Paring Down Clothes

"I", Myself & <Me>

How much space should you designate for clothes?

Think about it. Shoes, underwear, bras, shirts, skirts, pants, shorts, pajamas, workout, swimming suit, costumes. Yes, you read that right, costumes. If I'm going to be traveling, you can bet that I'm going to hitting some Renaissance Fairs along the way.

Surprisingly, costuming was pretty easy to pare down because I've recently lost weight and I'm still losing. So many of the Renaissance costumes didn't fit anymore and the period costumes that did fit, I don't wear because I don't do historic home tours anymore. When I boxed up all the costumes, period shoes and jewelry, it filled 2 huge Rubbermaid containers and 4 paper sacks. The result of 10 years collecting.

I kept one outfit that I tend to wear 90% of the time when I go to Ren-Fair. What did I do with the rest? I thought about giving it away but I paid a lot of money for those costumes and I really wanted to increase my School Bus fund. There's a plus size consignment boutique where I live but it takes a long time to get returns AND they are really picky about what they take. I figured my costuming wouldn't make the cut.

In one of those weird moments, I had an idea. I knew a lady in one of the downtown shops who had an antique store and she was getting ready to open a costume store. Now, I know first hand how hard it is to find plus size costuming of good quality. Maybe she would be interested.

"Hi, Susan. This is J from the ___ ___ ___ Museum."

 "Hi! J! What's up!?" Susan speaks in exclamation points. 

 "Susan, are still planning to open a costume store?"

"Yep!"

"Would you be interested in some plus size costumes? I've taken real good care of them. They range from size 20 to 26. I've got dresses, shoes and jewelry. I have some vintage stuff too. They're..."

"Bring 'em over!"

"... ok..."

I was shocked at how simple it was. Now I had to come up with a price. How much did I want for these items collectively? I thought, I'll settle for $150, but I really wanted $300. The reality is I've spent over $1,000 for the costumes over the years.

Now, I know what some of you might say, "Why not sell them on Ebay? or Costume Exchange?" I probably would have gotten more if I sold them individually, but that would have taken more time and effort than I was prepared to put into it: taking the pictures, opening an account, posting the pictures, writing descriptions, monitoring the account, paying the posting fees, shipping them off once sold. It would have dragged on for months. I was also concerned that I'd relapse and decide that I really did need all these costumes. It was just easier to get rid of them all in one sweeping back alley exchange.

It felt a little clandestine. Pulling up in the alley next to the store Downtown. Us standing at the back of my car with bins open and garment bag zippers spread wide. 

"How much you want for them?!" Susan asked.

"$300."

"J!... $150," Susan replied.

 I winced and said, "$250," hopefully.

"How many pieces is it?!" Susan asked

"About 50 to 60 clothing items, including corsets and leathers. There's shoes, again good leather, vintage clothing, like this mohair coat, and an assortment of jewelry." My eyes widen on hers hopefully.

"$200!" Susan said.

I ducked my head in a please-don't-hate-me stance and held my hands in Ferengi prayer, "$225?"

"Fine!" 

"Thank you!" I said and we smiled at each other. 

I helped her load the clothes in her car and she cut me a check. That emptied about a third of my closet. Next, I had to figure out how to pare down the remaining two-thirds.

Feeling Inspired, Toyota's U2

One of my regular Facebook feeds is Inhabitat.com and today they had an article about a new concept car from Toyota that I think fits me to a 't'.

The Urban Utitlity, or U2 

I'm going to check around and see if this concept car is coming to the car shows around me!

Where Do We Go From Here?

As soon as I typed the blog title I immediately thought of the Buffy episode Once More with Feeling and the closing song "Where Do We Go from Here?" There's a wistful, sad and uncertain quality expressed through the music and words. The mood best conveyed my feelings when I decided it was time to move again. But where?

I'm going to give you a preview of the intense internal and somewhat embarrassing dialogue I had with "I", <me> and myself.

"I should make a list."  <Yes! We love list.> Okay, list what you want.

"I want to be around nature not the city." <God, yes, please! And water, could we be by the water again?>  That means getting out of the city and into the country. Do you really want to live out there... all by yourself... with only us in your head???

"People. I want to be around people, but not a lot of them though. I don't want another apartment." <What about water? A lake or a pond? Huh?>  Hmm, still out in the country but populated area, like a small town, but water... that's rich man's territory. We can't afford to rent a house out there or buy land near water.

