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Alexis Stephens & Christian Parsons

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Upcoming tiny house events: festivals, workshops, expos, documentary screenings, talks, webinars and more

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RT @TinyhouseATL: Exciting News! Tiny Houses coming to Atlantic Station! - https://t.co/zZljHJeeoX https://t.co/pwsta9BYRP
about 19 hours ago
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RT @TinyJXN: Tiny Home Village Moving Forward in Lake Dallas https://t.co/b6FAwLckdg
about 19 hours ago
TinyX

What are your favorite tiny, healthy or simple living books? 📚✨🌱 My sweet friend, Emily Gerde, aka @Mindminmama wro… https://t.co/MjGikUd2Wr
about 20 hours ago

What are your favorite tiny, healthy or simple living books? 📚✨🌱 My sweet friend, Emily Gerde, aka @mindfulminimalistmama wrote this wonderful book, "Minimalist Living for a Maximum Life". She shares her family’s story of drastically #downsizing, spurred by the desire to reduce stress and live a healthier lifestyle. ❤️Check out her lovely home, @tinyhousebigmoments .
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"For our family, minimalism is 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."

Dynamic duo. Partners in crime. Adventure buddies. I could go on for days… 😉 We have been together for 6 wonderful, challenging, thrilling years. In #tinyhouseliving / working together time, that equates to about 12 years. Not many couples spend that level of concentrated time together. What doesn’t kill you, make you stronger, right? 😁 I definitely feel that we can make through just about anything, thanks to our sharpened communication skills and almost weird understanding of each other. 💕💗💞
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Our relationship advice:
1) Listen more, not just to the words but to the underlying meaning, because it is not always obvious what your significant other really needs. Sometimes it’s just a understanding word and a warm hug.
2) Hug, kiss, and cuddle often.
3) Get silly. Generally don’t take yourself or each other too seriously.
4) Suck it up, and say I’m sorry.
5) Have each other’s back, always, and trust that your partner has your back.
6) Talk it out. Though sometimes, just move on.
7) Say I love you everyday. ❤️💋

We are grateful we were able to meet up with David while we were in Boulder, in the Fall. He showed us his lovely, unique DIY #tinyhouse. Home to him and his pet turtle, Tiny. Watch the full tour— link in our bio. At the time, he was heartbroken over the recent eviction notice he received. A month later we completed our video about his tiny home and tough situation, which he then shared with the city of Boulder. This was part of his plea to be allowed to return to his home in a generous host’s backyard. David was victorious, and is now collaborating with the city and other advocates to create a permanent legal solution across the city. Inspiring—way to go David! ✊️🏡❤️ ~
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"At first, there was not too much that I could do when I got the notice to evict. The major play that I made was reaching out to you two who happened to be in the area. A major player in working with the city is a neighbor who lives down the street. He reached out to me because he had tenants in a similar situation, he was very proactive and went to town meetings to discuss our interests. Another big part of communicating was my landlord, he too communicated via letters with city council trying to be open about the problem. I reached out to the city council members as a whole and told my story part of which was showing them the video of my house. Immediately the majority of city council were on our side and agreed that there was an issue with non-conforming structures and that it needed to be addressed. At a meeting they asked the city attorney if they could write a letter allowing those who were kicked out a temporary exemption to codes and ordinances, allowing us to continue living in our structures." @home_made_tiny ✊️✨

Love this simple, efficient #tinyhouse kitchen! As a cook, David designed his kitchen around his cooking stance. With one simple spin or pivot, he can reach everything he needs. 👌🍳Watch the full tour— link in our bio. 🔗
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"The major motivation to build my tiny house was initially just to see how I would tackle the challenge! There are a ton of mini puzzles, and you have to learn a lot of different little things in building and living tiny, and that’s what really drew me to the idea. The other major underlying reasons were affordability and an effort to reflect a minimalist lifestyle." @home_made_tiny

Meet David, a University of Colorado college student, future astronomy teacher, and #tinyhouse dweller. He built a charming, efficient THOW as a way to embrace simple, sustainable living—watch the tour; link in bio. 🔗 Another big motivation for his tiny home was to create his own affordable student housing. CU only offers student housing for freshman and foreign exchange students. Housing in Boulder, CO, is extremely expensive and in short supply. 🙁
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For 6 months, David was peacefully parked in a north Boulder backyard next to a couple living in an RV. Together they created a beautiful mini-neighborhood with a community garden. The immediate neighbors and their kids loved coming over to pick vegetables. None of them voiced concerns about the tiny structures. Just before midterms this last Fall, David’s hosts were received a code violation and eviction notice. The tiny dwellers on the property were asked to vacate their structures within 30 days. 😨
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David’s tiny house sat in storage for about a month, while he and his neighbors worked with the City of Boulder. GOOD News: they granted them a temporary allowance for non-conforming structures, while they work toward a long-term solution, city-wide. ✊️
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Any advice for future tiny house dwellers? "I would just say to be very diligent in making sure you can be legal if that’s what you want to do. There are many ways around tough situations like I’m in, just be willing to adjust your plan.” @home_made_tiny

