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

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Moving Day – part one
June 12, 2019

Moving Day – part one

Taking down the flue
April 21, 2019

Taking down the flue

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

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About Me

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

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  • In a world where we often feel powerless, community is an empowering space to start for making change. It’s bigger than the individual, so the changes are more effective. But it’s also within our reach and we can all have a strong influence on our community right away. Relationships and conversations help ideas to grow and spread, this happens naturally in a strong and well connected community. But these connections can be few and far between in our modern, busy lives, where money and faceless shops now provide us with most things people used to trade or share. Without the interdependence, the sharing of resources and the relationships that villages and small towns used to have, we have to find new ways to connect with our communities. I could write so much on the power of community - it’s my source of hope among the despair at the moment. Last night was our first community dinner - 17 people from all walks of live coming together to share a space and a meal. We made new friends, reconnected with old ones and shared conversation and connection with those in our community. When we open our homes and ourselves to make these kinds of spaces, magic happens. 💜 #warragulcommunitydinner #buildingcommunity #socialchange #sustainability #magichappens
  • And then in between the hail showers yesterday and the solid rain today, somehow we decided to go on a 12 hour day trip to climb up some rocks. I’m not sure if we’re really nailing this ‘carpe diem’ thing or if we’re just losing the plot. I love our adventures and the way we get out and DO things. But I also struggle to find a balance when my week is ruled by work hours and there’s so little down time. I’ve been working on letting some things go (usually that’s housework and cooking, sadly) in order to keep up - but I can’t figure out if this is the best way to maximise precious moments or if it’s just doing too much. I’m not going to work full time forever, it’s not something I’m interested in. But at the same time, it’s something I’ve decided to do for now to kick start some other projects - short term pain for some long term gain. So, for as long as I decide to keep working, this is one way to weekend. It’s amazing. But also tiring. I’m so interested to know how other people manage to balance these things. How do you fit in the important things and still make sure there’s some time for what needs to get done? How do you seize each day without overdoing it? #carpediem #weekendadventures #werribeegorge #outdoorclimbing #losingtheplot
  • Ahhh, just another relaxing Victorian weekend in July. Scoring some bargains at the second hand building supplies shop in the middle of a hail storm. The things you do! 🤷🏼‍♀️🌧❄️ Meanwhile, how great are cordless power tools? Without a truck or trailer to transport things we’re often limited by size when it comes to collecting materials. Luckily we currently have a nifty battery powered circular saw on loan from a friend so we could cut this timber on site and load it up. Off to the tiny we go! #secondhandbuildingmaterials #upcycling #winterweekend #hailstorm #diy #powertools
  • Escaping from the office on a Friday afternoon like ☝🏻🏃🏼‍♀️🙌🏻 Funny story though, we got locked inside the tiny last weekend. After installing a fancy new latch system to make sure the doors stay shut in wintery blowy weather, we inadvertently locked ourselves inside! It’s good to know there’s a second exit if we need it 😂 Happy weekend folks! 🥂
  • I’m the first to grumble about public transport, especially on the country line and EXTRA especially when there are replacement buses running. But I also love it. I like knowing that there’s one less vehicle on the road. I like being able to relax and take in the spectacular views. I like being able to snooze or listen to a podcast or knit or read or catch up on social media stuff. I like that it’s warm and usually clean and pretty comfortable. There are usually some characters sharing the ride, but I also like feeling connected to my community - as wacky and colourful as it may be. I haven’t been smashing my goal of less driving this year, but I haven’t completely failed either. Now that the shortest day is behind us, I’ll be aiming to be back on my bike next week so I can ride to the station and not drive at all. It doesn’t work every day, but as always, I’m counting the wins. And I’d love to see more people on the train/bus. The more we use it the more power we have to improve it! #gippsland #vline #publictransport #carfree #sustainabletravel
  • A creepy surprise from the back garden, and another unexpected #plasticfreejuly post. We ducked outside this evening for a quick dig in the garden - the window of ideal timing to shift our fruit trees is closing as winter sneaks on by. I expected the earth to be compacted, neglected and in poor health. Our house was relocated here and the block was excavated pretty heavily when it was done. The fact that the soil in our backyard needs some love certainly came as no surprise. Digging up handful after handful of RUBBISH just under the surface was a little unexpected. The list of uncovered finds includes (but is not limited to): this doll’s leg, plastic bags, plastic bottles, glass bottles, electric wiring, food packing, a metal razor, parts of a car axel (?!), old nails, broken crockery and worst of all, tiny styrofoam balls spread throughout the soil. We have no idea why there is rubbish buried in our backyard or how long it has been there for. It certainly wasn’t showing any signs of breaking down. And yet I didn’t feel a whole lot better about pulling it up to put in the bin - what is landfill except a bigger pile of rubbish dumped in a bigger backyard? You may not be ‘doing’ Plastic Free July. You may not be a gardener. But please don’t forget that throwing things away doesn’t work. For things like plastic and most of our belongings, there is no ‘away’. It may go somewhere else, but trust me, it still exists. We don’t see our rubbish once it goes in the bin, but landfill and rubbish patches in the ocean can only hide so much. Would our habits change if we couldn’t send our rubbish ‘away’? Picturing rubbish being emptied into my backyard instead of it just going ‘away’ is a powerful push to redouble my efforts to avoid waste. If we can’t reduce what goes in the bin, how much longer will it be before that rubbish ends up right back in our own backyards? #lowwaste #gardeningsurprise #landfill #notsoorganic #fruittrees #rubbish #thereisnoaway
  • And then the rain stopped and the plumber came back to finish the job and now we have FIRE! 🔥🔥🔥🔥 The first half of this story is in my insta story, but the happy ending here is what matters most. 💕
  • Not your typical #plasticfreejuly post, given this picture is full of plastic...but this is what I love about PFJ. It’s not about being perfect, it’s just about doing better. Life is busy for us right now, and sometimes that means we get takeaway instead of cooking. And we end up with these plastic containers. Not ideal. Our compromise - we use them, again and and again and again. Sometimes I even pilfer them from the recycling bin at work and bring them home for a wash. Sometimes single use plastic is hard to avoid. Don’t beat yourself up too hard. But also, if you end up with it, there are lots of ways you can maximise its use. Being environmentally friendly isn’t about spending big bucks, it’s about changing your mindset. It’s not about being perfect, but we sure as hell need to be better. #perfectistheenemyofgood #dobetter #sustainability #lowwaste #plasticfree
  • And that’s another jam packed weekend done and dusted! Forget the hashtags, there’s nothing slow about this living right now. We’re on a bit of a bullet train at the moment, trying to get a bunch of jobs finished that need doing this winter while also trying to fit life in. This weekend was a singing sess with some lovely friends, house chores, then off to the tiny to finish window architraves, fix the bathroom door, lay flooring on the stairs, start prepping quad for wall and floor trim, measuring up and writing lists of things needed for our next visit down. Then it was racing back to the big house to finish tiling the hearth ready for the new heater this week! We were working till 9pm on Saturday night and in bed by 9pm last night 😂 I don’t remember the weekends being this busy since the tiny was still being built. My body is sore, both houses are a mess and I feel a pull to keep working on these projects as I sit on the train off to ‘work’. But there’s a satisfaction that comes from working with your hands and enjoying the results of something you’ve made. It’s not easy, and there has to be a balance - we won’t be able to keep up this pace forever. But for now, the jobs are slowly being ticked off and we use the week to rest up, ready to do it all again next weekend. #notsoslowliving #homerenovation #diy #weekend #tinyhousebuild #retrosuburbia

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