Minimalist Living for a Maximum Life: The Joys of Simple Living

By Emily Gerde

In Minimalist Living For a Maximum Life, Emily Gerde inspires readers to simplify through a holistic approach to achieve abundance in all areas of your life. Emily and her husband, Justin, son, Wyatt, four cats and a dog downsized from a 2,200 square foot home to a 350 square foot tiny house on wheels. Her journey has brought their family financial freedom, new job opportunities, a vibrant marriage and a sense of peace and self-fulfillment. If you want to minimize your living space, eliminate toxins in your environment, or reduce stress in your life, Emily has insights that will help you. Discover new ways to use a holistic approach to self-care through diet, exercise and mindfulness practices.

• Language: English
• Publisher: KPT Publishing
• Release date: Jul 31, 2018
• ISBN: 9781944833572

Emily Gerde

Emily Gerde is a licensed teacher, daycare provider and gymnastics coach. She has been caring for children since the age of ten through babysitting, nannying, coaching and as an educator. She has also been studying nutrition for many years in order to enhance her performance as a former competitive and collegiate athlete. Emily’s passion for minimalist living is evident through her tiny house living adventure. She lives in 350 square feet with her husband, Justin, son, Wyatt, four cats and one dog. They built their house in order to simplify their lives and have a smaller environmental impact. She aspires to build a tiny house community that is self-sustainable, including organic gardens, community center, biking trails and community education. Emily shares her story on social media in hopes of encouraging others to live simply with great joy in their hearts. She also provides online support to mothers who want the opportunity to live the life of their dreams through holistic health practices.  Using her masters in education she homeschools her son. During free time she helps local organic farms with weeding, harvesting and planting. Emily searches the country for amazing people doing, amazing things and shares their stories in her books.

Book preview

CONCLUSION

INTRODUCTION

What does the word minimalist mean to you? Is it about size? Design? Less clutter? Or is it about more freedom, more money, and more time? Whatever the word minimalist means to you is what counts. Many people are out there defining the movement with specific benchmarks and classifications. The current minimalist movement is often defined as living in a house under 500 square feet. For others, it’s about minimizing clutter while maximizing the illusion of space with color and design. Others feel it’s about having fewer responsibilities and more freedom. For our family, it’s about simplifying life and maximizing experiences. We have come to realize that the old saying less is more rings true now more than ever. We find ourselves with less stress, less stuff, less responsibilities, less space, less distractions, and less chaos. Of course, that means we have found more love, joy, and adventure through following our passions and desires. I share my story of simplifying in hopes to touch even just one person’s life. I want to inspire humanity to heal their mind, body, and soul by getting back to the basics.

As you read this book, I want you to think about what pieces of my story resonate with you. We are all unique and beautiful beings, so some strategies will work for you and others won’t. I made a point to provide several options and resources so you can investigate topics on your own as well. We can be told to do and believe certain things, but until we experience it ourselves, we can’t fully understand the world around us. There is no RIGHT WAY to do anything, because we are always learning and growing. As I grow and learn, I will find even more resources to simplify and heal myself. My opinions on topics will change as we collectively come up with new and better ideas. This book will provide you with information that will change your life forever as you search for a better more vibrant life. Together we will find ways to de-clutter your living space, while saving you money at the same time. We will minimize your consumption of goods to give you the financial freedom you deserve while doing your part to save the environment. Then we will dive into your health and how you can minimize the toxins in your diet without breaking the bank. Next, we will simplify your cleaning and hygiene routine by eliminating harmful chemicals and replacing them with affordable options. After that we dive into the world of self-care, where we minimize stressors in your life and maximize your vitality. Finally, we will take a look at how you can maximize the relationships in your life. By the end of this book, you will feel freed from possessions and self-defeating practices that have kept you down. You will find a new vitality in your life with the time and money to do the things you love with the people you love. May you begin this journey with joy in your heart and love on your mind as you take simple steps to the new you.

