Trading Ordinary Space for Extraordinary Adventures
by Shari Snyder
Two years ago, our family designed and built 384 square feet of “tiny luxury on wheels” to replace our 4 bedroom/2 bath “forever home”. Our “why” was to realize our family values and mission, living in a real house, without a 30-year mortgage haunting us. We didn’t want to be a slave to debt and experience the pain of regret. Having two children leave the nest and a 12 year old still at home, experience told us you can never go back. Relationships produce the greatest joy in life. As pioneers and business owners in the tiny house movement, our journey has not been easy, but we can honestly say the adventure, simplicity, freedom, and family closeness, that tiny living has brought us, are worth it!
Trading Stuff for Adventure
Since becoming minimalists, we have found many unexpected joys and adventures. We have found the joy of collecting memories, not stuff! Life is short. You only live once. Why not go on an adventure, take a risk, and try something new? We have launched two companies, been featured on HGTV, Daily Mail, The Sun, New Atlas, and travelled the country in our tiny home. Doing the things that awaken passion and make you feel alive, is an adventure worth pursuing!
Trading Space for Freedom
We traded unused space in our big house for more time and freedom. We have the power to choose where we want to live, what we want to do, and how we want to spend our increased free time. Every day is a new adventure full of new choices, including our career paths. We are passionate about building environmentally healthy tiny home communities for families to thrive in. We are on a mission to pay it forward and help others discover adventure, freedom, and simplicity, through tiny house living. Our motto is, “Shrink your house, not your dreams.”
Trading Stress for Simplicity
Live MORE by owning LESS! Less stuff equates less stress, plain and simple. We had no idea how heavy the burden of financial debt was until it was gone. Being debt free and mortgage free cannot be underestimated or understood until one experiences it! To kiss our debt good-bye after 23 years of marriage, is priceless! The weight of all our possessions was keeping us from a life of true freedom. Instead of spending 3 ½ hours cleaning, we are done in 30 minutes. We don’t have to maintain a big yard, clean the pool, or fix things around the house. We have claimed back our weekends for hobbies, fun, and family adventures!
Total Wellness
My pantry
As a wellness lifestyle coach for 17 years, I have helped hundreds of clients improve their physical, environmental, financial, and personal health and wellness. My passion to achieve total wellness for body, soul, and spirit, was a perfect fit to embrace minimalism and tiny living. I’ve already shared some of the benefits for financial and personal health and wellness. Let’s review some of the mental and environmental health benefits we experienced too.
Mental Health
Clutter in my physical environment created chaos in my mental state. A lifestyle of minimalism, began to replace the stress and anxiety with more clarity and focus, resulting in more peace. Having a place for everything and everything in its place, simply helps you function at your best. We have found so much joy in living with less. We don’t collect things that don’t add value to our lives.
When I was downsizing, instead of asking, “What can I live without?”, I began to ask, “What do I need to live?”. The mindset of simplicity transformed our shopping habits and carried over into every area of our lives, including how we operate our companies.
Environmental Health
Of course, the actual build process is environmentally friendly and the ongoing costs of utilities are about 70% less, but the choice of materials we build with also promotes environmental health. For example, we use Rockwool insulation, a wool like material that is mildew and fire resistant, has a R value of 15, is very economical, and also deadens sound. We install a fresh air ventilation system and whole house water purification to promote wellness as well.
Why you want environmentally healthy products
These are the wellness products you will find in our tiny home
In addition, we use and promote a line of eco-friendly cleaning products that are up to 12 x concentrated. This saves an enormous amount of space inside, as well as plastic for the environment, and makes the air inside the tiny house free of outgassing and polution.
In an unprecedented study, PhD student Maria Saxton looked at 80 people who downsized to tiny homes to quantify whether their environmental footprints really got smaller. She reports an 86% positive effect on environment and a reduction of 45% in carbon footprint. In the final sentence, Maria says, “In sum, I found that downsizing was an important step toward reducing ecological footprints and encouraging pro-environmental behaviors.” Read entire article here.
I am an advocate for wellness, people, and community building. As a wellness lifestyle coach of 17 years, my focus is on total wellness for body, soul, and spirit. That includes physical, environmental, financial, and personal goals. As the Chief Hope Giver of Tiny Town Texas, my mission is helping people trade ordinary space for an extraordinary lifestyle
We are Tiny House Dwellers, Designers, and Builders. After downsizing from the large 4 bedrooms, a 2 car garage, and in-ground pool home, to live in the 390 square feet we built on HGTV, we are now educating the world on this high-quality, low-impact lifestyle. As pioneers of this movement of minimalism and tiny house living, our motto is: “Shrink your house, not your dreams”.
