Jenna Kausal [00:00:00]: I mean, the parking spaces would be more difficult to come by to, you know, a lot of times I could park just about anywhere, you know, it's like 2 parking spots in a Walmart parking lot. But those bigger tiny homes, you can't really do that. You know, you you have to go to RV parks sometimes and or, you know, just really plan it out and really, and you have to be really good at driving too.

Ethan Waldman [00:00:22]: Welcome to the Tiny House Lifestyle Podcast, the show where you learn how to plan, build, and live the tiny lifestyle. I'm your host, Ethan Waldman. And today, I'm joined by Jenna, a pioneer in the tiny house movement who built her own tiny home in 2014. Over the past decade, Jenna has expanded her influence through her amazingly popular YouTube channel, Tiny House Giant Journey, which showcases unique tiny house tours and stories. We'll discuss the challenges of maintaining and repairing a tiny house, especially when it's used primarily as a vacation rental, but it wasn't built as one initially. Jenna will also share the incredible stories behind some of the most remarkable tiny houses she has encountered, including one nestled in an animal sanctuary. Whether you're a tiny house veteran or just curious, you'll find plenty of inspiration and practical insights in today's episode so stick around.

Ethan Waldman [00:01:14]: The Tiny House Lifestyle Podcast is sponsored by PrecisionTemp hot water heaters. I recently sat down with Jenna from the amazing YouTube channel, Tiny House Giant Journey. Jenna built her tiny house in 2014 and has been using PrecisionTemp hot water heaters since the beginning.

Jenna Kausal [00:01:31]: So whenever somebody asks me for a recommendation for a water heater for a tiny house, I always recommend PrecisionTemp, tankless hot water heater, because that's what I've used. I've had it for 10 years, and I have loved the unit. I love how quickly it heats up. I love how it works in cold weather and high altitudes, and I love that they have really great customer service. So I definitely always recommend that unit whenever somebody asks.

Ethan Waldman [00:01:59]: Right now PrecisionTemp is offering $50 off their amazing hot water heaters if you use the code THLP at checkout. Head over to precisiontemp.com. And use the coupon code THLP for $50 off.

Jenna Kausal [00:02:19]: I think their customer service is really great. If they're, you know, too busy or after hours, they get back to me really quickly. So I've definitely experienced other hot water heaters. I definitely would always go with a tankless hot water heater. And the PrecisionTemp because it's so compact, it can fit underneath my sink in my tiny house and it vents through the floor. So it just looks nice. And it's and it's quiet. I love that.

Ethan Waldman [00:02:47]: Once again, PrecisionTemp is offering $50 off when you use the coupon code THLP at checkout. Head over to precision THLP, that's precisiontemp.com and use the coupon code THLP for $50 off. Thank you so much to PrecisionTemp for sponsoring our show. Alright. I am here with Jenna from the amazing YouTube channel, Tiny House Giant Journey. Jenna has been involved with the tiny house movement for 10 years, starting with building her own tiny home in 2014, and then traveling around North America creating one of the most popular tiny home channels on YouTube. Jenna, welcome back to the show.

Jenna Kausal [00:03:47]: Thanks for having me.

Ethan Waldman [00:03:48]: Yeah, it's great. Great to have you and I, you know, you're one of the very few kind of like, what I think of as, like, the OG tiny house people who were, like, doing it around the time that I was doing it, like, had web had a website and a web presence and, like, see you at a festival here or there. But my how times have changed.

Jenna Kausal [00:04:08]: Oh, yeah. Definitely. But you're right. We're kind of the OGs.

Ethan Waldman [00:04:13]: Yeah. So you were on the show, way back in 2018. It was actually one of my favorites from that first year, because you had put put this video up, like, with the title, like, living in a tiny house stinks. And so, like, I was like, I gotta interview you about this video. And I'm sure, like, you know, it's kind of a clickbait baby title, but it was, like, it was a great video. And it was a good interview too.

