Small? - a documentary about dry cabin life and alternative housing in Fairbanks, Alaska 

I am looking at moving to northern Idaho..where about are you? I am looking at somewhere further up from McCall but I need some advice if you have any!

I worked myself into total burn out in Moncton, NewBrunswick. Went on disability and got hassled every week. I total them off took my pension. I have a tractor and cut firewood and do a bit of tractor work. Feel much better now that I simplified my work.

I'm sure your mother is glad u finally moved out too

Good for you, my children grew up and as the City got busier and busier, sirens,choppers, police chases. Yeah you get the picture, so I moved to a beachside small City which slowly got louder and louder. Now I live in a country town, it’s pretty peaceful out here🤗

my house burned down and im now stuck in a trailer while we rebuild at a much smaller sq foot...I'd be ok with that if I Didn't have two giant breed dogs!!let me know if you want to do a house trade sometime! :)

Before you make those kind of decisions, try moving up here and rent a cabin for a year. If that's still what you want, then continue your dream. Dry cabin living isn't for everyone. Going to the outhouse in pitch dark in -40 and not getting trampled by a moose is an experience. You buy your own land; you can get a mailbox for your cabin, but depending on where you settle, it's not front door service. Many cabin dwellers have P.O. boxes and come into town every once in a while to check their mail. This video doesn't do a very good job about describing some of the hardships of cabin living like loneliness and isolation, hygiene and hauling trash daily, and extreme winters.

+Oscar Centeno You use the outhouse in the dark at -40?!? Where's your honey bucket??? : )

To each their own my friend! Don't live up to the old saying of Uneducated, Low-Informational, Judgemental, Narrow-Minded, Biased, Ignorant Liberals: LIBERALISM IS A MENTAL DISORDER!

Perhaps it is a physical manifestation of the grand emptiness they feel within?

zoinx4444 Kill all the Hippies,Eco warrior bullshit and stuff...lol We can't go back,i wouldn't like to live back like during the middle ages,roman times,the far west cowboys etc because ultra-violence,rape etc was just a day to day common thing and i prefer women with nice and smooth legs and without any hairy armpit!!! Bunch of idealistic little dreamer... Hello from France :)

Glad that you agree Sir Gary,me too i used to dream during my 20' about the new age thing and shit but not anymore... Hi from France :)

zoinx4444 that's the only way to be happy, off grid and debt free, to hell with the rat race!

(Old post I know) BUT:" Are you Happy " caught my eye/ attention. My husband died 3 yrs ago, age 70. We'd lived in a house on a private lake for over 20 yrs, 2 lakefront lots, a 3 bedroom, full basement, beautiful view. I lived there 2 years after he died, it was too expensive for just me, only one check to pay high utilities & taxes 2 times a year. It became like a prison for me. I WASN'T happy there anymore, not by myself. I sold it & bought a small 2 bedroom mobile home in a court, very small yard, a boy takes care of it for $10.00, my utilities & taxes are SO much cheaper. I bought a car,(old one died) bough a few new things for the house & put the rest in a savings account. NOW ..I'm happy. I don't have to worry about buying my meds, doctor bills, ect. Few people have ask me if I miss the other house & if I'm happy. I DON'T miss the other house, it was keeping me broke & YES ! I'm HAPPY..I truly am. I'll be 68 before long & I'd rather have meds, food & a place I can take care of, I couldn't go to the dock anymore & fish. Being happy is better than being in a pretty house with a beautiful view. I grew to hate it & couldn't wait to get away from it.

I would love too and it’s a dream of mine but I have no experience in building so how can I? I can’t . How can anyone if they don’t know how???!!!

Ironically you could probably afford to buy a house straight cash unlike vast majority of people.

Funny my grand parents did it for 80 years. You bartered for things you didn't have in exchange for labor and experience. Besides whom can't grow a garden? You can do that without large plots of land. And solar power is free once installed for years of use. As for fuel, it's called moonshine!

