Single Mom Builds Tiny Home In Effort To Create Retirement Plan

Apr 01, 2021 by apost team

Over the last few years, the tiny-house movement has gained a lot of traction. The rising cost of buying a house combined with the volatility of the housing market has made people question whether investing in a house over the long term is worth it. It sometimes takes decades to pay off a house, and most people become tethered to the place they buy the house. A long-term investment works for people who want a stable life that is rooted in one place, but this isn't a lifestyle for everyone. 

Most often, the cost of a house is the factor that pushes them towards the tiny-house movement. There are strict regulations that allow only some people to buy houses, so people who are not well off or do not have a steady and reliable source of income have a hard time getting clearance. Therefore, people have been turning to tiny houses to give them the freedom to create their own houses for a fraction of the price. 

This was the case for Michelle "MJ" Boyle from Oregon who did not have the money to buy and house and had lived paycheck to paycheck for a long time. When she realized that her children would be leaving the nest soon and that she did not have a retirement plan, she set to work building her own house so that she wouldn't need to worry about where to live. Her charming, beautiful house was finally completed in 2015, and the result was incredible. The video below describes what led Boyle to create her tiny house as she gives viewers a tour of her beautiful home. 

In the video below, Boyle goes into her life circumstances and what led her to pursue building a tiny house for herself. She calls her life a "series of unfortunate events" due to her two marriages and divorces that impacted her in a negative manner. She explains that during each of her marriages, she built two houses, both of which were destroyed in the "carnage" of her divorces. Following these stressful events, Boyle had been a single mother for 13 years at the time in 2015, and she had been living paycheck to paycheck with her children for a long time. 

Boyle knew that her children would leave the nest soon enough as they became adults and decided to go off to college, so while it was essentially time for Boyle to retire, she had no money or savings that would tide her through her future years of retirement. The idea to follow the tiny-house movement initially came to Boyle as a foolproof plan with the goal that her own home could never be taken away from her. 

She built her home, poignantly named "My Empty Nest," using cash she earned through her efforts as well as sponsorships. She enjoyed building her house so much so that she continued to build more tiny homes that she could rent out to other people, which would effectively become a source of income for her. The house that she built is eight-and-a-half feet wide and 24 feet long; it may seem like a small space, but Boyle has found some neat tricks to increase storage spaces and use the space to its fullest.

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Boyle also reports that most of the work to build the house was taken on by her, but she also had some help from friends and contractors. The home is located on land that she rents. The space inside the house is well maintained, and interestingly has a cozy living room space as well as a beautifully stocked kitchen. The bedroom is split away from the main "ground-floor" area and takes up about a third of the tiny home's total area in the form of a separate space right above the kitchen. The bedroom's furniture is minimal — a mattress and a couple of tiny table lamps grace the room, and it has small, narrow steps that lead up to it.

Boyle's favorite part of her house is the kitchen, which she has furnished in a "modern nostalgia” style. In fact, Boyle spent two years collecting and refurbishing appliances from the mid-1940s to early 1950s for her kitchen to give it a modern-yet-vintage feel. As Boyle enjoys cooking, she uses her kitchen the most out of all the spaces in her home. 

It is clear from the video that Boyle has thought long and hard about how to best use the spaces in her home to give her the most storage space. For example, the "stairs" are all hollow so they can be used to store things, and her living room sofas are also designed in a similar way. Her insight into what makes tiny houses better and how to create memorable architecture within a small area shows that she did not set out to create a tiny house on a whim.

Boyle also made sure to add her own touches to her house to make it a home. She carefully curated the space in such a way that it housed both class and comfort in the small space. Though she had absolutely no money when she first wanted to build a tiny home for herself, she worked creatively to make more cash and was eventually able to make her dreams come true. 

In fact, Boyle loved building her home so much that she even created a small collection of tiny homes which she calls "My Tiny House Village." The website states that the collection of houses are nestled in the Sherwood Forest in Oregon. She allows people to rent the small spaces on sites like AirBnB or through another website. The village currently consists of four different houses, all of which offer a beautiful and unique stay experience. 

In another video, Boyle opens up about how creating the first tiny home for herself changed her life. After all, her first home will always be her own beautiful space that gave her the freedom to retire and live independently without worry. In a blog post, Boyle wrote a creative letter to her new home when she debuted it. The emotional blog post is touching and gives the viewer a glimpse into how much her tiny home means to Boyle. As she finishes her letter, she writes, "You’re wonderful and amazing and adorable and inspiring and lovely and quiet and peaceful and quaint and witty and joyful, all at once." We are sure that Boyle continues to cherish the home she built even today. You can see a tour of the gorgeous home in the video below:

What do you think of Boyle's tiny home? Would you want to live in a tiny home as well? Tell us your thoughts, and be sure to tell your friends about this smart home idea as well.