Own it. With no mortgage.Imagine a space filled with light, an office that can move with you, and a heating, cooking, and electricity bill = $0. Envision what we can do, every day, when we have more time and more choices. This is the life I’m creating with my 140-square-foot home,  a converted 2007 Champion Challenger shuttle bus.

After two years of research, I designed the layout with free online software, and moved in my current furnishings to create an office-cum-storage space.

Everything is secured to tracks (or hooks or cables or screws) in the bus wall. The closet is modular, the bathroom is portable. Eventually, with the help of a master furniture-maker, I’ll create and plumb a compact kitchen unit. The interior accommodates a party of four (I know this after a group of students coordinating our TEDxSJSU event hung out the first night).

Lighting, heating, air-conditioning, and ventilation are all built into the existing bus structure, but I’ve added an array of battery-powered LED lights to create ambiance. Supplementary electricity comes from a 300-watt Go Power pure sine wave inverter until I can afford a 1000-watt Goal Zero Yeti unit. Initial water storage is contained in regular 5-gallon bottles until I install a 40-60 gallon unit beneath the bus.

How hard is this? (See the “before” picture to the left). It took me one week.

To learn more about how we can turn our lives around to prioritize joy, watch this short TEDx Talk on The Tiny Home Movement: