“I waited like an expectant mother for the arrival of my trailer and frame pack,” Kathleen McCann. Photo: Kathleen McCann.
It all began with a friend who was totally besotted with the trend of tiny home designs.
The popular Youtube/TV series – Living Big in a Tiny Home, was feeding his addiction, soon I was watching and dreaming as well.
The dye was cast and now I am on my own tiny house journey.
Most of my peers are middle-aged to senior single women. We are the demographic that welfare organisations, and some in the media, seem to be worried about.
I own nothing and I have no Super, so I fit that bill perfectly. In this ever-changing, dynamic political and crazy climate times, it does seem logical to try and secure a ‘place of one’s own’ – even if it is on wheels, as I enter the last few decades of my life.
So how the hell do I do that?
Friends and family it seems, certainly not a bank! I had a call from a long-time friend who was concerned about me after seeing my Facebook rant, but it was enough for her to ring – after not hearing from her for 20 years. She said to call her any time for anything, she was very happy to help me out.
Another friend suggested I go with her and meet some friends of hers who were starting to branch out with their steel framing company and building tiny homes – The Steel Framing Company on Moorlands Lane at Frog’s Hollow, south of Bega. Lovely people and so enthusiastic. They usually design and build enormous structures all over Australia, but had recently decided to take on tiny homes as a creative outlet. They were incredibly keen to help me out.
Kathleen McCann. Photo: Kathleen McCann.
And so it was that I ended up taking on a personal loan (from my darling friend on the phone), buying a 9 metre steel trailer and a custom-designed steel frame flat pack. I cried most of the day when it all came together. Very overwhelmed with the kindness and generosity shown to me. Plus the fact that now it was all going to become real!
Uh oh! I have to go through with it now! The drama and challenges I love seeing others rise above on the TV.
Next issue – my tiny house had to go somewhere. Another friend was struggling to cope with her property of five acres after the passing of her partner a couple of years ago. We had the conversation of what it would look like to share the block. A tiny home on the block was the perfect answer. My own space as well as helping to care for the land and garden belonging to my friend as my rent.
I waited like an expectant mother for the arrival of my trailer and frame pack.
It’s now sitting proudly in the paddock near the shed awaiting the next phase. Now I have to earn enough money to not only start the process of buying the ‘skin and innards’ for the build but to also start paying back my loan.
Most of my friends and family have been paying off debt for years – I decided long ago to opt-out of that as I really like living minimally and sustainably and have always rented – I’m up to 60+ rental homes since my birth! Till now that is! Woohoo!
Wish me luck and stay tuned for the next instalment in my tiny house adventure.
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