Lucy Lich [00:00:00]: And I feel like all of that really does align with just tiny house living, right? It's, it's all that stuff. It's, it's going back to basics. It's thinking about what's most important in my life and what can I actually let go of that's not even really necessary, whether it's material stuff well, whether it's even people in relationships in our lives that might not even be serving us?

Ethan Waldman [00:00:21]: 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, we have a very special guest, Lucy Lich, joining us from the South Coast of New South Wales Australia. Lucy is not only a dedicated tiny house dweller, but also a teacher, wellness enthusiast, and the host of the Tiny House Conversations podcast. Over the next hour, we'll dive into how living tiny has profoundly integrated with her values of minimalism, health and environmental consciousness. Lucy will share her personal journey into tiny living, her insights on designing for health and minimizing environmental impacts, and how her experiences have shaped her podcast. Join us as we explore the unique challenges and joys of tiny living with an expert who lives and breathes this lifestyle every day. Alright, I am here with Lucy Lich. Lucy is a yoga teacher, tiny houser and host of Tiny House Conversations, an Australian based podcast where Lucy interviews tiny housers, tiny builders, and other experts.

Ethan Waldman [00:01:43]: Lucy has been on the path of conscious living for around 12 years and has worked in the health and wellness space for most of that time as well. He loves nature, yoga, breath work, meditation, and sound healing. She's also passionate about regenerative farming, nutrition, and healthy cooking. Lucy has been living in her tiny house for almost a year and a half on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia, and loves the slower way of living with less impact, greater self sufficiency, simplicity, minimalism, peace and quiet and a deeper connection to the land. Lucy, welcome to the show.

Lucy Lich [00:02:18]: Thanks so much for having me, Ethan. It's great to be here.

Ethan Waldman [00:02:25]: Yeah, it's great to have you. And I think that listeners of my show maybe heard me getting interviewed by you maybe a year ago or so. But I realized that you've never been on this show. And so first of all, I'm sorry that it's taken so long. And, and second of all, I'm glad glad to have you here.

Lucy Lich [00:02:51]: Yeah, look, I trust in the timing of everything, and no apologies necessary. We're here now. And that's all that counts. And I'm so excited to talk with you today. So thanks again.

Ethan Waldman [00:03:02]: Nice, well, can you start off just by telling us about your journey towards living in a tiny house?

Lucy Lich [00:03:09]: I would love to. So it probably has been, I feel like it's a bit of a time warp now since all the 2020 stuff happened, right? But I think it's probably been about 5 years or something like that, 5 or 6 years since I actually came across what a tiny home was, and I came across that through, and you probably know this, living big in a tiny house, Bryce over in New Zealand. You know, I think one of the the biggest tiny house channels, maybe the biggest one out there. And it caught my interest right away because I feel like it's sort of aligned with just the way that I live my life already from a sort of more conscious place and minimalism and just looking at what's important in my life and wanting to have, you know, more connection in a lot of different ways, especially to the land and to nature, and to just simplify my life. And I think that once all the stuff started to happen in 2020, The year before that I'd gone to a tiny house event, like a tiny house festival over here, just to be able to find out more about it and speak to different builders and actually go and stand in and walk through different tiny homes just to see if I would see myself living that way. And that was really where I think it changed the game for me because I remember walking into the first tiny home and I was like, oh, wow, like actually really spacious in here. And it has, you know, all the different appliances and the stuff that you might find in a regular home, but it's just a smaller space. And I actually really love the idea of just having things laid out very intentionally and not having taking up more space than I need and, you know, just all those types of things.

Lucy Lich [00:04:55]: And then when all the 2020 stuff unfolded, I know I've known for a while that I've wanted to get out of the city because at the time I was living in Sydney, you know, one of the most populated cities over here. And it was all just getting a bit too much. And when all that stuff happened, I was like, okay, right, I'm gonna start to make this happen for myself. I'm actually going to look into tiny house living and then sort of explore when I do that, you know, where is it that I'd like to live? And so I, I was doing research on different builders and because I went to that tiny house festival, I was able to talk to different builders and I ended up choosing the one that sort of I felt resonated with me the most and then I felt was like, I love the designs and the ethos of the business and all of that. And so I just put the steps in process to make that happen. And then, you know, I paid a deposit to get on the building schedule and then everything decided to unfold from there. Then it was looking for a part, it was doing the design and just sort of figuring out what is it that I actually want to have in my own space and what's important to me and and all that stuff. And Ethan, yeah, looking for the parking space and then eventually moving in at the end of, it would be end of 2022 is when I actually moved in.

