Louise Scott [00:00:00]: I lived on a tiny boat. I lived in campsites. I saw some remarkable solutions to low cost living, perhaps as much as low scale living. I've been exposed to an enormous range of living environments where people are perfectly happy without all the flat crack.

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 this is Episode 304 with Louise Scott. I'm thrilled to have Louise Scott, a multifaceted professional organizer, designer and travel enthusiast join us. Louise has not only embraced tiny living, but has also helped many transition to a more minimalistic lifestyle through her business, All Things French. We'll dive deep into the challenges and triumphs of living small, the positive impact it has on finances and quality of life and her unique organizational tips to apply to the spaces in your life of all sizes. Plus, we'll explore her passion for French culture and how that's shaping her future business endeavors. Stay tuned as we uncover how tiny house living can truly transform your life. But first, I want to tell you about my Tiny Tuesday's newsletter, your inside track to the tiny house lifestyle.

Ethan Waldman [00:01:18]: Every Tuesday I share my latest thinking on planning, building and living tiny, exclusive insights you won't find anywhere else, and a direct line to interact with me. I personally read and respond to every email I get. Right now I'm wrapping up a 7 part series on the challenges of tiny house living complete with practical solutions. And here's the kicker, newsletter subscribers will get this entire series as a free downloadable ebook. Are you ready to join our tiny community? Head to thetinyhouse.net/newsletter and sign up today. No spam, no selling your info, just pure tiny house goodness. And if you sign up now, drop me a line to say you came from the podcast. I'd love to meet you.

Ethan Waldman [00:01:57]: Don't miss out on this tiny treasure trove. Sign up at thetinyhouse.net/newsletter today. All right, on with the show. Alright. I am here with Louise Scott. Louise comes from an art and styling background and has always had a passion for design. She has a business named All Things French where she is developing travel ebooks and images for sale. Currently, it's running as a beautiful blog and with new content to be released later this year.

Ethan Waldman [00:02:42]: Louise is a professional organizer, and she co created her tiny house with her designer friend who also built the home. Louise, welcome to the show.

Louise Scott [00:02:50]: Thank you, Ethan. It's great to be here.

Ethan Waldman [00:02:53]: Yes, great to have you. So you mentioned working as a professional organiser. Did that come before you started living tiny or after?

Louise Scott [00:03:05]: Oh, definitely before.

Louise Scott [00:03:07]: I worked for many years as a professional organizer long before I lived in a tiny house.

Ethan Waldman [00:03:12]: Okay. So how did that background influence your approach to to designing and living tiny?

Louise Scott [00:03:18]: Well, of course, in the course of the work that I did, I could see or I learned increasingly that many people live with far more than they want. Or certainly need.

Louise Scott [00:03:31]: And indeed, most people or many people that I work with obviously suffer from just too much stuff. Yeah. And if you help them introduce systems into their life, then they can manage their stuff more effectively and live with less. And that's actually a passion of mine.

Louise Scott [00:03:51]: Environmentally as well as physically. Yeah.

Ethan Waldman [00:03:54]: Yeah. And how did you find that as a as a passion? I am always fascinated by people who who gravitate towards being professional organizers.

Louise Scott [00:04:03]: Well, I had a girlfriend who was in that industry. Actually, she was the 1st professional organizer in Australia at the time. Oh, wow. Goodness. That's going back a while. And she just needed some help.

Louise Scott [00:04:14]: And she knew that I'm a bit a bit of a nut about being organised, so I helped her. And then for many years, and then I actually ended up creating her professional training courses for people to study how to be professional organizers.

Ethan Waldman [00:04:29]: Okay. Train train the trainer. Very, very cool.

Louise Scott [00:04:33]: Train the trainer. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I love doing that kind of thing. So, well, it's just a fascinating industry to be involved in when you realize and I think it's results from the type of culture that we live in now where people accumulate things without a real awareness about what they need, and then they can't manage them. And then I believe it actually enters their sense of well-being and affects how they feel about their lives. So when people get more organized, they feel better.

Ethan Waldman [00:05:01]: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I agree both, you know, anecdotally, personally, but I see I see that transformation in a lot of the people that I interview on the show who have, you know, usually come from much larger living spaces and gotten rid of a lot of stuff and now are living small.

