The ORIGINAL Tiny House

December 11, 2015

Tiny House Living

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My Surprise Birthday Party 🙂

For the past few years I have been FASCINATED with the tiny house movement.  I devour new episodes of ALL Tiny House shows on HGTV…or at least I did when we had cable 🙂  These days, I’m content with reading blogs about it like Two Cup House and Mini Motives.  Hint:  Go check them out!  A funny thing happened this week.  Yesterday, to be exact.  As I was reading two said blogs, it hit me like a ton of bricks.  I lived the first two decades of my life in a tiny house.  The ORIGINAL tiny house.  I lived in a trailer, and our trailer was smaller than most.  Ours was 8′ x 50′, computing to a total living space of 400SF!  And no, I’m not going to be politically correct and call it a mobile home.  It was our trailer.  We had two adults, four kids, and 1 small Boston Terrier in our meticulous, trailer (aka tiny home).  Here I am asking questions to other FIRE bloggers about how they manage to live in such a small space, not even realizing that I was a master myself.

I fully believe I had blocked my trailer experience out of my mind because it was always a source of embarrassment for me, growing up.

Living Large

Last year, Mr. Mad Money Monster and I nearly committed financial suicide by buying a HUGE home (3,000SF) we could barely afford.  Thankfully, the home had mold and we were able to get out of the contract.  The relief I felt after we cancelled our contract was amazing.  For a brief moment, I felt Financial Freedom!  Suddenly, our small home (1300SF) felt pretty freakin’ spectacular.  It was small, but affordable.  This experience gave rise to this blog and my transformation of always trying to keep up with The Imaginary Joneses and be happy with what I have.  After all, I put myself through college, including graduate school, and have a high-paying career.  I’m doing all the right things.  I don’t NEED a huge house, nor will having a huge house make me happier.  Period.

Happy Happy!

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My Dad Painting Our “Skirt”  That’s Me!

Then another thing happened!  I realized that my childhood was spectacular!  Yes, I always wished I had a real house, yes, I was embarrassed when other kids found out where I lived.  I was so embarrassed, in fact, that I would start walking up the street after getting off the bus if someone new was riding home with a friend.  I didn’t want them to see me walking to a trailer.  This embarrassment was mainly because I grew up on the RIGHT side of the tracks with kids who lived in glorious, suburban, 80s cookie cutter homes.  But, I was HAPPY!  I mean, really happy.  I had a ton of fun growing up in our trailer with my 3 sibs.  I wouldn’t trade my childhood for the world.  I often think I have that to thank for the person I am today.  Despite the awesomeness of our family and trailer, there was a negative stigma thrown at me by some of the other kids.  I never felt like I was on their level and I always needed to prove my worth.  Unfortunately, or fortunately, that has persisted my entire life.  See Living Large above.  But, I feel I have finally stopped letting my emotions control my consumerism in order to prove something.  I have embraced our trailer.  Now, I am proud to say it!  My only regret about our tiny trailer is that it wasn’t cool back then 🙂

Who’s In The Driver’s Seat?

Who’s in your driver’s seat?  Your emotions?  If so, kick those suckas outta there and ENGAGE YOUR BRAIN.  Trust me, The Joneses don’t care about you, and despite their large home and flashy cars, they’re probably just scraping by.

How do you feel about tiny living?  How do you feel about trailer living?  And, is a tiny house the cool version of a trailer?

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Mad Money Cat NOT loving his photo opp

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