Lucy Lich [00:06:09]: And since then, yes, as you mentioned at the start, it's been almost 18 months and I'm absolutely loving it. And I kind of refer to myself sometimes, why did it take you so long to to get here? Because actually it was such a smooth transition for me, whereas I think maybe for some other people it can be a bit of an adjustment. But for me, because I think I'd already been on this sort of very aligned path, that it just was a different way to live, but I sort of welcomed it. And, I'm absolutely loving it. So yeah, that's a little bit about my tiny house story.

Ethan Waldman [00:06:39]: Nice. How has your background in in the wellness world influenced your tiny house lifestyle?

Lucy Lich [00:06:47]: Yeah, it's influenced it a lot. Because for me, like when I was going through the design process is just one one example. The number one value and the number one priority for me was to try and build a tiny home in a space that was as health conscious as possible. So that would look like things considering what what type of paints and finishes that we use, so as natural as possible. There's different types of building materials like that as well. It's hard to get everything a 100% perfect because of just the way I suppose, building materials are in the building industry these days. Like a lot of them are treated with different chemicals and just all sorts of things like that, and just different construction practices that might not be the best for things like minimising mold and moisture. And, you know, I was also very what was really important to me is something that I've sort of explored for a long time just in my own life of the whole electrical environment and all the technology that's in our lives and all the electromagnetic frequencies and radiation that it's, I mean, it's everywhere now.

Lucy Lich [00:07:56]: And, for me personally, I've had like a bit of a sensitivity to that. Like, I actually feel a lot of stuff and experience different symptoms when I'm exposed to too much of that radiation, especially in the just close proximity. So when I designed my tiny house, it was things like getting the electrician to put the wires in a specific place that wasn't near where I was sleeping or wasn't near where I was going to be spending a lot of my time not having wireless devices, because there's different and look, I'm not an expert in this this space and and I've talked to people on my show about all of this. So if anyone wants to listen to those specific episodes, they can check out Tiny House Conversations. But it was, yeah, things like just being really mindful of how the space was laid out when it comes to like the electromagnetic side of things and then just using also composting toilet. Like I wanted to make sure that I wasn't going to be wasting a lot of water and I've just I'm actually going to wait how much water I've noticed I'm saving just from simply making that conscious choice of not having a flushing toilet. And then, you know, having a rainwater tank that was already here on the property, having a solar set up too. So I think just the way that I sort of live my life for so long in the health and wellness space is definitely just when I look at the entirety of my tiny home and the lifestyle that I've created, it's kind of like this philosophy in the background that sort of helped bring the pieces all together.

Ethan Waldman [00:09:25]: Yeah, you mentioned living tiny as as kind of a life philosophy or a worldview. And it sounds like that that connects into the health aspect. But can you elaborate on on that?

Lucy Lich [00:09:38]: Yeah, so I think for me, when I sort of knew that living tiny was a thing, you know, like, as I said, 5, 6 years ago. And I really felt this connection and this alignment into the way that I was already living my life of just I was really living from a sort of more intentional place and more conscious place of just wanting to do the right thing by the planet and do the right thing by other people and myself and just live in a way of like having my basic needs met and not taking up too much space and not consuming too much

Lucy Lich [00:10:16]: just being really mindful at how I was living my life. And I feel like all of that really does align with just tiny house living. Right? It's it's all that stuff. It's it's going back to basics. It's thinking about what's most important in my life and what can I actually let go of that's not even really necessary, whether it's material stuff, whether it's just mental and emotional things as well, whether it's even people in relationships in our lives that might not even be serving us? You know, there's so many ways that I think tiny life as a philosophy and everything that we do can sort of weave into that if we see it that way and if we sort of resonate and align with that. And I think it's really helped guide decisions in my life to just in everyday life, not just necessarily around what I'm doing on the land in my tiny, but just in big life decisions too of just really getting clear on what is important and how do I want to spend my days or how do I want to be of service to others in the world and on and on and on. So I think it's like, for me, it's just coming back to what's most important and and what, you know, what's valuable and necessary in life. And also that's just that spaciousness and that peace and that quiet and sort of getting away from all the noise and the busyness, not just physically, but also mentally and emotionally and spiritually too.

Lucy Lich [00:11:49]: So, yeah, I could keep talking about that, but that's a bit of a sort of framework of what's what's coming through right now. So,

Ethan Waldman [00:11:56]: yeah, it's it sounds like you were very much on this path for some time before you started living in a tiny house. I'm curious if living tiny now for 2 years or so, you know, how has that changed your philosophy at all? Has it has it kind of accelerated it? Has it has it changed direction? Or like, how has that impacted you?

