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?