Exploring Alternatives

This is a full tour of a cozy cob micro cabin built by Marie France Roy, a professional snowboarder from Canada. She wanted to build a home with natural and reclaimed materials so the main floor is built with cob – a mix of sand, clay, and straw – and the upper floor is built with reclaimed cedar siding. She also used secondhand windows and other materials that were used or on their way to the landfill to reduce the impact of her project.

3 days ago | [YT] | 95

Exploring Alternatives

Rachel, Russell and their two boys have been homesteading on the edge of the Australian bush for over 15 years. This family grows and raises an incredible amount of food with their fruit trees, vegetable gardens, laying hens and sheep. They preserve their harvests with canning, dehydrating, freezing, smoking and fermenting. They also try to reduce their impact by collecting rainwater for their home and gardens (except the kitchen sink), offsetting their electricity usage with solar power, cooking with their woodstove, solar ovens and home bio gas system.

Rachel and Russell and their two boys have done a ton of research and experimentation on their homestead and they have a lot of knowledge to share! We're grateful to share their story here, and hope you'll give them a follow over at @Bush_Edge_Homesteading_Aus :)

1 week ago | [YT] | 117

Exploring Alternatives

Ashley and Chad decided to build their own tiny home on wheels after not being able to go the traditional route of buying a house with a mortgage. They’ve lived in their DIY tiny house for over 5 years now and say this lifestyle has improved their quality of life in many ways. After the initial investment to build the home, the couple says their expenses are quite low, about half of what they paid to rent a studio apartment, and this affordable cost of living allows Ashley to be a stay at home mom with their two children, and makes it possible for Chad to work close to home doing a job he loves.

In this video, Ashley and Chad share their decision making process, how they built the tiny house, the cost to build it, their systems, and some insights into what it’s like to live in a tiny home as a couple and as a family with young children (pros and cons). We really appreciate them sharing their story and hope you’ll give them a follow!

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 63

Exploring Alternatives

Here's a little more inspiration for anyone thinking of growing food this summer!

This is one of the most impressive homesteads we've visited! This family is growing 90% of their food for a family of four on 2.3 acres. They grow 150 varieties of fruits and vegetables using permaculture principles and they use a variety of methods to preserve their harvest, from drying and canning to freezing and fermenting. ​‪

They also recently started selling their own seeds!! So impressive!!

1 month ago | [YT] | 132

Exploring Alternatives

In this video Lydia shares her journey towards extreme minimalism and gives us a tour of her small minimalist apartment that she lives in with her partner. They have downsized most of their furniture and just have a bed, sofa and small table now, and their only storage space is under their bed where they keep most of their possessions like clothing.

Lydia from Sagelife Minimalism has been decluttering and downsizing for several years and as you look at the before and after images, you get a sense of all the objects that have come and gone from the home. It's an interesting exercise in learning what we really need, and what is just excess or clutter. Minimalism will look different for everyone and is about finding the balance that feels right for each individual.

With plans to travel and to move, Lydia and her partner's priorities are to keep their possessions to a minimum so that they can increase their flexibility and freedom. It also means they can live in a small space which naturally costs less and provides the opportunity to spend less money and to save money for travel.

In the video, she shares some of her minimalist tips, tricks, and how to about the ways she downsizes, avoids collecting things, and lives with less stuff. Including using the minimalist one-in-one-out rule, waiting to buy something, thinking about where the new item would go, and considering whether it's a need vs a want.

1 month ago | [YT] | 100

Exploring Alternatives

This self-reliant couple is growing 80% of the food they eat per year!!

2 months ago | [YT] | 120

Exploring Alternatives

Growing season is almost here! We made this video to share some of our best tips and advice for anyone thinking of growing food in small spaces this summer!

2 months ago | [YT] | 117

Exploring Alternatives

Anne-Marijke has been living in her tiny house on wheels in Australia for almost 3 years now. Her decision to go tiny was primarily based on financial security and retirement. The cost of renting or owning a home was much more expensive than a tiny house, and would have prevented her from being able to retire until she was 80 years old.