Lucy Lich [00:12:22]: It's a good question. I feel like it has helped me deepen further into that. So sort of to become more embodied in that. So not not necessarily have it as like this intellectual concept or this thing running in the background, but actually is just this real embodied way of living.

Ethan Waldman [00:12:42]: Yeah.

Lucy Lich [00:12:43]: Which then sort of trickles out into everything that I do. And I think just simply even being on the land, like, I'm on on on a 5 acre property just renting a small space and, you know, it's there's trees everywhere. There's a beautiful river at the bottom of the property. There's wildlife, kangaroos, wallabies, other native Australian animals. And I think it's really allowed me to just further that connection to the earth and to nature and to, you know, sharing the land with other beings and just recognizing my place in it all. And that also having, I think, that deeper appreciation and gratitude for also being able to live this way. So I feel like it's just, yeah, it's just deepened and strengthened that connection. And I feel like it's, I mean, like anything can happen in life, but I feel like I'm going to be living this way for a while.

Lucy Lich [00:13:36]: I'm also open to whatever happens. But I think for me, it's like, I really love this. And I can't see myself changing anytime soon. Unless life feels like it's necessary, and then something happens and maybe I just reassess. But at this time, at the moment, I'm loving it. And I think it's just, yeah, it's been just a beautiful journey of deepening into my place in life, you know, and as a human of the earth. So, yeah.

Ethan Waldman [00:14:06]: So I want to pivot back to the kind of the design and the build of your house and trying to incorporate certain healthy attributes to it. Was it difficult to find a builder who was, you know, willing to kind of go on that journey with you and to not necessarily use the materials that they were used to using, or finding the electrician who was willing to do it differently?

Lucy Lich [00:14:37]: Yeah, great question. So the builder that I specifically went with, one of the reasons why I did go with them is because they do high level customization, including if there are certain materials that I wanted to use or certain requests that I had that were maybe outside of the normal way that they would do things that were actually really open to it. Because I know that I think over here in Australia, I'm not really sure what it's like over where you are, but I have a sense that there's some builders that do customization, but actually there's a lot of builders that just have their basic models and then they might do a little bit of tweaking and personalization here and there, but it can actually be harder to find these days. So, yeah, the customisation was really important for me for that reason of me being able to just, you know, do things a little bit differently as much as I could. As I said, like, I couldn't do everything I wanted to do. Mhmm. But, yeah, they were really open to me choosing a different type of paint that they would normally use. So I'd done a lot of research and found, like, a natural paint company over here that did some finishes as well for timber and things like that.

Lucy Lich [00:15:46]: So we use that, like, on on my timber benchtops and, the timber cladding on the on the outside and other parts of the home, the stairs and rails and things like that. And then with the electrician side of things and doing specific electrical wiring. So I actually did some consulting with some EMF experts over here just to know what question, what were the right questions to ask and what was the best way to lay it out. And when I did that, I asked the company, I said, like, can we do this? Is this possible? And they said, yeah, like, I'll ask the electrician. And they said, yeah, that's all fine. We can do that. And so that was actually really, really helpful. And some other things, So it was the building materials.

Lucy Lich [00:16:30]: Yeah. And even the just making sure that using different things, like even having double glazed windows, I would have liked to have had thermally broken, but it was a bit more expensive, but also double glazed for the purposes of the mold and the moisture and things like that and having like a window right near the shower and then having a window on every wall in the home was another thing that I learned from actually one of the guests on my show around mould and minimising mould and moisture and things like that. So I was able to ask the builder for like all these things and they could pretty much do everything. I did say to them as well, like, I want to make sure that all the devices inside my home are not wireless, because another thing that I learned from different building biologists and also just who's been on my show to talk about this stuff and consulting with people is that that when you have colorbond planning on the outside and then you have wireless devices, whether it's laptops, Internet routers, ovens, whatever might be a wireless thing, you can magnify radiation and those electromagnetic fields and it can actually be, for a lot of people, especially someone that's quite sensitive, over time it could potentially be like a health, it could be health challenging, challenging to people's health in different ways. And it's something that I think it's it is talked about a lot in the health and wellness space. It's definitely not talked about in the tiny house space and it's maybe even sometimes a bit controversial because people will say different things or there's industry that kind of gets involved in science and all of that. So I don't want to go to any of that and we'll just direct people to again, you know, if you want to know more about that stuff and do some research for yourself that I've got resources on my show. But, yeah, it was it was actually, thankfully, quite easy for me to get like a lot of those main things that I wanted to get done with the builders that I went in.

