Huge Tiny House Needs A Storage Unit

When we began this venture, who knew that we would decide that the Huge Tiny House would really be enough. But as we finish each project we are finding that we are adapting to the size. Every day we reassess what we need to keep in the house. Often at the end of the day we have a big bag to take to the donation center, as well as a rather large bag of just old chemicals, and useless stuff that never should have been in the house in the first place. Things like the dollar store gifts that have come our way over the years. Thoughtful, absolutely, but the only purpose these things have served, has been to fill up the nooks and crannies in the house, for they are never used. Then there is the guilt of throwing away a gift that went unused. Yesterday, as I sorted several shelves in one of the two main closets in the house, I found a set of Old Spice aftershave my husband had been gifted at least ten years ago. I made the mistake of spraying the cologne to see if it had turned. It was a blunder with consequences, it had turned and I had to open the door for two hours to get rid of the smell. There were also at least fifteen bottles of unused shampoo, one of them was from my husband’s stash before we got married. That was many years ago, but still it was saved, for we were both taught you should not waste anything.  Never opened, I doubt the shelf life of shampoo is fifteen years. You know where it ended up, in that garbage bag.

This behavior, does come from being a junker at heart, a collector of vintage, and of being restorers and resellers of collectibles. That can bring habits of saving everything, it is also taught behavior, when you have parents that tell you not to waste anything. Better to learn to not buy wastefully I think, but that took a lot of time to learn. We are finding that we both are getting pretty good as recognizing the worthless stuffed between the memorabilia. It is fueled by the lack of space in our Tiny House, and the desire to no longer deal with old habits of tucking stuff away but not throwing it away. If you want to give me a gift, make it a packet of Heritage seeds, deer proof plants and sharp pebbles, I need rock for the new road. Just send me a baggie full of this size: everyone and soon my road will be more storm proof. Har, har.

Now comes a serious endeavor, since we have not had any space to work with we have kept our things in storage for the last nine months. What a serious waste of money but necessary at least somewhat anyway.

Gracious as all those helpers were when we were suddenly thrust out of home and business, they did not know how to sort the chafe from the wheat, I was no help, I was busy putting my business on hiatus, as well as grieving for my friend who had passed, and so was distracted. I just told them to stuff it all in boxes and that is exactly what they did, stuff everything including the garbage can from under the counter, into a box.  

It is now coming home tomorrow. Before it gets into the truck, I will open the boxes to determine if they come home or not. I shall be brutal and slice out as much as possible. 

We have built an eight by eight storage unit right on the property. Or rather, we have built enough of it to use it while we finish building it over the next two weeks. But the stuff comes home tomorrow. We will keep the tools, and the basics. We will sort the stuff for trash, donations, re-sale and then keep only the barest minimum. Every stick of furniture that we have used over the years will be sold. None of it will fit in the house. We will have a separate sale for the collectibles. At the end of the summer, the storage unit will be converted to a Tiny House for guests. Separate from the house, we will eventually tie them together with decking. For now though, it is pretty ugly. Have I said? I am terrific with wallpapering pigs.

No not the real ones, but the beasts of mismatched materials will be hidden under an adorable façade once we get to that point. For now, this is the result.

No it is not pretty at the moment but the purpose is to force ourselves into getting rid of everything that use useless to this downsized lifestyle. Not having something completely secure, will make me get in there and get rid of everything that is just cluttering up our lives. We already re-homed my vintage couch, chair and footstool, now everything else must be down-sized.

Total cost? $28.00, plus tax. The posts are new, so are the structural two by fours used to put the array of doors. However, we picked them up for 70% off the original price. We also picked up the tar paper for a dollar at a garage sale and the serious cost of the chip board, which was $17.00. The plan is to put a thin decorative skin over it. We have collected most of that too, but it will not go on until the end of April. Our neighbors, they shake their heads at us, but they have figured out that just because it is ugly in the beginning does not mean it will not be quite nice once it is finished. As long as the foundation is solid, the core is structural and the materials are sound, it does not matter what it looks like.

I will dress the pig up, for if we ever determine we have to sell, (NEVER!) pretty goes over much better than ugly, but serviceable will work for now.