
“The most important thing is to live within your means and live sustainably with the environment in mind” -Emily Gerde
Emily Gerde and her husband Justin, son Wyatt, three cats and one dog live in a 325 square foot tiny house on wheels. Emily is the author of Minimalist Living for a Maximum Life, which provides insight on their tiny house journey and how a minimalist, organic, holistic, mindful lifestyle led to a life of their dreams. Emily will be speaking at the Colorado Tiny House Festival June 22-24 and will continue to move the tiny house movement forward with a passion for sustainable, mindful living.
In this episode:
- Why did Emily settle on relatively large (325sf) tiny house on wheels?
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What’s it like to move a 20,000lb tiny house?
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Why Emily and her family started living in a camper but have decided to abandon that project?
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How to deal with the judgement you receive from choosing to live in a tiny house as a family?
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Emily’s efforts to legalize tiny house communities in Colorado
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What will you do when your young children approach teen age?
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Do you have to live in a tiny house to be a minimalist?
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How do you control the space (toys, play area, etc.) associated with kids in your tiny house?
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How do you deal with receiving gifts when most people tend to give children toys?
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How have you dealt with the need for an address to enroll your son in school?
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Denver Tiny House Enthusiasts Meetup Group
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Kim Kasl – Bless This Tiny House
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Tiny House Big Living, Emily’s Episode
- Emily Gerde's website | book | instagram
Ethan Waldman [00:00:01]: Welcome to the Tiny House Lifestyle podcast. I'm your host, Ethan Waldman. And today my guest is Emily Jordy. Emily and her husband Justin, son Wyatt. Three cats and one dog live in a 325 square foot tiny house on wheels. Emily is the author of Minimalist Living for a Maximum Life, which provides insights on their tiny house journey and how a minimalist, organic, holistic, mindful lifestyle led to a life of their dreams. Emily will be speaking at the Colorado Tiny House festival June 22 through 24th and will continue to move the tiny house movement forward with a passion for sustainable, mindful living. Emily Jordy, welcome to the show.
Emily Gerde [00:00:46]: Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate all that you're doing for the movement. And so I'm just so honored to be on. Thank you.
Ethan Waldman [00:00:52]: You're very welcome. So you have a 325 square foot tiny house, which I. That might be the biggest tiny house that I personally know someone now who's living in it. So what is unique about your tiny house and. And how did it get to be that large?
Emily Gerde [00:01:09]: Yeah, so we went with 325 sqft because we are planning on have, having more kids. So the plan is to have, we developed it so that we could grow into it instead of having to, you know, start small and then grow bigger. So we were like, you know what? Let's just have this for a lifetime. So that was kind of where that came from because we will either have two or three kids, plus all the pets. You know, we want to make sure our cats had a place to sort of, like, get away from our toddler and kind of have their own little stoop and make sure we have a black lab. So it's a pretty big dog, and we want to make sure that everyone just felt comfortable. And we wanted to kind of show the, the world that tiny house living can be luxurious because we felt that, you know, the more we can prove that, the more people will be willing to kind of go the sustainable route. So that was kind of our vision from the beginning, is because the people we were surrounded with in the midwest and middle class, it was kind of like, let's convince them that sustainability is awesome and also comfortable.
Emily Gerde [00:02:11]: So that was kind of our vision when we started. And since then, it really shifted. We were actually going to sell our tiny house, live in a 250 square foot camper. But after living in our camper for a couple months, we decided that was the worst idea ever. And we decided to keep our tiny house because we were just, you know, it had everything. And without the lofts, it just wasn't working for our family. The lofts really provide that space to sort of, you know, feel like you're in your own room. So, yeah, that's been our journey.
Emily Gerde [00:02:43]: It's been exciting. And there's nothing against campers. It just doesn't work for our family.
Ethan Waldman [00:02:48]: And what was it that the camper was gonna allow you to do that you couldn't do with the tiny house?
