Milestone * 100th Shiny Tiny Follower and I am in Love – L-U-V!!

She doesn’t know it yet, and I don’t even know her real name, but I am in love with our new friend and *100th Follower* – ColonizeTheMoon over at her blog “My Purse is Closed” (don’t tell Sue ;)! Of course really, we love all our friends equally, but CTM is getting ready to try a year of downsizing her spending (or downbudgeting as I like to call it), whilst saving up for her own Shiny Tiny Mansion. She’s shining a realistic light on the process in her own cheeky and irreverent style of blogging. So if you are a delicate blossom, easily offended, and faint at the mere thought of an off-color comment in print, maybe you should sip your Mint Julep elsewhere. Now, as soon as you get done here – get over there and tell here “Hey from Goober” ~ an old Andy Griffith reference for those of the younger persuasion.

Now, you all know that Shiny Tiny is not about homes on wheels, BUT I am trying really hard to understand the marketing and thoughts behind calling a camper a house because it’s made out of wood ~ usually pine T&G boards ~ and then paying good money for it, with nowhere to park it. I’m not sure that even Spur Tx., (Sue just blogged about it) would want their town turned into a Tiny Piney Trailer Park.

I am seeing a bit of theme from my research, but as my new LUV points out – “The biggest (problem) is that there are so few places to actually park these things. . .Traditional trailer parks don’t mix well with the types of people who are interested in small homes: educated, young, optimistic primary property owners. . .”

I see a couple overall themes from the “Home on Wheels” crowd~
1) “I want to be mobile and not put down roots in any one place” – I get that, I really do – but where you gonna park? Where you gonna hook up water? Where you gonna drain water? You gonna stay in camp grounds your whole life? I actually can think of worse ways to live, but like I’ve said, this isn’t a new movement just because the campers are made from wood!
This is a Tiny House Dating Site ~ Yes, you read that correctly!
2) “I can afford my own my tiny home and will never save enough for a down-payment on a norm house.” – Ownership of any kind does result in larger sense of pride, responsibility, and control over your life. Gotta go back to the “Where you gonna park that thang” though. If you don’t own the land you live on, you don’t have control. And like we’ve talked about before, Tiny Trailer Homes are not cheap if they are built properly.

All that said, if you have your business in order and you know where you are parking your home on wheels, where you are pooping, where you are draining, where you are putting the compost pile, how you are heating/cooling, where you are hooking up electricity . . . there are many builders in the Tiny Piney market. The best are not cheap and they shouldn’t be. Take a look – both these places seem to know what they are doing from using high quality materials to looking at how the homes will run down the road at 60MPH without the roofs flying off!
Tumbleweed is probably the most well known
Tiny Diamond comes from a long background in building “norm sized” homes and knows the details!

If you are really wanting freedom though – rent! No ties, no upkeep, and you are completely mobile. Travel the world without the cumbersome trailer to tie you down 😉

Make sure to share us with your friends! We are working on a couple videos right now and hope to post them soon. We want pics of your tiny dreams too so send them in. Already have a couple friends that we are working with to post some real Shiny Tiny’s that are doing it as we speak! Talk Soon!

PS! A photo of our Shiny Tiny staircase will appear on “Tiny House Nation” on DIY Network tomorrow night somewhere between shots. Watch for it!!!! WEEEYOOOO@!

Cheers, Ron (:>)~