Ethan Waldman started building his tiny house on wheels in June of 2012, and hasn’t looked back! He is a tiny house teacher, writer and speaker and is the author of Tiny House Decisions and Tiny House Parking. Ethan and his partner Ann live in Northern Vermont in their tiny house.
Ethan left a well-paying job after taking a sabbatical from work and doing a bike tour across the country. He didn’t know about tiny houses then, but that trip became the catalyst for a major life change.
Upon his return and after doing some research he settled on the idea of building a tiny house and started saving by setting up an account called the “Tiny House Freedom Fund”. He had a singular goal of saving as much as he could. Anytime he would choose not to go out to eat, he put the $30 he would have spent into the account. He would go on his phone and transfer the money. It became like a game.
The home ended up costing about $40,000 in total: $26,000 in materials and $14,000 in labor. He had a professional roofer put the roof on and had a company do the insulation professionally, because the specific type he chose was a little harder to install.
Ethan says, “I am so happy that I made the decision to make this change. In a way, I have retired, even though I’m only 30. Living is so inexpensive now that I am able to pursue other interests and travel.”