Small Cabin Living

Times are tough now, so many people are turning to alternatives to the standard large mortage and big house combination. Some of us have been following that path for years. Here is our story.When my husband and I wanted to live on our mountain property, but we didn't have a lot of money to start out. We decided we wanted to build anyway, so the only way it was going to happen was if we went with a small cabin. We built a small cabin with a lot of hard work. We went under 500 square feet for our home.

Our decision to build a small cabin has helped us save money in a number of ways over the years. Our small house with less than 500 square feet is an economical home for us as a couple. We save money in our small cabin in a number of ways. The smaller footprint means a smaller tax bill. There is less space to heat. There is less of our money spent on decorating a smaller space. The house is small allowing a mortgage to be smaller. In difficult financial times, it has given us a small housing cost.It has allowed us to keep within our budget, even when times were difficult. With a very simple design, this cabin will allow us to add on later.

Our small cabin is are taking up less space than a larger home. It used less materials and disrupted less area in our mountain landscape. We were able to pay for the materials as we went. We salvaged what we could from other projects and used timber from our land for inside beams and stairs.

With a lot of insulation in our walls and floor, our small cabin is heated easily by a small woodstove even in the dead of winter when it is 20 below . A fan in the high ceiling moves the air around more easily.

We finished the inside of the cabin, while we were living it it. We took plastic to the loft and sealed it off from the rest of the cabin, while we drywalled the inside. While it wasn't very pleasant, it allowed us to avoid paying rent for another year. We lived without water, hauling all our water from town in ten gallon jugs, until we were able to pay for the plumbing and sewer. We knew how to conserve water from many camping trips and working in the woods. We toughed all this out to avoid having a large mortgage over our heads. For the inside of our cabin, we have decorated it with unique collection of salvaged items, gifts from friends and items from thrift shops.