it’s funny how my hubby and i can’t quite line up our idealistic phases… a bit over a year ago, rich (hubby) was *convinced* that we should sell our house and find an intentional community to live in – but they’re few and far between in perth. i was dead-set against it – i’m very much an introvert, and hated the idea of sharing “my” space with random people. but now, i’m at the let’s-be-hippies stage, and rich isn’t there… we’ve been looking at houses for sale in our area – he’s been looking for same-size-or-slightly-bigger, i’ve been looking at same-size-or-smaller. it’s not going to happen – with the housing market the way it is at the moment, our mortgage would increase, and i’m not prepared to do that. we’re quite happy here (been here three years, and can likely pay off the mortgage in another ten years – not bad for a thirty year death pledge…

Working in the architectural field, it’s so wonderful to read about these different housing options. I can’t wait for the day when I can build my own small house

I really enjoyed this post about alternative housing styles and construction methods. My dh is 3rd generation construction and some of the women in the family are trying to get the menfolk to look into these things. I recently spent some time looking at earthship houses made with tires. Very cool! Maybe if our kids take over the business someday they (and the rest of Kansas) will be more open to some of these ideas. I would love to be in on the design portion of it. I also love the idea of communal living or at least being more involved in a close-knit community and getting the things we need from within that community as much as possible.

I’ve bookmarked your blog. I will definitely be back.

It’s Mrs. T, from Keeper Of My Home. Thanks for the encouraging comment. I did read your article about alternative housing. Hubby actually brought up the idea of living in a Tiny House this evening, which is a complete blessing because I never thought he would go for something like that, therefore, I’ve never even brought it up…but he did! Sorry…I’m a little excited.

Anyway, hubby kind of looked at me like I had two heads when I told him my goal of 500 items out by 11/30 but he is ALL for it. Thanks again for the encouragement!

Mrs. T

It helped us renew our desire to evaluate whether God wants us to buy or not. I am very much pro-renting, if one is able to rent the same house they want to buy for a steep discount and enjoy the many perks of a headache-free situation. We rent a $270k house for only $1200/mo. The same house would costs us $2000/mo with mortgage, insurance, taxes, upkeep and HOA fees. And we get to enjoy the HOA perks for free to boot.

Many of our friends think we’re anti-buying, but we’re not. We just realize that, when you run the numbers, buying just doesn’t flush out as nicely as people think. They say, well, our house is appreciating 5% every year. I say, well, you paid 6% interest…you lost 1% – good for you. And yes, oevr time, it can produce a financial gain, but the pain of having a bank own your life, along with the burden of paying taxes and repairs can often not be worth the effort. For some reason, Christians ignore the teaching on debt when it comes to buying a house, which I do not understand. I don’t see the justification in the teachings of Jesus for a mortgage. I think we have to look to the scriptures to find evidence for a defense of a mortgage before we so strongly defend it ourselves. I’ve certainly learned to be cautious in this area.