Ethan Waldman [00:18:30]: That's, that's great. Yeah, I can imagine that like, with a tiny house, on the plus side, it's very small. So you can have a bit more control over what materials go into it. And it might not, you know, if the natural paint is twice the cost of, you know, your regular paint, It's not such a huge deal, because you know, you might only use a couple cans of it. But on the flip side, I could imagine that because the space is so small, your exposure to those materials, you're you're much closer to the walls of your house, you're much closer to all the the electrical wires and all the things that versus a larger house where you might be in the middle of a room, you know, like, several feet several meters away, away from the wall. Did you did you think about that? Or like, how do you how do you think about that with a tiny house?

Lucy Lich [00:19:32]: So, yeah, I definitely think about that. And that was part of the reason why I consulted with a few different professionals to sort of be like, what is it I can actually do? Because obviously, as you said, I'm in closer proximity to all these things. And that was a big reason why that I was like, okay, I need to like, if I'm gonna my beds right up against the wall, that's going to be painted in, you know, stuff that's got chemicals in it, like that's not that's not a good thing. And it can take a while for those, like those things do off gas over time. But it's something that, yeah, just important for me to not have that. And the same with with the electrical wiring, because I've found over the years of living in regular homes that actually like it affected my sleep quite a lot. And I've noticed that it's actually helped a lot. Not having any of that wiring around like I don't I actually don't have any electrical stuff in my sleeping loft at all other than there's a downlight, like in the sort of at the top of the stairs, but there's nothing like close to my my bedroom area.

Lucy Lich [00:20:31]: And so it is definitely like a big consideration in the tiny home because, yeah, you are closer to everything. But thankfully, it was sort of manageable. And I'm really happy how it's turned out.

Ethan Waldman [00:20:44]: Nice. Can you tell us about the the amber light bulbs you've used in your tiny home to remove blue light?

Lucy Lich [00:20:53]: Yeah. Yeah. That's one thing that I did forget. So that was another thing I asked the builders. I said, you know, I for me, because I've been using a lot of these amber and red bulbs for a long time too, that sort of just create this sort of more soft candle light, fire light feeling at night, you know, as the sun's going down and all of that and I found that's actually been really helpful for my sleep and it just feels better than having like a really bright light on at night. And I thought, well, I wonder if I can actually replace the downlights that they would normally put in their models to see if I can go with the company that I've been using in my own home anyway for light little lamps and other things too. And it turns out I was able to do that and it wasn't at any extra cost. It was just simply doing they were going to put it in exactly as they were going to do it anyway, but it was just a different bulb or a different light.

Lucy Lich [00:21:46]: And, yeah. And so, yeah, so at night time, yeah, it's just a different sort of shade and it's a softer sort of creates like a really nice sort of ambient effect as well. And that was just something for me. Yeah. Like, I think again, with like a lot of the technology that we have, like there's obviously some great things about it, but there's also things that are not so great, like the staring into screens and having a lot of artificial light. And the same thing with the light bulbs. A lot of that is these like sort of artificial light. And I've noticed how it's sort of even so much more calming for me to just not even have that, especially at night.

Lucy Lich [00:22:23]: And that's sort of something that I think is very rare. Like the builders actually didn't know much about it at all. But actually one funny thing that I've just remembered about it is that when I went at some point, when the build was being done, like we were welcome to go to their workshop to check it out and just have a look and see how it was all going. And I remember once they put all the downlights in because they were building in there and it was an enclosed space and they needed to have the light on. When I went there, they had all the lights on. And I remember the designer emailing me or she might have even called me and she said, hey, we've got all the lights on and the the builders are just like a little bit worried like it looked like it looks strange and because they had all the lights on, it looked like this real party house kind of thing. Like if you can imagine it's this different sort of amber glowing type of vibe when you have and when you like, I wouldn't normally use all the lights on at one time, but they had all the lights on. So you can imagine it like kind of like this amber glow Ethan just would look really different to like a regular home that just had regular light.

Lucy Lich [00:23:31]: And they kind of panicked a little bit and thought that there was something wrong with the lights. And I'm like, no, no, no. When I got there, I was like, no, no, no, this is how it's supposed to be. But it's just that you've got all the lights on at the same time. And I would only use one light at a time.

Ethan Waldman [00:23:43]: Nice.