Emily Gerde [00:02:54]: So our tiny house is 20,000 pounds. It's wood frame. You know, we started building in 2015, so we were kind of on this. You know, there wasn't as many options. We didn't even know steel framing was a thing. So that was sort of like, okay, well, we'll do wood frame. And so that we just can't have a truck that big. It wouldn't make sense, because we, you know, I homeschool, so we go to a lot of activities.
Emily Gerde [00:03:18]: So I was like, I am not driving around this, like, $100,000 truck just to pull our house a couple times a year. So that was sort of our vision with the campers. Like, oh, we can totally just pull it with the truck we have, and we can, you know, travel all these festivals, and we're still going to keep the camper and do that for the festivals. But the long term living in it is just, oh, it's not the best for us.
Ethan Waldman [00:03:44]: I mean, that totally makes sense. And, you know, when people ask, and I'm sure you get asked, you know, why not just have a camper? You know? I'm sure you can attest to both the layout of the space, but also the insulation and just the way campers are designed and built aren't really designed to support full time living.
Emily Gerde [00:04:05]: Oh, correct. Absolutely. We actually are suffering from some mold issues because it's. We were in Minnesota, it was, you know, negative ten degrees, or, you know, between 20 degrees and negative ten degrees, and we ran it all winter. And, yeah, I mean, moisture everywhere. No matter what we did, you just, you know, it's. And we also had a slide out, so that especially around the areas in the slide out, and it had carpet. Our tiny house does not have carpet, so we have to really disinfect and get the mold out all of our camper, because we're suffering from you, you know, allergies and colds and just icky stuff because, yeah, like you said, they're just really not meant for cold weather, and they're not really meant for long term.
Emily Gerde [00:04:46]: So we're kind of trying to figure out how we're going to clean out that camper so that we don't get poisoned every time we go to sleep in it when we travel.
Ethan Waldman [00:04:55]: Maybe. Maybe summer only.
Emily Gerde [00:04:57]: Yeah, exactly.
Ethan Waldman [00:04:59]: I've also heard that, you know, putting a wood stove, a small wood stove in a camper is great because it just, it dries everything out so well. So if you are going to be in there in the winter, maybe a wood stove.
Emily Gerde [00:05:10]: Yeah, yeah, exactly. And I know, like, I know Macy Miller and some other amazing people have renovated their campers and added the insulation. So campers are definitely awesome and doable. We just really, we already had the tiny house, so we're like, why would we renovate a camper when we have this beautiful, tiny house? So we just kind of were like, eh, we'll just go back. And who knows where the future will lead, you know, down the road. We're hoping to build a tinier, tiny house that actually can. So, you know, we're thinking, like, steel frame, 16 footer, and just travel around the country in that. And so there's so many options.
Emily Gerde [00:05:45]: That's the beauty of tiny house living.
Ethan Waldman [00:05:47]: Yeah. I mean, Macy and her partner, two kids and a great Dane are doing it in a, in a tiny little camper.
Emily Gerde [00:05:54]: Yeah. It can't be big because they're just pulling it with, like, your average suv. So, yeah, it's, they're amazing. Follow them if you haven't already.
Ethan Waldman [00:06:02]: Yes. And Macy was actually my first guest on the show, so she's all the way back in episode one.
Emily Gerde [00:06:07]: There you go.
Ethan Waldman [00:06:09]: Well, I think it's amazing what you're doing because I know when I built the tiny house, I registered quite a bit of judgment and comments of kind of like, oh, this isn't permanent. You know, if you ever want to grow a family, this isn't going to work for you. And I'll admit that I didn't design the tiny house for more than two people. I kind of saw it as if I ever do go in that direction, I will be building another tiny house, something a little bit bigger, something that can support a family. So I'm sure that you face some judgment and some scorn, but I'm curious, you know, what do you tell people when they say, oh, how could you possibly live in a tiny house with a family?
Emily Gerde [00:06:51]: Oh, yeah, we definitely got that. Especially, you know, friends and family were, like, really concerned and rightfully so. Right. It's new, it's different. I like to tell, I'm a former first grade teacher. I'm a licensed teacher. I also am a daycare provider. So when I got my daycare license.