Ethan Waldman [00:04:39]: So I think at that point when we talked, you you had already kind of transitioned from living in your tiny house and traveling in it to, you know, having your tiny house as a vacation home slash short term rental. But can you I mean, it's hard to sum up the last, last 6 years in just one question, but, like, catch us up. What what have you been up to in that time?

Jenna Kausal [00:05:04]: Right. So I am still making tiny house videos. I've, expanded to now I have two editors and, like, five videographers. And all of my videographers are tiny houses or nomadic.

Ethan Waldman [00:05:18]: I love that.

Jenna Kausal [00:05:19]: Yeah. I try to support the movement because I was a nomad, in my tiny house for the first year, and it's hard to find work on the road. So Yeah. Whenever I can find somebody who has the equipment and the know how, I try to see if I can hire them freelance to do some videography for me. So I have ones that live in Airstreams, one that lives in renovated school buses, in box trucks, in vans, printer vans, you know, and they they travel all around and, film the videos for me. I film some in Seattle with my Seattle crew, which is where I'm based, and we edit them here in Seattle. But now we can cover a lot more ground and we can interview more people and feature more people on the channel because I've expanded. That's one thing, one way I've expanded, and I still have my tiny home.

Jenna Kausal [00:06:08]: I still use it as a vacation home for my family Waldman Airbnb. And I also have a new tiny home. It's a Vardo wagon that I purchased last year.

Ethan Waldman [00:06:19]: Super cool. Can you explain, first, for those listening who might not know what a Vardo is? Like, what is a Vardo wagon?

Jenna Kausal [00:06:28]: Yeah, so a Vardo is a term for like the wagons that like the Romani people originated and used. And, it's, you know, a specific look and usually very cutesy, handcrafted, small. And this one that I have is very small. It's only 6 by 10, so about 60 square feet.

Jenna Kausal [00:06:55]: And has a lot of charm. Very charming.

Ethan Waldman [00:06:58]: Nice. And and is this something that you can like easily tow with a like the car? Do you need a truck? Like, how portable is it?

Jenna Kausal [00:07:06]: It's made of wood. So it's not gonna be like a fiberglass trailer. But it's 3500 pounds. So we can tow it with our Toyota Tacoma pretty easily. So you know, that's a small truck. If you had like a SUV, you could tow it. But it's made of wood, you know, and it's, it's handcrafted and special. And, and I love that it's made of wood.

Jenna Kausal [00:07:29]: So but with that you get weight.

Ethan Waldman [00:07:32]: Yeah, yeah, definitely. And what are you what are you using it for?

Jenna Kausal [00:07:36]: So it's actually I fell in love with it in 2015. So like 9 years ago, I saw it at a tiny house festival. And I befriended the man who built it. His name's Russ, Russ Pryor, and he, later on, let me stay in his log cabin, which is also gorgeous. But, anyway, I befriended him and and kept in touch with him, and I did a video on him, and his wagon on my channel. And then a year ago, or maybe it was 2 now, I reached out to him because I couldn't stop thinking about it, and just asked him if he was interested in ever selling it. He hadn't listed it or anything like that. I just cold called him.

Jenna Kausal [00:08:16]: Yeah. And he said, Yeah, it's been in storage for years. I would love it to, you know, have some life. So I, I offered him a price, he accepted, and I bought it. And he actually delivered it to me in Seattle, because he was he lives in Seattle, too. So that was serendipitous.

Ethan Waldman [00:08:32]: Perfect.

Jenna Kausal [00:08:34]: And now it's parked in my mother in law's backyard. She uses it as a spare bedroom for her house. And we also use it as a playhouse for my kids. I have 2 kids, a 3 year old and a 8 month old. Of course, he's not really playing in it yet, the baby, but I'm hoping one day. And, you know, the future plans might be to put it on a piece of property somewhere as another vacation home or glamping getaway for us. But for now, we're just enjoying it in my mother in law's backyard.