Lucy Lich [00:23:44]: But yeah, that was kind of funny. Because yeah, people are not used to that.

Ethan Waldman [00:23:47]: So no, it's it's, it's like the modern world mimicking older times, like trying to create candlelight from an LED.

Lucy Lich [00:23:56]: Exactly, exactly. And, and I also think of it in the way as you know, when the sun's starting to set, like during the day, the sky is usually blue. When the sun starts to set, the sky sort of turns to this orange, red, yellow color, at least where I am. Right? And that's the same type of thing. It's like one everything's winding down, like living in alignment with nature. You know, we're supposed to be naturally exposed to these softer amber and red and yellow type lights rather than this like really extreme. These blue lights that we have. So that's another sort of way to think about it and the reason why I wanted to do it.

Ethan Waldman [00:24:36]: Nice. Well, I want to make sure that we talk about tiny house conversations. You shared a couple of episode links with me. I believe number 32 is a show where you interviewed somebody who is an expert in electromagnetic fields. And you also did a whole show number 44, about the health aspects of your tiny home. You know, is there anything that you want to tell listeners about about those episodes in particular?

Lucy Lich [00:25:10]: Yeah, so I think with the electromagnetic side of things, as I mentioned before, it's sort of something that maybe is not known as much, depending on who you're talking to or what spaces you're sort of circling in and all of that. But it's also a really big topic. And because I think technology is so just embedded into our lives these days, it can also be something that a lot of people don't consider. It's just here and it's part of our lives now. But there's actually a lot of there's research and there's lots of studies and things that are not funded by industry that actually shows, you know, negative side effects and health effects of these types of devices when we're exposed to them too much. And so we talk a lot about that. So the episode 32 is with the naturopath, Amy Skilton, and she works with a lot of clients with this and she's also trained as an EMF technician. And she's, you know, she's an expert on all of that and she has a course as well.

Lucy Lich [00:26:12]: And then I actually also interviewed and it's not out right now, but I think it'll be out next week. I'm not sure when this episode will be published, but let's say it'll be out early May over here. I've done another interview with another EMF expert here in Australia. That was also another lady that I consulted with in designing my tiny house around all this stuff just because it is such a big topic and to cover it all in an hour, an hour and a half was really hard we spoke about different things. But even just considering, like, if you wanted to

Lucy Lich [00:26:44]: set up your solar, like an off grid solar system, for example, and just like the the most optimal ways to do that to minimise your exposure. So like where would you want to put your solar panels? Where would you want to have the inverter and the batteries like, you know, and just again, more about electrical wiring, more about some of the health effects. And if anyone's interested just learning more about it, I do in those episodes show notes at tinyhouseconversations.com. I've got links to like scientific databases and health questionnaires and just other resources that we talk about in those episodes. I think like those are probably some of the best places to dive deeper, especially because those people are yeah, they're more experts than I am. I'm just sort of making these choices and I know what I know through my own experience and, and just the, the choices that I make. But, if anyone wants to know sort of the more in-depth things, then they can go there. And the other episode about my own tiny home, like the healthy features.

Lucy Lich [00:27:48]: So if anyone just wants to know more about exactly what I did, probably more in-depth than what I've spoken today, as well as they might want to see and find out a bit more information about these certain topics or even just the exact types of materials that I use. I've linked to all of that and the composting toilet that I have, like I've linked to all those things as well. So those are, that's pretty much what's in those episodes. And I do have another episode on building materials. I can't remember the number at this point, but just like chemicals in building materials. And then an episode on mould and moisture too. So what I've really done on Tiny House Conversations because health is such an important thing for me and I recognise that it might be the same over where you are, but in Australia there's not as much, focus on the help creating a healthy home environment. It's more like eco friendly, better for the environment, smaller footprint.

Lucy Lich [00:28:45]: But then those same people are the same builders. And this is not calling out builders. This is just what it's like in the industry and just in general, they might still be using construction practices that may not be the best when it comes to, you know, healthy living or, or like, there might be lots of waste from the construction processes or they might be using materials that are sprayed with a lot of chemicals, you know? So what I'm trying to do on Tiny House Conversations is bring what we call it overheat building biology, and I think it's probably the same over where you are. So, like, really, how do we create healthier homes for the people that are actually living in them and then considering all the things that are in our home that would be optimized for health and that could, you know, minimize, yeah, just any health symptoms or things that that might come up that people might not even realise is coming from their home environment. I spoke to a building biologist on the show a couple of days ago, actually, and the episode is not out yet, but she she was talking about how, yeah, just how important it is and often that we don't even think about, like, the environment that we're living in actually plays a massive part of our own health in many different ways. So yeah, it's a conversation I'm trying to have on the podcast a lot.

