What a difference a year makes. Until just recently, Michelle “MJ” Boyle was paying $1,600 each month to rent a modestly sized home in the Pacific Northwest community of Sherwood, Oregon. As a long-term renter, she’d never built up any home equity and in fact, spent more than a decade living paycheck to paycheck with nothing in her savings account.
But with her children preparing to leave the proverbial nest, she decided it was time to make a major life change. That change not only cut her monthly expenses back to next to nothing compared to what she had been paying as a renter but will also allow her to build up savings for retirement in the coming years.
How did she do it? By joining the Tiny House Movement. She went from paying $1,600/mo. for a three-bedroom, 2-bath house on a quarter acre of land to owning an adorable, 204-square-foot tiny house for just $75/mo.
MJ is a single mother of two who lives in a rental home with her kids. She works double shifts and multiple jobs just to cover the monthly expenses. Her life may be full of struggles, but it doesn’t stop her from creating a way to give her family the best life.
Since she is an amazing and strong woman, she was able to make ends meet. The solution: she built her own home!
Due to living in a tiny home, MJ was able to cut her expenses to $75 a month! Now that is a huge amount of savings. Since she was successful in creating her tiny home, MJ started the business of designing and creating other tiny homes and trailers.
She turned these tiny homes and trailers into a rental business.
“I got Superhost status from Airbnb, it was almost 100% booked in the first summer, and within six months it actually paid me back every dime I had put into it,” she said.
According to MJ, everyone has the capacity to change their lives. The secret to success is to work hard and dream big.
“My story is very much that this is intentional, this is comfortable, this is feasible. It quite literally changed my life and my future,” she said of tiny home living.
MJ is super proud of her tiny home and business. So, to anyone who is reading this, may you also be inspired by MJ’s story. If she can do it, you can do it too.
Take a tour of her adorable tiny home in the video below.
Sources: AWM, Tiny House Movement
