A single mom built a gorgeous tiny house by herself after watching it many times in TV shows

To find the most practical debt relief program, most of us save, skimp on unnecessary spending, and set a budget every month.

For this single mother in California, she found that a way to achieve that is by downsizing and moving into a tiny house with her 15-year-old daughter.

Before joining the tiny home movement, Shalina lived in the Bay Area with her daughter Katie. Living there was expensive and worse, the cost of rent kept rising every year.

This and Shalina’s long-standing dream of building her own house inspired her to begin working on the tiny home after seeing it featured many times in TV shows and online.

Luckily, her dad, a contractor, owned a 1-acre property in Sacramento, so she was able to use the location as her building area.

Shalina built the home by herself and used her father’s tools in the process. After two years of hard work, the tiny house was complete, and the mother and daughter finally moved in.

Shalina added a fence, a deck, and shed outside the home.

Upon entering the house, you’ll immediately walk into the kitchen. Shalina purposely kept it small since she wanted more space for the living area.

It has everything that an average kitchen has – a 20-inch stove, oven, 18-inch dishwasher, and an almost full-size refrigerator.

Shalina installed a lot of storage throughout the home. The walls of the kitchen have roll-out drawers, and the ceiling has drop-down cabinets.

Clearly, her motto is a tiny house can never have too much storage!

The living room is the spot that shows the homeowners’ personalities the most. Shalina is a collector of unique items and likes going to flea markets, thrift stores, and estate sales to search for them. She and Katie love to collect what they call “curiosities.”

They’ve got a whole cabinet where they display their curiosities and where Shalina keeps her rock collection.

Although it’s rare for a tiny house person to be a collector, Shalina has her reasons why she continued being one despite living in a small space.

“As much as I have learned about downsizing and minimalism, I’ve also found that finding the things that you really really love and surrounding yourself with it can really make a space feel like your home,” she said.

Shalina works from home four days a week, so she placed a little office in the corner where she has the option to sit or stand.

The bathroom has a soaking tub, and it’s also where she placed her washer and dryer.

Privacy was of utmost importance to Shalina, so she designed both her and Katie’s bedroom to have closing doors.

Her room’s most notable feature is the closet with a glass door – one that she’s always wanted to have.

Katie absolutely loves her room because she had complete freedom to design it. Like a typical teenage girl’s room, it has a vanity, posters, pictures plastered on the wall, and fairy lights, which gives the room a cozier feel.

All in all, Shalina spent about $35,000 building the tiny home. She saved up on costs because she did the labor herself and used mostly recycled material.

Building a tiny house and living in it for over a year is the best debt relief program Shalina discovered.

Living in a tiny house has brought this mother and daughter closer together. Shalina built it with her own hands, which makes their abode ultra special.

Take a tour inside Shalina’s beautiful tiny home in the video below.

If you are a tiny home aficionado be sure to visit Living Big In A Tiny Home’s YouTube channel for more amazing virtual tours!