offer in April. I'm extremely lucky