tiny house living - Todawoods

Posted on November 28, 2018June 23, 2021 by Holly — Leave a comment

We moved the Tiny House!

This was our first official big move, other than purchasing the home and moving it to our original off grid spot. I don’t think I’ve mentioned that at our original off grid spot, we have two different lots on the land. We have a summer spot and a winter spot. Both spots over there have its perks, I will get into that in another post maybe one day.

This winter though, we really had the vision of moving to a mountain resort. We wanted to move here because we are both in love with the mountains and do many mountain activities. This mountain also happens to be only 30 miles from our original off grid spot. If we really enjoy this season we might plan to do this move every year! The reason we planned to move to a mountain resort is mainly because Adam loves to snowboard and I enjoy to ski. I also love to hike, so moving to a mountain resort was the perfect idea in our eyes

Over the summer Adam prepped the home. He added new tires, brakes, lights, insurance, registration and probably more I’m not even aware of. We both worked full-time over the summer so it took time to prep our tiny house. We also didn’t want to rush things so we can continue our more stress free lifestyle.

So in October we paid our rent to the resort and reserved our seasonal “campsite” for the winter. We were told no water but free electricity. So we are technically on the grid, but to reserve power we still have our off grid set up going on here.

In November the big move day came. I basically destroyed the place inside before the road did and Adam worked on the outside making sure everything was in check. I think it took about 3 hours to prep for our move. Hopefully with practice we can get faster at moving it.

We are very fortunate that Adam’s parents live right down the road from our original off grid spot, so Adam’s dad agreed to help us move to our new spot with his big Chevy pick up truck.

I was so scared before this thing went on the road. I was basically on the verge of a panic attack. I had visions of the thing breaking in half or windows exploding. The fear of the unknown was real that day.

Adam’s dad is used to towing a huge 38 foot camper that they own so this was no big deal to him. That was a huge relief in my mind. Our tiny home is 40 foot. The only difference is our home is a little bit taller. We made sure there were no bridges on our route. We were set to hit the road.

Our first stop was at Adam’s parents house, where they have a shop. They made sure the tires had enough air there and checked for more safety. Then we hit the road officially.

It looked a little bit more normal on the road than I expected. I was surprised actually. I drove behind them and had my camera in my lap so I snapped a few pictures. (I don’t recommend taking pictures while driving I mainly did it while I was at a stop.)

It took only 40 minutes to get to the mountain resort. Of course going in couldn’t be that simple. There is a gate at the entrance and the gate didn’t want to let us in! It kept crashing down so Adam lifted it up and forced it to stay open. (Shhhh) they eventually fixed it a few weeks later and we are still here, luckily.

So yea, it took a bit to settle in. I have to get used to the new surroundings. We have some full-time RVers in the park, so we have neighbors, which is very new to us. We are now learning to respect our neighbors and teaching our dog manners. (Because they enjoy barking)

It is much different coming from the woods into a little tiny house neighborhood. So far though, life is great.

We literally got here a day before the first snow storm and it has been snowing every week since the move. There are great things to be said about living in a campground at a mountain resort maybe I’ll write a new post about that.

Thanks for reading. I will keep you updated on some adventures at our new mountain resort spot! Thanks for reading. Now I’m going on a winter wonderland walk. See ya!

Posted on November 29, 2017December 19, 2017 by Holly — Leave a comment

The Littlest Things are the Best Things and People will Talk

Living off the grid makes the smallest of things rewarding. Like running water! Power! TV! Bathroom! Etc…All these things you don’t realize what you’ve got until its gone. You have to realize that what most people have in America are all luxuries like your running water, indoor bathroom, electricity, insulation, I could just keep going.

Once you go off grid little things people say like “I’m freezing in my house at 60 degrees” will sound silly to you. It will be harder to relate to people who live on grid. Don’t think you are better than them or they are better than you, just realize you are different.

My boyfriend and I don’t really tell many people about our living situation. People love to talk about theirs and we just let them talk! Just smile and listen, it’s very interesting and we kind of just laugh it off later like an inside joke.

You have to let go of things to be off grid. Once you let go of things, find your spot settle in and start getting those luxuries back, it’s just the best thing. For me, it was like Christmas day when I got an indoor toilet. That was on the first snow day as well.

Living small just makes life feel more fulfilling. It makes life an everlasting adventure. I want this blog to be a portal for adventure. Have fun browsing this website, let it lead you to new ideas and adventures.

