Tilly's 30th Birthday Tiny-raiser

I’m turning 30, and I don’t need any more stuff! What I do need is your help to achieve my goal of building my own tiny house on wheels!

For a while now I’ve had some preliminary plans for my tiny house in the works, but the craziness of moving states, finding work in a pandemic, a surprise divorce and about a hundred other things have meant I’m not as close as I’d like to be to getting my home off the ground (and onto some wheels!)

If you’d like to gift me something for this milestone here’s your chance. I would LOVE your support in taking my tiny home from the dreaming/designing stages to the building stages!

AND everyone who makes a donation (or who supports the project in any way) will be visually represented on my actual tiny house! I’m still coming up with the best way to represent you all (ideas welcome), but think- little etchings of your names, colourful tiles that represent you to me, drawings of you... Whatever I come up with, you and the support you’ve given me will be forever a part of my home!

All donations no matter how small mean the absolute world to me and will help me get closer to building my own home. And if you have any skills to offer instead, please get in contact. I’ll need all the help I can get to get this thing rolling!

A bit of the Back Story

For a long time I have been dreaming of owning my own home, but for equally as long owning a home has felt like an unachievable dream. My choices to prioritise my artistic gifts, to live, study and work based on purpose rather than money, and to donate some of my time to volunteering, has often meant that I’m a bit behind financially. While I love the choices I’ve made around how I value my time, these choices have meant thinking a bit more creatively about what home ownership might look like for me. So in recent years I’ve been researching, watching documentaries and working on my own floor plan for my very own tiny house on wheels.

What is a tiny house?

According to The Australian Tiny House Association (ATHA) ‘a Tiny House is a moveable dwelling suitable for permanent residential use, with self contained amenities and services and the option to be grid connected.’ Most tiny houses in Australia are built on skids or wheels, or in shipping containers, which makes them easily transportable. As more and more people find themselves unable to enter the housing market many people are turning to tiny houses as an accessible housing option. The growing ‘tiny-house movement’ is characterised by downsized living, living simply and living with less.

Why I’m choosing tiny?

- I really struggle with ‘stuff’. We all have it, and I both love and hate it. In a tiny house space has to be used wisely, and in this space there will only be room for what I really need. This means I will have to really assess what is essential and keep excess stuff to a minimum. I’d love to move towards this way of living with only what I really need.

- Because my house will be on wheels, this will allow me the freedom to take my house with me if I need to move to a new area! How good is that?

- A big motivation for building my own tiny house is my desire to live more sustainably. All going well, my tiny house will be self-sustaining, complete with solar power and composting toilet. This will allow me to have a much smaller impact on the environment, and will also mean I can park it anywhere without needing to plug into the grid.

- Building my own home will allow me to really design the space for what I value. So every part of my tiny house will be designed with creativity, community and sustainability in mind. Even though it will be small, it will be full of clever tricks to make the small space both useable and hospitable. This will allow me to comfortably live and create art, but also to host you all for dinner!

So there you have it. If you’d like to know more please don’t hesitate to ask. Thank you so much for being part of the journey with me!