se·ren·i·ty
the state of being calm, peaceful, and untroubled. ✌️✨
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No one is peaceful all the time. It’s just not possible. What is achievable is altering your neutral state of mind, your fall-back reflective consciousness. Without meaning to sound overly hippy-dippy, there is much to be said for listening to yourself. Tuning into you, and shutting out the noise of society. I've found that I felt genuinely calmer as I’ve moved towards doing what feels right to me, by taking direct control of my life instead of letting social pressures and conventional expectations take control. The #tinyliving movement is driven by growing number of folks ditching the traditional script of not doing what the Joneses do, making the same traditional life choices and the same consumption habits. 🤔
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Neutral mind, "This is the place where we assimilate information from both the positive and negative minds and make a decision. It is in this space we can weigh pros and cons without being more attached to one side or another. This is the space we are acting from when we are following...our true path in life. When we have a strong neutral mind, we act from intuition.” by Catie Joyce 💗

Living the life of your dreams begins with the dreams themselves. Six and half years ago, I couldn’t tell you what my goals were beyond the desire not to be so stressed. I was juggling a demanding job, daunting house maintenance, and single parenthood. I was overwhelmed and lost. After my marriage failed, I knew one thing for sure; I needed to reconnect with myself. I had been stuffing my feelings deep inside. It was suffocating me. As a result, my sense of self was murky. My state of mind was visually represented in my messy, cluttered house. 🏡🌪
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Like many things in life, the first step toward change is awareness. It was painfully obvious to myself that I was stressed to the max. Check. But how to become less stressed and hopefully more fulfilled? An excellent place to start seemed to be to reduce the stressors in my life. That eventually led me to begin the downsizing process. 💡
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What I discovered was by minimizing my possessions, I began to uncover myself. I was learning what was most important to me and what wasn’t. "Things" were definitely low on the priority list. What I wanted more of was that exhilaration feeling. If something as simple as getting rid of stuff could make me feel this good, then making more changes could only feel better. Downsizing empowered me to see myself as capable of evolution. My world viewed expanded because I took direct control of my life, and navigated myself through the rocky waters of a big life transition. Ultimately the downsizing process prepared me to take risks. And there is no adventure without a bit of danger. 😏❤️ #lessismore

What's the strangest place you've ever called home? We’ve parked in campgrounds, RV parks, BLM land, parking lots,
rest areas, driveways, backyards, behind a warehouse, and in #tinyhouse communities we visit. Many kind and generous strangers, aka future friends, have invited us to stay on their land, from folks we met at gas stations to Burning Man. A couple years back, we met a lovely family while at an event Phoenix. We ended up staying on their property for a week and hung-out much of that time. The beauty of travel is the opportunity for spontaneous conversations with all kinds of people you would otherwise not have the opportunity to interact with. 🛣🏡❤️#homeiswhereyouparkit

Does anything say home more than a porch? We love our #tinyhouse porch. It gets used all the time for hangs and a place to stash dirty boots. The cover from the elements lets us enjoy fresh air, or bring in the groceries, without getting soaked by rain. Yes, we could have 3 more feet of usable indoor space, but we have no regrets, especially as a truly mobile tiny home. ❤️#porchlife •
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📸 by @ladzinski

One of our top #tinyhouse must-haves: a couch for cuddling and the occasional nap. 💕 What are your must-haves? Maybe it’s a place for your book or shoe collection. We can store 20 pairs in our vertical shoe rack— 6’ tall and 1’ wide. For a tiny dweller friend of ours, that is far too little shoe storage. 😉👢👠👡🥾To each their own, we say. Our advice: design your space around what you most love and most need. Living minimally does not mean depriving yourself. 🏡✨👌
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📸 by @ladzinski

Hey errbody, happy #TinyHouse Tuesday!
It’s been awhile since we’ve introduced ourselves. We thought we share a bit about us with all our new followers— thanks guys!
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Alexis here. ☺️ I typically write all the words you read here. I left my 9 to 5 job five years ago. When we I made the decision to pursue our traveling tiny house and docu filmmaking dream, I jumped in with both feet. I had unwavering faith that we would make this happen. Everyday I chipped away at the necessary research and planning. Somehow I was able to channel any doubt into courage. I ditched the “fake it till you make it” concept.
Instead it was all about "Face it till you make it. Get up. Work hard. Fail. Stand back up. Face it again..."
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And Christian is the handsome man behind the majority of the photos here. After downsizing drastically many years before me, he found that he was happiest traveling with a backpack and camera. Christian is an incredible creative problem-solver the core quality that empowered him to build 85% of our 130 sq. ft. tiny home by himself.
Since we hit the road, he's our main driver too. Calm, cool and collected is his constant towing vibe.
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We hit the road with our THOW to pursue our passion: documentary storytelling and community education. Now 3.5 years in, our initial project continues and we have fully embraced the nomadic life. We value experiences and relationships over things. Though we aren’t financially wealthy, we have never lived a richer life.
We hope to encourage others to redefine what home and success means to them and start living their dreams.
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As we travel, we stay a few days to few months in different locales. Humbly, we are the World's Most Traveled Tiny House on Wheels (specifically a house built on trailer). This wasn’t our goal when we set out, just a fun side affect of our adventures and work.
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Fun facts by the numbers •
✅54,000 Miles Traveled across 37 States + 1 Canadian Province •
✅Participated in 3 Dozen Community Events •
✅Released 2 of our 3 part Living Tiny Legally doc-series •
✅Weekly Creators: every Thursday on YT! Please sub. 🙏😊