Louise Scott [00:05:19]: Kate Thomas 3: Yes, that's been quite a process for me in the tiny house because over the years, for a variety of reasons that I'm sure we'll get to, I have pared down my possessions and I certainly never had any rubbish, but I've had to let go of some really quite special pieces Just because there isn't room, but

Ethan Waldman [00:05:41]: Yeah.

Louise Scott [00:05:41]: The trade off is very much worth it.

Ethan Waldman [00:05:44]: And and can you articulate that trade off? Like, why, you know, why is it worth it to to let something go that you that you love or that is really special to you?

Louise Scott [00:05:53]: I really don't think I've ever been happier than when I'm living here. Now I am living in a purpose built, beautifully crafted tiny house, but it is small. It's less than 8 meters long, and there are longer ones, bigger ones out there. But look, you know, it's so I'm a very neat and tidy person and that but the amount of housework I have to do that is negligible compared to most places. But I just love that everything I'm 64 this year. I love that everything is easy to access, easy to look after, easy to know where everything is, accessible. And the environment I live in is a great bonus.

Louise Scott [00:06:36]: I live on a particularly beautiful property just outside of a town called Bellingen. In Australia. So where are you from, Ethan? Where are you recording from?

Ethan Waldman [00:06:46]: I'm actually in in Burlington, Vermont in the States.

Louise Scott [00:06:50]: Yeah. So this is a piece of paradise where I live. And the gentleman who built it for me, I live on their property, he and his wife. And, it's some kind of heaven. Yeah. So I'm very, very happy.

Ethan Waldman [00:07:04]: That's awesome.

Louise Scott [00:07:05]: So letting go of things. Yeah. Look, that that was probably the hardest thing. It was just a few I'm very good, obviously, at letting go, but the few pieces I had left were just lovely. But I have designed enough space to keep also some of the really, you know, a couple of antiques and things like that. So I'm I'm perfectly content.

Ethan Waldman [00:07:28]: Nice. What are some unique organizational tips that you've found particularly useful in in your tiny house?

Louise Scott [00:07:38]: Look, I keep I use, you know, those little ziplock plastic bags. I keep any clear contain I like containers, and that was one of the things I had too many of was boxes.

Louise Scott [00:07:50]: Beautiful boxes. But, quite often clear plastic containers are really useful and drawer dividers, So that you can compartmentalize everything, but still see into what it's in. But, honestly, you have to think if you want I want to live in the tiny house, but I don't want everything to be jam packed in those drawers or in those cupboards. So smaller containers, and that's why I like ziplock bags are really useful. Labeling things so that, you know, and keeping things in the same place all the time is really useful. I never had to think where is such and such. I know exactly where it is. And look, I think that's a benefit of living in a tiny house.

Louise Scott [00:08:32]: I'm sure a lot of people would have learned better how to be organised by default. They have to. Otherwise, they're jammed up in a crazy disorganised space. And certainly, I all the Tiny House videos I've seen, most people seem to be fairly organised.

Ethan Waldman [00:08:47]: Yeah.

Louise Scott [00:08:48]: But it's a learned behaviour. You know, it's not necessarily of course, some people have it intrinsically, but you can learn it.

Ethan Waldman [00:08:54]: Yeah, absolutely. Are there things that I'm sure that that a lot of these tips and ideas that you've shared also work, you know, even if you're not in a tiny house.

Louise Scott [00:09:08]: Oh, absolutely.

Ethan Waldman [00:09:09]: Are there things that you find that work? You know, that that where the advice might be the opposite in tiny house? Or is it just kind of, you know, it all translates down as you get smaller?

Louise Scott [00:09:21]: Look, I just no, it basically translates down. I mean, the the byline for the business that we operated on, was her business was get organised and byline was a place for everything and everything in its place. And that's really solid advice. And that would apply to the of course, you need to have less. Yeah. I make decisions about the tiniest things, honestly, just because it I just look at it and go, have I got the room? Do I want it

Louise Scott [00:09:48]: to take up the room? How important is it to me?

Ethan Waldman [00:09:50]: Yeah, absolutely. So can you talk about some of the features of your of your home and why you why you chose them? So like some of the design elements?