Ethan Waldman [00:09:03]: Awesome. Awesome. And you also bought a, like, a vintage camper, right, and and restored it?

Jenna Kausal [00:09:12]: I did. So I had a vintage camper that I renovated with my husband in 2018, and then we ended up selling it when we bought the Vardo to pay for the Vardo. So it was kind of like we had to choose. I was like, I'm starting to collect tiny, tiny things on trailers, because I still have my tiny home as well. And I, we had to decide, okay, do we want the vintage camper? Or do we want the wagon? And like I said, I just couldn't get that wagon out of my head. We ultimately decided it was the right choice to let the vintage camper go

Jenna Kausal [00:09:47]: and get the wagon. Plus, the vintage camper could only really fit 3 of us. And now we're a family of 4. So it was never really gonna work out for a camper. Yeah, for us.

Ethan Waldman [00:09:58]: Got it. So you've been like, kind of a part of, and also an observer of the tiny house movement, for, you know, ten plus years. I'm curious, you know, as kind of an observer who's been, like, really kind of intimately touring tiny homes and kind of documenting them, what are some trends that you have seen in the movement? And and what are some predictions for for where this is going?

Jenna Kausal [00:10:28]: Well, it's definitely changed a lot since I, you know, first started, and I'm sure you can concur with that.

Ethan Waldman [00:10:35]: Yeah.

Jenna Kausal [00:10:35]: They're becoming more accepted. You're seeing more legal tiny house options for parking and for purchasing a tiny home. And more cities are accepting them. Not all, it's still, you know, only some. But there's a lot more tiny house villages. That's a huge trend I've seen in the last few years, and we've been covering that a lot on the channel, going to tiny house villages and in RV parks that have, like, a section for tiny houses that they call tiny house village. Even 5 or 6 years ago, I don't think there were very many of these. And now, there's at least a dozen.

Jenna Kausal [00:11:12]: And some of them have like, hundreds of tiny homes, people living together in a community. Yeah. And it's that's amazing. You know, it's an amazing option for people. It's making it definitely more accessible, and not as frightening, you know, because not everybody wants to own their own land, not everybody, you know, has the option to own their own land, but they can pay for a parking spot in a community that's well maintained. So I think that that's a trend that I will, I think we'll continue to see. And then, of course, the bigger, bigger, tiny homes, right? So, Yeah. I feel like when we started, it was like 200 square feet was huge.

Jenna Kausal [00:11:59]: You know, that was a big tiny house. Now, 400 square feet seems almost the norm. 300 to 400 is sort of the norm. I feel like I see a lot now. Hardly ever do I see like a 16 foot tiny home anymore. You know?

Ethan Waldman [00:12:16]: Yeah. Is that what yours is?

Jenna Kausal [00:12:19]: No. Mine was 20 20 by 8. So that's like 160 square feet or something if you don't count the loft.

Jenna Kausal [00:12:29]: But what's yours? I forget.

Ethan Waldman [00:12:32]: It's Yeah, it's 22 by 8. So it's actually on a 22 foot trailer, but the house itself is about 20. Mine was based on a pencil porch. Plans. Yeah.

Jenna Kausal [00:12:44]: Yeah. Mine was too, So yeah. So now, I mean, even 20 would be a hard 1 to find. I feel like most of them are 30 feet long.

Ethan Waldman [00:12:57]: Yeah. Yeah. Do you think that you could have done your road trip and the, like, the way that you traveled to 30 some odd states if you were in and I'm not trying to, like, poo poo a bigger tiny house because living full time in a 20 foot long house is, you know, it's it's fun. It's interesting. It's it's definitely gonna be harder than being in a tiny house that has full size appliances, washer, dryer, staircase up to the bedroom kind of situation. So but do you think you could have done your trip that in a bigger house?