What’s NEXT for the Snyder Family? Our vision is to be a part of a community of likeminded people working towards a common goal of creating and sustaining meaningful relationships as part of a holistic lifestyle. Follow our journey as we design and develop beautiful inspiring communities for families to thrive in for years to come. We call it Tiny Town Texas, more than a place to be ~ a place to belong.
Todd and I are buried in work, meeting a deadline to submit a pocket neighborhood Proposal to the city! The City came to us about a year ago to help with their housing crises. We have assembled a winning team of consultants and developers! Now to gain their approval for all the unique pieces this project will require…
Stay tuned…
We are honored to partner up with Perry Bigelow, Founder of Bigelow Homes, as our chosen Developer for this project. Video above explains how he built healthy communities.
<img src="https://sharisnyder.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/img_5518.jpg?w=768" alt="Mayor Blackburn Mayor Blackburn
<img src="https://sharisnyder.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/jhvwnmdot6x4cx4uhmgww-1.jpg?w=1024" alt="City Hall City Hall
Armed with blueprints and Slide Deck
Our proposed project is a cottage-type neighborhood design that has every modern comfort with a little Hill Country flair.
Mr. Bigelow himself. His reputation and legacy for doing good by doing right is an honor to partner with.
A pocket neighborhood is essentially a cluster of homes gathered together around a shared open space that affords residents the chance to get to know their neighbors and be a part of the community.
(Think of a cul-de-sac, but with parking behind the homes and instead of facing concrete, picture a beautiful green space.)
It’s different from a traditional neighborhood because there’s a function: The front porch has to be big enough so you can sit on it on a Sunday morning as your neighbor walks by. Most of the pocket neighborhoods are groups of up to 12 homes and act like villages within towns.
They share a lot of the same traits:
They participate in common goals and practices
They depend on each other
They make decisions together
They identify themselves as part of something larger than the sum of their individual relationships
They commit themselves for the long term to their own well-being, to each other, and to the group
These type of neighborhoods started in Denmark and were introduced here in the 80’s but it took them a while to get a head steam
The 2 main books Mr. Bigelow used for 40 years to develop healthy communities across the U.S.
What homeowners say about Bigelow Neighborhoods and Homes…
“We really love our home and the neighborhood. There is a very warm feeling when you enter the subdivision. Our lot is perfect. Even our friends have commented that there is a good feeling in the neighborhood.” – Michael & Verna B.
“We love our house. It is above and beyond our expectations. The quality of the construction is better than the homes twice the price across the street. Thank you Bigelow Homes!” – F. Mulligan
“I believe that the HomeTown subdivision is one of the best I’ve seen. It is so inviting to everyone that visits me. They always ask, “are they still building and can I see a model?” The neighborhood is beautifully arranged with landscaping, the pond, the ducks, and the friendly atmosphere.”
– J. Club
Beautiful, built extremely well from slab up, and I feel blessed to have an energy efficient, quality home in a unique spot for a great price! – Gwendolyn K.
We are extremely pleased with Bigelow Homes. We’ve been recommending you to friends and family and even blogged about your great work. The home is beautiful and as we expected. – Eugene E.
Just finished journaling day 25 of 40 days of miracles for 2016. When I was a young mom, I quit reading and journaling like I had before. I regret this and see less growth during those years. Pick up your journal today and create the life you were meant to live, the life of your dreams. My journals are full of ups and downs, but mostly prayer letters to God. He is so faithful to hear my cries and answer me. I know he will for you too!
My first tiny bathroomMy remodeled big kitchenMy 2nd tiny kitchen2nd tiny home
I’m launching ? an exclusive premiere course the end of February! (limit of 23 Founder’s Group spots)
The Magic of Minimalism: Shari’s “Downsize NOW Method”. This course empowers people to make space for more JOY, productivity, meaningful relationships, and quality of life.
Is this course for me?
? I want to trade ordinary stuff for an extra-ordinary lifestyle! ? I am sick of the energy-zapping stress of overwhelming clutter? ? I am ready to divorce clutter and chaos ? I want to marry peace and productivity for my future life ? I want MORE… ? emotional and mental peace ? quality of life
***Note: Although Shari downsized her family from 2,600 square feet to a tiny home of less than 400 square feet, the method works wherever you’re at right now. www.magicofminimalism.com
My first tiny home
WHO THIS COURSE IS NOT FOR:
? tire kickers
? Curious stalkers
? those who are unmotivated to change
? those who are fearful of change
If you are accepted, do you promise to complete the homework before our first day together?
