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countryred
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# Posted: 30 Jun 2012 22:49
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We currently live in town but are making plans to a simpler life in a few years.
We both changed jobs, and now spend a lot less on gas, so we can kick butt on our debts and have our home paid for earlier and can bulk up our savings. About that same time, our daughter will moving off to college.
We plan to buy our acreage, 5 to 15,.. in 5 years, and move there in 10. Sell the house, buy a Derksen type cabin, or have 1 built, around 380 sq. foot. Put the rest of the house money in the bank as our emergency fund.
During the 5 years we have the land before the building we can camp there and start preparing the lot and clearing trees, as well as planting fruit trees for the future.
Nothing fancy, some power, about a 100 amp panel, a rain water collection system, and a big garden and a few chickens.
Both of us get part time jobs, and spend a lot of time together at the cabin.
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hattie
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# Posted: 1 Jul 2012 01:10 - Edited by: hattie
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Sounds like a perfect plan to me!! My only suggestions would be to build on one level (as you get older stairs/ladders can be a real problem) and don't buy more land than you can handle/manage. Make sure you have access to medical care in case you need it.
Good luck! Keep us posted with your progress!
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VTweekender
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# Posted: 1 Jul 2012 01:34
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I agree with hattie, sounds like the perfect plan! My only suggestion would be a little more forward thinking, if financially possible I would get my hands on a good used little Kubota 4x4 tractor with backhoe and loader attatchments, buy it earlier so its paid for by the time you are ready. That thing will save you more work and backache than you can ever imagine.
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Anonymous
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# Posted: 1 Jul 2012 06:35
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380 sq ft? That is really small.
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VTweekender
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# Posted: 1 Jul 2012 08:37
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No its not, 50 sq ft is small.....
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countryred
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# Posted: 1 Jul 2012 09:15
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yeah,,380 is smaller, but not real small. It will be much cheaper to heat and cool than a normal house. 1 bedroom with a loft. Loft will be mostly for storage, or sleeping for the grand kids ( someday).
It will be in the Missouri Ozarks somewhere, still checking out little towns and land. Ideally, 20 minutes from a grocery store and no more than 45 to a decent hospital.
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Anonymous
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# Posted: 1 Jul 2012 12:56
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Well I would just lay out a area that is that small or visit small houses that size before I would commit to such a small house. Once you built it adding on can get expensive. At the very least I would have a front and back covered porch one screened in. That can be used as extra living space in nice weather. A screened porch makes a nice sleeping space on warm summer nights.
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silverwaterlady
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# Posted: 1 Jul 2012 14:00
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Loft is a good idea.isnt it cheaper to built up than out anyway? We have a loft that is about 400 sq ft. We sleep up there and use it for storage. But summer sleeping is not good because it's to hot. It's nice for sleeping in the fall because it's warmer than the rest of the cabin.
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countryred
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# Posted: 1 Jul 2012 15:13
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We plan to put on a decent sized covered front deck. We will have an AC unit for those muggy Missouri nights.
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neb
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# Posted: 1 Jul 2012 16:34
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Quoting: hattie My only suggestions would be to build on one level (as you get older stairs/ladders can be a real problem) and don't buy more land than you can handle/manage.
Great advise from hattie!!!
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OwenChristensen
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# Posted: 1 Jul 2012 17:36
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I have a second level, never been there. I just lower the ladder stairs and after the kids go up I raise it and enjoy all the tunkin' from up there.
Owen
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Rifraf
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# Posted: 1 Jul 2012 19:45 - Edited by: Rifraf
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i'm living in a 380sq foot Derksen cabin. That's me, my wife and two adolescent children. Comfortably and one of the lofted bedrooms is yet to be completed, when thats done it will seem like too much room  .
In my opinion you dont need hundreds and hundreds of sq feet of wiggle room to be comfortable. And its like you said its cheaper to cool and heat. This last month has been very hot here in se Missouri, and our electric bill (only utility bill we have, water heater is tankless electric too) was only 44.00 , and thats with the AC running on auto all day and night.
Best of luck to ya, shoot me an email if you are close to mansfield mo. It would be a pleasure to lend a hand in labor.