Emily Gerde [00:07:10]: The rule for square footage was in Minnesota at the time. I'm not sure what it is now, but it was 35 child to run a daycare. So I figured my tiny house definitely had more square footage than that per person. So I was not really concerned about it. And I also like to use the analogy of kids are in a classroom all day long and those obviously classroom size varies, but in general, you know, they're less than 500 sqft or 800. Couldn't say exactly. But when I was teaching, I can tell you having 31 1st graders in this tiny room, and then you got to remember you got all the desks. I mean, it's not, they can barely turn around half the time and say, so, you know, I just like to kind of use that analogy.
Emily Gerde [00:07:57]: And I also tell people, you know, obviously, tiny house living, the whole point is to get outside, to explore the community, to get, you know, just be out of your tiny house. The tiny house is home base, but really the whole point of the movement is to like get out and build community and be outside and explore. So that's kind of what I like to tell people when they're nervous about having kids is that you got to remember you're going to have all this extra money. We got rock climbing passes, we go camping all the time. We go to the library. There's so many free community resources out there. So that's kind of where I like to encourage people who are thinking about it, that there's so many options and there's so many indoor playgrounds and there's just, you make it work and we don't feel claustrophobic, but I know some families do. So I always tell them, don't worry, there's tons of free places to go.
Ethan Waldman [00:08:48]: Absolutely. And that is a wonderful thing about tiny house living, that it does just force you out into the community, into your outdoor surroundings, and it just makes you more connected with what's around you because you just can't hide in your house all the time.
Emily Gerde [00:09:04]: Yeah, exactly. And we definitely did that in the big house, which was our number one motivator is we're like, oh, my gosh, we like, don't do anything. We just like sit every night and like do yoga, then watch movies and then go to bed. And it's like there's gotta be something like we didn't even know like half our neighbors, right? So, like, we gotta do something different. And I want community.
Ethan Waldman [00:09:23]: Exactly. So you just moved from Minnesota to Colorado. Did you move the house from Minnesota? To Colorado or did you move first and then build the house?
Emily Gerde [00:09:33]: So we've been living, so we started our tiny house in 2015. We've already been living it in Minnesota for over two years. So we've just been living in backyards, and that's been fine for us, but we sort of hit our limit with that as much as we've had amazing people like, help. Help us out. So it's been wonderful. And we've been doing yard work and gardening and animal care to help bring our rent down. And it was a wonderful experience, but we just kind of are ready for something new. We, you know, it kind of just feels good to have your own schedule and not feel like you have to, you know, be at a certain place because you owe someone something or, you know, you're just kind of always a little timid and you kind of feel like you're walking on eggshells.
Emily Gerde [00:10:15]: And not to the fault of anyone else, but just because it's not your property. So we moved to Colorado in our camper, and we are currently in a backyard with another amazing family. And our tiny house will be here within two weeks. And then we will. Cause we were at the whim of whenever our driver could get it out here. So we will be back in our tiny house in two weeks and we will start trying to legalize communities so that we have a place to stay finally.
Ethan Waldman [00:10:44]: That's awesome. Yeah. And, you know, you mentioned in your bio that your plan is to build tiny house communities. What do you mean by that?
Emily Gerde [00:10:53]: Yeah, so we are working with a board of directors and we, we have about eight or nine of us, and we are just, you know, really strategizing right now. Building business plan, building a PowerPoint presentation. I'm getting builders and tiny house enthusiasts from all over the state to come and join us, and we're going to basically come as a unified front and start just go county to county and come together and say, hey, like, this is an option for not only affordable housing, but a lot of these counties have, you know, green initiatives and, like, what is more green than this? And so we're just sort of, like, right now we're in the phase of just kind of collecting data. So we have a bunch of surveys out all over the Internet and just really, you know, I don't. For those of you who haven't seen living tiny legally, I really highly recommend it. It gave us a lot of direction on where to go. And we're also working with the American Tiny House association. They're potentially going to send out like a trainer.
