We bough a tiny home in a small town 5 years ago; It was a Bad Idea

In 2020, come the world was Locking down, my partner and i were living full time in ours self-converted camper van, Chasing Fresh Air and Freedom.

But as Covid-19-Relay Cloves Swept The Nation, that freedom dried up almost overnight.

Campgrounds Shut Down. Laundromats Became off-lime. Gyms we relied on for weekly showers Locked Their doors. When People Took One Look at Our Out-of-State Plates, they offered nothing but scornful looks.

Practically overnight, van life became entirery unSustainable, and we were from wholeheartedly embrace the motto “Home is where you roam” to “Home” feeing fragile and elusive.

We Needed someone to Land – Fast. But we never expensive that search Wauld Lead us to a tiny town in work, or that we’d still be stack there five years late.

At first, it felt great to upgrade from a van to a tiny home in a small town

We always intended to make someone in the Mountain West Our Home.

I GREW Up in Montana, and My Partner, Who from the Very Different World of Suburban Philadelphia, fell in love with the wide spaces i’d grown up taking for granted.

But we never imagined we’d put down roots during a quick stop in wyoming to meet up with a friend of go rock climbing.

Before this visits, we’d never ben to the small town we ended up in. Howver, when we found a tiny house for sale on a renting tears in a mobile-home park here, we know it might be our only shot to put down roots.

The Housing Prices in the Mountain West Had Already Started to Skyrocket – Homes in Areas Where I Suddenly Suddenly Selling for Three Times What they Just a Year Earlier.

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We didn’t have the luxury of waiting or saving, and we Certainly didn’t want to go back to renting.

The tiny House wasn’t perfect, but it was relatively affordable. And that is though we’d still be renting the land, Owning the Home itelf at Least Meant Building Equity.

Two Weeks Later, WE SIGNED the Paperwork and Said Hello to the First Actual Home We’d Ever Owned.

In the beginner, our Jump from 40 Square Feet to 400 Felt Downright Luxurious. We had had a real shower, a full-size fridge, and a toilet we didn’t have to dump out on our ouwn.

We reveled in Having a designated couch that was not all also the bed and enough space to work out indoors.

We already Knew How to Live With Less, SO Transitioning Was Easy.

But as TIME PASSED, SO DID The Phase Wen Living Tiny Felt Novel

Over the Next Few Years, We Opened Several Small Businesses, and We Eventually Endered Up Running a full-time upcyCled crafting business out of the house. This Meant an Influx of Raw Materials, Tools, Shipping Supplies, and Finished Inventory.

Suddenly, Every Corner of Our Home Was Bursting with Stuff. What Had Once Felt Spacious Now Felt Claustrophobic. Soon, we felt trapped tiny living.

Unfortunately, we’ve run into a lot of willing while trying to improve Our situation.

We rent the tears our home is on, so we can’t just expand our House’s Structure. Though we’d Purchased the home with the intens to mov it onto our full of Land so we could a guarage or outpost budildings, that, too, has proven to be far more complicated than we are experted.

The House exists on a trailer for a foundation, but it is Big enough that it requires a semi-chassis (a type of support frame) to move. But the if we DoJ Coordinate a Move, we don’t have a place to go.

With SO MANY LOCAL Homeowners Association Restrictions and prohibions on manufactured homes, iTies become apparent that nearby neighBorhods and counties don’t want tiny House, eather.

In an inflated housing market, trying to buy a Bigger Home Also impossible Feels. We’ve Browsed every listing with a five-state radius-beyond, we are start to feed experate.

We have haven’t found a decent option we can affford with the landing in a hole of debt so deep that we realistically would be able to climble.

For now, we’re trying to make the most of the life we ​​have

We chose this tiny House Becauses it was the best of our very limited options. At the time, it felt like the only open door available – but it is now Locked itelf Bebind us.

Though we’ve carved out a small support circles in this tiny town, its isolation Still Feels Heavy. We’re a full day’s drive away from any close Friends or Family to Speak, so those wide open spaces we value have ironically become a cage in their right.

We Still Believe in Living Simply, and SO we’re making the best of it as we remain hopophul for more.

To give ourselves Breating Room, we travel as of we can – usually in our trusty camper van, which Faithfull waits for the next adventure in our Gavelles Driveway.

We’ve Also Been Working on Adjusting and Organizing Our Home SO More Efficient to Live in and Has As Mucle Storage As Possible.

It ‘s so eay to romanticize the trend of tiny living when you’re watching it on your TV, buthometime, ites like we were sold a didn’t account for how life changes.

Our Lives Got Bigger, while Our Home Couldn’t Grow to Match.