Why We Chose Tiny House Living

As with most great stories, mine starts with a problem. I lived in a quaint 2,200 square foot home on a beautiful five-acre property with my husband, Justin, son, Wyatt, four cats, and one dog. We had chickens, a small marsh, and visiting backyard animals a plenty. We had an abundance of beautiful sunsets and great neighbors. Every spring the thunderous roar of hundreds of frogs would echo from our marsh down the cul-de-sac, awakening the slumbering creatures from their hibernation. We loved our slice of heaven, but there was a hidden fire brewing in my soul. As with most families, we thought we were living the American Dream. Then one day, out of nowhere, I awoke to the truth. I wasn’t happy! I was far from happy! I was tired, sick, stressed, and in turmoil. You see, I was running a licensed organic daycare in our home and coaching gymnastics. I loved both these jobs dearly and excelled in both, but I was worn down. I became pregnant a year and a half into my daycare adventure and quickly began to lose touch with self-care. I was up almost every night past midnight cooking, cleaning, doing daycare paperwork, researching how to have a natural pregnancy, and trying to spend as much time with my husband as possible. I felt as though I was walking on eggshells while I made sure everything got done and everyone was happy. I made it another year and a half living this way until my health started failing. At the time I didn’t know, but I later found out that I had adrenal fatigue and hyperthyroidism. With a heavy heart, I closed my daycare and so closed the door on teaching and caring for other children. With very little income coming in from coaching gymnastics part-time, we needed a big idea for minimizing our expenses.

I’ll never forget when the light bulb went off in my mind. We were sitting on my mother-in-law’s porch discussing how to live more simply, and my sister in-law, Frances, introduced us to the tiny house movement. I was instantly hooked! She mentioned that the local news had featured a family that was currently living in a tiny house and a local contractor who builds tiny houses, Jim Wilkins with Tiny Green Cabins. The research had begun in haste. Turns out, I already knew the family that lived in the tiny house! I had worked with the husband when I was an elementary teacher. Not a coincidence in my mind. They graciously offered to have us over for a tour, so off we went to visit and unknowingly start our minimalist journey.

I was totally ready for this drastic change in our lives, but we wanted to be sure we explored all avenues before making a final decision. Well, I should say Justin wanted to explore other avenues. I was pretty set on tiny house living. I am so thankful he encouraged me to do the research first, so I could make an informed decision. We researched the best way for us to downsize. Did we want to purchase a smaller conventional home first? Did we want to live in an apartment? Or perhaps an RV would be best. When we looked at downsizing to a smaller home, we were looking for something around $90,000 to stay on budget. There were some home options out there, but they didn’t fit our needs. The type of home you get for that price, in our area, is a home that is in need of a lot of repairs. In this price range, you also got a small yard in a neighborhood with little to no community resources. You get appliances in need of replacement, repair, or they just weren’t included. All the repairs needed to make these older homes safe, up to code, and nontoxic would have been anywhere from $30,000 to 50,000 extra. This was not ideal for us, or our budget.

Next, we thought we could find property and build a new smaller home on it that was within the square footage requirements of the county. The cost of land within a reasonable distance from my husband’s work was way over our budget and often came without electricity or water. We also discovered that according to the National Association of Home Builders study, an estimated 8,000 lbs. of waste is created from the construction of a 2,000-square-foot home. We did not want to be a part of this wasteful practice. Our home wouldn’t have been that big, but we still would have been building more space than we needed just to meet zoning restrictions. The next logical step was to look at a townhome. The ones that were nice enough to live in were over $150,000. We wanted privacy and control over what chemicals were being used on the yard and in landscaping, which a townhome couldn’t provide. We also wanted to be sure the cleaning supplies used in shared spaces were safe for us, which of course they weren’t. Then we thought about apartments, which we had lived in before, but again we had no control over chemicals being used, and the rent was more monthly than our mortgage.

Finally, we looked into an RV. We were amazed at all the neat features that have been added to RVs since we were young, including complex slide outs, bunk beds, washer and dryers, full-size fridges and many of the same amenities a larger home provides. There are two main features that made an RV less attractive than a tiny house. One is the lack of insulation provided, aka R-value. Conventional homes have insulation rated at an R-value between 15-40, depending on what part of the home was being insulated and where you are located as far as climate. RVs have an R-value ranging from around 5-15. We were not comfortable with this when thinking of making it through a typical Minnesota winter. We wanted the freedom to live in multiple different climates, so we needed a much higher insulation value. Our tiny house contractor had a plan to insulate with an R-value of 22 in the walls, 38 on the ceiling, and 18 on the floor, so we would be toasty warm during our Minnesota winters.