Emily Gerde [00:11:53]: So there's a lot of options. But right now we're basically in data collection to show the local municipalities that this is worth it. This is going to benefit them financially because that's, you know, the bottom line when it comes to these. You know, they want to make sure their constituents are feeling comfortable and feeling like they will benefit. So that's kind of where we're at, is just data.
Ethan Waldman [00:12:16]: That's awesome. Does that initiative have a name yet?
Emily Gerde [00:12:20]: No, not as of yet. We were, we have a meeting actually tomorrow to sort of like iron out the kinks and stuff. But yes, that will, I'll definitely keep you posted. And we can, once it has like a name and a vision, we can certainly because we're just working on the business plan now, so we will certainly keep you posted.
Ethan Waldman [00:12:40]: Yeah, please do. I'll try to link out to that in the show notes when it's ready.
Emily Gerde [00:12:45]: As far as gathering people, though, we do have a meetup group, Denver tiny house enthusiasts on meetup. So that's kind of where we bring all the builders, all the vendors, all the people, and, you know, people who are living or want to live, vans, buses, yurts. We just bring everyone together kind of as, you know, again, as like this unified force of it's time for change. So that's one place you can find us.
Ethan Waldman [00:13:11]: That's awesome. And speaking of Denver and Colorado, you're speaking at the Colorado Tiny House festival on June 22 to the 24th. I'm curious, what are you speaking about?
Emily Gerde [00:13:23]: Yeah, they basically just want me to talk about our lifestyle, basically our story. You know, I'm a big believer that just, it's kind of like a native american culture kind of thing where it's like people, by telling your story, you're inspiring others. So we just sort of don't have an agenda with it. We're more just telling. Here was our reasonings, here's how it played out and here's what has happened since. So just kind of laying it out for people and really just focusing on family because I'm one of the few that are speaking that has family in a tiny house. So it focused, which again, is our story. So we're just focusing on why it works for a family and.
Emily Gerde [00:14:04]: Yeah, so we'll see how it goes. I'm excited and I think we even have time for questions. So, you know, during that time, it might sort of shift. And I'm also on a specific family panel, so it'll be interesting to see how it all pans out. I'm excited.
Ethan Waldman [00:14:18]: That sounds great. I'm curious because you did mention that your house is designed to be your forever home with a family. And I'm curious what you envision as your kid or kids get a little bit older and, you know, maybe ten, 1112, bordering on teenage years. How does this space support that?
Emily Gerde [00:14:40]: Oh, I absolutely love that question. It's in my book as well. I talk a lot about that because I, you know, we all know we've all been teenagers, right? We know how it feels. We want our own space. We need privacy. We want to have autonomy. And we, you know, our parents end up being, you know, ew, gross. And we're boring or whatever, you know, whatever teenagers think about their parents.
Emily Gerde [00:15:02]: And so, yeah, when we are definitely starting to, like, save up and we're going to have our son or potentially more kids, they will, we'll be building them their own tiny house or renovating a camper so they have their own space. And being that we plan on unschooling or homeschooling, we also have that benefit of the fact that he will be able to be home and sort of we're going to teach him life skills. So things like cooking for himself and laundry and cleaning and just basic self care, like how budgeting, all this cool stuff. So having him move out around age 1314 or whenever he feels ready, that would be a great opportunity because I know my husband and I always giggle that we were so unprepared going to college. Like, I could, like, make spaghetti and that was like it. So it'll be really fun to see him sort of blossom into this young adult. And, you know, his future wife will be like, oh, yes. He actually knows how to do stuff.
Emily Gerde [00:16:04]: This is great.
Ethan Waldman [00:16:05]: He'll be the complete package. A man who can cook and clean, right? That's awesome. And that's, I think, what Andrew and Gabriella Morrison did. Each of their kids had their own tiny house on the property. That kind of was their own space.
Emily Gerde [00:16:25]: Oh, wonderful.