Where does it say that unless you grow your own food, you aren't 'off grid'? Think before you type. The pioneers grew their food AND went to the trading posts and forts to get supplies INCLUDING FOOD. No one can do it all by themselves.

LeAnn InAK You don't have to. But trading and bartering with neighbors is infinitely more sustainable than relying on a goods store.

Indeed. We try to barter before we buy new

Frank Anderson NOBODY grows salt, they gather it.....having 6,640 miles of coastline, I am sure the people of Alaska smart enough to do a google search will figure out how to gather all the salt they need if they choose not to just buy.....seeing as how it is cheaper to buy...

No you wouldn't have to worry about a mortgage or electricity but you WOULD have to worry about paying for other essentials.

Exactly how I feel. The way they describe their lifestyle -especially the "Hippy" lady-, was extremely moving and inspiring. I've grown up in a spoiled family, I even got my first car when I was 6 because I put it on my Christmas list. I really want to try this lifestyle out, and when I get the chance to, see if its really worth it.

+junbug1029 was it that bad?

hehe

The first 2 years weren't bad, but every year after became worse.

+junbug1029 why?

+Ashley Casey My guess is it's colder than hell 2/3 of the time. You are either cut out for that or not.

yes.but how about solar food ?

If they weren't chained they would be cruel to each other. This is a work animal and not a pet.

I had a friend who had the view that chains are cruel and her dog was picked up several times by animal control 10 miles from her house in Fairbanks proper until finally the dog was killed by a car. She could have done something other than a chain, but she thought confinement was cruel. She had failed the dog. For about 10 years i ran sled dogs for hauling supplies and transportation into the vast road less areas of Alaska. They lived on houses which they willingly returned to on their own every day. They also got to do what they loved the most and that is run about 200 miles a week as a team of which i was a member. Never had any predatory animals come around probably because they are not interested in coming around a yard with the smell of 8+ dogs that start barking immediately at anything that is alive and not normally present. They have their own lives to keep after all. On the other hand several years ago there were some single pet dogs people had let out of their houses that got snatched up by wolves. Angry pet owners were calling for mass execution of the wolves by the national guard. Many people in Fairbanks, including some dog mushers, suggested those people should move back down south. Generally dog mushers are going to be significantly more in tune with the needs of their dogs than any pet owner, it is just the nature of what is happening. Most of what you do while driving the dog sled is watch each team member to see any slight change in behavior so any problem can be addressed immediately to prevent injuries. And when the dogs need help pulling your are running and pushing the sled. I spent more time with dogs than humans during much of this time. They were very important to me for companionship and as a work crew. The team was one big eyes and ears and you paid close attention. I camped at -30F with them regularly. The dogs ate and got taken care of in anyway needed before i took care of myself. The last thing you want in a work team is an unhappy crew. When they got older they lived in the house till the end of their lives. One got bone cancer in his hind leg at around 10 years. He died right in front of me. Earlier that day and for months he had gone on mile long walks on three legs having no problem keeping up with and in some cases surpassing the other dogs. I had a dog that was loose run off and get into a porcupine, she stood there letting me pull the quills out with pliers and no anesthetic. I still have one 14 year old dog from the original team and he lives the life of a prince now. There are cruel people in the world no doubt, but when one considers how i started this comment, chains don't necessarily mean that an owner has failed the dog.

+JAchica11 How is this in anyway a comparison? living more simple but with stable money/safety / car / petrol is 100 times better than 3rd world.

Marcus Lobenstein ...bunch of libtards.....pseudo academia moving to Alaska. Hippies that have watched too much reality tv bullshit. Ruining Alaska...

Yes. Very interesting.

