Hi Steemit community! I am taking the plunge, simplifying everything, and living in a tiny home. All the way from Seattle to the midwest cornfields. I would like to share the story of my curious dream of living in a tiny home and my love for crypto and bitcoin. I found Steemit from staring at coinmarketcap all day until my eyes bled. I am a crypto nut and my 1 year crypto nut anniversary is right around the corner. Love seeing a community like this where people can share their lives and stories and it is all decentralized!
This is the home.
Me professionally . . .
For the last 15 years I have been self-employed via the internet. I graduated from a four year University with a degree that I would need a PhD in to make any money so after a few low paying jobs I turned to the internet. I love creating and design so I taught myself HTML, CSS, some backend stuff, and anything else I needed to create a website and run it on my own. Over the years I built websites, gave private computer lessons, ran Ebay and Etsy stores, and my latest venture has been all things CRYPTO/BITCOIN - trading, collecting, speculating, obsessing, you name it! All 15 years I have managed to avoid corporate life, live in a city, and make enough money to keep the dream alive.
Me as a volunteer . . .
I have been volunteering my time with many causes since I was teenager, I do not feel complete unless I donate my time and give back in some way. I have volunteered with Special Olympics, been a crisis intervention counselor, a homeless advocate, and most recently moved all the way from a front desk volunteer answering phones to President of the Board of Directors at a crisis intervention organization in Seattle. In the 32 years the organization has been in existence I became the youngest board member at the age of 39. This was the biggest accomplishment of my life of my professional life! I did not get paid for the board position but it was priceless to me. Below is the view I had from my balcony : )
Sudden change of direction . . .
In the middle of my Presidency and living in a neighborhood overlooking the Space Needle I got a call in the early morning hours that my father had a stroke back in the midwest. I am one of two children and the both of us flew home right away. It was clear that my mother was going to need help and my father may not make a recovery so I made the decision to leave everything behind in Seattle and move back to the midwest. My sister could not have moved back because she had just given birth to her first child and has a demanding corporate job.
WOW . . .
What has happened over the last year and a half has been challenging, some of it to be expected. Caregiving is both wonderful and complicated. Because caring for my father and helping my mother was more time consuming than I expected, I lost 70% of my income and in 2015 I filed the lowest tax return in 15 years. I lost clients, confidence, and my mojo. My father made a MIRACULOUS recovery and is even back to work! His quick recovery meant I was pretty much free to move on but not sure what the hell I was doing, staying or going, or what . . .
The NOW . . .
I never say die and in the last 6 months I have been getting back to my regular income but I am not ready to make it back to the west coast, and I am not sure if I want to go back for now. Instead I am going all in and renting a tiny home that will be a FRACTION of what I was paying on the west coast. I have been watching a lot of Tiny House, Big Living on HGTV and have been dreaming about doing it! The freedom from high city costs and the shackles of a mortgage appeal to me. One day on craigslist I saw it and could not believe my eyes! This is my solution! I am moving in over the next 2 weeks and want share my journey. It will be 440 square feet of indoor living space with a 100 square foot sun-porch.
I have confidence that this will work well for me at this time in my life. I think that tiny home living is the future. McMansions seem to be on their way out and people are looking to simplify. Less is more. I want to share my story and hopefully show that it is possible to do tiny home living. I am also a crypto enthusiast because I think it can do wonders for the planet on a financial level and further societal levels. Banking the unbanked and giving everyone in the world a level playing field would be beautiful. Hey… I am an Idealist. Let’s see what happens!