Ethan Waldman [00:16:27]: So you mentioned your book, and I'd love to hear more about it. What is minimalist living for a maximum life?
Emily Gerde [00:16:34]: Oh, man. It's kind of like, you know, I kept it pretty short and sweet. I just wanted it to be kind of the intro book to this kind of lifestyle. And basically it starts off with our journey of why we went tiny house, how that kind of evolved. And it's really funny because I finished the book when we were still thinking of staying in our camper. And then, so if you read the book, just take that with a grain of salt. We did decide to keep our tiny house. We couldn't stay away from tiny house living.
Emily Gerde [00:17:02]: And then it kind of shifts into, because we were living tiny, we were able to kind of really focus on our health and our, you know, mind, body, soul health. So it really kind of, the rest of the book kind of dives into ways that we have saved money and saved the environment at the same time. Because the tricky part with living a simple, healthy lifestyle is everything that's good for us tends to cost more. So we kind of have some tips and tricks on how to like downsize, how to buy organic food more affordably, how to clean more affordably and yet sustainably. So it really focuses on, you know, just the whole idea of simple, sustainable, healthy living. So it was really fun and I hope people enjoy it. It's been a great adventure.
Ethan Waldman [00:17:51]: That sounds wonderful. I'm curious what advice you have to those who maybe aren't ready to take the jump into living in a tiny house. Do you have to live in a tiny house to be a minimalist?
Emily Gerde [00:18:04]: Oh, absolutely not. And I talk a lot about that in my book. I think the most important thing is to live within your means and live sustainably with the environment in mind. So I am not a square footage person. I know there are some people that are like, oh, you're not living tiny, you're not living minimalists. And I'm a big believer. I mean, if you have eight kids, I don't expect you to live in 325 sqft. That's borderline, like, not healthy.
Emily Gerde [00:18:29]: And, you know, it's, you just have to kind of, everyone's an individual. Everyone has specific needs and wants. And the whole goal of this movement, and at least from my perspective, is we just want to show the world that, you know, minimalism and sustainability is possible and it actually makes you feel better. So whatever that means to you, maybe you go from a 3000 square foot home to 2000, maybe you go from 2000 to 1000. Maybe you just make your 2000 square foot home really non clutter and you try to get solar or geothermal or, you know, there's just so many ways to kind of go at this sustainability movement that I really kind of encourage people to just really do what works for your family because we don't want everyone moving into a tiny house and then all of a sudden there's all these tiny houses for sale. Right. Like we want to be prepared. So if you're thinking about it, I highly recommend getting into an Airbnb.
Emily Gerde [00:19:26]: There's so many hotels and tiny house hotels and Airbnbs out there right now, or talk to a local builder and actually step inside one. But I definitely recommend trying it out first and see if you like it. And otherwise, you know, there's just so many yurts and earth ships and there's just so many different options out there. Just definitely do your research, is my advice.
Ethan Waldman [00:19:47]: So I have several friends and peers who are raising young children at the moment. And for some of them, when I envision the spaces that they live in, of course, they don't live in tiny houses, but the space that their two year olds inhabit and all the toys and things that come along with that are probably as big as my tiny house. And so I'm curious, you know, in your house, what percentage of that is dedicated to your son's toys and things? And how would you advise? It's almost like you look around and you're like, it wouldn't be possible to have this kid in a tiny space because look at all the stuff that they need to play with and the activity mat and the train set and the entire cabinet full of blocks and stuff. Toys. What does that look like in your house?
Emily Gerde [00:20:46]: Yeah. Yeah. I love that question because it was definitely sort of this, like, evolving epiphany for our family. We definitely, I ran a daycare in our basement in our big house, so, oh, my gosh, we have so many toys. Granted, they were, like, all donated or used or for the most part, so that wasn't too bad. We just kind of, like, donated those or sold them or passed them on to friends and family. But now that he's four, he definitely has some opinions about what toys he has. And, you know, he sees things on his, you know, there's, his favorite show right now is the daddy and Axel show on YouTube, which is a great show.
