Hi, I’m Nadia!
I’m your tiny house-obsessed friend! I discovered tiny houses at 15, and after traveling across 20 countries and embracing vanlife, I settled in Norway, turning my dream into reality with a 236-square-foot tiny house.
This blog shares my journey from renting to home ownership, nearing semi-retirement, and the joys of a simpler lifestyle.
Anyone Can Live Tiny
You don’t need to be rich to make the move to tiny living! That’s one of the biggest myths out there.
I mean, sure, we’ve all seen those $$$ super expensive tiny home builds and Sprinter vanlife rigs on YouTube, but I have great news…
Even if you currently have savings of $0 (like I did when I made the decision to buy a tiny house), you can absolutely start on your tiny house journey, and it’s going to be much quicker than you imagined.
Building OR Buying a Tiny House Can Match ANY Budget!
Tiny Living is a lifestyle that can adapt to every budget – I know tiny housers who have had a budget of $500 for materials and successfully salvaged enough to make their move to tiny living.
I’ve seen people from all income levels build and live in tiny homes, so as long as you have the passion, nothing can stop you!
I scrimped and saved to make buying a tiny house a possibility, and I wish someone had told me years just how great of a financial decision this would be.
Why This Blog Exists
⭐️ – To share my story of how buying a tiny house has changed my life for the better and inspire others!
⭐️ – To provide an out for people who (like I used to) feel disillusioned with their work/life balance and help them step into a life that works for them.
⭐️ – To inspire and educate with advice, tips, and tricks for living in a tiny house.
⭐️ – To share the financial, mental health, and environmental benefits of living in a tiny home.
⭐️ – To help debunk myths about the tiny home lifestyle being expensive or overwhelming.
My Tiny Living Journey
It all started at 15 years old when I first stumbled upon Tiny Homes on Wheels, thanks to Jay Shafer and Tumbleweed Tiny Homes.
Growing up in a 300-year-old farmhouse that definitely felt haunted, the idea of living in a home that didn’t have enough space to feel like ghosts were hiding in was definitely a selling point. (I know that this makes zero sense, I was 15).
My journey to tiny living was the furthest thing from a straight line, I ended up moving to France with a friend, then moving to Norway, where I lived for a few years before embarking on my next adventure.
Traveling Full Time
In my early twenties, after living in Norway for a few years, it was time to travel the world; there wasn’t a time frame in mind or a map of where I’d go – but it ended up being 6 years and 20 countries later that I paused from traveling full-time.
I won’t say “stopped” because I’m sure I’ll get back to it one day!
Full-time travel is the biggest adventure, filled with incredible new experiences, but I’d be lying if I said there weren’t challenges.
I always dreaded a travel day. Lugging all of my belongings in my hand luggage, waiting in airports, and then spending hours and hours in airplanes getting from A to B.
Don’t get me wrong, I fully appreciate how lucky I was to live this life, but it was tiring.
The Switch to Vanlife
And so, after five years of traveling here, there, and everywhere – I bought a 1969 VW bus called Red, and the adventure continued, but this time it was slower.
I got to stay in places for as long as I wanted, not just until the next flight was booked.
Living in a VW bus is an adventure in itself – my home was a whopping 46 square feet! But for someone who lived out of hand luggage for five years, Red felt like a palace!
Pressing Pause on Travel
After six incredible years, it was time to have a base to call home again.
I missed my friends in Norway, and so the decision to move back to Norway was made.
Even after living in 20 different countries, Norway is still one of my very favorites.
Norway is not only a beautiful country, but the culture of Norway is one that encourages you to be out in nature, to make the most of life – and to work to live, not live to work.
Stuck Renting
When I first moved back to Norway, I rented an apartment, and then when Covid struck – a house in the country.
But whether I was renting in the city or the country, it was so expensive that I was spending so much time working just to pay for the rent of a house I couldn’t enjoy because I was busy working.
Yep, that old vicious cycle.
Then one day, everything changed…
One Sunday, I headed to a town I’d not visited before to try out a coffee shop I’d heard about.
And right there, in the middle of town – there was a tiny house!
Tiny House Dreams Coming True
I had managed to visit this town on the exact day that they were having a festival with tiny house tours; what are the odds?
I hopped in the queue to tour the tiny house, and it was perfect.
It had everything you need, a fully functioning kitchen, a living room area, a bathroom, and a surprisingly spacious loft bedroom.
I knew that minute that I would do anything to get my own tiny house.
The Journey to Buying a Tiny House
Once I’d made the decision to buy a tiny house, then began the arduous research process.
I had to learn everything about:
- Tiny House Rules
- Tiny Home Mortgages
- Winters in Tiny Houses in Scandinavia
- And all of the things you wouldn’t think about, like electricity and water hookups.
Six Months Later
It took less than six months from me making the decision that I was going to buy a tiny house to move in.
But this was 17 years after my tiny house obsession had first begun.
I had the advantage of having consumed every piece of tiny home content I could get my hands on over the years.
Living in a VW bus as a full-time vanlifer definitely gave me more insight than most.
And having traveled full-time, I’d already experienced life in alternative dwellings with treehouses, geodesic domes, and boats.
The Financial Side of Things
Going from renting to moving into a tiny house in just six months involved a lot of scrimping and saving, but I wish someone had told me sooner just how great of a financial decision this would be for me.
Now that I’m living tiny, I’m not just no longer living paycheck to paycheck, but I am very close to my goal of early retirement, all within three years of stumbling upon that tiny house tour!
Join my Tiny Living Community
If you’re into tiny or alternative living, I’d love to invite you to join my email list, with a community of tiny-housers, vanlifers, boat lifers, and wannabe tiny lifers!
I provide unique content that is not available anywhere else, and I would be delighted to include you in it!
Keep Living Tiny xx