Do you promise to participate and bring value to this exclusive group of like-minded world changers?
DO NOT SHARE THIS EXCLUSIVE INVITATION!
There are only 23 spots for this live premiere launch program so you will want to secure your spot BEFORE we launch it the end of February. That’s when we will open it to the public including our 37,000 followers on social media.
(after you go through it, you may share it with your friends and receive referral benefits, but subsequent courses will be pre-recorded, not LIVE!)
NEXT STEP: request to join the private facebook group “The Magic of Minimalism“, answer the questions. Only people in this group can apply to be a Founder’s Group Member.
3 motivations to downsize? take poll. not burden my children with all this stuff. get control of my life. 3?
Must answer questions before you can be invited. To be invited does not mean your application will be accepted. We have limited access to this first program to just 23 people.
POLL: What is your biggest challenge to downsizing your belongings? Multiple choice: Emotional attachment, family members, no extra time, no motivation.
Tanya is a woman on a mission! She started her wellness journey in August. Using Peak Performance Vitamins** and Fiberwise, she lost 20 pounds her first 20 days! Now she’s on a mission paying it forward.
Tanya is the chief assistant to the Mayor in North Vernon, Indiana. We met during my trip to Indiana this summer, through a mutual friend. She went on to share the products with 8 friends and received a bunch of free products, prizes and cash! She then achieved another milestone of Director II by helping more people shop to enjoy better health and more savings! I am so proud of her!
She has been married to Kevin for 28 years; they have 3 children and two grandchildren. She loves taking missions trips overseas with her family. Her WHY includes reviving businesses and families in the life of her small town, Dupont, Indiana.
She plans to buy and remodel a very old building to use for a non- profit community building, helping local single moms get more training and skills to create a better life and future.
She was my partner for a company challenge and we won awards and prizes together and received recognition at the January launch! I couldn’t have done it without her.
EXTRA EXTRA, READ ALL ABOUT IT!! Just released! You can read the entire article here. Thank you, all, for voting on bio photo choice, outfits, and the title for my article! ENJOY!!
Two years ago, our family designed and built 384 square feet of “tiny luxury on wheels” to replace our 4 bedroom/2 bath “forever home”. Our “why” was to pursue/realize our family values and mission, living in a real house, without a 30-year mortgage haunting us. We didn’t want to be a slave to debt and experience the pain of regret. Having two children leave the nest and a 12 year old still at home, experience told us you can never go back. Relationships produce the greatest joy in life. As pioneers and business owners in the tiny house movement, our journey has not been easy, but we can honestly say the adventure, simplicity, freedom, and family closeness, that tiny living has brought us, are worth it!
Trading Stuff for Adventure!
Since becoming minimalists, we have found many unexpected joys and adventures. We have found the joy of collecting memories, not stuff! Life is short. You only live once. Why not go on an adventure, take a risk, and try something new? We have launched two companies, been featured on HGTV, Daily Mail, The Sun, New Atlas, and travelled the country in our tiny home.
Doing the things that awaken passion and make you feel alive, is worth pursuing!
Trading Space for Freedom!
We traded unused space in our big house for more time and freedom. We have the power to choose where we want to live, what we want to do, and how we want to spend our increased free time. Every day is a new adventure full of new choices, including our career paths. We are passionate about building environmentally healthy tiny home communities for families to thrive in. We are on a mission to pay it forward and help others discover adventure, freedom, and simplicity, through tiny house living, together in a community. Our motto is, “Shrink your house, not your dreams.”
Trading Stress for Simplicity!
Live MORE by owning LESS! Less stuff equates less stress, plain and simple. We had no idea how heavy the burden of financial debt was until it was gone. Being debt free and mortgage free cannot be underestimated or understood until one experiences it! To kiss our debt good-bye after 23 years of marriage, is priceless! The weight of all our possessions was keeping us from a life of true freedom. Instead of spending 3 ½ hours cleaning, we are done in 30 minutes. We don’t have to maintain a big yard, clean the pool, or fix things around the house. We have claimed back our weekends for hobbies, fun, and family adventures!
Total Wellness
As a wellness lifestyle coach for 17 years, I have helped hundreds of clients improve their physical, environmental, financial, and personal health and wellness. My passion to achieve total wellness was a perfect fit to embrace minimalism and tiny living. I’ve already shared some of the benefits for financial and personal health and wellness. Now I will share my experience regarding mental and environmental health.
