Tiny go Lightly

Living sustainably and designing my lifestyle to be meaningful and low impact. My story of building and living in a tiny house, in Gippsland, Victoria

  • About
  • Contact
  • Events & Media
Ravenscroft Farm and the road ahead
April 15, 2019

Ravenscroft Farm and the road ahead

Moving out, moving on
January 14, 2019

Moving out, moving on

Is this goodbye?
November 9, 2018

Is this goodbye?

Increasing your influence – what more could you be doing?
October 9, 2018

Increasing your influence – what more could you be doing?

Staying slow in the rat race – is it possible?
August 30, 2018

Staying slow in the rat race – is it possible?

May Day: the realities of living on solar power
July 24, 2018

May Day: the realities of living on solar power

A tiny vacuum – Dyson V6 Slim review
June 1, 2018

A tiny vacuum – Dyson V6 Slim review

A homesteading summer
May 22, 2018

A homesteading summer

Insurance and safety for tiny houses
March 20, 2018

Insurance and safety for tiny houses

Laying a floating floor: my birthday wish comes true!
January 16, 2018

Laying a floating floor: my birthday wish comes true!

Posts navigation

1 2 … 7 Next

About Me

Sarah Smethurst is the owner builder of an off grid tiny house in Gippsland, Victoria.

Archives

Categories

  • Adventures
  • Construction
  • Environment
  • Food
  • Living
  • Planning
  • Plumbing
  • Solar
  • Tools
  • Uncategorized
  • Zero Waste

Instagram

  • And there’s our tiny! Today’s tree lopping and general landscaping has cleared a path to the nearest driveway, where she’ll roll on down to the road. One big worry taken care of! Tomorrow’s jobs include dismantling the solar set up, taking the flu down, disconnecting the plumbing and hopefully relocating our veggie boxes too. 3 days to go. Eeep! #movingdayiscoming #tinyonthemove #tinyhouse
  • This lush garden has been home for 2 years. The garden has also changed in those years, so much so that the tiny needs a new way out. This morning, we dig! #tinyonthemove #tinygolightly #4moresleeps #hittheroad
  • 4 days to go. #tinyonthemove #relocation #hittheroad #gippsland
  • 8 days and counting until the tiny hits the road! Find out where we’re moving to and how you can join us in the latest blog post. Link to post in bio 👆🏼 #tinyhouseaccommodation #airbnb #newadventures #gippsland
  • Trucks on my mind... Last night someone came to do a site inspection and assess whether he’d be able to move the tiny for us. His exact response was, ‘Yeah, nah, that looks alright.’ I love country towns and the people in them 😂💜 . . Moving day is swiftly approaching and so much to do before then, eeep! There was some debate about whether we’d just tow the tiny as is or whether it would safer to load the whole thing onto a truck. The tiny measures 4.1 metres from the ground, so getting it up onto another trailer was always going to be dubious. Last night we agreed that with a height limit even for tow trucks of 4.6 metres it’s just not going to happen. . . This girl is going to be rolling on her very own wheels. Which is what she was made to do! Doesn’t mean I’m not feeling slightly nervous about the whole thing still 😬 . . #tinyonthemove #towtruck #nervousmuch #tinyhouse #relocating
  • We lucked out in a totally unexpected way when we bought this house, by becoming next door neighbours with a friendly, generous and like minded family. Having a good relationship with your neighbours goes so much further than you ever really realise. Here’s just one example: we still don’t have half the things most people do when they own their own home - a lawn mower included. It was top of our shopping list by the time we moved in. Before we’d committed to buying our own mower, our neighbours chimed Iin and offered to lend us theirs. Anytime. And it was a genuine offer. So instead of a new mower, we’ve invested in community minded neighbours who want to minimise buying new things and maximise the use of them. We’ve found neighbours who trust us to share things that aren’t needed every day and who accept our home cooked dinners and neighbourly favours in return. We’ve made new friends and found a new community, right outside our own door. And I couldn’t feel luckier! Thank you @clch1986 for welcoming us so warmly to the street 💜 To the rest of you - no time like the present to get out and borrow that cup of sugar! 😉 (link to a very timely article about the importance of neighbours and building community in the comments by @yesmagazine_ ). #neighbours #community #sharingiscaring #minimalism #consumeless
  • Holy snap cakes! Is this what people call ‘bill shock’?! As someone who hasn’t had a utility bill for more than a few years, I can say with confidence that I was definitely shocked when I saw this. . Is this why people ask me about living off grid so often?! Far out. I was mostly focused on the environmental benefits when I spoke about it, but I’m starting to understand the financial appeal more too. The thing that gets my goat most about these bills (electricity too) is the service charges. It frustrates me that there’s no huge benefit to being efficient with your resource consumption when service charges make up such a huge amount of the bill. We are charged $813.33 a year flat rate for sewage treatment, no questions asked. That seems like an awful lot for something that my bucket did for free for two years. I say this, not to diminish the importance of sanitary services like waste water treatment, or to be ungrateful. I get that services and infrastructure cost money. But it does boggle the brain a little that only 6% of this bill goes towards paying for our usage. Is this just me being naive? Or is it more naive to accept without question that this is just the way it has to be? I have to say, I’ve never missed pooing in a bucket as much as I do right now. #bills #offgrid #composttoilet #utilities #water
  • Don’t be fooled - degradable plastic bags are still plastic bags! . #plasticfree #banthebag #sustainability #degradable #dontthinkso
  • Buying an older house was an important part of our sustainability strategy. We wanted to avoid the use of resources and energy required for new materials as much as possible. Older houses often come with downsides though. While less energy is used by not building a new house, more energy is often needed to heat, cool and live in older places. . . Today we had an energy assessment from @energisegippsland, which looked at all the major elements of our house. I even got to use a thermal camera to see where the heat was sneaking in! It was pretty cool 🤓 . . Our personal consumption of energy is very low and we were pleased to hear that our cooling, heating and hot water systems are all quite efficient. The major improvements would be adding wall insulation, filling gaps in the floors and walls and adding window coverings (heavy curtains, extended eaves or external awnings). Plus solar power of course! . . There weren’t any major surprises for us but it’s definitely worth understanding the efficiency of your house better. Now as we plan our projects for the year we can start with some big wins and know that our regular sized house is having the smallest impact it can. . . After all, living tiny isn’t about the size of your house. Don’t wait until you’re in a tiny house to downsize your impact. Get started today! . #energyassessment #gippsland #tinyliving #sustainableliving #lowwaste

Follow Me!

  • Elara Pro by LyraThemes.com
  • Made by LyraThemes.com