Jenna Kausal [00:13:32]: Financially, I don't think I could have just because the gas prices was already outrageous because the house weighed like 10000 pounds So it was already so much money to travel with it with like a Ford F250. So

Jenna Kausal [00:13:47]: You know, you'd have to have a Ford or a 350. And you'd have to have a dually Ethan you'd need, I mean, the parking spaces would be more difficult to come by to, you know, a lot of times I could park just about anywhere, you know, it's like two parking spots in a Walmart parking lot. But those bigger, tiny homes, you can't really do that, you know, you you have to go to RV parks sometimes and or, you know, just really plan it out. And really, and you have to be really good at driving too, because backing up something that large on a trailer is tough. You know?

Jenna Kausal [00:14:21]: I think it would have been a lot more difficult. I'm not saying it's not possible. But it you know, even with a 20 foot tiny house, we had our challenges. So I think any bigger than that would be even more challenging.

Ethan Waldman [00:14:34]: Yeah, absolutely. You know, so you and I have both, you know, we we built tiny houses, and, you know, we now live in traditional sized houses. How have you you know, what what lessons have you taken from from living tiny that you've carried forward into your into your current housing choice?

Jenna Kausal [00:14:57]: Yeah. I will say things have changed a lot for me since having kids. I find it very difficult to maintain my minimalism with children. But I we do try. We're always doing Goodwill and, you know, giving away things for free on Facebook free groups and whatnot and trying to only get things off of Facebook free group. So there's like a nice community of that going on, at least in Seattle of just like, I feel like my house is constantly cycling in and out things. I also still find myself getting uncomfortable with clutter, You know, and that is something that's a rollover from the tiny house for sure. So like, I Yeah.

Jenna Kausal [00:15:42]: I feel the need to constantly downsize. And because we have kids, it is a constant struggle because things are coming in all the time. They have to size up in clothes every 3 months or something. So Yeah, we're constantly changing things in and out for different milestones, you know, now she can ride a bike. Okay, we need a bike, you know, so

Jenna Kausal [00:16:05]: it's always the next thing. And then because she can ride a bike, we need to get rid of this, you know? So there's something else.

Ethan Waldman [00:16:13]: Yeah. Yeah. Nice. Well, I mean, also, kind of similar question or different question, but, you know, like, we've both kind of created businesses around the tiny house movement, you know, in a way documenting and and sharing other people's stories. How have you and, you know, so for for part of it, it is certainly how, you know, how I make my living. It's how, I'm guessing, how you make your living. What about the tiny house movement keeps you interested? Or, like, what kinds of stories are you most interested in telling? Because it's like, you gotta find something to stay interested in.

Jenna Kausal [00:16:55]: Yeah. Well, I I find that it's so interesting that basically with a just about the same amount of square footage, people can create something so different. Yeah. Based on their lifestyle choices, their interests, and I find that almost like an art form. I suppose it is just like architecture is an art form, but it's like a niche form of architecture. So I guess that will always bring me back to the tiny house movement. Just what can you do with a very, you know, small amount of space and people are always coming up with new things. And that's amazing to me that not everything has been done before.

Jenna Kausal [00:17:32]: When I see something new, because we now publish two videos a week, basically. So when I see something new, I'm like, Wow, I've never seen that before. And I've seen hundreds of these, you know, so

Jenna Kausal [00:17:47]: We're coming up on probably 1, 000 pretty soon. Maybe not. But you know, it's it's been a lot of tiny homes that I've seen. So when I see something new, I'm really impressed. And it still happens. It still happens that I see things new all the time. Stories that I'm interested. I really don't like to do tiny house tours if I don't have the owner.

Jenna Kausal [00:18:09]: You know, there's been so many times when we have a tiny house that's available to tour, but the owner's out of of town or it's an Airbnb, and they're not there to talk about their specific choices in the build and the design.

