2017年北京市西红门那场大火以及那两年严重的雾霾让逃离北上广这个话题甚嚣尘上，无数人针对留下还是离开展开了激烈辩论。

与其说，“北上广容不下肉身，三四线放不下灵魂”，不如说，现在的年轻人大都是矛盾又纠结，不满足于现状，却不知道自己想要或适合什么样的生活……

所以说，逃离并不是一种妥协，

而是一种人生的选择。

那些真正知道自己要什么的年轻人

都在过着怎样的生活呢？

Bye bye city life 

再见，城市

Why would we want to give up a convenient and secure lifestyle in order to do something completely insecure and potentially inconvenient like building and living in a tiny house?

为什么我们要放弃方便和安全的生活方式，而去做一些完全不安全和可能不方便的事情，比如建造和生活在一个小房子里?

We had a good life in Sydney. We had jobs and a very nice apartment in a popular suburb and we tried to live green-ish. I started little gardening projects and converted our balcony into a herb- and tomato plantation. Then I made a small compost from an old bin for our food scraps. I also tried to recycle and re-purpose as much as possible to avoid waste. At the same time, Paul started experimenting with renewable energy. He built a solar oven which actually worked. Paul even built a mini-biodigester to create biogas. He also a bought a full-size solar panel which powered our TV and charged up our phones. You should have seen our balcony, it was so packed with solar stuff and plants!

我们在悉尼过得很好。我们有工作，在一个受欢迎的郊区有一间很好的公寓，我们努力过着环保的生活。我开始了一些小的园艺项目，把我们的阳台变成了一个种植药草和西红柿的种植园。然后我用一个旧垃圾箱做了一个小堆肥，用来装我们的食物残渣。我也尽量回收和再利用，以避免浪费。与此同时，保罗开始尝试使用可再生能源。他做了一个太阳能烤箱，真的可以用。保罗甚至建造了一个迷你生物沼气池来产生沼气。他还买了一个全尺寸的太阳能电池板，为我们的电视和手机充电。你真该看看我们的阳台，到处都是太阳能和植物

Our efforts of living green weren’t bad considering that we were living in the middle of a busy city. But still, at one point our little projects wouldn’t cut it anymore. Also, we ran out of space on our balcony!

考虑到我们生活在一个繁忙城市的中心，我们为绿色生活所做的努力是不错的。但是，在某一点上，我们的小项目不会再削减它了。而且，我们的阳台也不够用了!

Trying to live off-grid but not being able to, was one reason for leaving Sydney. Another reason was the noisy city. We lived right next to a busy main road and close to the airport. Sometimes we had to pause conversations because we couldn’t understand a word. So we tried to escape the noise as often as possible. We spent most weekends outdoors at the beach or camping somewhere. But at some point, even that wasn’t enough anymore. We needed change, somewhere quiet!

离开悉尼的一个原因是想要离开电网，但又做不到。另一个原因是这个城市太吵了。我们就住在一条繁忙的主干道旁边，离机场很近。有时我们不得不暂停对话，因为我们一个字也听不懂。所以我们尽可能多地远离噪音。我们大部分周末都在海滩或某个地方露营。但在某些时候，这还不够。我们需要改变，找个安静的地方!

Why build a tiny house on wheels?

我们为什么建造一个小房车？

We could have moved to the countryside and live in one of those gigantic Australian houses with too many bedrooms, right?! But that’s not what we’re after. We’re after simplifying our lives, not accumulating more stuff. We want to live off-grid and utilise renewable energies. Especially since Australia has plenty of renewables to offer.

我们可以搬到乡下，住在澳大利亚那种有太多卧室的大房子里，对吧?但这不是我们追求的。我们追求的是简化生活，而不是积累更多的东西。我们希望生活在离网和利用可再生能源。特别是澳大利亚有大量的可再生能源。

The problem is that in order to go off-grid one has to own the house he or she is living in. But first of all, we can’t afford to buy a house and most importantly, we don’t want to drag a mortgage along with us for the next 30 years.

问题是，为了脱离电网，一个人必须拥有他或她居住的房子。但首先，我们买不起房子，最重要的是，我们不想在未来30年里拖着抵押贷款的后腿。

We want flexibility, independence and therefore need an alternative!