"I'm not ready to buy land and I don't want a house, remember. I want something small." What about a trailer park and a mobile home? Bet we could rent one of those. <No! You offend our aesthetic sensibilities with that suggestion! I refuse to set foot in a trailer park!> 

*Eye roll* You like camping and stuff. What's the difference between a trailer park and an RV park? <That's different!> How? <I don't know. It just is!>

"An RV park. Can I rent long-term at an RV park? Do you think they have monthly rates?" I don't know, lets find out... *internet searching*... Yep, sure can. About $300 a month, too. Not bad. <An RV park. Really?> They have them by the lake.  <Really!!> And there's people. The kind of people we like to hang out with when we go camping. "True."

After that discussion, day one was spent researching RV parks in the area, especially those that offered monthly rates. Then I researched people living in RV parks for extended periods of time. It looked very feasible, which led to internal dialogue round 2.

"So. If I move to an RV park, what would I live in?" <Oooh! We could build our own tiny house! Squeeeeeee> No we can't. <Bt. Dt. Zt. WHAT!!> We can't build our own tiny house. We don't have enough money saved. We don't have enough time to build it if we plan to move by December. And we don't even have a place to build it. Plus, there's a lot of legal issues with building a tiny house because of Zoning. (Unless we move to Victoria or Houston, Texas.)

<Bt. Bt. But. I want a home. I don't have to have land. I just want a home, one that's mine. Something we can travel in.... And cute, too.> "We can't really travel in a tiny house, either."

 "Why We don't Build Our Houses to be House Trailers"

 "Even if I could build a house on a trailer, I don't have anything to pull it with." What about buying an RV, a motor home? <Those are boring!> "Those are expensive and I don't like the layouts of most of those. Especially the bench dinettes. They're not made for big people."  

Ann Henion's TED Talks which runs through many of the above points. 

"So what do we do?" <So what do we do?> So what do we do?

*typing, researching, Googling, oohing, ahhing...*

The dialogue goes on for quite some time and I'm not going to script out the hours of craziness. Let's just say that from this internal dialogue and resulting research, I made a list.

THE LIST
1. I like living close to nature and a body of water.
2. I like solitude but don't mind living around people... if they're the right people.
3. I want something that I can travel in.
4. I want land to start a homestead.
5. I want a small place but not too small (250 sq. ft. is about right).
6. I want to be able to experiment with different living options.

The list helps me establish the parameters for 'where to go next.'

Kismet! About Cooking

I'm writing an article entry for October about cooking in a Tiny Kitchen. Running through my thoughts, needs and feelings, I'm trying to set parameters for when I really need and what I want from my kitchen.

Behold! Tiny House Listings post an article on the very thing AND from my favorite School Bus renovators.

Cooking in a Tiny Home by Kelly Ross of Just Right Bus. In a different article, Officially a Motor Home, Kelly talks about the importance of finding an oven in which to bake pies.

The woman is serious about her pies! Photograph by Kelly Ross

My own thoughts will congeal on October 9, 2014.

That's Thinking Outside the Box - Window/Garden/Architecture

Jose De Lao's Studio is doing some fantastic conceptual merging of traditional lifestyles and urban living. I'm especially appreciative of his window/garden/architecture...

The studio is a fantastic exploration of these concepts merged to create useful and engaging objects, like the Vicky Lamp!

New to Me Skill - Soap

I'm a Minion!

When my mother saw my Facebook pictures from my soap making workshop, she said, "I think you look like one of the minions!!"

*sigh* I love my mother. I really do.

When I started the soap making process, I thought, This is a lot of work for a few bars of soap. It seemed costly too. However, once the process was over and I tallied all the bars of soap made divided by the different types of soap we made, I was impressed.

Then came the sidebar that I would have to wait 6 weeks before I could use them. That was alright, I thought, It'll give me time to use up the bar of soap I already had.

Let me tell you - homemade bars of soap that are dried properly last FOREVER! Okay, not forever but a really, really, really long time. I'm talking months! (Remember, I'm the only one using it, not a family of 4). That means I only need to make soap bars about once or twice a year for myself and the rest could be gifts. That's pretty awesome in my book.

*hint, hint* Friends and family will be receiving unique Christmas packages.

Now what do I mean by soap being dried properly, you ask? A bar of soap needs to air dry for a minimum of 6 weeks. the longer the bar dries, the longer it will last. Most bars of homemade soap are dried for 2 to 3 weeks which means the soap dwindles quickly. It a gimmick to keep you buying the soap more often. Not everyone does it, but enough of them do.

I judge this new-to-me skill a keeper.

Skills to Acquire - Handmade Noodles

I'm impressed! He makes it look so easy and I know it's not... but I think I really want to try it.

Where Do I Go?

Photograph from Sannah Kvist's All I Own series.