Louise Scott [00:10:03]: Love to. So I came across the idea of building a house through financial circumstances as much as anything. And I approached the gentleman who designed it, who's an industrial designer and a very capable craftsman, to simply design one for me. It was a bit of a idea in the future maybe. But then circumstances reached a point where, there was a housing or a growing housing crisis in the area I lived real estate has become extremely expensive, and I didn't have a choice. So I worked with him to design it, Then the building actually came later, which was wonderful. So I designed a lot of glass.

Louise Scott [00:10:47]: We live in Australia. A lot of the time it's quite temperate. Thank goodness. I designed a lot of glass into this building. And luckily, I sort of live in the forest, so that's not an issue in terms of direct sunlight. I spent half of my windows and doors budget on a, I don't know what you call it, but it's a window that just opens up by itself and it becomes more like an awning, if you like, to the outdoor spaces. They've got a real sense of indoor, outdoor, and the 3 glass sliding doors all push back onto each other.

Louise Scott [00:11:24]: So and we designed it so that, you know, quite often when you get sliding doors, for example, to the outside, you step over a hump and he actually deliberately sunk them a bit lower. It's a seamless transition to the decks outside. So there's this real sense of the house being basically twice the size.

Louise Scott [00:11:45]: I use a lot of louvers for airflow, throughout the house, and, of course, we need some mosquito net in here because we do get mosquitoes. But the key for me was lots of storage, some room for these few key pieces of furniture, and this very strong connection to the outdoors. So I probably there are lots of tiny houses there that have got a lot more built ins and a lot more storage than mine would have.

Louise Scott [00:12:15]: But I wanted that open feeling.

Louise Scott [00:12:18]: So that became a key consideration for me. Yeah.

Ethan Waldman [00:12:21]: Nice. Well, we'll definitely share the video tour that we found of your house on the show notes page for this episode so people can see it. It's a really it's a beautiful home. And it costs.

Louise Scott [00:12:34]: Thank you.

Ethan Waldman [00:12:35]: Oh, you're welcome. It costs around $45,000 Australian Australian dollars.

Louise Scott [00:12:41]: Yes.

Ethan Waldman [00:12:42]: And that is, you know, I did the exchange rate for US dollars for those who are curious is is only about 30,000 US dollars.

Louise Scott [00:12:51]: Yes, it is important to remember that the gentleman built it for me for nothing.

Ethan Waldman [00:12:55]: Okay.

Louise Scott [00:12:56]: So that didn't include any labor whatsoever.

Ethan Waldman [00:12:59]: Wow. That is very generous.

Louise Scott [00:13:00]: That was a that was a gift of love. He's my ex partner, my son's father.

Louise Scott [00:13:06]: And as I said, he's a great craftsman, and we built it here on-site. So

Louise Scott [00:13:10]: That's a huge saving and wasn't mentioned in that video even though I did say that.

Ethan Waldman [00:13:16]: Okay.

Louise Scott [00:13:17]: But yeah. So it would we would say effectively to double that.

Ethan Waldman [00:13:21]: Right. Right. So about 90 Australian and how, how long have you been in the house?

Louise Scott [00:13:27]: Aidan Just 2 years. 2 years. Tuesday.

Ethan Waldman [00:13:30]: Nice. Oh, congratulations.

Louise Scott [00:13:31]: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I'm very, very happy.

Ethan Waldman [00:13:36]: Nice. Yeah, I mean, even even at double that that's still, you know, for a custom tiny home. That's that's actually pretty good.

Louise Scott [00:13:46]: It was remarkable. I mean, actually, that doesn't take into account any of the design aspects of it. Like, I'm confident, you know, as someone who, for example, works in your industry, nobody has any idea of the amount of work it does on behind the scenes. So he produced full set of drawings for the whole place as well. I'm not sure what his motivation at the time was to for a bit of a housing solution. Yeah. He hasn't moved forward with that at all, but he certainly did produce all of the schedules and the design drawings and so on.

Louise Scott [00:14:22]: So Wow. As you say, it's custom, probably that would have contributed even more to the cost of that. Yeah. Look, I was incredibly fortunate, incredibly fortunate. I still am. I live here for, you know, and it's some kind of heaven. So Yeah. Nice.

Louise Scott [00:14:39]: Yeah.

