Settling into Tiny House Living - Downsizing from 3,400 to 400 square feet

Making the Transition to Tiny House Living

Moving Out

We are a full week into small house living and I'm loving it! We went from 3,400 square feet to just over 400. Moving was not an easy decision because we adored our house, the neighborhood and the location. You can read how we came to this decision in a previous post, Why I Started Blogging. With that said, I am loving this adventure! We left off last week with the kids and me living in Hood River and Elijah working in Vancouver and finishing the last of the house things. It took a lot of teamwork to get it all done. With another push we did it! We successfully got all our items donated, in storage or with us here. Here's how we did it:

• We started with clearing out and cleaning up one room at a time in the upstairs. Eventually we were able to remove all items from upstairs and clean it. This helped to have one area completely done. 

• When the upstairs bathroom was emptied and cleaned I locked the doors to it so that it wasn't accidentally used. 

All Four Sons "helping" clean!

• While boxing up items I kept painters tape and a sharpie handy. I would write on the roll of tape what went into the box as I packed it. Once it was closed the painters tape would go on the side of the box so that when they're stacked up you can read what is in the box (more often than not it ended up on the top but this isn't as helpful). 

• Many items were placed in a bag or box to work on getting to the right spot later. I try to be really careful with moving items from one spot to another. My goal is to touch it once, as soon as you pick something up you take care of it right then. (Thanks, mom, for teaching me this!)

• Two bags were always with me during this process, one black trash bag for donation items and a white trash bag for junk. I sometimes had a third bag that items were packed in, such as bedding and some clothing.

• When packing items into a trash bag I would write on the painters tape and then use clear packing tape over it. If you don't do this then the painters tape comes right off. 

• When we moved into the house I made Elijah a "touch up" box for Christmas. It had a small mason jar of our wall paint and one of our trim paint, two small paintbrushes and a container of spackle. We kept this container out during the move so that things could be touched up as we went. 

• When it was all said and done we contacted 1-800-GOT-JUNK? to haul a load for us instead of us trying to figure out how to get it to the dump.

Tiny House Living Lessons

 I spent the greater part of last week working on getting our things into our new tiny house and finding spots for each item. This week brings us to the start of settling into our new routines. We are hoping to get close to our normal schedule. Elijah has an office in my parents' house so he can focus and really get his work done in a quiet spot. Autzen is set up in their house too! He is at the dining room table for distance learning. The plan is for him to come find me to check in between classes to get some movement in and get some love. I'll be spending as much time as possible outside with Barrett and Grayson! I have not started our preschool schedule here yet. My goal is to have that underway next week. I am using all available time to continue to get situated. Here are some things I'm learning about small house living:

• So far I have not found it difficult to move things around for night use and day use. I was dreading this after reading about how others do it. For instance, I use the playpen to store my night clothes, the laundry basket, and random items that don't have a home yet, during the day. I also move the whole thing down a couple feet to create more living space. At night everything comes out of it and it moves closer to make night feedings easier. 

• Because our beds are in the living space I want to make sure that they add to the useable space and create a welcoming look. My goal is to make the beds daily....folks, did you read that? Make. The. Beds. Daily. I have never done this. We did make our beds every Saturday, but definitely not daily. It is a game changer to have them made though! My 12 year old's bed is the first thing you see when you come in and ours is pretty dominant. Our bed turns into a hang out spot and work space. It feels so great to glance over and see it all nice and neat! Now to see how long I can maintain this! 

• Folding clothes the Marie Kondo way has been a game changer (check out her YouTube tutorial here). Remember when I said I didn't make the bed on the daily? I also didn't fold clothes....basically ever. I hung my clothes or stuffed them into drawers, only organizing by type of clothing. My secret to folding clothes now is my 2:00 coffee! Seriously, I have to have coffee between 1:00 and 2:00 to make it through the evening. I use this late night alone time to sort, fold and put away the laundry for each person. (Guess what I'm doing right now? Staying up late after my 2:00 coffee to write this!). 

• Washing dishes after each meal. I also thought this would be really hard! So far I have been able to do it myself or delegate to Autzen! Go team!

• As I find myself tripping over an item that I haven't used in the week I have been here I am setting it aside to donate. If I still haven't needed it before a donation trip, it's out! This is so hard to do because the potential for needing something is hard to get over. Realizing that I can find a new way of doing things even if I am missing that item. This has been a huge mind shift for me.

• COMMAND HOOKS, I am about to spend a small fortune with this company. I am just getting started folks! I have them holding up a little basket for mail, on the outside of a cabinet for the used dishtowel and the inside for our duster and window towels. I may have also used the sticky parts to secure two oversized googly eyes to our armoire....

• Running our air purifier all the time to help cover the little living noises of 5 people living in a tiny space is huge. (This does not cover the noise of the ADHD 12 year old popping his knuckles one at a time or the itty bitty dog's lumberjack snoring.)

• I am still figuring out cooking and having the five of us home together in the evenings. We are definitely still finding our groove with this. 

Outside Living

To make it even more doable we are taking advantage of all possible outside time! We are blessed to be in the Pacific Northwest, and doubly so to be in Hood River! I will post more next week on our progress for our outdoor play space and hopefully our outdoor living space. Here is what we've been doing outside:

• My parents own almost 5 acres! This means lots of places to play. Autzen, at nearly 13, has no limits to where he can explore. He has been spending a great deal of time outside and it has been the best! Barrett, at 2.5 years, needs to be closely supervised because there is open water, farm tools, and a busy road. 

• Autzen has been taking on farm jobs and he takes them very seriously. He is the new goat and chicken feeder.

• Barrett has fallen in love with the tractor (their riding mower) and would live on it if I let him! The tractor happens to be in a side yard next to the barn. This side yard is the place of many trailers, a no-go go-cart and pile of things that need to go to the dump. This is where we hang out the most! It cracks me up! My next post will be centered around what we've been doing in the space. The whole family is getting in on making this space the new cool hang out.

• Feeding the goats is a highlight of our day.

• Riding bikes in the driveway. 

• Straightening up our front porch. It is finally cleared off and ready for visitors....once the pandemic has cleared....stupid Covid....

• The Indian Creek Trail  is across the street! It's beautiful and so well maintained! It is toddler friendly, mama wearing a baby friendly, grandma friendly and dog friendly....don't even get me started on how Autzen friendly it is! 

• We haven't even begun to explore the goat hill. A huge dirt pile studded with rocks, ACK, a little boy's dream! 

• There is a huge pasture to play in too that we are saving for when I remember to dress everyone in long pants....

I know that the novelty of being home full time and all the chaos of moving color my perception of what we're doing. However, I really am loving every moment of this life. It's thrilling that we made this leap!