As an alternative, she bought a tiny house shell from a builder, and with help from her daughter, she built the inside of the tiny home with no previous building experience. Doing it this way, as a partial DIY build, saved her a lot of money since she didn’t have to pay for her own labour for the interior portion of the construction. The total cost of the build was approx. $60,000 USD.

Anne-Marijke acknowledges that tiny house living is often illegal in countries around the world which means that in order to access this type of housing, a lot of folks have to live “under the radar” and hope that no one complains, which can create a lot of housing insecurity. So it’s definitely not a perfect solution.

That being said, she has been lucky to find a parking spot in a backyard, with water and electricity included, for an affordable monthly fee of approx. $200 USD. Alternative housing is temporarily accepted where she is due to wildfires and floods in the area. Some of her other housing expenses include propane for her hot water heater and satellite internet. Overall, her expenses are now one third of what they were when she was in a house.

This massive reduction in living expenses has meant that she feels less stress when it comes to work and retirement. She is self-employed as a nutritionist, with a focus on helping folks with endometriosis, and she also started a YouTube channel to share her tiny house journey with people! You can follow and find out more at the links below:
youtube.com/@LivingInTinyG
theendometriosisnutritionist.online/

Thanks for watching!

2 months ago | [YT] | 101

Exploring Alternatives

This tiny house was completely self-built by a retired woman named Carol. She put a lot of work into building her own tiny home and finding a place to park it, and she also built it on a tight budget and spent several years collecting materials and planning the project before she began to build.

Her inspiration for the design of the tiny house came from 19th-century Romani vardo wagons, and her home is packed full of special antiques and unique touches!

She lives off-grid in her tiny home with solar power and a generator, and she keeps livestock like goats, chickens and turkeys for milk, eggs, and meat. She has a grey water pond, and a composting toilet built using an antique chair.

We hope you enjoy meeting Carol and hearing about her experience building and living in a tiny house in Canada.

Thanks for watching!

4 months ago | [YT] | 160

Exploring Alternatives

Jake & Kiva built their own 20-foot long tiny house on a super low budget. They started building it in 2014 and they came up with some brilliant solutions and designs to maximize the small space and make it as functional as possible, including a transforming home office, hidden charging stations, central vac, a space-saving table, paw-wiping cat stairs, a computer-programmed LED lighting system, a swinging towel rack, 3D printed hardware, and a ton more! Step into the Tiny Nest with us to meet the clever couple and learn about their DIY home that cost just $36K CAD to build!

When you first walk into the house, there's a 2-level coat closet and a functional storage area for things you need when coming in and out of the house (keys, dog towels, water bottles, etc.). The kitchen itself has loads of counter space, it has an induction cooktop and a toaster oven, stacked bar fridges (one of which is actually a freezer!), food storage below the counter, and open shelving for dishes above.

The bathroom creates a hallway with the shower on the left, and a toilet and sink on the right.

The living room has a large l-shaped sectional sofa for lounging, and a transforming home office and entertainment system for gaming and watching movies. There's loads of storage space under the couch and in the full length shelving unit.

The sliding ladder is tucked away behind the fridge but it can be pulled out and extended to access the king-sized loft that has a massive bed, a closet, shelving, and a cat house!

The Tiny Nest is designed to be on the grid for electricity, there's propane for heat and hot water, a well for water, and a self-built composting toilet.

Living in a self-built house has allowed Jake and Kiva to quit their jobs and start their own tiny house business, as well as working odd jobs on their own terms, like contract electrical work and horse care. We're so glad we had the chance to meet them and tour their home, and we hope you'll follow along on their adventures!

They also have some amazing resources on their website, including a SketchUp tutorial, info about the trailer they used, and a lot more:
tinynestproject.com/resources

4 months ago | [YT] | 77