Emily Gerde [00:21:24]: But they. And they play with toys. But they play with toys outside. It's all about being outside. But they do play with toys because, of course, that's what kids like. And, you know, every once in a while, he'll ask for a new toy. So what we've learned is that every time he wants a new toy, he has to sell one or two old toys. So we're never actually accumulating more.
Emily Gerde [00:21:45]: And he actually really enjoys it. He kind of, it's also teaching him money management, and it's really a fun to see him. He doesn't get upset about it at all because he's like, oh, yeah, I don't play with that anymore, or whatever. So I think involving our kids in the process is one way to start. And when he was little, we did more of, like, giving it to friends and family. But now, as the toys actually have some value, like some of these Legos are, you know, $60 for the kit. And so now that they're holding value, we find ourselves, you know, selling them or, you know, some of them aren't really worth selling. So then we donate to, like, a local daycare or preschool or something like.
Emily Gerde [00:22:25]: Or library. Actually, a bunch of our toys just went to sit with tiny house builders so that when the kids are there with their parents, the diyers, then they have something to do. So, yeah, we really. I don't know as far as percentage right now. It's a little bit. We have to do a big purge. We've kind of got. Because all the travel and everything, it was kind of like, we got to get him through this 14 hours drive.
Emily Gerde [00:22:53]: We had a lot of Lego kids, so it kind of ebbs and flows. But basically, the philosophy is one in, one out kind of philosophy. And that's really been working for us. We enjoy it. And as far as the big things, that's been a little bit of a challenge. And we were able to get down to where we could fit. He's got a battery powered four wheeler, two bikes, and we were able to fit that in the back of the truck with our bikes. And then that was kind of it for the big toys and the train tables and stuff.
Emily Gerde [00:23:24]: All that kind of stuff they have at libraries, they have them at Barnes and Noble. There's just so many ways to kind of get out and explore. And also, when Christmas or birthdays or holidays roll around, we ask for experiences. So that's a huge movement in the parenting world right now, is that people don't want these plastic toys. They want experiences. So we kindly ask friends and family, if you're going. Going to get us something, get us like a camping pass or a pass to the zoo or the children's museum or, you know, their science museum. There's just so many neat options out there, depending on where you live.
Emily Gerde [00:24:01]: And we got rock climbing passes, gymnastics class, music class, karate. So that's kind of our vision, is we're really trying to minimize his toy intake and try to make it more family experience.
Ethan Waldman [00:24:14]: That's great that that works for everyone across the whole family spectrum. You know, not no things. More experiences and less things.
Ethan Waldman [00:24:23]: What is unschooling?
Ethan Waldman [00:24:24]: Is it the same thing as homeschooling? What's the difference?
Emily Gerde [00:24:28]: Yeah, well, you know, it kind of depends on who you talk to. So as a licensed teacher, I guess I was, you know, I was actually behind the scenes and I saw how things work, and I was a part of it. And I have a master's in education. So my whole life, up until about seven years ago was education. And, you know, you just kind of, you know, it works for some people. It doesn't work for other. For our family. You know, our son is just a little bit.
Emily Gerde [00:24:54]: What would you say? Like, he would be the kid that would constantly be told to sit down. And as a teacher, I didn't roll that way, which is why I actually stopped teaching, because I got way too many glares and way too much, you know, frustration from other teachers. Like, why are you letting your boys walk around? And I was like, well, because they're still learning. And they were actually ranked. Like, my class was ranked second out of seven classrooms as far as academic achievement. And so then they got a little upset, and it was just this whole thing. And so I was like, oh, we just gotta try something else. So then we looked into homeschooling, and I really do enjoy homeschooling.
Emily Gerde [00:25:33]: We do kind of a mix, because homeschooling is basically, you know, you have a curriculum, you have a schedule, and you follow it. And as you can imagine, with our new tiny house spirit, we're like, yeah, this whole schedule and curriculum thing really isn't working for our family because we go hiking, we go to the beach, we go rock climbing, we travel. It's just not really working for us. So unschooling is more student led. So we kind of say that every day is a teachable moment. So whatever we. It's whatever he's interested in. So if he wants to go biking one day, then, you know, as we're biking, we notice things.
