ADU, Travel, Community
Lina Menard
Maui, Hawaii

After A Week Long Send Off, My Round the World Trip kicked off with eight days in Maui visiting my sister Sarah who has split her time between Hawaii and Alaska for many years. What an epic way to start this adventure! There was mist falling when my sister greeted me at the Kahului airport on Maui a week ago, so she teased me about bringing the rain from the mainland. We headed straight for Paia where she presented me with a young coconut and a lei, accompanied by the chant for the gifting-of-a-lei.

Maui, Hawaii
Tiny House, Travel, Planning
Lina Menard
Lucky Penny Moves to Walla Walla

A number of circumstances collided recently to compel me to move the Lucky Penny to my property in Walla Walla where I have a ground bound small house called Valencia Cottage. So on Tuesday trusted tiny house movers Linh and Stephanie Pham helped me move the Lucky Penny safely from Portland to my place in Walla Walla.

Lucky Penny Moves to Walla Walla
Minimalism, Workshop
Lina Menard
Downsizing Tune Up

As I packed up recently in preparation to travel cross country in my Honda Fit, I did some downsizing… It was harder than it had been during my last couple of moves because this time I had more stuff. I’d been living in a bigger space…My apartment was a studio, but it was still about 6 times bigger than the Lucky Penny! I talked with several people about the experience and a handful of them said “oh my goodness, I need to do more of that!” So I’ve decided to offer a 6-week Downsizing Tune Up…

Downsizing Tune Up

phone

Getting Smart About Phones

When I moved to Portland in September of 2011 to begin graduate school and My Tiny House Adventure, I upgraded technology to a smart phone. I figured a smart phone would be good investments in simplifying my life and it has been. However, this past week I was reminded of my frustrations with Planning Around Obsolescence. Prior to moving here I was a T-mobile customer and I was very pleased with them. (T-Mobile is one of the few companies I know of that has such excellent customer service that I get off the phone in a better mood than when I started the conversation!) If T-Mobile had supported the iPhone two years ago I probably would have switched to the iPhone and stuck with T-Mobile. But at the time they didn't so I reluctantly left T-Mobile for a great deal with Virgin Mobile.

I hadn't used a smart phone before and I found my new phone was very useful as I navigated a new city. The bike directions in Google Maps and the Car2Go app were particularly helpful. (See Smart Car + Smart Phone = Smart Errands and Grocery Getter for more about car light living).

I also liked the lower price so I put up with Virgin Mobile's poor customer service. I put up with my battery going bad during finals my first term. (They shipped a replacement with only a bit of finagling.) I put up with finding my own replacement charger when that went bad a couple months later and Virgin Mobile shipped the wrong one. I learned which special key code to press when my phone quit connecting to the network every month or so. Last fall when my phone died completely (just a few days after the 1 year warranty, of course) I bought a phone just like it off of Craigslist and switched my phone service over to this new Virgin Mobile phone. I was dealing with the quirks and frustrations with my Virgin Mobile phone plan because I figured I was saving money.

But when my second phone died this week after I'd used it for less than 6 months, I decided to do a cost-benefit analysis. I realized that when I factored in the cost of replacing my phone every year on average and the couple of hours I spent each month messing with my phone to get it working again or ordering replacement parts, if I could beat $95/month I'd be in better shape going with something more reliable.

Fortunately, T-Mobile now supports the iPhone so I decided it was time to switch back. I think I'll stick with T-Moblie for good now. It was a good reminder that usually cheaper and less of a headache to go with the higher quality more durable product, especially if the support is great. I went for the iPhone 4 because I didn't need the latest and greatest and so far, I'm pretty impressed. My only major complaint is that Google Maps for iPhone doesn't include bike directions. Fortunately I know how to get around town much better now, but I still want to figure out a work around for this. (If anyone knows one, please let me know!)