Jenna Kausal [00:18:22]: I'm not really interested in that. I want to hear from the owner, not the, you know, not the builder, I want to hear from the person who's, who's really behind and either lives in this tiny house, or built it a certain way for a specific purpose and why they did that. So my favorite stories are when people have a personal connection to the tiny home. And, they can answer questions like, why is this specific thing here? And where do you keep your, winter coat? You know, like, answer my questions in a more personal way is is the kind of stories we like to tell.

Ethan Waldman [00:19:00]: Yeah. Yeah. I like that a lot. And it's it's I'm finding that it's it's getting harder to find tiny house dwellers to interview. Like, you see a lot of amazing tiny houses, but they're just strictly Airbnb's. And, you know, I will certainly interview you know, I, you know, like, I interviewed someone who built these tiny houses literally on the sides of cliffs, like, in Kansas of all places. But, like Yeah. They were incredible and unique.

Ethan Waldman [00:19:27]: And I'm like, I'm all about that. But just, like, just another tiny house on wheels on Airbnb. It's just like, yeah, this isn't that. This isn't unique at all for me.

Jenna Kausal [00:19:38]: It is becoming a little less special, isn't it? Ethan when we when we started? I mean, when I first built my tiny house, I'd never even seen one never, except for in a magazine. Wow. You know, I think I read the article about Jay Schafer. So we went to a Tumbleweed workshop, and we built 1 and I had never stepped inside of one until I was about halfway through the build. Halfway through the build I went, I drove 2 and a half hours when I found out somebody was doing a tiny house open house, and I took a tour of that tiny house. And that was the first time I'd been inside of one, I already had half of my trailer built. So now, of course, you can find them all over. You just go on Airbnb, and you find them.

Jenna Kausal [00:20:20]: And so yeah, there's definitely, we don't just we don't necessarily feature every tiny home anymore. We, I guess, are at a point where there's a luxury of being able to only feature the most unique. So I hear you when now it's like it's becoming a little it's a good and bad thing. Right? It's a good thing for the for the, movement because you want it to become a more well known thing, a more like, accepted lifestyle.

Jenna Kausal [00:20:48]: But in our industry, where we're trying to inspire and show unique stories, we're like, okay. Well, we have to find the most unique tiny home now. So it is it's becoming a little bit of a challenge.

Ethan Waldman [00:21:02]: Yeah, definitely. And just jumping back to that, like telling unique stories and like, being surprised. Like, I love that too. Like, I I interviewed this guy, Mike Crowhurst. I don't know if he's you've done a tour with him, but he took a, like, a semi tractor trailer and turned it into a tiny home. And it's just it's stunning. And it's, like, got so many cool features. And it was one of those ones where I was, like, wow.

Ethan Waldman [00:21:32]: That is so cool. I can't believe you turned, like, literally, like, the back of a semi into this thing. Yeah. And that was know, for anyone listening is episode 293. So it wasn't that long ago. It was a few weeks ago. But yeah, it's just it's so fun to be surprised again.

Jenna Kausal [00:21:49]: Yeah. I hear you.

Ethan Waldman [00:21:50]: Yeah. Do you have, like a favorite tour of all time? Or if that's too hard, like a favorite tour in the last like year or so?

Jenna Kausal [00:22:00]: Oh, it is so hard. Because I fall in love with people. So my answer may not be the house necessarily, but the person. We did one recently with this lady called Maya Hinga, and she has an animal sanctuary that she, runs. And she's a young woman. I I'm not exactly sure of her age, but she's she's younger than me. And so I'm impressed because she owns an entire animal sanctuary, and she lives on that animal sanctuary in a tiny house.

Ethan Waldman [00:22:36]: Wow.

Jenna Kausal [00:22:36]: And I just love that story, and I love the video because there's so many animals in the video. So it was a lot of fun because we did a tour of the house, and then she took us on a tour of the sanctuary, and we got to meet all of the animals that she's saved, And that was really heartwarming and also just a super fun video.