Emily Gerde [00:26:11]: As we drive, we notice shapes, we notice colors. When we get there, we talk about, you know, like, we get to the skate park, and we talk about, like, how it works and, you know, momentum and force. And every day is just an opportunity to learn. So that's kind of how we approach our learning for now. And it'll change as he gets older and stuff. And the great thing about homeschooling and unschooling is that, you know, once we get a community and we're paying taxes and stuff and we have a quote unquote address, we can actually be a part of the regular public school. So he can do fayed and music and science there, because those are things I personally don't excel in. So why excel in Fayed? But I only did gymnastics, so it's like, I don't know how to teach him baseball or so he can take those classes there because we'd be paying the taxes for it.
Emily Gerde [00:27:03]: So then that's a nice way to kind of still get that, you know, feel of school, but also then the other stuff we can do at home.
Ethan Waldman [00:27:13]: That's great. So in regards to getting your own address and paying taxes, does that mean you're planning to buy land?
Emily Gerde [00:27:21]: We are just planning to live on one of the communities that we build. This has been such an interesting journey because in Minnesota, we had our parents address that was just, you know, we had our license. Everything was under my parents address, and we never lived at our parents. Well, we lived there for a little bit, but. And then moving here, it was such a humbling experience because all of a sudden we felt homeless. We can't get mail. We can't get a PO. I think we can get a PO box if we use a different address.
Emily Gerde [00:27:50]: But, you know, as far as, you know, we don't want to necessarily be sending our Amazon packages to PO box every day, or it just was really humbling. We're like, oh, my gosh, we can't even get a license. We can't. It's. It's this whole new experience. So we're finding people to, like, host us and are willing to let us put their address so that we can get a driver's license switched over. And it just really made me kind of reach out to the homeless community. And here in Denver, there is a homeless community.
Emily Gerde [00:28:19]: And I went to the meeting, and I'm kind of working behind the scenes with them and talking about future options. I spoke with a potential Denver city council member, and we're trying to do stuff behind the scenes. I didn't really have. I've always had a heart for the homeless, but this kind of almost made me feel homeless. And so I was like, wow, there are so many barriers that people have to overcome, and everyone's like, oh, they're so lazy, and da da da, and, oh, they're all druggies. And in Denver, 60% to 80% of the homeless have jobs. And then we build them these tiny house communities. And the tiny house communities are only legal because they have to move every six months to a new location.
Emily Gerde [00:29:01]: So they literally have to spend thousands of dollars moving these tiny homes to a new location every six months.
Ethan Waldman [00:29:08]: That's awful. And you bring up a great point about that. And from what I've read and what I understand about homelessness, that having a home in a permanent location is so key in helping people turn their situations around. You're getting a unique experience, you know, getting to almost experience that issue firsthand. And I can see that it's really created new, new empathy that you, you know, I'm sure you had on some level, but now that you've experienced it, it's so much more real.
Emily Gerde [00:29:43]: Oh, it's. You couldn't even believe the barriers. I mean, things as simple as a library card. Like, thank goodness this family offered to host us because we couldn't get a library card without an address. It's crazy. And I mean, how, I mean, how do you get a job if you can't go to a library and apply to jobs with the Internet? Right?
Ethan Waldman [00:30:01]: So one thing that I like to ask all of my guests are, what are three resources? It could be books or podcasts or even movies or music. Just three things that have inspired you on your tiny house journey that you'd like to share with others.
Emily Gerde [00:30:21]: Oh, gosh, that's a tough one because there are so many amazing people out there. Well, I guess I'm just gonna go with what initially got us excited because that's, like, kind of the most authentic because, I mean, oh, my gosh, I've done so much research since then. What initially got us excited about tiny homes was Kim Castle. She's a Minnesota local and she let us go into her tiny house. And funny how the world works. I actually worked, I taught in the same school and we were friends with her husband. So it was kind of hilarious that that all worked out. And once I actually found her first and then found out she was married to him and I was like, oh, my gosh, this is way like small world.