我们想要灵活性，独立性，因此需要一个替代!

How did we stumble across tiny houses?

我们是怎么偶然发现小房子的?

One day while browsing the WWW for renewable energies, Paul stumbled across a video about a tiny house on wheels. We loved the concept instantly!

有一天，保罗在浏览可再生能源网站时，无意中发现了一个关于一个带轮子的小房子的视频。我们立刻爱上了这个概念!

We soon started watching every video there is about tiny houses, tiny living and the tiny house movement. I’m not kidding when I write this. We were obsessed with tiny houses!

我们很快开始观看那里的每一个视频，都是关于小房子、小生活和小房子运动的。我写这篇文章可不是开玩笑。我们痴迷于小房子!

The idea of living in a small space with only the things we really needed was fascinating for us. This concept seemed to tick all the boxes.

生活在一个小空间里，只有我们真正需要的东西，这种想法对我们很有吸引力。这个概念似乎符合所有的标准。

• We wanted to pursue an environmentally-friendly lifestyle and live off-grid. 

  我们想追求一种环保的生活方式，远离网络!

• We wanted to live in nature. Tick!

  我们想生活在大自然中

• On top of this, a tiny house seems to be affordable. Tick!

  最重要的是，小房子似乎是负担得起的

• We would own our own house without having to pay off a mortgage. Tick!

  我们将拥有自己的房子，而不必偿还抵押贷款

All we wanted seemed to be doable with a tiny house. Yes, I know it’s not that black and white. Tiny houses aren’t the answer to everything. People are able to achieve some of the items on the above list without a tiny house but the financial aspect is a valid point! Especially in an expensive city like Sydney where it is almost impossible for first home buyers to afford a mortgage to be able to buy a house.

我们想要的似乎只是一间小房子。是的，我知道事情没有那么简单。小房子并不能解决所有问题。在没有小房子的情况下，人们可以实现上面列出的一些项目，但经济方面是一个有效的点!尤其是在像悉尼这样的高房价城市，第一次买房的人几乎不可能负担得起抵押贷款来买房子。

Tiny houses are certainly worth considering because they build an alternative to the housing madness in Sydney.

小房子当然值得考虑，因为它们为悉尼疯狂的住房提供了另一种选择。

Did we just decide to build a tiny house on wheels?

我们刚决定建一个轮子上的小房子吗?

Building a tiny house seems like a no-brainer and we wanted to do it. But there were also lots of concerns and questions. Where would we build the tiny house? Do we have the money to afford it? Are we really leaving Sydney? Where would we move to? Will we find jobs in this new area?

盖一间小房子似乎是件很容易的事，我们也想这么做。但也有很多担忧和问题。我们将在哪里建造这个小房子呢?我们有钱付得起吗?我们真的要离开悉尼吗?我们会搬到哪里?我们能在这个新地区找到工作吗?

The list is endless. All these questions stalled our decision making. Should we really take this risk? Is it worth risking our safe existence for a weird idea? After all our life is good the way it is at the moment. It could have just gone on like this forever. But I think that we also have to ask ourselves is: Wouldn’t life be very boring if we never took any risks but lived in our comfortable routine year in year out?

这样的例子不胜枚举。所有这些问题使我们无法作出决定。我们真的要冒这个险吗?为了一个奇怪的想法，值得我们冒着生命危险吗?毕竟我们现在的生活是美好的。它可能就这样一直持续下去。但我认为我们也应该问问自己:如果我们年复一年都过着舒适的生活，却从不冒险，生活不是很无聊吗?

Let’s take a risk every once in a while

让我们每隔一段时间就冒一次险

According to Margi Warrell, people regret later in life that they never took any risks when they had the chance to. In her article Take a risk: The odds are better than you think she points out that the most common reason for people not taking risks is that they “over-estimate the probability of something going wrong”. Furthermore, people tend to “exaggerate the consequences of what might happen if something does go wrong”. She refers to this as catastrophizing.