Ethan Waldman [00:14:39]: So you've, you've traveled extensively and and learn to live with less, you know, through those experiences. Did did your travel experience shape your decision to embrace the tiny house lifestyle at all?

Louise Scott [00:14:54]: I won't say... look, the good thing about... there's so many good things about travelling, but, certainly enables you to appreciate all different kinds of places. As a traveler, I travel to Europe every year. It's the only thing I do with any spare money I've got, and I travel for 4 to 6 weeks with an onboard bag. So I don't bring a big suitcase. I just have the the carry on luggage, and that has certainly, you know, taught me some tricks about what I absolutely need and don't need. Uh-huh. And as a young woman, I lived in some, I lived on a tiny boat. I lived in campsites.

Louise Scott [00:15:37]: I saw some remarkable solutions to low cost living, perhaps as much as low scale living. I've been exposed to an enormous range of living environments where people are perfectly happy without all the flat track that goes with, you know, the 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom, you know, mansions as they call them. I don't mean to be derogatory at all because you're perfectly entitled to live what you do, but that can come with its own stresses Yep. As it often does. People are often financially strapped to live in such enormous places. I mean, my electricity bill weekly is $5 a week. So in American dollars, I think that's $7.50 a week. Mhmm.

Louise Scott [00:16:23]: And that's most of the year. Okay. It goes up a little bit in winter when I use the heater, but all sorts of expenses. It's just so much easier to live well. And I, you know, therefore can afford to travel, which is my passion.

Ethan Waldman [00:16:36]: Okay. So the, so the tiny house, living in a tiny house, helps you to kind of fuel your passion, which is travel.

Louise Scott [00:16:45]: Absolutely. It it really does. I mean, I don't spend you know, my wardrobe is 70 centimeters wide. I'm so used to these inches anyway. I don't know. That's about oh, I can't remember. It's 50 inches. I don't, you know, buy a lot of clothes.

Louise Scott [00:16:59]: I don't buy things. I have enough beautiful things around me to, you know, occasionally when I'm in France, I'll buy a little gift or something, you know, but I don't need anything much. And so I'm able to shave off any spare cash I had, and I do because I do love to travel to France. It it is my passion. Hopefully, it will be my income. And hopefully, it'll be a tax deduction in the end if it can become sufficient income. That's the way I really like.

Ethan Waldman [00:17:30]: Nice. So, can you tell us about your, about the inspiration behind starting your business, All Things French?

Louise Scott [00:17:38]: Well, look, I traveled to France. I mean, I was there when I was a young girl, but I took my son there. I've learned French in school and I had a knack for it. And I think the language plays a huge part in that I don't speak any other languages. And so being able to communicate with the locals. I did find myself, for example, in Italy at one point and there was a bit of a drama and I felt a bit, really quite scared because I couldn't speak the language and negotiate myself out of that difficulty. So the French language absolutely appeals, but if anyone who's ever been to France or in particular for me, Provence or the South of France, it's just idyllic.

Louise Scott [00:18:18]: It's absolutely beautiful. I love photographing. I love being there chatting to the locals. Just love it. I I feel like I was, I don't necessarily believe in past lives or anything like that. But if there was, I'm certain I was French.

Louise Scott [00:18:33]: I just I don't know what it is. It's inexplicable.

Ethan Waldman [00:18:36]: Okay, so So you've talked about the inspiration behind all things French. So what what what does the business do?

Louise Scott [00:18:43]: Look, it's at in 2019, I ran a very successful women's tour to the south of France. It was absolutely magical, very, very well received with the participants. So I had 2 tours booked for 2020, and they were nearly sold out. And then of course, we all know what happened in 2020. And Australia remained isolated throughout 2021 as well. And then by the time 2022 came around, my father is elderly, he is now 91 and he became quite, you know, he's he's he's needy. Yeah. And so I wasn't able to guarantee my ladies that I could absolutely be there for the duration of the 10 days.

Louise Scott [00:19:31]: So that all has just gone on the back burner for the time being. So then I've just realized, well, you know, I mean I love travelling on my own. It's probably my favorite way to travel, and I love taking photographs. So, and in particular, my idea has developed something that is becoming increasingly popular nowadays is things such as a downloadable digital itinerary. Mhmm. Here's where you can go. Here's some other places to go. These are restaurants I recommend.

