Mother of 2 Living on a Tight Budget in Her DIY Tiny House & Growing 50% of Her Food

Erin lives in a tiny house that she built herself, she grows 50% of her own food, and she homeschools her two kids. They've been living in the tiny house for almost 3 years in Ontario, Canada. Building a tiny house was a way for Erin to have affordable housing after leaving her marriage, which in turn allowed her to have time to continue homeschooling her children. She has a low income from a mix of part time work on a farm, child support, and her YouTube channel, but because of the tiny house, she and her children have an abundance of food and an abundance of time together as a family. You can follow and find out more about Erin's tiny house homestead life here: https://www.youtube.com/@ThisBeautifulLifeErin Erin built her tiny house herself with some help from friends for things like raising the walls. She started off with sketching the design, then she used a program called Sketch Up, and then started building. The house has a living room, kitchen and bathroom, as well as two lofts. The systems are very low tech and include an extension cord for electricity (she does have a solar power system that is yet to be installed), water is carried in and out of the house using jugs (no running water), and she has a DIY composting toilet system. She used as much reclaimed and secondhand material as possible to save money on the build. The total cost (not including her own labour) is approx. $40,000 Canadian Dollars so far, including a tiny house trailer for $12k, a solar power system for $10k, wood stove and chimney for $5k, and the rest for lumber and building supplies. In addition to building her own house and homeschooling her kids, Erin also grows and raises 50% of her own food. She grows vegetables in two large gardens, and she raises chickens, turkeys, rabbits and ducks for a variety of meat and eggs. Finding a place to park her tiny house has been one of the most challenging aspects of the whole process because tiny homes are still illegal in many/most places. She started off on a permaculture farm but that fell through and she had to find a new parking space in a hurry. Luckily she was able to move it to her boyfriend's 2 acre property and she pays her rent in homegrown homemade food :) You can follow and find out more about Erin's tiny house homestead life here: https://www.youtube.com/@ThisBeautifulLifeErin Thanks for watching! ------------------------------------------------------------- STAY IN TOUCH! ------------------------------------------------------------- Website: www.exploringalternatives.ca Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/exploringalternativesblog Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/exploringalternatives/ ------------------------------------------------------------- COMMENTS ------------------------------------------------------------- We want our channel and comments section to be an inclusive space where everyone feels welcome to watch and contribute. For this reason, inappropriate or hateful comments will be reported and/or deleted. Please discuss and debate respectfully, and report inappropriate or hateful comments directly to YouTube. ------------------------------------------------------------- CREDITS ------------------------------------------------------------- Music Credit: Exploring Alternatives Editing Credit: Exploring Alternatives Filming Credit: Erin from This Beautiful Life https://www.youtube.com/@ThisBeautifulLifeErin #tinyhouse #housing #homestead