玛姬·沃勒尔认为，人们在以后的生活中会后悔，因为他们有机会去冒险的时候却从不去冒险。在她的文章《冒险:胜算比你想的要大》中，她指出人们不冒险最常见的原因是他们“高估了出错的可能性”。此外，人们倾向于“夸大事情一旦出错可能带来的后果”。她把这称为小题大做。

I agree with her. I think Paul and I did a lot of catastrophizing ourselves. Common questions we would ask ourselves included “What if the house is too tiny and we hate living in it?” or “Will we still have some personal space?” or “What if we want to multiply”.

我同意她的看法。我和保罗做了很多小题大做的事情。我们会问自己的常见问题包括“如果房子太小，我们讨厌住在里面怎么办?”或者“我们还会有私人空间吗?”或者“如果我们想要乘法”。

But taking risks can also be a positive thing. In a few years from now, we might regret that we never tried it. I also never felt that we took that big a risk. It’s not like we wanted to move to the North Pole to go on an epic journey to find Santa Clause! We simply wanted to downsize, live off-grid and move to a quieter place. This doesn’t sound too crazy to me!

但冒险也可能是一件积极的事情。几年后，我们可能会后悔从未尝试过。我也从未觉得我们冒了这么大的风险。我们并不想搬到北极去进行一次寻找圣诞老人的史诗之旅!我们只是想缩小规模，住在离网的地方，搬到一个更安静的地方。这听起来并不太疯狂!

The beauty of Plan B

B计划

I also think that we can control our risks to a certain degree. If we have a solid plan and don’t just chase after an idea blindly, I believe that it’s possible to minimise the risk of failure. Perhaps even create a backup plan?

我也认为我们可以在一定程度上控制我们的风险。如果我们有一个可靠的计划，而不是盲目地追求一个想法，我相信失败的风险是可以最小化的。甚至可能创建一个备份计划?

Our backup plan was to postpone the tiny house build and to move to the Gold Coast or Brisbane, find jobs and live a normal apartment life until we’re ready to start building or continue building or whatever the problem might be. We have friends and family in both places, so we felt quite good about this.

我们的备用计划是推迟小房子的建造，搬到黄金海岸或布里斯班，找份工作，过正常的公寓生活，直到我们准备好开始建造或继续建造或任何可能出现的问题。我们在这两个地方都有朋友和家人，所以我们感觉很好。

It’s still a big step. But obviously, this is what we wanted since we kept watching tiny house videos and kept talking about living in a tiny house. So at one point, I guess, we were sick of talking and decided to do it!

这仍然是一大步。但显然，这是我们想要的，因为我们一直在看《蜗居》的视频，一直在谈论住在蜗居里。所以，我想，在某一时刻，我们厌倦了谈论，决定去做!

We have watched so many people from all different backgrounds and of various age build a tiny house. If they can do it, we can do it! We wanted change and now we would get it. We’re so excited and happy about our decision!

我们看到这么多来自不同背景、不同年龄的人建造了这么一座小房子。如果他们能做到，我们也能做到!我们想要改变，现在我们就要改变。我们对我们的决定感到非常兴奋和高兴!

Where to build our tiny house

在哪里建造一个小房子

The next step was to find a build site/area to move to.  Truth is, that we couldn’t leave Sydney fast enough but we also weren’t sure where to go. One year ago we were ready to move to Adelaide. Everything was booked and organised but then we had to cancel everything because of work-related reasons.

下一步是找到要移动的构建站点/区域。事实是，我们不能足够快地离开悉尼，但我们也不知道去哪里。一年前，我们准备搬到阿德莱德。一切都已安排妥当，但由于工作原因，我们不得不取消一切。

We were a bit clueless until we visited friends in the Byron Bay area for Easter. I knew immediately that this gorgeous spot was where I wanted to live. The area is so beautiful but also though when it comes to finding employment and accommodation.

我们有点不知所措，直到复活节去拜伦湾地区拜访朋友。我立刻就知道这个美丽的地方是我想住的地方。这个地区非常漂亮，但是在找工作和住宿方面也很困难。

Byron is a popular holiday destination but doesn’t have a lot of industries other than tourism, hospitality and trades. Also, Byron is as expensive as Sydney because of its’ popularity. So we weren’t sure if it’s smart to move here. On the other hand, this area sounded so promising since a lot of people here believe in sustainability and a healthy, environmentally-friendly way of living.