I've had a Facebook account since 2008 but I never really interacted with it until I got my iPhone in 2012.  But, instead of liking friends and family pages, I was liking pages related to Tiny House Community, sustainable living, alternative energy, urban farming. Through that feed of information I came across the arresting images of Sannah Kvist's photograph series simply titled "All I Own". Go on... take a look, then come back here.

 I was inspired.

Though I dreamed about buying land and building my own tiny house with a small farm or food forest, I was in no way prepared for the reality. First, could I mentally and physically even live in a space that small. I'm talking 78 to 180 square feet. Second, I could not financially afford to buy land and even if I could, I was not sure that the place I live and work now was the place I wanted to stay. Because when I buy land, I plan on sticking around for awhile.

Since an apartment was the best location for my temporary future, I decided to use it as an opportunity to find out just how small I could go. I also wanted to try to find a location that would be more conducive to a lifestyle that was energy conscious, concerned with the local food or slow food movement, and was, well, smaller than the 800 square feet apartment I lived in from 2011 to 2013.

I thought I'd found that with an apartment complex in a Downtown area. It was a block away from a rapid transport system. My friends, except for one, lived along the Red Line. Our favorite pub with a great Sunday night trivia was also at a station along the line. It was downtown with a great historical view. Local dairy was 2.5 miles away (Yummy raw milk, butter, cheese and yogurt!). A great seasonal Saturday Farmers Market was 2 miles away. The Library was .4 miles away (Free books and DVDs!). It was halfway between work and school.

The apartment unit was studio style... sorta. The bathroom was walled off which I totally understand, but the kitchen was too. I thought, "At least it's not a galley." Everything in the apartment from the windows to the water was energy efficient.

In 2013, I told my parents I was moving... again.

Silence.

"The place is only 500 square feet! Isn't that great."

Silence, which I heard as Is she crazy?... She's really going through with this... I thought this was just one of her new obsessions that would go away, but it't not! It's like Star Trek. 

 "You don't have to help me move!"

"That's wonderful! Can't wait to see it."

From this apartment I've learned a few things.

1. Ikea is awesome! They have great furniture that is already versatile and can be hacked into very useful things.
2. I still have too much stuff, small and large - clothes, knickknacks, furniture, etc..  
3. I enjoy having one open space.
4. I really dislike the closed off kitchen. I want it to open up into the rest of the room (like my house did) so that even though the kitchen is small I can still visit with friends when I'm cooking. That was my problem with the last apartment too (though, I thought it was because it was a galley). 
5. I love light and one wall is not enough which is a chronic problem with apartments.
6. I miss nature.
7. I could go smaller.

Yep, you read that last one right. I could go smaller but decided that was an experiment that could wait.

I was happy where I was until last Summer. My friends moved away from the Red Line and stopped visiting the pub as often. So I wasn't taking the train as much as I was. Downtown is now a construction zone that will only continue to grow so the view isn't so great. Many of the restaurants and stores are closing because rent is going up in anticipation of "development."

Though I'm no longer thrilled with the area, there were still plenty of positives about it. That is, until the trash talk episode ("Newton's Law of Motion"). I was faced with the question, Did I really want to pay an extra $65 to $120 dollars a month?

My answer was, "No." So, where do I go from here?

Something to Think About, "What I Can't Live Without..."

Naturally, being the geek I am and my father's daughter, I answer:

"It's my industrial-strength hairdryer and I can't live without it!"

I think continually evaluating what we need, the things that we truly can't 'live' without is important. Those things that each of us need is going to be different for everyone. Just as there's no one-size-fits all house, there's no magic number for the things people need to live comfortably. And that's the key word, comfortably. We could all do with a lot less is we sacrificed comfort. I'm looking for the comfortable balance between sacrifice and excess. Everyone has to decide for themselves those answers.

Laura LaVoie attempted to answer this question in her article "Top 5 Things We Couldn't Live Without."

That's Thinking Outside the Box - The Hot Tub Tug

Hot Tub Tug by Supergoed. 

Design Inspiration, A Tiny House with No Loft

So many of the tiny houses I've looked at all had lofts. One of my concerns is if I injure myself, how would I get up and down the loft since most of them require a ladder, not stairs. Even those with stairs are pretty steep and require excellent balance. When I saw this video, I gave myself a head smack.

The solution reminded me of an image I had saved for future design ideas... and forgotten about.

While I'm more inclined toward the slide-out-bed design, there are other options I'm keeping available. The Tiny House Listing blog recently published an article listing the 6 basic bed styles for a tiny dwelling, "6 Ways to Sleep in a Tiny House."