Let’s face it. As exciting as it is living with the opportunities life offers us today, modernity is basically a killer. Your life span may be long enough, but there is no doubt that life also imposes stress and misery on us, especially if we are burdened with debt. Personally, I feel that living with NLD in a society that supposedly appreciates differences has been a struggle with or without debt.
I wrote about a local micro house in Live a little better in your own house. There are at the moment 39 properties in my hometown that cost the same or less, and another 60 if you add housing cooperatives. I think the local company Start Micro Housing is quite expensive with 1,8 million NOK as the cheapest alternative. Norwegians don’t know what micro really is, or freedom for that matter. My country is in some ways a very totalitarian regime. No, not in the way you think of the word. The Norwegian society is nothing like North-Korea or Saudi-Arabia, but there is still an attempt to subjugate the population.
Minimalism has been a bit of a fashion for a few years, but I believe this goes far back in the USA. In some ways this is in accordance with the independence the country was founded on, and independence is a strong theme in American literature. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Mark Twain could serve as excellent representatives. I think we could include women and minorities in their philosophies, and even though disability was not a topic at the time, it seems reasonable to assume that they would have included this group too if they had been around today. Economy is an important point today, and with a micro house people can live debt free, which is a much better life.
I know about one case from Norway that makes me believe it’ll be a lot harder here. A two year old article described Kari Schvibevaag’s encounter with bureaucracy. She was the world kiting champion some years ago, and when she retired she wanted to settle in Flakstad in Lofoten, Norway. She got permission from the local authorities to build a micro house, but then the problems started. You need permission to move into your new home because everything has to be according to building codes. It would have been alright if they could present everything at once, but they were clearly not sure about how to use old codes on a new building, so after she had straightened one thing out, there was always a new code, and this continued. When NRK (our PBS) wrote this article she had been living in her van parked next to her completed house for two years, which was a pretty crazy situation.
This could also be why the micro houses in Haugesund are so expensive. The regulatory framework is much too complicated. Norwegian authorities like to think of themselves as democratic, but the truth is that there is a strong desire to control people for the purpose of uniformity. I guess that’s the side effect of socialism. Yes, we have much more stable lives than many other countries, but there isn’t a lot of room for individuality here. Being different here is difficult. That is something we really need to change because I think there could be problems ahead. At some point people are going to be tired of being treated as second class citizens. Look at the African Americans. I believe they are about 13 percent of the US population today, but that was probably closer to 10 in the 1960’s. I think a lot of their civil rights victories happened because the authorities were afraid of what could happen if they resisted change. It’s hard to stop people moving forward.
Change now would make it more peaceful, but change is inevitable. It should be as simple as buying the plans and start building, but as the case from Lofoten showed it isn’t. Tiny House DESIGN sell plans for $ 29 and their biggest house on wheels is Westport 28. That refers to how long it is, and I wouldn’t exactly be comfortable driving that all over the country, but I would love to park this California inspired house somewhere. Look at some sketches. The gallery at Tiny House UK looks very similar, so I suspect they have bought the plans in the USA. Have a look.
There are many inspirational stories online. Jenna Spesard from the blog/You tube channel Tiny House Giant Journey did what many have dreamed about. She became a minimalist. This is an option for singles/couples, and it is more challenging for families in a society that see individuality as a threat, but it’s exciting to see how others manage this lifestyle. There are many houses in a similar style in You tube videos, but Jenna’s house is a fine example of how nice and quirky a mobile home can be. Check out her blog.
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