拜伦是一个很受欢迎的度假胜地，但除了旅游、酒店和贸易外，没有其他很多行业。而且，拜伦和悉尼一样贵，因为它很受欢迎。所以我们不确定搬到这里是否明智。另一方面，这个领域听起来很有希望，因为这里的很多人相信可持续发展和健康、环保的生活方式。

Well, what can I say, at some point, we just literally said: “Fuck it! Let’s just do it!”. So one day we packed up our things and drove up to Byron. From there on everything just sort of fell into place.

好吧，我能说什么呢，在某种程度上，我们只是字面上说:“去他的!”让我们开始吧!”于是有一天，我们收拾好东西，开车去拜伦那里。从那以后，一切都变得顺理成章了。

We were lucky enough to be able to stay with our friends again initially. We’re very grateful that they put up with us and our cat! It is also thanks to our friends that we have found our cute little studio cabin with ocean views. We can even build our tiny house on the same land! On top of that, we were even able to sort out employment. I found work in town and Paul was lucky enough to find a work from home job as IT support using his Sydney contacts.  We surely landed on our feet.

我们很幸运，一开始又能和朋友们呆在一起了。我们很感激他们能容忍我们和我们的猫!也要感谢我们的朋友，我们找到了可以看到海景的可爱小屋。我们甚至可以在同一块土地上建造我们的小房子!最重要的是，我们甚至能够解决就业问题。我在城里找到了一份工作，而保罗也很幸运地找到了一份在家工作的工作，因为他可以利用他在悉尼的熟人来做IT支持。我们肯定会成功的。

Here we are

More than three months have passed since we moved here and things are sweet. I’m glad that we were brave enough to follow our dream. It probably also helped that we had a backup plan. It took a lot of pressure off our tiny house plans and made us feel more relaxed.

我们搬到这里已经三个多月了，一切都很美好。我很高兴我们有足够的勇气去追求我们的梦想。我们有一个后备计划可能也有帮助。这大大减轻了我们的小房子计划的压力，让我们感到更放松。

I know that every tiny house story is different. There are certainly more things to consider than the ones I have pointed out. However, I’m really glad that we stopped catastrophizing and instead had the balls to jump into the unknown.

我知道每个小房子的故事都是不同的。当然，除了我指出的那些之外，还有更多的事情需要考虑。然而，我真的很高兴我们不再小题大做，而是勇敢地跳进未知的世界。

This is our story so far. It started out with a crazy idea of living tiny and green, followed by endless research and lots of discussions but we got there in the end and haven’t looked back since!

这是我们到目前为止的故事。一开始的时候，我们有一个疯狂的想法，想要住在又小又绿的房子里。后来，我们做了无数的研究，进行了很多讨论。

Is there a downside?

有没有风险？

There are a lot of things to consider before building tiny. A house, even if it’s a tiny one, is still a house, right? Listed in this paragraph are some of the bigger issues you should think about before building. There is certainly more to consider but this is a start.

在构建tiny之前，有很多事情需要考虑。房子，即使很小，也是房子，对吧?在这段中列出的是在构建之前您应该考虑的一些更重要的问题。当然还有更多需要考虑，但这只是一个开始。

1. Costs and tiny house loans费用方面的问题

Although the costs of building a tiny house are much smaller than building a regular sized home, it will still cost a solid five digit amount of AUD$. The price varies from house to house and depends on a lot of factors.

虽然建造一间小房子的成本比建造一间普通大小的房子要小得多，但它仍然要花费五位数的澳元。价格因房子而异，取决于许多因素。

Banks might be hesitant to give out home loans for tiny house builders. Definitions for tiny houses are vague. If they are on wheels, they’re not even considered a house. So it’s a good thing to sort out the finance side of it in advance.

银行可能会犹豫是否向小型房屋建筑商发放住房贷款。小房子的定义很模糊。如果他们在轮子上，他们甚至不被认为是房子。所以提前解决财务方面的问题是件好事。

2. Tiny house home在哪里安放

The tiny house has to ‘live’ somewhere. Unless you own your own land you have to think of a “parking spot” for your tiny home. Sometimes even trailer parks have an issue with an actual house standing in their park. So another problem might arise with the question of where to put the tiny house?

