The other day, having had enough of my own company, I was working on my laptop in a coffee shop, when a father and daughter sat down in the booth opposite me. I could clearly hear their conversation and – as you need both hands to eat a cupcake – I was idly listening to their conversation instead of writing.
The gist of the conversation was that the father and daughter had come daughter directly from the bank, having just opened up an ISA in her name. From what I could tell the father had made the maximum annual deposit (£5,340) into the ISA for the daughter with his money and was giving her a serious talking to about the things that the money could and could not be used for; i.e., shopping bad, university good.
There are few things in life that we find more traumatizing than having our passport photo taken. Even if your friends insist that you look nothing like a glassy-eyed serial killer in real life, it can be hard to believe them. That’s probably why we find Passport and Reality — a joint photo project by Suren Manvelyan and Biayna Mahari which we spotted over on Design You Trust — so intensely satisfying.
Oh it starts out okay. You have a few stroking parties, just to test how far you want to take it. “Sure,” you think to yourself, “it’s wrong, but everyone does it and I have to try it.” And then that thinking takes you into a lapcat club, where pussies are purring and who are you to resist? And before you know it, you’re being nuzzled by a ginger tom with a history of shitting outside the litter tray, But you need that buzz, man. You NEED the whiskers to brush past your face. You NEED NEED NEED that knead knead knead…
And so it ends. A picture on Facebook of your shame and the job that kept your habit going is over. And then spiral crashes into the abyss and you find yourself jumping into the lion’s den. Literally, a lion’s den. ‘Cos the zoo keeper understands, he sees it every damn day. Just another victim of the crazy cat party lifestyle.
Two years ago, Debra and her family lived in a nearly 2000 square foot home on an acre and a half of land. Then her husband lost his job and they began to work 4 jobs between them to pay the mortgage, until one day they remembered they had a choice. Before having their son, Debra and her husband Gary had spent 9 years living in very tiny homes in South America. Living small hadn’t felt like a sacrifice, but a way to stay focused on what is important. They decided they wanted to get back to that.
They stopped working so hard, sold or gave away all of their extra stuff and began looking for the perfect tiny home. Debra had always liked the Mississippi shotgun style homes, and one day, while browsing craigslist, they noticed an ad for a local Arkansas company custom building tiny homes for a price that could mean an end to house payments.
Six weeks and $15,000 later they had their own fully paid-off dwelling. Today, Debra, her husband and 13-year-old son live in a 320-square foot home that is not a sacrifice, but exactly what they need.