Sasquatch sighting in the #tinyhouse! 😜 Let me clarify, it’s “Sassy-squatch”. That’s what I call Christian when he’s being extra. Or exceptionally hairy. 😂 We are both hairy AF. That is why our baby will be a fur baby. 🐶
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My 12-year-old baby, Garrett, aka Gman, gave Christian this get-up for Christmas. The kid has good taste and is quite brave. For his holiday break, he flew across the country to join us in Bend. We spent two full weeks of pure family time. ❤️❄️ Together we explored the area, played in the snow and enjoyed lots of holiday cheer. ❤️✨ For a look at our OR tiny home life, watch our latest vlog—🔗 in our bio.

We did it! 😄 We usually find #tinyhouse parking through networking. But for our most recent spot, I got a bit creative by searching Facebook Marketplace for listings with a room for rent. I lucked out and found one in the heart of town with a large backyard. I figured that if someone was renting a room, then he or she was likely looking for supplemental income. So I reached out to the landlord to see if he would be open to hosting our THOW. 🏡 •
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At the same time, I put up a Craigslist post with a flyer about us (in our new blog post—🔗 in bio), our house, our parking needs, and what we were willing to offer— straight up rent or a work/trade agreement by helping with snow shoveling, pet care, etc. We set a budget of $300/month, excluding any on-site work. 💵 •
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Good news! My Fb request panned out. Our parking spot is super convenient, and it’s on a dead-end street, in a quiet neighborhood. We feel entirely secure here. If there’s ever an issue, we have several fall-back parking options from the Craigslist post. 🏘
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Unfortunately, just learned today of a local THOW eviction. Most likely a complaint, because this is how most code enforcement happens: any complaint means action. It’s a truly awful story. A family built a beautiful tiny home, and parked it behind a small house that they purchased. The rented rooms out of that house for affordable rates for veterans. The father is a veteran himself. Now that the city told them they had to vacate their THOW or face daily fines. So they're all cramming into one room in the big house. Ridiculous! 😤😣 They had lived peacefully on their land for year. Bend is struggling to provide enough affordable housing. •
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We are advocates for more legal acceptance of tiny houses, but definitely see the place for practical, peaceful civil disobedience. For more on legal progress, watch our docu-series, “Living Tiny Legally”—on our website and YouTube channel. ✊️The family will fight the eviction. I plan to email them a copy of the new state-wide THOW code; needs to be adopted on the local level. Here’s hoping for the best! 🤞 Common sense policy and enforcement can make all the difference in our nation’s housing struggle. #soapbox

In December, we made the beautiful drive from far Northern California to central Oregon. We settled in Bend; one of our favorite places. It’s a small, happening city with incredible access to nature. It is a highly desirable place to live, so we started our parking search far in advance of arriving. We got creative and scored a sweet parking spot, close to downtown, just in time for the holidays. Check our recent episode of Today’s #TinyHouse Parking Spot to see more about our experience— link in our bio. 🚚🏡💨 •
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We’re parked in the side yard of large house with two other accessory dwellings, a historic cabin and a 5th wheel RV. There are several people living on the property, all friendly and chill. But my favorite neighbors have to be the six dogs. I made BFFs with Tully, a Frenchie. 💞 Christian and I have done a lot of thinking about a future dog. It’s between a Boston Terrier and a French Bulldog—rescue pup. Maybe one of each! Not sure if our tiny home can handle two. But two dogs are easier to take care of than one; right? 🐶😉

I wholeheartedly believe that a #tinyhome is a tool to help you achieve your lifestyle, career and financial goals. No matter if you live in one for 2 or 20 years. And that’s exactly what it has helped me do. Living tiny has enabled me to take a major career risk, leave a secure 9-5 job to pursue a passion project. Also, for the first time in my life, I’m a homeowner. No matter what happens, Christian and I will always have a comfortable home. ☺️🙏 •
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#DidYouKnow that tiny houses on wheels originally came about as a means to get around restrictive codes. But they quickly became attractive to many as a mobile asset. Whatever life changes arise, you can take your tiny home investment with you. The majority of THOW dwellers only move 1-3 times ever, for a major life change like a new job or to be closer family, etc. 🤔💡🚚🏡💨
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📸 by @ladzinski

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