Mental Health
Clutter in my physical environment created chaos in my mental state. A lifestyle of minimalism, began to replace the stress and anxiety with more clarity and focus, resulting in more peace. Having a place for everything and everything in its place, simply helps you function at your best. We have found so much joy in living with less. We don’t collect things that don’t add value to our lives.
When I was downsizing, instead of asking, “What can I live without?”, I began to ask, “Do I need this to live?”. The mindset of simplicity transformed our shopping habits and carried over into every area of our lives, including how we operate our companies.
Environmental Health
A. The build process and materials
B. Wellness and toxins
C. Reduces carbon footprint
What else has an 86% positive effect and can reduce your carbon footprint by 45%??
In an unprecedented study, PhD student Maria Saxton looked at 80 people who downsized to tiny homes to quantify whether their environmental footprints really got smaller.
“As a whole, I found that after downsizing, people were more likely to eat less energy-intensive food products and adopt more environmentally conscious eating habits, such as eating more locally and growing more of their own food. Participants traveled less by car, motorcycle, bus, train, and airplane, and drove more fuel-efficient cars than they did before downsizing. They also purchased substantially fewer items, recycled more plastic and paper, and generated less trash. In sum, I found that downsizing was an important step toward reducing ecological footprints and encouraging pro-environmental behaviors.”
my credentials, selah oasis…
Relationships, debt-free living, travel more, more time for hobbies and fun
office? We needed more space so adding an office was a game changer. relationships-social affects emotional
common themes we hear from our clients…
When we asked the Moss Family why they want to go tiny, they said, “We are tired of working all our weekends to take care of a big house. We our weekends to be spent having fun and making memories with the kids!”
The Rosa family said, “We want to stop collecting and hoarding stuff! If we have the space, we will undoubtedly fill it!”
The Johnson family said, “Our kids are only with us a few short years and we don’t want to live with regrets!” The Kemp family said, “We are tired of watching most of our paycheck go to pay the mortgage and not much left for the fun things in life, like travel and leisure.”
The Benson family said, “We only use about 400 square feet in our home anyways, the other 800 square feet just costs us time and money to maintain.”
met wonderful people, served clients…
Old version:
“Trading Space for Freedom, Simplicity, and Adventure”
Two years ago, we downsized from the 2200 square foot dream home we had just remodeled to be our forever home, to embrace minimalism, living in the 384 square foot tiny home we built to become debt free. We really had no idea the benefits we would enjoy or the challenges we would overcome.
It’s almost like we woke up one day, realized our two oldest kids had moved out and our youngest was 11, and we looked at each other and said, “Honey, let’s shrink the house!” The four bedroom, two car garage, half acre yard and in ground pool, were too much for the three of us. We understood how little time we had with our youngest child and wanted to make the most of it! We were tired of collecting 2 toasters, 3 basketballs and all kinds of miscellaneous stuff that filled empty space and cluttered our hearts and minds.
Our motto has been, “Life is short. You only live once so why not go on an adventure?” When I asked my husband about moving our family from Michigan to Texas, he came to me after thinking a long time about it and said, “Okay, baby, I’m up for any adventure with you!”
There was MORE that we wanted out of life than chasing a mortgage while life passes by and you’re left with regrets. Our motto is: Life is short; you only live once; why not chase an adventure instead of comfort? Who cares if I don’t own 2 toasters, 3 basketballs, and a 4 bedroom/2 bath house with an in ground pool? All that stuff was bogging us down like a weight on our shoulders. Until it was removed, we didn’t know how heavy it was and how much it was keeping us from a life of true freedom. Andrew and I had to spend about 3.5 hours to clean the house top to bottom for each showing while it was on the market for 7 months. In the tiny house, we are done in 30 minutes flat and have so much more time for things that really matter. We have more time and money to invest into our Tiny House business helping people design and build their own dream tiny homes. We believe our mission will strengthen family relationships and eliminate debt so they too can follow their passions and experience more freedom. This was a reason worthy of giving up our comfortable lifestyle.
Upsize your life ~ Downsize your space
The downsizing adventure
not “What can I live without?” but “What do I need to live?”
a common theme we hear from our clients is…
Trade unused space for more freedom:
A. financial, kiss 30 year mortgage debt goodbye,
After 23 years or marriage, what a dream come true!
Financial Freedom – stop stressing about your ever-growing pile of debt and live debt free. Own your home outright and stop spending your entire paycheck on housing expenses. Live tiny; live debt free.
