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Today’s interview is with the duo Ron & Sue Corl and their life in the Shiny Tiny Mansion. Read on to learn more!
Aly: What is your sq. ft.?
Ron & Sue (R&S): It’s funny, but back in 2006 when I was finishing up building the house, I calculated from my “pencil plans” that we were just over 600SF. Recently with the attention we’ve been getting, I remeasured. I had figured the exterior dimensions. After remeasuring the interior living space 4 times and calculating 5 times, I discovered that the interior space in our cottage is about 450SF. So it seems that over the years we have shrunk, LOL!
Aly: What is the layout like? (Any lofts, bedrooms, office, living space, etc.?)
R&S: The house is a living room, mud room/kitchen, & bath downstairs. The loft bedroom is upstairs. That’s it if you don’t count Sue’s 140SF studio outside that’s attached to the shed!
Aly: How long have you lived tiny?
R&S: Since we were married in 1986! 28 years as of this post. We know nothing else. We have lived in small apartments, then 2 small homes before this one. We also lived in a 190SF camper for 6 years whilst I built the Shiny Tiny Mansion we live in now. We lived in that camper with 3 cats and the stupidest hound dog (Ruby) you have ever seen! Now, we live with one smart cat and one dumb one : )
Aly: What made you decide to live tiny?
R&S: We never made a conscious decision to live small. It was never a choice for us financially, and it simply never occurred to us to live large. We were always too busy trying to make a living or going to school or creating art or generally being too busy and creative to worry about having a formal dining room or 3rd bedroom or even a second bedroom for that matter. That’s why sometimes it’s hard for us to keep talking on our blog.
It’s second nature to us, and we find nothing special about it . . . until it comes to utility bills or needing a new roof. Then, living in a Tiny becomes very special. A new roof may be $2000 instead of $20,000. We just had our first ever $150 electric bill after a month of non-stop window (whole house) air conditioning in July. This month it was $80 with cooler weather again. Lower living costs are like giving yourself a raise!!!
Aly: How have friends and family reacted to your tiny place?
R&S: They all LOVE the cabin, but almost every one of them tells us they could never live like us. Most – but not all! Maybe it’s the tiny size or my TV Tray Office that sits in front of our 36″ flat screen that I am using as a monitor right now. We walk around this TV tray / office every day to get to the bathroom. The bathroom has a killer shower though and overall is a large 80SF, but our sawdust composting toilet is a great, gross novelty to most. If they could live in our Tiny, the sawdust/composting toilet is almost always the deal breaker, LOL!
Aly: What was the journey like transitioning to tiny?
R&S: That’s funny to us since it’s always been our norm! We transitioned from about a 900SF house in Louisiana to moving back home to Ohio and living with Sue’s parents for a couple years in a 150SF bedroom. We ran a large eBay business out of that room, and the small basement doubled as a tv/shipping/packing space. We did that and would drive 60 miles one way, 5 days a week to work here at the farm. It’s actually a tree farm, but a farm non-the-less. We then moved into the 7′ wide x 28′ long 1969 camper. That’s the one we lived in for 6 years while I built the cottage. There are stories of snakes and mice that we will save for another time. They lived with us off and on in that lovely Rusty Musty Camper!
Aly: Do you have any advice for someone wanting to downsize?
R&S: It’s a philosophical question really with no great steps involved. It’s a frame of mind more than a physical letting go. Even if you have an auction and sell everything you own, if you don’t alter your thought process, you’ll just start “collecting” again until you have a small house full of stuff. We still struggle with it a little 😉
“Stuff” will never make you happy for more than a very short window of time. Creativity is your best friend– be that quilting, painting, music, writing, woodworking . . . Even thinking deeply can be a great comfort that is yours alone. We are a society of ownership, yet we never seem to realize that it’s not the owning – it’s the experiencing. You can’t own the night sky or the ocean, but you can experience great joy from them. Buying some new shoes may make you excited and wearing them for the first time may make you the Belle of the Ball – but what about later. The second time won’t be as good, and you probably won’t wear them a 3rd time since your friends have already seen their sparkly magic. “Oh, those are the shoes you wore to the ball right? Fabulous!” your friend says with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. So they just cost you $50 per wearing, and you are done with them – “Brilliant!” I say sarcastically. Could have taken a picture of them and kept them in your heart forever.
Somewhere along our recent human timeline, we’ve mixed up desire with owning. Desire can be a great driver for our potential but owning kills the desire. If you’re driving passion is shoes, why not learn to design your own. That would show your true human potential instead of just buying what someone else has designed. Let pure creativity, in whatever form you choose, be your desire & driving passion and you will find quickly that you no longer desire so much external stuff. The stuff you gather internally is where true human potential and fulfillment lies!
Don’t forget to connect with Ron & Sue! You can find them (and more beautiful photos) here:
Connect w/ Ron & Susan Corl
Website/Blog – shinytinymansion.com
Instagram – shinytinymansion
Facebook – Shiny Tiny Mansion
Twitter – realshinytiny
Do you live in 500 sq ft or less? Let us know! We’d love to feature you on our “Tiny Segment.”
Blessings,
Aly
For tips on how to begin your decluttering journey, you can Start Here, or snag a copy of the 30 Day Challenge (our Minimalism and Decluttering eBook).
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