Louise Scott [00:20:01]: Look at this place, the lovely pictures, and some video content to go with it as well. So that's my that's my mission this year. I'm going back. I'm leaving in, 7 weeks to go back for a month and shore up all of the content that I need to produce those. And that's, that's hopefully the direction I'll be taking for the foreseeable future is digital downloadable products. And then there's a bit of passive income associated with that, which would be great.

Ethan Waldman [00:20:28]: Fantastic. So people could buy a guide and then take their own trip. But using your itinerary. Yep. Fascinating.

Louise Scott [00:20:36]: Yes, absolutely. Yeah. And I mean, on a day to day basis, I work as a professional organizer and a digital trainer Okay. At home here. So you know, it's a question of working on that all things French as as my dream. My, you know, yeah, moving forward.

Ethan Waldman [00:20:54]: So is your work as a digital or sorry, is your work as a professional organizer, on-site in person? Or are you doing that work over, you know, like over the Internet?

Louise Scott [00:21:05]: Oh, no, always on-site. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And preferably with I mean, when I was working in Sydney, it was often the owners would be absent. And then at the end of the day, they'd come home and make some decisions. But I prefer to work with clients. Yeah.

Louise Scott [00:21:21]: Because then they're learning. And, I mean, in a perfect world, I suppose, and it will it does happen where you reach a point where people don't need you anymore. And that's actually a great outcome for me. I prefer to think that they've learned the skills, rather than just have someone do it for them. Yeah. Otherwise, they just repeating the same things.

Ethan Waldman [00:21:40]: You know, one thing that that I frequently, when when my wife and I talk about, you know, organizing or the need to organize, you know, there can be disagreement about whether we have too much stuff and just need to organize it better. That's her. Yeah. And me, which is that I think we have too much stuff, and we need to get rid of some and then we can organize. How do you I mean, I'm sure as a professional organizer, you're essentially a couple's therapist also. But how do you how do you approach these situations?

Louise Scott [00:22:15]: Well, in a situation like that, I would suggest working on one area at a time. It might even be one drawer or one cabinet. Mhmm. Not necessarily trying to make big big picture decisions. Yeah. But just trying to work on one area at a time, bite sized, so that you can actually achieve an outcome. Because one thing I see all the time is that people might say, okay, I'm gonna go through my wardrobe, which is quite a big job for a lot of people. And they end up with a whole bunch of stuff on the floor.

Louise Scott [00:22:46]: The critical mass, the critical moment is 90% of the way through the project, which is tidying up. And people will often put things back or put things in a corner or something having not made those decisions. So it's better to make a bite sized project and see it right through to the end and make that decision of what stays, what goes, what gets in a perfect world recycled or or gifted, and so on. And so often, I will see people who'll get to the 90 90 percentile and and drop out before the end. So bite sized pieces, yeah.

Louise Scott [00:23:23]: And working together so that you, you know, I mean, of course, your your point of view isn't going to be identical. But there will be a zone in between both of your points of view, which where you both agree, okay, that can go or this can go to auntie such and such or that can go to Goodwill, which is a, you know, a great option.

Ethan Waldman [00:23:43]: Yeah. And that's another one that I've heard of and experienced also, which is that, oh, this is worth money, we should sell it. But then it ends up sitting, then it ends up sitting around.

Louise Scott [00:23:53]: Unless you have a real skill in that area. Yeah, that's that is exactly what happens. Yeah. And then the other thing is, an area, you know, Marie Kondo wrote a book, you know, the magic art of tidying up or some such thing, and she goes through certain strategies for it. The key the area that people find the most difficult and therefore, we always left until the very end. Mhmm. I think she does as well.

Ethan Waldman [00:24:19]: Yeah.

Louise Scott [00:24:19]: Is memorabilia. Yeah. So memorabilia because going through memorabilia is a long and drawn out process. Yeah. And takes time, often involves a great deal of emotion. And so it's to be left left to the end until you've gained the skills in decision making. So a couple of clear plastic boxes and put all your memorabilia in there, and leave that until the very last. Mhmm.

Louise Scott [00:24:44]: But, yeah, keeping things to sell, unless you're good at that, that's just gonna be stuff in the corner, you know, that you don't deal with.