Ethan Waldman [00:30:02]: Yeah. Nice. I love that. And I just, I always am just re inspired over and over again by by hearing people's stories of, of going tiny in that it enables you to really customize your home and make the things that are important to you reflected in that home. You know, like, I know that healthy homes are are definitely a big thing I hear from readers about it, you know, asking about, you know, who are the healthy builders? Or how can I do it? But, you know, for someone else, they might not care one bit, but what they really care about is that their home needs to be accessible for somebody with a physical disability. And, you know, the whole house can be designed around that or, you know, I'm struggling to come up with examples off the top of my head. But, but I wonder if you you know, what are your thoughts on that?

Lucy Lich [00:31:00]: Yeah, I absolutely agree. I feel like it's almost like tiny house living and designing, having the opportunity to design your own home from scratch allows you allows this thing that's going to be in a really important aspect of your life like your home can be an expression of you and who you are and what you value and what is most important And because the reality is, I mean, depending on if you work from home or if you don't or, you know, whether you spend a lot of time in your home, it's always going to be somewhere that you come back to at the end of the day. And so it's important that your, you know, where you're living. I mean, I know that we all it can also be a bit of a privilege or a luxury that we get to do this because obviously I'm also recognizing the housing situation around the world too. But I think that I definitely agree with you. I think some other examples could be like some people just really love cooking and they want to have this really beautiful kitchen and design the whole home around the kitchen and all the modern appliances And someone might be an artist and so maybe they want to have like a dedicated space for them to create art or paint or whatever kind of activity they like to do. Maybe it's someone that's a musician I've seen. And I think because of watching a lot of those living big in a tiny house and other tiny house channels, I actually get to see that a lot.

Lucy Lich [00:32:27]: Like everyone's tiny home is an expression of who they are and, you know, what's most important to them and it actually allows them to express themselves in a way that is most true, I suppose. I've seen lots of cool things that people have done with tiny homes based on what's important to them or, you know, how they wanted to how they envision their life to be and how they they wanted to use the space and all of that. So yeah, I think it's a really beautiful thing. And I think it's a way of expression. Yeah.

Ethan Waldman [00:33:00]: Yeah. So it's it's rare that I get to interview a fellow tiny house podcaster there. There aren't too many of us out there. I'm curious what what inspired you to create Tiny House Conversations? Did you have did you have experience in podcasting prior or Yeah, talk about that?

Lucy Lich [00:33:22]: Yeah, so I did have a podcast a long time ago. It might have been around 2017, I want to say. And it was a health and wellness podcast.

Ethan Waldman [00:33:32]: Okay.

Lucy Lich [00:33:33]: And it was on a podcasting network that he called The Wellness Couch, which I believe is still in operation. But I did that for a couple of years and I sort of came to an organic close and thought I absolutely loved the medium of podcasting and just talking to people about interesting things and just that having that connection and all of that. So I learned a lot in that time and when I let it go, I was like, I feel like I'll come back to it another time. I don't know what that would look like, but let's just see. And then I just went and lived my life. And then when all the tiny house stuff came up for me, when I was doing all the research online, I came across your show, like I think your show was one of the main inspirations and resources for a while then of course, like living big in a tiny house too. But then I was also noticing that a lot of the resources out there were like US based or in Canada or North America or even like Europe and things like that.

Lucy Lich [00:34:28]: And there was not hardly anything in Australia. There might have been one Tiny House podcast, which is not running anymore here in Australia, but that even stopped. And then just even in terms of like YouTube channels or other websites, I mean, there's many more now, but several years later, but there was nothing and there were no Australian Tiny House podcasts that were current continuing to run. And I was like, maybe I should just create the podcast because I actually want to learn as much as I can for my own self, for my own journey, and it'd be great to connect with other people in this space and learn from them. I want to hear the stories of other people living in tiny homes and I want to learn from the experts, like, you know, all the all the different things that you need to know about tiny homes, whether it's about composting toilets or greywater systems, solar systems, you know, I'm trying to think of all the things I've had on the show, on the topics I've had on the show, but just, you know, all those different topics, tiny house finance, tiny house insurance, tiny house towing, on and on and on. There's so many things to explore and all the pieces to put together. And I thought, well, why don't I come back to podcasting? I know how to do it. I do it in a very different way now and I feel a lot more comfortable and confident in it, but why don't I just do that? And then it'll be a way for me to learn.

