In a town where the median home price is over half a million dollars, Jenine Alexander decided to build her own. “It’s a house that’s mobile… For me it just made sense because I don’t own any land yet. Land is so expensive around here like I don’t have access to that kind of opportunity. What do I have access to, the dump, to craigslist.”

Using resources like the tiny house blogs and the book A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction (a gift from her mom), Jenine spent less than $3,500 on her home. In fact, she used nearly only materials recovered from the dump or found on craigslist and the only things she paid for were a trailer and fasteners (nails, screws, hinges, etc).

She built it on wheels not just to get around minimum size standards, but mostly because she couldn’t afford land in her hometown of Healdsburg, California.

In this video, Jenine shows us her reclaimed floors/windows/beams, her ample storage space and her expandable roof and she talks about why living small helps her live simply and more comfortably (more photos on her blog).