Louise Scott [00:24:51]: Maybe give it to someone else that can sell it or just give it away or give it take it to the local op shop. I don't know if they do that in America. Some of them do buy things Yeah. On consignment is another way of doing it. But, yeah, you know, you're gonna have to get let go of money. We all do it. You know, I know it's worth something. But yeah, just let it go.

Louise Scott [00:25:09]: Yeah, you'll forget about it sooner or later.

Ethan Waldman [00:25:11]: Ethan Waldman Exactly, exactly. So have you ever, steered any clients or inspired any clients to live tiny themselves?

Louise Scott [00:25:20]: Well, of course, you can appreciate that the clients that I have wouldn't even know how to imagine that because they've usually got far too much stuff at that point. But I am incredibly impressed with how many people have responded to me in the last 2, certainly 3 years as I've been designing and so on. The amount of people who have been interested in moving into tiny houses, it's a it's a grand swell of interest from all sorts of people. You know, I mean, we have a particular issue with, we have a housing crisis of women my age in our local area. So, single people, I mean, they're perfect. Young couples, people somehow manage to live in them with children. I'm not sure how they do that. But it can suit people from all walks of life.

Louise Scott [00:26:12]: So it's really a wonderful option for all sorts of people in, you know, I mean, they can work in in heavily urbanized areas. Of course, they can live in country environments. It's just marvelous. So not my clients per se, they might really appreciate it. They might like the idea that they're not generally capable of doing it yet.

Ethan Waldman [00:26:35]: Right yet. And how long how long does it take? Typically, like how long do you work with with people for?

Louise Scott [00:26:41]: Oh, it can vary. Depends, you know, they might have one project, although that's unusual. But, and I did work with one client once many years ago who had us work together for a day. And something happened and I won't go into it, but it clearly pushed a button for hers. And she didn't wasn't able to have us return. Yeah. Because those things that she had hoarded were clearly so meaningful on some level to her. But generally speaking, I could work through an office in 1 or 2 sessions.

Louise Scott [00:27:25]: But I also have clients that I work with regularly over several years. Not necessarily, obviously, when I say regularly, consistently, it might be 4 or 5 times a year. Okay. But just as a process of continuing the process. Yeah. Yes.

Louise Scott [00:27:41]: So it's quite varied. Yeah.

Ethan Waldman [00:27:42]: Nice. Nice.

Louise Scott [00:27:44]: Help people moving house, which is a good one because moving house is great. A lot of people move houses and they say, oh, we'll sort that out when we get to the other end. So meanwhile, they're paying removal. It's a small fortune to box up stuff. When if they can sort it out before they move, they can box it better, label it and store it better, and then work with it at the other end of things that they've already clarified, which is a great way to move into a new space.

Ethan Waldman [00:28:12]: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I, you know, I've done moves both ways. And I get a test. It's so much better if you can be organized beforehand and get rid of stuff beforehand.

Louise Scott [00:28:24]: So expensive. Yeah. So expensive to move.

Ethan Waldman [00:28:27]: Yeah. Yeah. So you already you touched on this a little bit. But as a as a, I guess, as a semi retired individual, do you consider yourself semi retired?

Louise Scott [00:28:38]: That's, that's it.

Ethan Waldman [00:28:39]: How has living in a tiny house impacted your financial situation and overall quality of life?

Louise Scott [00:28:46]: Well, fantastic. Look, so I'll get to the loft bedroom in a minute. But in terms of my financial situation, being semi it's what enables me to be semi retired. I don't have to work 40 hour a week, which is such a blessing. At my age, although I've still got lots of vitality, I do wanna, as you know, go overseas. But I'm not really bound by the sort of financial, rigors that many people are. As I mentioned, my electricity bill is about less than a third of what a good friend of mine who's retired is, living in a normal house, heating it, running all his equipment and all the rest of it. Just not spending money on things, paying for rent, those sorts of things.