Ethan Waldman [00:22:57]: Yeah. That's that's a really good point, you know, you fall in love with the the person, talking to the person, meeting them. But it's it's I often find that those people often have really cool houses or they've done something really unique.

Jenna Kausal [00:23:11]: Yeah. I think her lifestyle is what was super unique to me and how she uses the tiny house as a tool, which is something I've said a bunch of times, but basically, like, I think tiny homes are art. I do think that they like, my Vardo, I think is a piece of art. But I also think that they can be super functional and work as a tool for your life. Life. So, like, for her, it makes the most sense to live as close to the animals as possible. So she found she basically created her own habitat in her animal sanctuary. So she's kind of in the middle of it all, and she has her own enclosure, if you will.

Jenna Kausal [00:23:48]: And it happens to be a tiny house. You know? And it's the right size for her, and it works for her. And I just love that That was super relatable for me. You know, it's very functional for her life.

Ethan Waldman [00:24:01]: Yeah. I I love that. That concept of using using a tiny home as a tool in your life for your life.

Ethan Waldman [00:24:13]: Because that that kind of redefines it as as more than just a home.

Jenna Kausal [00:24:19]: It is. Yeah. And it can I think tiny homes are versatile where they can they can grow, not in size, but grow with you and be used for different things because of that? So, like, in my experience, for example, it was a full time home for me for 3 years, but I used it as a RV, basically, for the first year. And then I I put it down on a piece of property and lived in it for 2 years just, you know, living simply and minimalistically. And now I use it as a vacation home for my family, so I do think that they're they are like a tool that you can use in a bunch of different ways. And who knows what the next chapter is for my tiny house? It might end up moving to my backyard as a as a, you know, a little home for my teenage daughter, and she gets, gets to be too much for me in the teen years. I mean, who knows? You know? So there's definitely ways that it can be used.

Jenna Kausal [00:25:16]: And I do find that 1 thing I like to say about tiny homes is that I think it's important that they work for you. And that's something that a big house doesn't necessarily do. You work for a big house, You know? You they require work.

Jenna Kausal [00:25:32]: You have to pay a mortgage. You have to maintain it. You have to heat and cool it. You have to clean it all the time. So you're working for that house. But for a tiny house, it's kind of the opposite. They work for you because most of the time, you don't have a mortgage. They're easy to clean.

Jenna Kausal [00:25:48]: They're easy to maintain. They are versatile. Like I was saying, they're functional, and the aesthetically, they are beautiful usually, you know, so you can make them that way anyway. And so they they're actually, they're they're an employee of you instead of you being an employee of your home.

Ethan Waldman [00:26:07]: Definitely. Although, man, this this is a perfect transition into the my next question. I feel like I've been working for my tiny home a little bit over the last, like, year or 2 just just like maintenance because the house is is now 12 years old. I wanna I kind of wanna compare notes. Like, what what have you had? What have you had to fix at your tiny house? Oh, gosh. Yeah.

Jenna Kausal [00:26:29]: I mean, sadly, I do feel like I've been neglecting it. I have a list. Yeah. It's hard because it's an Airbnb slash vacation home. So the for me, if I shut it down for maintenance, and it's parked on an island where there's not a lot of like, help, you know, and Home Depot's 45 minutes away. So it makes everything very difficult. But I've been very lucky. I mean, I had to replace the water heater recently.

Jenna Kausal [00:26:55]: That was easy, though. And, other than that, I really could use new flooring. The flooring has gotten totally scratched and annihilated from guests, not taking their shoes off and taking care. I'm waiting for the refrigerator to break. I still have my original refrigerator for 10 years. I think that is pretty impressive. I've had to replace the toilet a few times again, because Airbnb guests don't understand compost toilets.

Jenna Kausal [00:27:27]: And one of the windows, the seal has cracked. I need to replace a window. But other than that, I mean, honestly, that's a small list for a house. And That's pretty good. That's about it. Like big things. I mean, knock on wood. I haven't had any big things.