B. MORE TIME: Time Freedom – think of all the time you’ll save because you’ve downsized the space you have to clean, repair, and maintain. We didn’t want to keep chasing a mortgage while life passes by and experience the pain of more regrets. Having two children leave the nest and a 12 year old still at home, we understand we can never get these days back.
CLAIM BACK YOUR WEEKENDS FOR FUN! What if you could clean your entire house in 30 minutes flat? How much more time would you have for the fun things you want to do with your loved ones? Nikki’s story…
Career Freedom – you no longer have to slave away at a job that you hate because you have high living costs.
2. Trade your Stress for more Simplicity Live MORE by owning LESS! hoarding
The unexpected joys of becoming a minimalist
A. Mental health
a. Clarity and Focus replace confusion and scattered
b. less stuff = Less stress, plain and simple.
c. The mindset of simplicity transforms shopping habits, and carries over into your business and entrepreneur habits,
peace
relationships-social affects emotional
Easy organization: everything has a place and everything is in its place
Less procrastination: when we start a project, we finish it
More clarity and Focus: Cleared up prime real estate in our minds, relationships, businesses, etc. because things are just plain simpler
It’s so freeing to rid yourself of all the “stuff” that stole your time and money and added no value to the quality of your life. Relationships, debt-free living, travel more, more time for hobbies and fun! Life is too short to put off doing what makes you feel alive!”
WHY GO TINY: NOT HOARD!! Why go tiny? To stop collecting stuff and start collecting memories. If we have the space, we will undoubtedly fill it.
Maintenance – with such a small space, the maintenance work is quick and easy! No more stressing over big fixes!
Lifestyle – living tiny truly is a lifestyle, and it’s a very simple one. There are far less moving parts to worry about and things to take care of.
Minimalism – own less stuff and experience freedom from choice. Tiny living forces you to be a minimalist which allows you to experience less stress, anxiety, and mo
B. environmental health
WELLNESS:
A. The build process and materials
B. Wellness and toxins
C. Reduces carbon footprint
What else has an 86% positive affect and can reduce your carbon footprint by 45%??
“People choose to downsize to tiny homes for many reasons. They may include living a more environmentally friendly lifestyle, simplifying their lives and possessions, becoming more mobile, or achieving financial freedom, since tiny homes typically cost significantly less than the average American home.”
3. Trade unwanted Stuff for more Adventure
collect memories, not stuff!
Travel – with lower living costs comes more savings. Savings you can use to finally take that European adventure you’ve been dreaming of.
Pioneering a Movement – Tiny Living is still a relatively new idea and you could join the movement that’s spreading like wildfire across the nation.
New Experience – tiny living is a novelty and can be so exciting. Every day is a new adventure and you have the power to chart your new life path
Welcome to Tiny Town Texas, where dreams are big and houses are small.
We’re on a mission to show Texans that bigger is not always better.
The heroes of Tiny Town™ are exchanging the chains of mortgage debt for a life of freedom, adventure and simplicity.
Do you have the courage to live tiny to make your big dreams come true?
Tiny Town Texas™ is a Master Planned Tiny House Community with 400 living/rental units.
Community gardens, nature trails, doggy park, barbecue pit, pavilion, outdoor cinema, landscaping with natural water features foster total wellness for body, soul and spirit, resulting in vibrant healthy relationships.
Tiny enterprises owned and operated by residents focus on artisans and affordable wellness, often found in farmer’s markets.
B & B’s comprise about 20% of the tiny homes. Agr-itourism is part of the attraction.
Use Rustic Touch on your car’s leather interior, your purses, boots, jackets, and furniture! 100% safe cleaner to use around children or pets. Won’t harm you or the environment!
Use on real wood products too to shine and make look new!! (Do not use on floors as it makes slippery)
WHAT ONE THING WILL CLEANSE, DETOX, NOURISH AND HELP HEAL MY GUT? And help my heart and weight loss efforts?
Benefits: 1. Digestion support. 2. Weight loss support. 3. Heart health
How is it better than Metamucil and the market competition?
1. Proprietary blend of herbs, vitamins and antioxidants facilitate long term healing, not just short term relief
2. Gentle elimination process.
3. Absorbs fat and cholesterol.
4. Detoxes the organs and blood stream by pulling it into the digestive tract and moving it out of the body.
5. Price for value is really great!
6. Sugar free!
Years ago, I heard a phrase, “Death begins in the colon”. It stuck with me and if your digestive system is happy and clean, the other organs are not stressed out trying to do the job of the colon. “Death begins in the colon”. Fiberwise is like a toothbrush for your colon. Use it daily!!