小房子总得“住”在什么地方。除非你有自己的土地，否则你必须为你的小房子想一个“停车位”。有时甚至连拖车公园也会对公园里的房子有意见。所以另一个问题可能会出现，那就是把小房子放在哪里?

3. Council regulations

Council regulations might be another problem. In order to build a tiny house on your own land, you most likely have to get approval from your local council first. If the tiny house is mounted on a trailer it should be classified as a ‘trailer’ rather than a house. So parking a tiny house on wheels on someone’s property (with the owner’s permission if you’re not the owner!) should not be a problem.

市政法规可能是另一个问题。为了在自己的土地上建一所小房子，你很可能首先要得到当地议会的批准。如果小房子安装在拖车上，它应该被归类为“拖车”而不是房子。因此，在别人的土地上(如果你不是业主，可以得到业主的许可)停放一间带轮子的小房子应该不成问题。

Make sure to do your research on these matters and any other issues that might be related to building a tiny house on wheels. Rules can change and I’m not your local council representative.

确保你对这些事情和任何其他可能与建造一个轮子上的小房子有关的问题做了研究。规则可以改变，而我不是你的地方议会代表。

What is happening in Australia?

小房子现在澳大利亚情况如何？

The tiny house movement has started in Australia too. It is still in its’ early stages and nowhere near as big and commercial as in the USA. Australia only has a hand full of companies offering tiny house builds and just a few tiny houses on wheels all across the country. However, people in Australia are definitely interested in tiny houses despite the fact that new Australian homes are getting bigger and bigger.

小房子运动也开始在澳大利亚流行。它仍处于早期阶段，远不及美国的规模和商业规模。在澳大利亚，只有为数众多的公司提供小型房屋建造服务，而在全国范围内也只有几座带轮子的小型房屋。然而，尽管澳大利亚的新房子越来越大，但澳大利亚人对小房子还是很感兴趣的。

Awareness for tiny

为小房子骄傲

Overall, at the moment the majority of Australians might not see the point in tiny houses. Compared to the US the need for tiny homes, for example, due to financial and natural disaster, is not given here. But there is certainly a growing awareness of environmental and other social issues. The Tiny Homes Foundation, for example, has received approval to build Australia’s first tiny house project for homeless women, men, youth and the elderly.

总的来说，目前大多数澳大利亚人可能还没有意识到小房子的重要性。例如，与美国相比，由于金融和自然灾害，这里没有考虑到对小房子的需求。但是，人们对环境和其他社会问题的认识肯定在不断增强。例如，微型住宅基金会已经获得批准，为无家可归的妇女、男子、青年和老年人建造澳大利亚第一个微型住宅项目。

There is a lot of potential in Australia for tiny homes. I have no doubt that they will get more popular in Australia because they represent a serious housing alternative for people who would otherwise not be able to own their own house. On top of that, they offer a more simplified and sustainable lifestyle.

在澳大利亚，微型住宅有很大的发展潜力。我毫不怀疑，它们在澳大利亚会越来越受欢迎，因为对于那些没有能力拥有自己房子的人来说，它们是一种严肃的住房选择。最重要的是，他们提供了一种更简单和可持续的生活方式。

Wow, it’s the first day of 2020! We wish you all a fantastic new year and hope that it’s going to be an amazing one for you. For us, today is extra special, as today also marks 2 years of living off-grid in our DIY tiny house. For the last 2 years, we solely lived off solar energy, rainwater and homemade biogas. What an amazing journey it has been. We absolutely love our lifestyle and are very grateful that we can live this way. As for the coming year, I want to expand the garden and learn more about permaculture gardening. What are your plans for 2020?

哇, 2020年的第一天! 我们祝大家新年快乐, 并希望这对你们来说会是一个了不起的一年. 对我们来说, 今天是特别的, 因为今天也标志着我们diy tiny小房子里过了2年的生活. 在过去的2年里, 我们只靠太阳能, 雨水和自制的沼气为生. 多么美妙的旅程. 我们绝对爱我们的生活方式, 非常感激我们能这样生活. 至于来年, 我想扩大园林, 了解更多关于permaculture园艺的知识. 2020年你的计划是什么?

译者注：本文摘录自“living tiny and green”，文字及图片归原作者所有。

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