I never pictured myself living in a tiny home, but now I can’t imagine my life without it.
In 2018, my marriage of 18 years ended. I had been living in a four-bedroom, three-bathroom, 3,000-square-foot house near Boulder, Colorado with my now ex-husband, our two kids and dogs.
I was ready for a change of scenery. But the houses for sale in my area were out of my budget, so I had to get creative. When I saw a trend of tiny houses on social media, I was immediately intrigued and decided to go for it.
Today, I live in a 520-square-foot house with a modern farmhouse interior, and I have a community of 160,000 followers on Instagram, where I share tips about the tiny house lifestyle.
How I built my tiny home on wheels
In 2019, I bought a tiny house shell from a local builder for $45,000. I paid $3,000 for a floorplan that he could work off of.
He gave me a price quote (that ended up being very unrealistic) and told me everything would be done within six to eight months. But eight months later, there was no progress. I knew it was time to move on.
So I reached out to a different builder, MitchCraft Tiny Homes, to take over the project in June 2020. Their estimate was a little higher than my budget, but they seemed knowledgeable and trustworthy.
Due to the pandemic, there were supply chain delays and increased cost of materials. And the shell needed a lot of exterior repair work before the builders could finish the inside.
But in January 2021, it was finally ready for me to move into.
I spent almost double what I had planned, but it was still significantly less than the traditional houses that I initially looked at.
Overall, it cost me around $175,000 to build the home, which included the prefabricated shell structure, labor and material costs.
To pay for everything, I used the $85,000 I got from the sale of my home (my husband and I split the profits) and a $90,000 loan from a close friend.
I pay $725 a month in housing costs, which covers a parking space (in the backyard of…
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