As you most likely know I’ve started building my own tiny house in the back of a FedEx truck I adoringly call the Make it Happen Wagon. I’ve decided to follow the pattern set by Thoreau in Walden This blog post is to give a brief accounting of my total costs excluding time.

$4,000 Initial cost for FedEx truck: I bought it out of Bentonville, AR because it’s the headquarters of Walmart and you can find these kinds of trucks for about 1-2K cheaper. I got the ticket out there for about $50 (long story, but I have a friend…) and I didn’t have to pay for gas because I helped a buddy move back to Utah and he paid for the gas.

$500 Repairs: I had to fix a head gasket YIKES! RIGHT?!! but it didn’t cost nearly what I thought it would so we’re chill there.

$1,000 Base: My receipts actually only came to $896 but i’m factoring in gas at about $100 a tank, and other things that perhaps I...

Let me bring everything up to speed on how this whole thing happened. I’m into Minimalist Living and bought a FedEx truck called the Make It Happen Wagon to start executing on some of my minimalist ideas.

If I would’ve had it my way I’d be living in a shipping container cause I’d been REALLY into Conex Box Houses, bought Tiny House books, and even had visited people that had built homes for under $10,000 when a friend of mine approached me about buying a FedEx truck that he wanted to use to move from Bentonville, Arkansas back to Utah.

Now Bentonville is the headquarters for our beloved Walmart, so shipping and cargo trucks are at a surplus from what I understand. It was our initial plan to buy the truck for $4,000, and sell it in Utah for a $1,000 - $2,000 gain. However, I became attached and decided to start building it out (Doesn’t hurt that my father refused to let me put a...

I love simplicity. Love it.

Love people that help me achieve it in my life. Thank you Sam, James, Thoreau, and to my FedEx affectionally called the

Make it Happen Wagon.

To give a quick intro, this is a video that coins the phase Less is More and is a great intro to anyone interested in editing their life to remove the unnecessary.

How long have we as a human race lived on this earth? Maybe 200,000 years give or take a few thousand? And all this time we’ve been able to survive on homes that are made from animal hides, mud, and trees…. until recently. Kind of amazing really. Yet how is it that we have advanced so far with technological advances, but yet still struggle to provide a basic living structure at a cheaper cost. We’ve done it with food, clothing…. but shelter seems to continue to rise and rise and rise. After starting to read Thoreau’s Walden (given to me by my...

The saying goes “one year older and wiser too”. Well, this is my collection of the things that have made people wiser over the course of their most recent year of life.

“Make this the year you stop doing stuff you don’t want to do”
Craig Scribner, Older

“Be more grateful for where you are in life, as well as who you have in your life”
Colter Wilson, 27

“Always sign a contract, and sign it as early as possible”
JD Tueller, practically 30

“If you want to see the hand of God, look. If you want to hear the voice of God, listen. If you want to feel the love of God, serve.” | Zach Oates, 28

“Be useful, not innovative” | Jeff Shwarting, 27

“Enjoy the moments in life that others only DREAM of having. Some people are blind and can’t even see the sky. | Jane Groom, 18

July 24th

Triple for today in honor of the Pioneers. The top one I love because I love pioneers, the second for the quotes below, and the bottom one for the cinematography.

• You can’t beat death, but you can beat death in life… sometimes

• Beyond the watch the gods will offer you chances… know them… take them.

• Your life is YOUR life

• It might not be MUCH light but it beats the darkness

• The Gods wait to delight in you

1 Imagine beautiful things.

2 Create the beautiful things you imagine.

3 Tell people about beautiful things you’ve seen or made.

4 Surround yourself with people who also have found beauty.

5 Repeat until desired level of beauty is obtained.

Here is a collection of previous beautiful things:

July 15th

I can’t believe I haven’t already introduced this video (there are actually multiple that I haven’t put on here, but will most likely be adding). This one...

(work in progress)
Here are the books I’ve read and what what I think about each one:

Being George Washington: Biography - Beck

Didn’t really like Beck’s personality, found a few things interesting about George Washington’s life, but it wasn’t as powerful as I had hoped. Most likely due to my own attitudes while reading the book.

Walden - Thoreau

Book given to me by a guy living out of his van. Great read for anyone who is interested in simplifying their life and enjoying more of the world around them. Below are some quotes that I really liked:

We are all poor with respect to a thousand savage comforts, though surrounded by luxuries.

When the farmer has got his house, he may not be the richer but the poorer for it, and it be the house that has got him. For our houses are such unwieldy property that we are often imprisoned rather than housed in them. I know one or two...

I’m practicing the habit of “Celebrating More” and in spirit of that I am not going to be looking forward to 2014, but rather look back to what went completely awesome this year. Here are my highlights:

Mission Statement

I will devout my time, talent, and ability to building the kingdom of God. I find untapped resources, and use them to show and empower others to unlock their own untapped potential through real and permanent lifestyle change that is more closely tied to their basic motives and needs. Love, respect, simplicity, order, and freedom are my driving principals.

Spiritual

Wanted to become temple worthy this year so I started going back to church regularly and accomplishing a level of high activity in the church. Not just high level of activity but of involvement. Meaning to have fun and actually contribute to the lives of others. Doing so I have actually come to enjoy...

If you have seen my facebook feed or spoken to me over the past 2 months you probably have heard something about a “Make It Happen Wagon”, well now it has finally come time for me to well…. make it happen.

What started as a casual conversation about buying an old ice-cream truck combined with my zest for minimalist living has blossomed into the purchase of my very first, mobile hotel/office/live-space/kitchen/bedroom/yoga studio/recording booth/lair.

And boy… I am EXCITED!

What lays ahead in this crazy world for just a boy and his converted FedEx truck? There is no telling. Only one thing is sure: it will probably cost way more money and take way longer than what I’m thinking it will right now. But it will be 100% worth it because I’ll enjoy the process, and I want to see more of this in the world just like I explain in my thoughts on money but to get to the point… here is a...

Money is an extremely powerful tool to be used and leveraged in order to amplify what you think is important. That is why we should not buy what is necessarily the easiest, but that which we wish to see more of.

It is a voting ballot, a voting ballot that in the end only matters if used to build relationships and happiness.

Spoken like a true networking fiend

In the past I’ve used money as a metric to prove how valuable I am and how good my ideas are, but I don’t necessarily believe in that anymore. Sometimes really bad ideas make a lot of money. However, good and bad ideas alike are valuable because people are willing to trade you their money in exchange for them. For example you will pay somewhere around $5 for nachos at the fair, and in contrast spend around a buck for the nachos you make with your friends as you watch a football game. The value is in the eye of the...