The End of Suburbia

Truly inspiring, gives me hope for the future.

Austin Hay is still in high school, but he's building his own house. It's only 130 square feet, but it makes him a homeowner without a mortgage at just 16 years old. Right now, it's parked in his parents' backyard, but he's built it on wheels so he plans to take it to college and then wherever he goes after he graduates. He's been sleeping in his tiny home for a few months now and he's already decided not to return to big (his parents' home is 1800 square feet). "Living small means less bills, living big means more bills," he explained from the tiny stoop of his new home. "I don't want to pay big bills". Hay's 130-square-foot home may make him the youngest member of the growing Small House Movement. Hay expects to spend about $12,000 building his home (the used trailer cost him $2000) and he's paying for it working two summer jobs (at a camp and at a park snack bar). He's cut his costs in half (the home's estimated DIY price is $23,000) though this is a considerable discount from the home's estimated price of $23,000 because Hay has scavenged everything from doors, windows and flooring to the kitchen sink (the hardwood floors were $25 at a salvage yard and so was the stainless steel sink).

Owned and Operated

Welcome to 

The Dreamworx Project.

 A journey in sustainable living.

As we travel this road on the journey called "life", we often come to a cross roads and have to decide which way to go. Do we continue as we have or do we pursue other avenues?  We (my family and I) have decided to follow our bliss, that is to say, do what we love, what we have always dreamed of. Living closer to the land, being more a part of our environment. This includes living more economically, and not merely where money is concerned, because the only thing money is good for is getting you stuff. If you have what you need, you don't need much if any money. We want to disengage from the monetary system wherever possible.

It also means leaving the urban metropolis we've called home and moving to a more urban environment. For a couple of lifelong city slickers, this might prove to be the biggest challenge. But we believe we're ready to follow our bliss.

So, we've broken it down into sections and researching and preparing to make our big move. "Getting our ducks in order" as the saying goes. This involves a great deal of thinking and planning, because as you sit down and really think about what it is you want from life, and what you are offering same, you really must take stock, inventory and decide what is worth your while keeping and discard the rest.

For us, this includes getting down to the bare essentials, most especially where personal stuff is concerned. Having a massive moving sale at the end of summer and taking that money and reinvesting it in ourselves.

Here we shall chronicle that journey and share with anyone interested what we found works for us and what doesn't. We only offer our experience and knowledge, and on occasion our opinion, but at all times it is the honest truth (as we have experienced it). There is nothing to buy, no club to join (though if you find the info presented worth your time, you may want to subscribe and keep up to date), otherwise, it's all part of the Resource Based Economy philosophy. We believe we can achieve more as a species by openly sharing information and knowledge, than hording it and charging for it.

It will however take some money to do this. How much? Well, I guess it comes down to how you want to live, the quality of life, or standard of living that you want to maintain. That will dictate in part how much it will cost, but unless you are independently wealthy and can just throw money at this endeavour, the rest of us have to budget. For us, it is two adults and a cat, and we're not so high maintenance and fairly adaptable. We have also simplified our lives already. We don't have cable, or internet (don't ask how I work online) or phone (land line) and we don't have a great many expenses that are ongoing (aside from rent and food and such). So, we figured that we wouldn't mind scaling down some more, to basics and essentials. My point is, you'll have to be the judge of your budget and what you can reasonably accomplish. 
The two biggest investments you'll have to make is shelter and land. As far as the land goes, there might be a work-around solution (see related tab), but so far as shelter goes, there are many options to choose from. The more moderate the climate you live in the more options you have for year round living. For us, in southern Ontario, we have to consider winters, so the further south we can go, the better. It also increases our growing season. Ironically, thanks to climate change, the winters are nowhere near as long or as brutal as they were when I first moved here in 1975. So....there it is.

Take everything you read here as merely our experience and use what suits your needs, ignore the rest. There will also be areas and topics that we may not cover because they don't pertain to us and we never considered them, so we're open to any additions you feel beneficial to add.

In this way, you're also welcome to email us with any tips, tricks, info, knowledge that you want to share or general feedback/comments.

Welcome to our journey, please sit back, relax and take in the view.

Your birth certificate

Zday 2012 - Toronto

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Cancer: the Forbidden Cures - Full Documentary from Jason Greenwood on Vimeo.

"Defining Peace" by Peter Joseph

Zday 2012

Peter Joseph on "The Marker"

Free book on RBE

Download the book here.

Peter Joseph on The Joe Rogan Experience

TZM Activism