Follow, share, spread the word. The good life. The simple life. The To Da Woods life.

Posted on November 18, 2017December 30, 2017 by Holly — 2 Comments

Personal Story: How I came to living off grid.

It really all started with a dream. Since I was young.

Here's my childhood camper that kick started my dreams — My family’s RV

As a kid growing up, we went camping for what seemed like allll the time. I loved it. My family would hop in an RV, drive highways to random campgrounds and I just fell in love with the lifestyle. I think that really set the seed in me for striving to live off grid. I found a journal entry from when I was in 5th grade stating that I wanted to be a hippie when I grew up, living in a camper, playing music and giving people puppies… Now the puppies part didn’t quite come true, but my puppies certainly bring smiles to people!

So growing up, there was a trailer park down the road. I would tell my mom, teachers and probably any other adult that would ask me questions that I wanted to live in one of those. They totally did not feel the dream and wished that I would strive for more. Apparently, that didn’t matter because when I turned 21, my only thoughts were “I need to move out asap.”

I had two jobs, both paying $9.15 an hour and a full-time college student. Well, I dropped out of college and shortly got a full time position at one of the jobs. (the thrift store that I still work for) My thoughts of getting out made me save money. I can tell you about my saving tactics in another article. That’s just another world.

So in time, I saved up $3,000 as well as building credit. I Craigslist searched for days. Maybe even months. I found a trailer listed for $7,000. I put $3,000 down and got a loan for $4,000. (thank you good credit) This was also a private sale on Craigslist, I can give you advise on craigslist too in another article.

It was great and terrible at the same time. I finally had my own place but for some reason I found myself miserable. My gut was just screaming “wrong!” So before the year was over, I left. I packed my stuff and went back to my parents. It was a sad time leaving what I thought were my dreams. Somehow I sold it for $5000, even though I paid for $3000 out of pocket. So score! Got an extra $1000 out of my almost year of misery and confusion.

I started reading self help books and really trying to figure things out. I realized I wanted to feel happy, not sad. I wanted to feel better so I started to practice Ecotherapy naturally, not even knowing it was a thing.

In all the sadness and confusion I was feeling, I was also stirring up new dreams and ideas. I wanted to live in a camper van. I planned to either stay in my parents backyard or at a seasonal campground. I looked into getting a brand new camper van, super fancy one. Even applied for a loan, but was rejected because my credit history time was too low. Then I was back on the Craigslist grind. I was determined. In about 4 months, I found my camper van. I brought my parents down to the van and somehow they totally supported my decision. We bought it the day I looked at it. I just couldn’t wait.

After a few days of figuring out how to get it on the road (plates and registering) I brought a friend to pick it up, drove it home and I had my sense of freedom back.

I made a plan. I drew out plans. I sat in the van and pictured what I wanted. Some days passed. I realized I still felt sad. I was stressed and confused, thinking the van was maybe a mistake. I was doubting myself. I tried to figure out how to do this on my own. It was a little scary thought. I like being alone but I would rather have someone by my side, supporting me and pushing me to be the best I can.

So this story now goes to me being sad again. Feeling like I wanted someone. So I did something I never thought I would do. I made a Tinder account. Man oh man, that was a trip. After one day I had 70 matches. I got cheesy messages. But the first message I got was from a guy named Adam. He said tinder was lame and gave me his number. He was the only one who took us off the website immediately. We talked a little, found common interests of the outdoors, both had dogs and we both had vans. So we planned to meet at a mountain to hike.

This was actually our second hike together up the back side of Gunstock Mt.

The people I worked with thought I was crazy and also thought he would be a serial killer. They were wrong. We hit it right off. He told me in the middle of our date that he lives in a tiny home off grid. I thought he was kidding me because that’s what I always wanted and it just seemed too good to be true.

We started hanging out on the daily. We spent days fixing my camper van. We spent weekends camping in his van. We made a deal that if he helps me with my van, I would help him with his tiny house. In a short amount of time I became his girlfriend.

How I started the off grid life wasn’t really planned. If you’re thinking about living off the grid, check out my planning and letting go post. My story will keep going on so basically everything in this blog will be me, Holly, sharing all the things Adam taught me and also what I have learned from my own experiences so far with living off grid. I want to share the excitement, all the cool little tips, tricks and techniques we’ve figured out.

Thank you reading my story so far! Feel free to ask questions and also share your stories in the comment section. Hope you’re excited for more posts about living in da wooooods. I want everyone to feel good and free going to da woods.