This is truly a home to let all your worries go away.
A North Carolina couple has revealed how they built a tiny 360-square-foot houseboat on a lake so they could live off the grid, and their monthly expenses now amount to just over $1,000.
Sarah Spiro, 27, and Brandon Jones, 40, spent two months and $90,000 to bring their shapely design to life in a video for their YouTube channel. Giant Tiny House TripThey say they couldn’t be happier.
Revealing her favorite part of her unique Fontana Lake lifestyle, forestry technician Sarah says in a clip: “The quiet, the peace out here. It’s just our cup of tea all day long. We love having peace and calm.
Sarah Spiro, 27, and Brandon Jones, 40, spent two months and $90,000 bringing their grand design to life.
Revealing her favorite part of her unique Fontana Lake lifestyle, forestry technician Sarah says in a clip: “The quiet, the peace out here.”
To hold the abode in place, four tie-down ropes run from each corner of the structure.
Outside, the tiny home has 400 square feet of deck space for the couple to relax and their dog Iko to stretch his legs.
The spaces include a living room, a kitchen, a master bedroom, a bathroom with laundry room and a raised platform accessible via a staircase that also functions as a guest bedroom.
The washing machine is located next to the bathtub and the maceration toilet.
‘We love having such easy access to the nature around us. You really are part of that nature and in sync with it, especially being off the grid here. It feels like we really ebb and flow with those cycles and that’s something that I feel has improved our quality of life dramatically.’
During the YouTube video, the couple reveals how they built the foundation of their house from scratch on the coast and then worked day and night to finish it in the water.
To hold the abode in place, four mooring ropes run from each corner of the structure to the mainland.
The interior spaces include a living room, a kitchen, a master bedroom, a bathroom and laundry room and a raised platform that can be accessed via a staircase that also functions as a guest bedroom.
Outside, the tiny home has 400 square feet of deck space for the couple to relax and their barking dog, Iko, to stretch his legs.
To save on construction costs, the couple did most of the work themselves and also sourced materials as cheaply as possible from sites like Facebook Marketplace.
Sarah says one of her favorite items in her home is a copper kitchen sink, which comes with all the accessories for just $350.
Before building their current house, Sarah and Brandon built another smaller floating cabin on the lake.
Since their first build, they said they learned many skills that helped them the second time around.
They briefly rented their first cabin through Airbnb before recently selling it.
Now their annual docking fee is $5,000, which is $416 a month.
His other monthly expenses include $20 to pump the septic line, $45 in gas for the washing machine and two cans, $110 in Starlink for his high-speed Internet connection, and $36 for a new propane cylinder.
During the YouTube video, the couple reveals how they built the foundation of their house from scratch on the coast and then worked day and night to finish it in the water.
To save on construction costs, the couple did most of the work themselves and also sourced materials as cheaply as possible from sites like Facebook Marketplace.
Before building their current house, Sarah and Brandon built another smaller floating cabin on the lake. Since their first build, they said they learned many skills.
In terms of their day jobs, Brandon works at the lake managing Fontana Marina, while Sarah works for the National Park Service seasonally as a forestry technician.
Meanwhile, a solar panel system means there is no charge for electricity.
Overall, this adds up to $664 a month, with groceries and other expenses bringing the total to just over $1,000. During the summer months they can also save on food costs thanks to the lake’s abundant trout population.
In terms of their day jobs, Brandon works at the lake managing Fontana Marina, while Sarah works for the National Park Service seasonally as a forestry technician.
Your trip involves taking one of their two boats to the coast, before driving for about an hour in your car to your destination.
To supplement their income, the duo have ventured into the world of social media and regularly post videos on YouTube, where they have over 18,000 subscribers. instagram where they have more than 147,000 followers.
While Sarah says she wouldn’t change a thing about her home life, in one of her Instagram posts she shares five small downsides to living on a lake.
Firstly, he says that taking his dog to the shore to go potty can sometimes be tedious, while secondly, he says that “dropping things in the lake” is a constant fear.
She says about it: “This is something we’ve gotten a lot better at over time, but I want to say that no matter how careful you are, it just happens from time to time.” (It) just comes with the territory (but) it kinda sucks.’
The third disadvantage of living on the water, according to Sarah, is that “a houseboat definitely requires more maintenance than a regular house (and) anything that’s on the water will deteriorate faster.”
The fourth drawback that Sarah mentions is the fact that there is no food delivery service available, while her final complaint is that they don’t have any physical address, so they have to deliver things to the marina, which is not always possible. it’s possible.
Looking ahead, the couple says they see themselves on the lake for “the foreseeable future,” but their long-term goal is to retire early and spend “a couple of decades” sailing around the world on an “epic adventure.”