Another downside to RVs is that they are made with several toxic materials.

(The Sierra Club) says the RV industry, long known for its lax construction practices, is once again using cheaper, formaldehyde-based materials—a practice that was outlawed in the United States more than 20 years ago.¹

We toured several RVs and could smell the intense chemicals, and some of the older models smelled heavily of mold. We found Evergreen Recreational Vehicles to be the only company with less toxic glues, low VOCs and less formaldehyde. Unfortunately, this company went out of business because they couldn’t compete with the cheaply made toxic RV construction found in other companies.

It’s a dirty, little secret in the RV organizations, said Becky Gillette, a volunteer with the Mississippi Sierra Club. They have known for years it was a problem, yet chose to ignore it. Millions of retiring baby boomers in campers don’t have a clue why they are getting sick.²

We could have gutted a RV and started over, but at that point the cost would have been about the same, if not more than a tiny house. We knew our tiny house could be built with nontoxic materials and with way more windows than an RV provides. This design would give us the illusion of space and lots of great cross breezes to decrease our use of the air-conditioning unit. Tiny homes are very customizable in their design and size, which meant we could grow into it as a family and live in it comfortably for a lifetime. Tiny houses on wheels were especially attractive to us, because we could bring them anywhere we want.

After all the research, we knew we were ready to own a tiny house. The first hiccup was how to pay for it. We knew we would make some money from selling our large home, because we had updated it and kept it up really well, but we weren’t sure how much. I believe in the law of attraction that says if we believe enough that we can make things happen for us then they will, so I focused on abundance and having a successful selling experience. It wasn’t easy at first. I was up every night till at least 1:00 in the morning organizing, selling our possessions online, and preparing the house for staging. It took from April 22–July 1 to have everything donated, sold, and staged for the open house. One night, a couple drove past the property and asked if they could take a look before it was officially on the market. The couple toured our home and loved the five-acre property, all the hardwood floors, and the recently remodeled basement. They had several pets, so the layout and gates from my daycare worked well for them. They made an offer the next day and we were out of the house by July 3. We made enough money off the house to fund the entire tiny house! Life was good. Now, where to live? Since we weren’t expecting such a quick sale, we hadn’t looked at places to stay while our tiny house was being built. Thankfully, both Justin’s and my parents offered us a place to stay.

Multigenerational Households

I am so blessed to have experiences multigenerational living. It is a great step towards simplifying your life. Whether you have family or friends live with you or you decide to live with them, everyone will benefit from the experience. We lived in my parents’ basement while our tiny house was being built. This experience was very rewarding. I had heard about multigenerational homes being the norm in several cultures and had read several articles about it, but I had never expected to be considering it myself. Our modern society values independence and it is very career oriented, which leaves us putting our kids in daycare and having both parents work to be able to support the family. This didn’t resonate with my deep desire to be a homeschooling mother and nature enthusiast. Being with your child all day has its benefits and challenges, and doing it alone can be exhausting. Having my mother, father, and husband available for childcare when I needed to get something done for coaching, or when I needed to cook or clean, was extremely helpful. This allowed me to have much needed time for self-care, which I had ignored for the past four years due to having multiple jobs and a large property to care for.

There was also the benefit of the shared wisdom that can be found in a multigenerational home. Every adult has a different perspective on raising a child, and our experience provided Wyatt with multiple avenues for learning. The shared housework benefited everyone, providing more time for other things that had been put off, such as exercise, organizing, and socializing. Having everyone help with utilities payments helped financially as well. Overall, everyone got to enjoy more time to do the things they loved by sharing the responsibilities that come with a larger house. After about six months of living with my parents, we were tempted to stay as a mutigenerational household, but my dreams of a tiny house community kept me on the course of building a tiny house. Having shared responsibilities gave us the time we needed to really think through our tiny house design. Most would have been upset that their tiny house took a year to build, but for us, it was a blessing because we had time to research, reflect, and rest. If you are thinking of downsizing, living with a family member or friend is a great place to start and a way to save up