Jenna Kausal [00:27:45]: You know, the roof is still in good shape. Yeah. I haven't had any, like, major issues. How about you?

Ethan Waldman [00:27:52]: Yeah, I would say that, you know, other than like regular wear and tear, like I've had to restain the siding a couple of times. And I just spent like, I I do it, like, two sides at a time. So I just did two more sides of the house last summer. And actually, we just paint repainted the interior for the first time. Kinda gave it a fresh coat of paint inside. I would say my and, like, I also blew up my PrecisionTemp hot water heater, like, years years ago, in a cold snap. Totally user error. I would say, like, my one biggest, like, maintenance issue is that, well, two things.

Ethan Waldman [00:28:32]: I didn't do the soffits correctly, and this past spring, I had, like, a major rodent infestation in my ceilings because they were getting in through the soffits. Yeah. So that was a bummer. And that was for for anyone curious, that was episode 286. I did like a solo episode explaining what what happened. And then the other 1 is just like, I have wooden windows on the inside and like, I when I built the house, I was lazy Ethan I didn't or I didn't it's not that I was lazy. I didn't steal the wood well inside. And so over the years, like, especially in the spring and winter, like, when there's a lot of condensation on the windows and the water drips onto the the window dividers, like, they are now gotten, like, there's some mold growing on them.

Ethan Waldman [00:29:22]: They're like, I need to, like, refinish them somehow. But I have again, like, I'm procrastinating and dreading doing it.

Jenna Kausal [00:29:30]: Yeah. I hear you. That's how I am with, with the flooring. Yeah.

Jenna Kausal [00:29:35]: I know it needs to be done,

Jenna Kausal [00:29:36]: but I don't wanna do it. And I'd rather hire someone to do it because it's so small. I'm like, oh, a professional could get this done in a day or 2. But they all have, like, minimums. Right? That's the problem with a tiny house. They're like, but it's only it's like because it's not even the whole house.

Jenna Kausal [00:29:53]: So we're talking about 16 feet by 8. And it's and I am like, you don't even need to go under the cupboards. Nobody's ever gonna see that. So it's not even that full Right. Space. You know what I mean? And for somebody to come in and do that, they would charge Yeah.

Ethan Waldman [00:30:06]: It's like 2 boxes of flooring.

Jenna Kausal [00:30:08]: I know. Yeah. It's all it is. But someone did come in and rip out the old stuff. And, of course, I'm afraid what they're gonna find underneath there. And it might need more repairs, and then come in and bring more stuff in. It's like, that's too much. I, you know, I have to do it myself because I just can't pay someone what they normally charge for a 2, 000 square foot house for my tiny house.

Ethan Waldman [00:30:30]: You could do vinyl. I mean, the luxury vinyl plank, it's it's pretty thin. You could put it right over top. You could put it right on top of those floors and not rip them off.

Jenna Kausal [00:30:41]: But my mine is the engineered flooring, and they're like, ribs. So I decided I thought that would look so cool. They're like the hand carved ribbed jewelry drawing and they're like, peeling so it's like not even level anymore. They're like bowing in places and stuff. It's getting bad. I know. I need to do it. But Alright.

Jenna Kausal [00:31:01]: It's just so tough with finding the time and coming out there, but it definitely needs to be done 1 day. The thing I'm most afraid of with my tiny house, because it's been parked where it's at, since 20 18, so 6 years, is moving it ever again. I am so scared. And this is coming from someone who traveled with that for 25, 000 miles in 2015. But I haven't the trailer maintenance has not been done, you know, and the tires are probably shot. And so getting it out of where it's at, which is basically it's like, it's not on a pad either. It's on gravel.

Ethan Waldman [00:31:42]: Yes. On ground. Yeah.

