Why Less is So Much More: My Tiny House Experience

Story and Photos by Jennifer Agema

The Tiny House Movement is a thing. It’s a social philosophy that embraces the concept of living a simpler, downsized life. The freedom that comes with eliminating excess — including excess space — is real.

Day 1

When you’re growing tired of the long hot Arizona days, and the family is running out of things to do and seems a little “too close for comfort,” why not take on a tiny house experience, right? Crazy talk. Nevertheless, the opportunity presented itself, so we headed out to our sliver of 200 square feet amongst the trees of Cottonwood, Arizona to start our family-focused bonding adventure!

With rebooting on the brain and after a quick pit stop for some delicious BBQ in Jerome (www.bobbydsbbqjerome.com), we found our tiny house tucked within the Rio Verde RV Resort. Set right along the Verde River, we were greeted by scents of the great outdoors and the crisp smell of cedar inside our home for the night. As soon as I stepped inside, I was instantly hit with nostalgic childhood memories of playing in friend’s tree houses and the days of all-afternoon fort making. It was the perfect kind of closeknit, and was surprisingly bigger than I had expected. I would even go so far as to say it was the size that made me think, ‘I could totally live this way!’…especially if it had A/C and appliances like the one we stayed in!

We immediately claimed our beds (just like being at summer camp back in the day!), put up all of our goodies for our grill-out that night, and headed straight down to the river, which was only steps away. With the recent rainfall, the water was running faster than usual, so we decided to walk along the bank instead of getting our feet wet. On our walk, we waved at a man who casually passed by us in a canoe. We skipped rocks, found small frogs while my daughter climbed trees, and we had fun playing Frisbee in wide-open spaces. The quiet stillness of this place and the occasional cool breeze made time stand still.

When we made it back to our sweet yellow abode, as the sun was going down, we spread out a blanket on our picnic table and painted the river rocks we found so that we could leave ‘gifts’ for future guests. We watched the blue sky turn to dusk as we limited the available Wi-Fi to music-playing only. Keeping with the theme of simple and sweet, dinner time was chicken and tortillas on our tiny house’s grill. It was all we needed.

Bedtime was in a beautiful slow-motion with the perfect blend of warm showers, reading, and whispered conversations. It was exactly the reboot we needed!

Day 2

As part of the visit, we were lucky enough to visit the local farm next door where groups can learn about growing and preparing healthy food… all in an effort to teach people to “GROW // BUILD // HEAL // LEAD” by learning to live off the land, and to ‘live with less.’ It was a wonderful lesson in living simply and responsibly, and taught each of us a little more about where we can lighten our own loads in our daily lives back home.

Our tour ended with picking some fresh plums from the head Farmer’s tree and special access to a private area on the property.

It was a beautifully constructed set of 120 steps up to a lookout point over the Verde River, the entire Cottonwood area, and beyond. This concept came from a book that the Eco Center teaches from called “I’ve Decided to Live 120 Years” by Ilchi Lee, asserting the idea that we have the potential to have a lifespan of 120 years.

We were challenged to walk up to the step that represented our age and pause – to look back and see how far we have come and consider what we have accomplished in our lives so far. But then, and even more importantly, to look up at all the steps still to come, and let them represent the number of experiences in our future should we choose to adopt the same philosophy, and live a healthier, simpler life.