Louise Scott [00:29:37]: Anything is is so much less. It's just a proportional thing. Probably the only thing that I wonder well, there's 2 issues that I wonder about as I grow older because I hope I'm here until I'm not here anymore. Mhmm. One is making the bed in the loft. That is going to become trickier, and I think when the time comes I will get a really good quality sofa bed

Louise Scott [00:30:05]: for downstairs that I can leave made up. And I do have room down here for that because that, you know, as I say, I left a fair bit of floor space for some furnishings. When I designed it, so that's a possibility. And the other is dealing with the composting toilet. Now I love my composting toilet as in, if you can love a toilet. You know, it works incredibly well, looks great. Pulling it out from underneath tiny they've actually developed a newer model since I bought mine, which is on its own trolley.

Louise Scott [00:30:39]: Mine has these funny little wheels and naturally you don't really want anyone else helping you with that task. Mhmm. And so I'm going to need to come up with a couple of strategies moving forward. I'm going to need to probably build a larger concrete pad in that area so that the trolley or the toilet is easier to maneuver.

Louise Scott [00:31:04]: Just learn, maybe change it more frequently so it's not so heavy. Yeah. I mean, I'm looking for strategies. I don't know how old I'll be, but I really wanna manage. I wanna live here forever if I can. So those are the only two challenges in, in terms of living here as an older woman, but they're not major challenges I don't feel. So, yeah, it's some kind of heaven on earth as far as I'm concerned. And really, housework.

Louise Scott [00:31:33]: Woo hoo.

Ethan Waldman [00:31:34]: Yeah. Very little housework.

Louise Scott [00:31:35]: I keep a nice clean yeah. Yeah. No. I keep I insist on a nice clean tidy house, it doesn't take very long. It's fantastic.

Ethan Waldman [00:31:43]: That is fantastic.

Louise Scott [00:31:46]: Yeah. So do you live in the tiny house yourself?

Ethan Waldman [00:31:48]: No, not anymore. I did for a time.

Louise Scott [00:31:52]: No, I was just gonna say it's a growing fascination on earth. I think more and more people are are realizing where are we going to put our resources, and why do we need so much stuff. And it's a burgeoning industry, which I think is fantastic because God only knows we ravaged this earth that we live on with all

Ethan Waldman [00:32:11]: of the

Louise Scott [00:32:12]: of the things and stuff and so to learn to live lightly is a blessing and for for ourselves and for the earth is how I feel about it.

Ethan Waldman [00:32:21]: Well, one thing that I like to ask all my guests is, you know, what are 2 or 3 books or films or other resources that you, that have inspired you that you'd like to share with with the listeners?

Louise Scott [00:32:33]: Well, I mean, that is interesting. I'm not really much of a book reader, I must say, of course, I did watch Living Big in a Tiny House for quite a while. And that might have been where I first saw them. And honestly, on a completely unrelated subject, but Terence Conran, who founded the habitat stores back in the sixties, a bit before your time, but he was a great designer and icon of good taste. He wrote a book called Easy Living. And he just points of view in that book that speak to my philosophy, which is not having more, but having really good quality of the things that you have, and which reflect a relaxed lifestyle. And that really meant a lot to me. There's someone, he describes in that book as the experience of walking through leaves.

Louise Scott [00:33:29]: So that just the simple joys that give us pleasure. So good quality design, good quality furnishings or lighting or flooring, anything that is. And so I'd rather have less of the best than more of just ordinary. So that's the sort of design philosophy that would, in many ways, has resulted in the quality and beauty of the tiny house I live in. Yeah. Yeah.

Ethan Waldman [00:33:58]: Well, Louise Scott, it was so great to meet you and have this conversation. Thank you so much.

Louise Scott [00:34:04]: It's been my absolute pleasure, Ethan. Thank you so much for getting in touch. And I've had nearly a1000000 views on that video on on YouTube, which is amazing, I didn't do it myself. But it was fantastic result to me. Yes. Just showing how many people are interested now in moving into the lifestyle. So yeah, if you're thinking about it, I reckon go for it. It's wonderful.

Ethan Waldman [00:34:25]: Thank you so much to Louise Scott 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/304. Again, that's thetinyhouse.net/304. If you enjoyed today's episode, please make sure to follow the Tiny House Lifestyle Podcast and leave us a review. It really helps us out. And if you think this episode could help or inspire someone you know, please share it. Thank you so much for listening. I'm your host, Ethan Waldman.

Ethan Waldman [00:34:56]: And I'll be back in 2 weeks with another episode of the Tiny House Lifestyle Podcast.