Tiny House Couple Now Saving Half Their Income! (Interview and Tiny House Tour) (2024)

This is Sean & Angie Johnson’s Tiny House: The Casa Paspin.

The couple spent 8 months building the self-designed creation and just moved in this January. They are already loving their tiny life and are saving 60% of their income by not renting anymore. Good for them! Read our interview with them below the photo tour.

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Images via Sean and Angie Johnson

Images via Sean and Angie Johnson

Interview with Sean & Angie about their Casa Paspin THOW

What are your names?
Sean + Angie Johnson

How many people will be living in your tiny house?
It will be us, our large Weimaraner dog (chip), our 2 cats (chef and cow) and 4 chickens (in a coop)

Where do you live?
We live in Oceanside, CA

Why did you decide to go tiny?
We decided to go tiny for a few reasons. We had been renting a house for over 4 years and realized how we were throwing our money away. We have no regrets from renting but it was exciting to see that there were other options instead of going house poor. We saw the opportunity to build a tiny house to live in and jumped on it after careful planning. I studied architecture before becoming a firefighter, so I had some experience in design and building. We also wanted to build a custom home that we could own and be able to save money for things we like to do (surfing and traveling). We plan to save enough money to buy land and eventually build a full size house and keep our tiny house as a rental or a home for our family or friends if they ever needed a place to stay.

What are you hoping to get out of living tiny?
We are hoping to finally get ahead of our finances and achieve our goals at a faster rate. It is also exciting to have our dream home that we can call ours!

How did you first learn about tiny houses?
I actually have my own business shaping surfboards and built a tiny surfboard shaping shack on wheels over 5 years ago. We then got the idea to build one and live in one when a coworker told us that he and his family lived in a boat full time. At that moment I saw the opportunity and started my research.

When did you officially start your tiny house?
We officially started building our tiny house in May 2016 and finished in January 2017.

Is your house completed? How long did it take to finish it?
Our house is completed. We only have landscape things to finish around the property we are staying at. It took approximately 8 months to build.

How did you build your tiny house?
I drew very detailed building plans for every aspect of the build. Everything was build like a regular house with normal building materials!

Did you have any help? Did you do it yourselves?
We built and designed 95% of the house by ourselves. We did have a professional plumber and electrician do the rough in work – to save time and make sure it was done correctly. The house has a fire protection system (fire sprinklers, propane/Carbon monoxide/ smoke detectors) that is integrated into the house. I built that because a tiny house has all the same fire hazards as a full size house.

How did you find a place to park and live in your tiny house?
We have arranged to keep it in the same location it was built. We built the house on Angie’s parents’ property. We plan on living in it for 3-5 years until we find a piece of land that we want to purchase.

Before going tiny, what was life like?
Life was great. We rented a small cottage style house a few blocks from the beach. However, we were throwing money away at rent and not really putting it towards something that we owned.

What benefits are you experiencing after going tiny?
The benefits we see are amazing. The house really has a lot of space. We are proud of the quality and the design and how everything flows. We are able to save over 60% of our income and able to put that into savings and do things that we like to do.

What about some challenges?
Our biggest challenge was finding the land to build and keep it. The build was also challenging. It is no joke building a tiny house. Utility connections are also a major factor in building a tiny house. The obvious challenges were downsizing our possessions and learning to keep and live with less. It is actually a very mentally freeing concept and makes you happier.

What helpful advice would you give to others interested in going tiny?
Do your research and consult with professionals if you’re not sure. It will not only save you time and a headache but also money in the long run. It was a serious build. I worked almost full time on it and it still took 8 months.

Do you have a website, blog, or social media page where we can follow along?
Our Instagram page is casa_paspin.

Resources:

• Instagram

Related: Interview with Neha about her Tranquil Taos Tiny House

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