Gamemaker04@aol.com
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Borrego
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# Posted: 1 Jul 2012 22:27
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Welcome and good luck! i would build a bit larger too, esp if you're going to live there full time one day. Maybe a 24 x 24'? Also, great idea to add porches, decks, screened and otherwise to give more 'living area'.
Give us some pics when you get 'em!
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MtnDon
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# Posted: 1 Jul 2012 23:04 - Edited by: MtnDon
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We have a recreational cabin; 432 sq ft actual floor space, 472 as the tax man measures (exterior dimensions). It's one floor, no loft at all. We live there in the summer months for a week to two weeks at a time. The balance of the year sees 3 day weekend use. If we were to live there full time we would need more space. More space for laundry; we take it home. More space for storage of off seasonal things such as clothing. More space for a bigger refrigerator. More space for more clothing, books, food, tools..... We have a utility shed but it's only good for items that can face freezing weather.
I figure that for full time, for the two of us, we would be happier with 600 to 700 square feet as a minimum and happiest with about 1000 sq ft of enclosed one floor, no loft, no basement. We do not like lofts. I do like basements though. I might consider something like a 20 x 30 with a basement. Good stairs eat up space though.
For full time we both just need more personal space. Space so if someone is feeling ill, they can have a quiet space and the other person doesn't need to tiptoe around them. I also stay up 2 or 3 hours later than my wife.
But that is us. YMMV
We find that with a smallish space life inside is much more pleasant with an outdoor summer kitchen. The cabin interior stays much cooler when we shift all our cooking to the outside propane cookstoves. We have a set of a two burner and a single burner cast iron stoves on the porch. The oven only gets used in the evening when we can be assured of cooling off with the evening breezes. We're fortunate that at 8800 feet the evening cool off well even in the hotter days of summer. We open windows at night. The norm is to see the temperature inside down to 66-68 by morning. Sometimes that means having to close windows in the middle of the night. If we can keep the windows closed in the daytime the interior usually stays below 75 even with the exterior at 85.
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hattie
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# Posted: 2 Jul 2012 00:42
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Quoting: MtnDon If we were to live there full time we would need more space. More space for laundry; we take it home. More space for storage of off seasonal things such as clothing. More space for a bigger refrigerator. More space for more clothing, books, food, tools.....
You are so right MtnDon!!!
Our cabin is only 500 sq. ft. It has 3 rooms (front room/kitchen, living room/eating area, and bedroom with small bathroom). When we moved up here full time, we added a utility room that is about 300 sq. ft. The utility room is so important to us. It holds our clothes closets (our cabin was built in 1912 and has no closets), our pantry, extra fridge and massive upright freezer, closet for cleaning supplies (mop, vacuum, etc.), washer, dryer and hanging clothes drying rack. We have a lot in that one room and would be lost without it. We also have a cold cellar where we keep our preserves, dog food, flour and sugar. Again, we'd be lost without it. The cold cellar is small (only about 40 sq. ft.). We have a greenhouse where we grow veggies indoors and it is almost 200 sq. ft. So you can see that while our actual living space is very small (500 sq. ft.) we need the extra working/storage spaces for the other essentials to live here full time. We also have a shed outside for our garbage, recycle and some gardening tools and Hubby has a garage for all his machine tools and our car and rhino.
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countryred
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# Posted: 3 Jul 2012 20:28
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Thanks gang for the tips,..and Rifraf , I might take you up on that help someday.
Between our lofts for storage and our outside shed I think we will ok on storage.
It will be our full time home and the $40 utility bill is just right. We are outside people, and hope to cook outside as much as possible on the grill.
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wakeslayer
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# Posted: 3 Jul 2012 22:24
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Our Aframe is 320sq ft on the main level. 20x16, and 144 in the loft 9x16. Noting that we have more sq ft at out feet than our heads. We primarily cook outside. We could easily live there 8 months out of the year. Winter would be a bit too hard.
Hot water, full size fridge, and electricity are a must.
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countryred
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# Posted: 4 Jul 2012 18:55
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We thought about an A frame, but since it will be a full time and senior housing all in one, we wanted to keep most of it on one floor.
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