Freedom From “The Treadmill”

I have found myself increasingly distressed by the thought that my children will not be able to afford to own a home. Or if they do decide to buy, they will be mortgage slaves for decades. Contemplating these morbid thoughts led me to research tiny homes. Tiny homes are a solution to our over-consumptive practices, and tiny mobile homes deal with our cultural habit of moving for jobs.

But tiny homes are not enough. I started asking the question: “What about building tiny homes from natural materials from local sources?” This question brought my research to a new level, but I realized my next home will never meet BC Building Code.

My next dream house will be off-the-grid and will cost next to nothing. The house will be a passive solar structure made out of local materials. The house will generate its own power, collect its own water, and process its own waste. Materials will depend on the location, but I like the idea of a post-and-beam house with cob walls. I see bucket toilets and a radical plumbing system as part of my future. I will have to build without permits, thus my house will have to be stealthy. The powers-that-be see my dream home as unsafe, unsavory, and maybe even a health hazard!

But I don’t buy into that view anymore. I wonder why the government even cares if I live in a mud house ? but by doing so ? I stop buying into 30 year mortgages. I avoid self-imposed mortgage slavery. I get off the treadmill of debt. Who knows what kind of mischief I might get into with all that free time!

GO BOX Storage has donated The Hand Sculpted House: A Practical and Philosophical Guide to Building a Cob Cottage by Ianto Evans to the Kamloops Public Library. I hope the book helps you find your own brand of freedom.

hand-sculpted-house

What would it be like if we could build our own homes? What would we do with our time if we didn’t have to work for the bank?