Jenna Kausal [00:31:44]: Yeah. It's basically on the ground. It has scissor jacks on each corner. But other than that, I didn't do a good job of, like, I should have taken the wheels off the ground. The thing is, when I pulled it in there, I didn't know how long we were gonna be there. So I was like, you know, it's fine and how it how it is. And now years have gone by, and I'm like, well, should have done that. Yeah.

Jenna Kausal [00:32:04]: And so I don't know. Getting it out of there is gonna be if I ever do, it might live there for the rest of its life. I don't know. But getting it out of there will be quite a task.

Ethan Waldman [00:32:15]: Is there is there like a is there like an expiration date on when you have to have it out of there? Or is it just

Jenna Kausal [00:32:23]: No. it's not my property, though. I don't own the land. So you when you're in that situation, you're always at the landowners. Yeah. You know? So if they decide that they wanna do something else with that piece of property, then I will have to figure it out, or I'll have to sell it.

Ethan Waldman [00:32:41]: It's true.

Jenna Kausal [00:32:42]: Which is something I

Jenna Kausal [00:32:44]: You know, I worry I worry about. But if it gets to that point where I just can't do it, it might be that time, it might be time to say goodbye. And then I'll buy a new tiny home that can actually fit my whole family. Because that's the problem that we have with this. Yeah, I love my tiny home. And I have but I built it for myself. I didn't build it for a family with 2 children, you know, so it's tough now to go there. I can never go there with all all of us.

Jenna Kausal [00:33:12]: We I usually I'll take my daughter there. Or my husband and I'll go there for a solo getaway. I haven't taken my son there yet because he's only 8 months old, but I I probably will do solo trips with him. But Mhmm. When we all forego, somebody has to sleep in a tent outside. So you're like, Wow, is this really a vacation home? Or is this camping? Yeah. Because it's we don't have two beds. It's just the loft bed, you know?

Ethan Waldman [00:33:42]: So Yeah. Well, it's been it's been so fun catching up with you. I wanted I had one more question. Just maybe maybe we'll, like, connect you with this person. Like, I don't know about you, but, like, I kind of have this list in my head. Like, oh, I would like to interview somebody who has, like, a wood fired pizza oven in their tiny house. Like, I have all these, like, kind of fantastical ideas. Do you have any, like, bucket list tiny house features or things on your list of, like, oh, I'd really love to do a tour of a tiny house with x or in y location.

Jenna Kausal [00:34:21]: I don't know if I can think of something off the top of my head, honestly.

Ethan Waldman [00:34:27]: That I think that means you've, like, you've you've gotten so many unique intervenes and tours. You've seen

Jenna Kausal [00:34:33]: I have I've seen I've seen so many things. I just if somebody has something that they think nobody else has, I would like to hear from you. Because I have seen so many, like, you know, coming up on a 1000 tiny homes. I'd like to see somebody with something they think nobody else has ever done before. And I I'll my ears, you know, are here for you. Thank you, if you have something like that.

Ethan Waldman [00:35:01]: Fantastic. Well, Jenna, thank you so much. The YouTube channel is Tiny House Giant Journey, and it's it's truly an inspiration and just a huge resource of in of inspiration. But thanks for everything you do, and thanks for for being back on the show.

Jenna Kausal [00:35:17]: Thanks for saying that's what we try to do. And thanks for having me.

Ethan Waldman [00:35:21]: Thank you so much to Jenna for being a guest on the show today. You can find the show notes for this episode, including a complete transcript and links and resources at thetinyhouse.net/301. Again, that's thetinyhouse.net/301. A big thank you to our sponsor today, PrecisionTemp, for supporting the show. If you enjoyed this conversation and found it helpful, please do follow Tiny House Lifestyle Podcast and share this episode with anyone you think you'd benefit from listening. Your support helps us continue to bring you insightful and inspiring stories from the world of tiny houses. That's all for this week. I'm your host, Ethan Waldman, and I'll be back in 2 weeks with another episode of the Tiny House Lifestyle Podcast.