Lucy Lich [00:35:47]: It'll be a way for me to connect. And I also know there's probably a lot of other people in my shoes because I started to see more and more people looking towards tiny house living back then, which I think I started in 20 it must have been 2021 or 2022. Yeah, there's way more now over here. But I thought there'll be other people that will find this information valuable. And so I just, I started it and then I just started reaching out to different people like I was listening to or watching Living Big in a Tiny House. And because a lot of those people over here in Australia, it was quite easy to reach out to some of them and then get them on the show and then I'd speak to them and then I'd come across other people through them or I would just come across other people online. And then all of a sudden a year later, I kind of got to know all the main people in Australia, including people in the Australian Tiny House Association and people doing tiny house parking and running the tiny homes expos over here. And so just brought together all the bigger, not bigger, but like sort of the key people in the Australian tiny house space to share their wisdom and their knowledge with other people that were looking at, you know, how do I transition into tiny house living? And so that's how it's all come about.

Lucy Lich [00:37:02]: It was just me wanting to create something to learn from myself and then share it with other people. And then it's become this really cool thing because I've also just, you know, made some friends in the space and have lots of people reach out and ask questions. And, yeah, just feels really good to sort of offer back to the tiny community because I have received so much myself.

Ethan Waldman [00:37:22]: That's great. So the the reviews are very positive. And so congratulations.

Lucy Lich [00:37:29]: Thank you. Thank you. I, I'm yeah. I'm really enjoying it and it's great to have conversations like just like what we we do here. And it was great to have you on the show as well twice now. So I think your episode will be coming out in a couple of weeks. It's gonna come in May. Yeah, yeah.

Lucy Lich [00:37:45]: Yeah.

Ethan Waldman [00:37:45]: Nice. Nice. Well, I'll be sure to share with my listeners when my next episode comes out on your show. You you run your show in seasons, which I've definitely been intrigued by. I'm like, Wow, I'm putting out a show every week. You know, what are you? Are you doing other work, like in those downtimes between seasons? Or why, you know, how do you kind of fit the podcast in with your with your life?

Lucy Lich [00:38:13]: Yeah, so I did season 1, which was about, I want to say 50 something episodes. And then at that time there was just a lot of things happening in my life because I'm also a yoga teacher, as you mentioned at the start, and then I do other events within yoga. And then I also actually, this is another cool thing that's come from the podcast. I also work for a company here called Bath My Tiny House and I know the lady that runs that through having her on my show. So I now work for her, work with her. And so I do and I do some other creative things on the side myself, like other passions I have, like within yoga and so, and within sort of the conscious living space too. And so the podcast, when I did season 1, there was at that time when I sort of closed it out, I was like, actually feel like I don't have space for it now, but I feel like, you know, I want to actually do it in seasons where I can, you know, record a bunch of episodes and share them. And then I took a bit of a break for about a year and I could feel myself wanting to come back to the podcast.

Lucy Lich [00:39:17]: And now season 2 is up and running. And so I think I've done, I don't know, it might be like about 15 episodes or something now, but I've actually really found that to be useful, even though I know that people are like, when are you coming back and missing the show and all of this? But it's actually been really valuable to take that space because this is the other thing I'm just remembering now. The other big reason that I did season 1 and then stopped and then I've come back to season 2 is I moved into my tiny house and then I wanted to just be present, living tiny, right? And not capturing every everything on camera, not post on Instagram or Facebook, not record stuff and say, hey, this is what I'm doing. Like, I know there's value in that and there's people doing that and showing people what they're doing in their tiny life and all of that. But I just felt like it was really important for me to just take a break, have it as season 1. Yeah. Live tiny, be present, just enjoy it. And now I've also got more experience that I can share to come back into season 2 as well.

Lucy Lich [00:40:18]: So, yeah, that's kind of how it's sort of unfolded. And yeah, I've noticed that you've been doing Tiny House Lifestyle Podcast. It's been how many episodes are you at now roughly? Like it's several 100, isn't it?

Ethan Waldman [00:40:32]: 296. Yeah. I'm approaching 300.

Lucy Lich [00:40:38]: That is amazing. Yeah. Have you have you taken a break at all? Or has that been every single week for the whole time?

Ethan Waldman [00:40:46]: I've taken breaks here and there, but never quite as intentionally as you have. I actually, my wife and I bought a 100 year old small house in October. And I did a bunch of renovations to it that I just didn't have time to do the podcast. So I posted reruns for a few months there. And, but I wasn't like, intending to have taken a break. It just kind of happened. Yeah. But I love I love that idea of and I actually really appreciate that you started your show, kind of before you were living tiny.