JAchica11 until you see the bills that com with a house in the city,

This has crossed my mind many times😃

Elena Vladi they are happy there

Filip musiatowicz right)) if vodka keeps you warm))

its cold there but therfore a lot of warm in peoples hearts, they dont have much but they dont know much of modern shit and they happy kozz of it i think

+Elena Vladi I am a Russian living in northern Canada, and this approach works fine for me, last 6 month I spent in a cabin up North, and quality of life was just wonderful.

my wife says the same when I even mentioned living on a sailboat. She prefers the McMansion's.

REVOLUTIONARY Search for Tiny House Nation Season 3 Episode 2 . She's not in Alaska. She's somewhere near L.A.

+REVOLUTIONARY There are many. Actually, our grandparents lived this way, and now other's are doing it, making it "cool." But this is not strange for me, as I was exposed to it at an early age in South Carolina. Peaceful existence.

SOUND LIKE YOU BEEN SMOKING TO MUCH WEED.

Most black people I know put themselves into boxes and refuse to try anything that's "not black". However, I have indeed been following someone's blog who does indeed live in a tiny house, and is indeed black with locs. Her blog is called " 'Little Anarchies' -- One black woman's journey to Off-grid, tiny house, living"

+sheltered That struck me as 'posing', simply because a good woodstove would bake you right out of there. Very easy to insulate and heat a bus.

Alexandra Harris beats letting it rot

You can also live sustainably in a bus, she seems to like it lmao

+honey owen outhouse

Alaska One lol

I am 16 years old and I would love to move to Alaska when Im older

just like anywhere else: you can rent one or buy land and build one. There are hundreds if not several thousand cabins that are rented out.

is it expensive to rent small cabin?

Jakub Sadowski Up here rent is fairly high, so it is an affordable way to live in Fairbanks, but compared to other places it is not necessarily extremely cheap for what you get. Most cabins run $500 a month. Average $100 in heating fuel throughout the year + about $50 in electricity.

Oliver Dammann Sounds about right :)

Is it ok to live in an RV there? I'm thinking of buying an RV or towable camper to travel to Alaska, park it on the piece of land I buy and then maybe live in it until I decide what to build. Probably a yurt. Are their restrictions on the size of the house/cabin that can be built? I read somewhere that legally, only a 100 sq foot cabin can be built without a building permit. I should know by October whether or not I'll have the money to move. Then with packing and selling my place here, I'm thinking maybe the beginning of summer next year. Don't think I want to move there in the dead of winter. I feel myself drawn to Alaska. I hope I can make it all work out. Thanks again for all the info you've provided.

Josie G It is not a good idea to live in an RV in Alaska over winter. It may be possible in the very south, but with the cold we get up here they do not have enough insulation and the condensation will be a problem. However you could move up in the spring and have the summer to move into something more suitable for winter conditions. You can also consider moving up with a yurt in your truck bed and put it up quick when you get here.

Josie G This will depend on the building codes in the area where you are. In the Fairbanks Northstar Borough it is basically unrestricted use outside the city where there practically are no restrictions. This may not be the case on borough land outside Anchorage for instance.

meteoroliver I plan on buying land around Fairbanks where I can build what I want. That's one thing that drew me to Alaska. I don't think any other state has areas that have unrestricted building codes. I'll check out Fairbanks Northstar Borough. I would like to plan on moving up there in the spring. That way whatever I plan on building, can be done during the summer. Still trying to decide between a yurt or a cabin. I was looking at yurts from California, where I live, to see if I can buy one here to bring it up with me. But they are so expensive here. Around $15,000. Not counting the interior items I need. Are they that expensive there in Alaska? If I build a cabin, I can use the trees from my land and it won't be as expensive. Only the cost of hiring someone to hep me. Plus the cost of interior items. Still doing research and figuring my finances. Thanks for all the information you've given me.

Josie G For unrestricted land, I believe there are very few places in remote areas of Texas, Montana, and maybe in the NE like Maine, New Hampshire areas. While I really don't like the cold, Alaska does have some nice views that come with all that natural beauty.