Who We Are
Image by Ash & James Photography
High-school sweethearts from a small town in southeast Minnesota. We also attended college in southeastern Minnesota prior to moving to Minneapolis/Saint Paul for work. We enjoy being outdoors, whether it be golfing, hiking, boating, or just reading a book by a pool. After our first wedding anniversary, we encountered a rare medical issue with Emily that gave us quite a scare. Only a handful of surgeons perform this particular surgery in the United States, so we traveled to Texas in April 2016 to have the procedure done. The surgery went well and she is almost back to %100. When encountering adversity, there is a tendency to come out the other side with a new take on life. That journey completely changed our priorities forever.
Five years ago we purchased our first home. It was a new construction build in the suburbs with 2,800 square feet, and we got to pick out everything we wanted. We quickly realized this was just way too much space, and we didn't need it one bit. We decided to move into the city to a 1,600 square foot home that was more appropriate for our lifestyle. Two and a half bedrooms, a finished basement, and your standard living quarters. Surprisingly enough, we determined that we still had a lot of unused space. The house and the neighborhood was great, but with the mortgage, taxes, utilities, upkeep, etc., we could not justify spending such a large portion of our income just for a roof over our heads. We were gone every weekend anyways! As Emily's medical issue arose, we thought to ourselves; what would be the first thing to go if she could no longer work? The house. As this was occurring, we had been watching Tiny House Hunters a lot on HGTV. We tossed the idea around a bit and thought to ourselves, "not a bad backup plan, but let's be realistic." Emily started to feel better 3-6 months after surgery, and fortunately she would maintain her employment, which put a kibosh to the Tiny House idea.
A few months later, we brought the Tiny House idea up again and said to ourselves, "we should do this." We can eliminate monthly expenses and not be tied down to any particular location. We freed up resources to spend more time LIVING: travelling, getting outside, and dining out (one of our favorite things to do!). Simply put: more money to DO THINGS, rather than OWN THINGS. And so began the down-sizing as we purchased a Tiny Home from Wind River Tiny Homes in Chattanooga, TN.
In four years, we were able to go from a 2,800 square foot home to less than 250 square feet. It has been extremely liberating and has opened our eyes to what life can and should be.
Five years ago we purchased our first home. It was a new construction build in the suburbs with 2,800 square feet, and we got to pick out everything we wanted. We quickly realized this was just way too much space, and we didn't need it one bit. We decided to move into the city to a 1,600 square foot home that was more appropriate for our lifestyle. Two and a half bedrooms, a finished basement, and your standard living quarters. Surprisingly enough, we determined that we still had a lot of unused space. The house and the neighborhood was great, but with the mortgage, taxes, utilities, upkeep, etc., we could not justify spending such a large portion of our income just for a roof over our heads. We were gone every weekend anyways! As Emily's medical issue arose, we thought to ourselves; what would be the first thing to go if she could no longer work? The house. As this was occurring, we had been watching Tiny House Hunters a lot on HGTV. We tossed the idea around a bit and thought to ourselves, "not a bad backup plan, but let's be realistic." Emily started to feel better 3-6 months after surgery, and fortunately she would maintain her employment, which put a kibosh to the Tiny House idea.
A few months later, we brought the Tiny House idea up again and said to ourselves, "we should do this." We can eliminate monthly expenses and not be tied down to any particular location. We freed up resources to spend more time LIVING: travelling, getting outside, and dining out (one of our favorite things to do!). Simply put: more money to DO THINGS, rather than OWN THINGS. And so began the down-sizing as we purchased a Tiny Home from Wind River Tiny Homes in Chattanooga, TN.
In four years, we were able to go from a 2,800 square foot home to less than 250 square feet. It has been extremely liberating and has opened our eyes to what life can and should be.
Image by ashandjamesphotography.com
Also - we have the best dog in the world, his name is Bubba and he is on this wild ride with us.