Ethan Waldman [00:41:28]: You know, I'm sure that as you've gotten more experience, and you actually live tiny now, the scope of what you ask your guests about and just your experience of doing the show is coming from a from a different place kind of from the other side of, of being a tiny house dweller.

Lucy Lich [00:41:45]: Absolutely. I feel like when I first started, it was me just being this curious person, like wanting to find out stuff that I knew other people wanted to know. And of course, that's something that I wanted to know because I was trying to create this life for myself. And then I think it's like coming back to that what I mentioned earlier about like tiny life is a philosophy of I feel like I've really been able to embody more of that now. And so it's I've got real lived experience too that I can share from as well as still ask those questions that I don't know about in those areas or those topics that I'm not an expert in and that I know other people would want to know about too. So, yeah, it's actually been really cool to be on both sides. So before Tiny Life and during Tiny Life, I suppose, or after Tiny Life. So yeah, exactly.

Lucy Lich [00:42:32]: It's actually interesting that you made that connection. That's awesome.

Ethan Waldman [00:42:35]: Nice. Well, one thing that I like to ask all my guests is, you know, what are 2 or 3 resources? It could be books or YouTube channels or anything that you'd like to share with with the listeners that that helped you on your tiny house journey.

Lucy Lich [00:42:51]: Yeah, I mean, your podcast for sure. And I'm not just not I'm not just saying that because we're talking together now, but your podcast is great. So I just do want to say, like, definitely, definitely. I mean, I've mentioned it a few times already, like living big in a tiny house, I think is making tiny house. It's showing tiny houses in a really beautiful way and making it accessible around the world for people to inspire them, give them hope, give them ideas and maybe hopefully show them, well, I can do it this way too. I would also say, I'm forgetting their names. Is it Andrew and Gabriela? Like over in the US, they wrote a book. It's a tiny house book and I'm forgetting the name.

Lucy Lich [00:43:38]: Do you know the one I'm talking about?

Ethan Waldman [00:43:39]: Yes. Is it Is it Tiny Houses for Dummies?

Lucy Lich [00:43:44]: It could be that one. Is there is that? Have they done any other ones?

Ethan Waldman [00:43:48]: I'm not sure. They're I mean, they're wonderful. I've had I've had Andrew and Gabriella on the show a couple of times, but they actually like they retired from the tiny house world like they, you know, they ran home. And they and Tiny House Plans was a company that they created. And they've actually, you know, they've kind of moved on from being like, in the tiny house like, creator space. But they're awesome. They were very instrumental in creating the, like, appendix Q, the whole movement to create building codes for tiny homes in the States.

Lucy Lich [00:44:26]: Oh, wow. Okay. Well, well, it might be that book. But I don't know if it's for dummies. I think it's there must be another one, but it's definitely like it was So, between their book and then your tiny house decisions, I actually created like, I don't know, a 5 or 6 page A 4 document of both of those resources helped me to just go into the design meeting of looking at all the different areas of the home

Lucy Lich [00:44:53]: then making those decisions on like what I wanted to have where and what was important and all of that. So, yeah, like whatever that book called and then maybe we can link to it in your show notes or something. And Ethan, yeah, like your Tiny House decisions, those 2 books that helped a lot.

Ethan Waldman [00:45:07]: Nice.

Lucy Lich [00:45:08]: Yeah. So I would say like those would be the main ones. There's lots of resources now. Like there's lots of great YouTube channels. There's lots of great websites as well. But those would be the main ones I would say.

Ethan Waldman [00:45:18]: Nice. Well, Lucy Lich, thank you so much for being a guest on the show today. It was it was great to finally have you as a guest here.

Lucy Lich [00:45:26]: Absolutely. Thank you so much for inviting me, Ethan. It's been great to talk to you and it's actually really nice to be on the other side of the mic. So I really appreciate you turning the tables on me and asking me the questions today. So thanks for having me.

Ethan Waldman [00:45:42]: Thank you so much to Lucy Lich for being a guest on the show today. You can find the show notes, including a complete transcript, links to Tiny House conversations and those specific episodes that Lucy and I talked about over at thetinyhouse.net/297. Again, that's thetinyhouse.net/297. There you'll also find photos of Lucy's beautiful tiny home. So go check out the show notes for this episode. Well, that's all for this week. I'm your host, Ethan Waldman, and I'll be back next week with another episode of the Tiny House Lifestyle Podcast.