Emily Gerde [00:31:08]: So Kim Kasl, I think, oh, my gosh, now I'm blanking on our website. I think it's bless this tiny house and it's castle with a k. K a s l. So she was kind of our inspiration because she let us, you know, get into a tiny home and hers, I think, is about 24ft long. So she also, it was also kind of this epiphany of like, oh, we want a little bit longer than that. But she has two kids, two small dogs, her and her husband in this tiny house. So they are definitely an inspiration for us at the beginning. And as far as, you know, tv shows, we were actually on tiny house big living, so we watched tiny house big living on HGTV.
Emily Gerde [00:31:48]: And that really inspired us because it wasn't about drama. It wasn't about, like, all the crazy knickknacks. It was literally just following the build. So we were on. We petitioned to be on that show, and we got on, and that was a beautiful experience. And I still just really like that show because it's so real. There's no fakeness to it. There was no, like, they didn't tell, you know, there was no dramatization.
Emily Gerde [00:32:10]: I was just literally following our story. So. Yeah. And then Tiny House magazine, now I'm blanking seeing this.
Ethan Waldman [00:32:19]: Oh, Kent Griswold, yeah.
Emily Gerde [00:32:21]: Yes, yes. So that is really fantastic. He's doing a great job. And I know one just went in print as well. I haven't really been able to dive into that one, but, yes, Kent Griswold, he, he does a great job. And I've, he's. I've been in. I think I've been in there twice already.
Emily Gerde [00:32:37]: And just the people I see going through that magazine, it's just so real and authentic. And that that's really important to me is kind of that authenticity and people kind of, you know, just present. Like, this is really how it is instead of, like, you know, you see all these beautiful, like, amazing staged photos, and it's like, I love those. But can I also see what it looks like when you're. It's lived in, right?
Ethan Waldman [00:33:00]: Yeah, no, Kent does a great job. He, all the articles are from people who live in tiny houses. You know, not, they're not, like, paid writers who are writing these posts. They're, they're real tiny house people.
Emily Gerde [00:33:15]: Oh, yeah. And he did such a great job of, like, helping, you know, having questions that he's, you know, he kind of, like, guided me of, like, hey, you know, I. We haven't heard anything about this. Can you speak to this? And I was like, oh, yeah, that sounds great. So, yeah, that's really good. And then the last one is my friend from Minnesota, Stephanie Cubes. And she is two girls and a tiny, and she is on, like, Facebook, Instagram, and whatever. But she's a single mom, and she was inspired by us to go tiny.
Emily Gerde [00:33:47]: And now I'm inspired by her because I have a heart for single moms. I can barely be a mother with a husband, and I'm just like, oh, my gosh, you guys are angels. You're superheroes. Any single moms out there, like, you guys can do this. Tiny house living is a great, affordable option, and she is out there doing it and with her daughter. And I'm just so inspired by her because it's changing her life.
Ethan Waldman [00:34:11]: Well, those are great suggestions. Emily Jordy, thanks so much for being on the show.
Emily Gerde [00:34:16]: Oh, thank you so much for having me. And I'm excited to hear all the rest of your guests and thank you for all you do.
Ethan Waldman [00:34:26]: Thank you so much to Emily for your time today. You can find the show notes for this episode, including links to Emily's recommended resources@thetinyhouse.net. emily, are you enjoying the Tiny House Lifestyle podcast? If so, please take a moment to rate and review the show in Apple podcasts or Stitcher. Your honest reviews will help others find the show, and if you haven't yet subscribed, please do. It's free and ensures you'll never miss an episode of the Tiny House Lifestyle podcast. And finally, if you're looking for the ultimate guide to planning your tiny house, check out my comprehensive resource, tiny house decisions. Tiny House Decisions is the guide I wish I had when I built my tiny house and comes in three different packages. To help you get a jump start on your tiny house.
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