{"id":32719,"date":"2012-09-21T14:45:03","date_gmt":"2012-09-21T19:45:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?p=32719"},"modified":"2012-09-21T14:45:03","modified_gmt":"2012-09-21T19:45:03","slug":"small-house-movement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/09\/21\/small-house-movement\/","title":{"rendered":"Small House Movement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

That\u2019s a refreshing idea<\/strong><\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n

(CNN)<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 Hari and Karl Berzins decided to build a tiny home for their family in Virginia\u2019s Blue Ridge Mountains to free themselves of the financial burden of owning a large home.<\/p>\n

They knew that moving two children, a dog and a cat into a 168-square foot space would be a challenge, though it would also eliminate the need for a mortgage and cut their utility costs.<\/p>\n

But they didn\u2019t expect it to completely change their lives, Hari Berzins said.<\/p>\n

The savings allowed the 39-year-old mother to scale back her hours working for a nonprofit and spend more time on the family\u2019s 3-acre hillside property in Floyd, Virginia, she said. She now has more time to pursue her passion for writing, gardening, raising chickens and, most importantly, to enjoy her kids. Her husband, a chef, was able to leave a stressful restaurant and take a pay cut to work in a more creative environment.<\/p>\n

The perks go beyond saving money or having a smaller environmental footprint, though both are huge benefits, Hari Berzins said. There\u2019s also the intangible delight derived from cooking in a kitchen where everything is within arms\u2019 reach, or eating off the beautiful china set that was locked in a cabinet when they lived in a 1,500-square foot home, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cLiving mortgage-free has given us the freedom to make decisions based on what will make us happy, not what we have to do to pay the mortgage,\u201d\u00a0Berzins said in a CNN iReport<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe things we have are beautiful, enriching our tiny space. We got rid of so much and kept the beautiful things,\u201d she said. \u201cFreeing ourselves from consumer debt and living mortgage-free has cleared the clutter to help us see what is truly important: our relationships, our happiness, each moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Berzins are part of a small contingent of homeowners who have found solace living in less than 500 square feet\u2026.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Full story at link above.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

That\u2019s a refreshing idea\u2026 (CNN)\u00a0\u2014 Hari and Karl Berzins decided to build a tiny home for their family in Virginia\u2019s Blue Ridge Mountains to free themselves of the financial burden of owning a large home. They knew that moving two children, a dog and a cat into a 168-square foot space would be a challenge, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nSmall House Movement<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"That's a refreshing idea... (CNN)\u00a0-- Hari and Karl Berzins decided to build a tiny home for their family in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains to free\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/09\/21\/small-house-movement\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Small House Movement\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"That's a refreshing idea... (CNN)\u00a0-- Hari and Karl Berzins decided to build a tiny home for their family in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains to free\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/09\/21\/small-house-movement\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-09-21T19:45:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/09\/21\/small-house-movement\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/09\/21\/small-house-movement\/\",\"name\":\"Small House Movement\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-09-21T19:45:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-09-21T19:45:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"That's a refreshing idea... (CNN)\u00a0-- Hari and Karl Berzins decided to build a tiny home for their family in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains to free\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/09\/21\/small-house-movement\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/09\/21\/small-house-movement\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/09\/21\/small-house-movement\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Small House Movement\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Small House Movement","description":"That's a refreshing idea... (CNN)\u00a0-- Hari and Karl Berzins decided to build a tiny home for their family in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains to free","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/09\/21\/small-house-movement\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Small House Movement","og_description":"That's a refreshing idea... (CNN)\u00a0-- Hari and Karl Berzins decided to build a tiny home for their family in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains to free","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/09\/21\/small-house-movement\/","og_site_name":"Jesus Creed","article_published_time":"2012-09-21T19:45:03+00:00","author":"Scot McKnight","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Scot McKnight","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/09\/21\/small-house-movement\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/09\/21\/small-house-movement\/","name":"Small House Movement","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-09-21T19:45:03+00:00","dateModified":"2012-09-21T19:45:03+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252"},"description":"That's a refreshing idea... (CNN)\u00a0-- Hari and Karl Berzins decided to build a tiny home for their family in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains to free","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/09\/21\/small-house-movement\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/09\/21\/small-house-movement\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/09\/21\/small-house-movement\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Small House Movement"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/","name":"Jesus Creed","description":"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252","name":"Scot McKnight","description":"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32719\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}