No, you’re not seeing things, guys.  I’ve gone back temporarily to the old layout for the blog.  Odds are you’re going to see further changes over the next few weeks as I rethink how I want to manage content.

Along with several other areas of my life, I feel like I got off-track with the direction of Coming Unmoored.  Now that I have some time and energy again I hope to take things in some new directions.

I had also wanted to experiment some with advertising.  I think I’ve now got a reasonable sense of what works on this site and what doesn’t.  I think I’ve reached the conclusion that the visually distracting Google Adsense ads are going to  go permanently away.  The Textlink ads in actual article entries and those that appear at the bottom of the RSS feed are going to remain for the present.

Rather ironically, the past two months in which I’ve had very little time to devote to the blog are actually the first two in which the blog turned a profit after all operating expenses.  Go figure.

More than anything, though, I hope to continue to grow Coming Unmoored as both a record of my personal journey and as a resource for others making their own.

Amongst the many site changes going on right now, you will probably notice that Coming Unmoored has some advertising for the first time in its history.

Just so everyone knows where I’m coming from, it is not my goal to turn a profit from this site.  However, it would be really nice if I could get the site to the point that it was covering its own software and hosting costs (and that of the Small Living Journal, which will continue to have no advertising).

To that end, you will probably noticing me experimenting with different types of ad blocks over the next few months.

My goal is to figure out how to incorporate some advertising without it being too disruptive or visually jarring to readers of that site.  That that end, if any of the advertising is annoying the hell out of you, I’d ask you to please drop me a note or comment and I’ll see what I can adjust.

Moreover, if by some rare chance this site starts turning a profit, my intention is to sink those funds right back in to development (such as recruiting additional writers).  So, hopefully, it’s a reasonable trade-off.

If I’m off the mark on this one, let me know.

Well, if you made it this far it will probably be hard to miss the fact that Coming Unmoored is going through a site redesign.  I realize there’s currently several formatting issues.

You’re more than welcome to drop me a note and kvetch on any problems you’re experiencing, but just so you know, I’m working to clean things up as quickly as possible.  Hopefully things will be relatively stable by Monday.

The site redesign is just the first of a couple of things to come on the site, so stay tuned.

It’s probably no secret to folks who regularly read this blog that I’m not a big fan of the work-until-you’re-65-and-then-retire-and-finally-start-enjoying-life mindset. Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin’s book Your Money or Your Life comes pretty close to describing my current thoughts on the intersection between vocational and retirement planning.  This is why I was so excited to recently discover the blog Early Retirement Extreme.

Early Retirement Extreme is the creation of Jacob who at 33 describes himself as “semi-retired”.  (He still occasionally copyedits papers for a scientific journal for additional income.)   Through extremely modest living and careful saving, Jacob reached financial independence at 30.

Jacob writes: “Most of my focus in my ‘retirement’ is on finding ways to be more economically and ecologically sustainable and find ways to use less resources, live better, and to be the change I want to see in the world.”

Jacob earns additional “cool” points with me because he and his wife have made the choice to live full-time in an RV, making them tiny-housers as well as kindred spirits.

If you aspire to financial independence in a radically short period of time, I encourage you to check out the blog.  Be forewarned, though, that some of the advice is not for the faint of heart.  As Jacob writes: “I basically live differently from 99% of those around me. I don’t have a driver’s license, I don’t have any debt, I don’t live in a house, I cook everything from scratch, I cut my own hair, I practically never buy new or anything at all for that matter, I am not on any prescription medicines, and I am in great physical shape.”

Jacob has pulled together a summary page of some of his best posts from 2008.  I recommend starting there.   He also has a great 30-Day Financial Makeover plan which can be located on the right navbar on the main page of hissite.

And if all that doesn’t keep you happily busy with reading, Jacob can also be followed on Twitter at @extremejacob.

As one final note, Jacob recently had a post about his aspirations to become a tiny home slumlord.  Relentless determined to march to the beat of a different drummer, he refuses to choose Portland as the possible location because “all things cool already come from Portland”. Please do me a favor and drop him a note saying that resistance is futile and he needs to give it up and join the rest of the cool kids already. Portland could very much use its own  tiny home slumlord.

So all us tiny home bloggers are in a tizzy of excitement right now due to the Tiny House Project.  A group of artists, architects, and people passionate about sustainable living have gotten together on a project to build a mobile tiny home neighborhood that will serve as a traveling art exhibition.

“The Tiny House Project will put out a call for submissions asking artists for tiny house project proposals. Specific criteria for these proposals are being developed with input from members of the Project’s Advisory Committee to ensure that the resulting structures meet artistic, environmental, structural and communication objectives. A qualified selection panel will choose nine tiny house projects from the pool of applicants to receive funding (a more detailed description of this two-stage call follows). Each artist/project team will be given a 7’ x 14’ trailer bed and $23,000 to cover the cost of materials and artists’ fees associated with designing and building a tiny house that will then be incorporated into a temporarily occupied micro-community and a follow-on traveling exhibition.”

So those of you who’ve been dreaming of building your own tiny home but worrying that you simply don’t have the funds–here’s your shot.

I’m really excited to see the designs generated by this project.  In fact, even though I’m already in my own tiny home I’m really tempted to submit my own design I’d just so love to contribute to the project.

In particular, I’d really love to see some designs submitted that would work for the wheel-chair bound or people with other special needs (for example, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity).  In addition, I’d love to see designs incorporating more green materials.

If you’re interested in learning more visit The Tiny House Project . Be sure to subscribe to their RSS feed and sign up on their mailing list.

The lastest issue of Small Living Journal has just been released.  This issue’s theme is “Planning for the Future”.

As one of the contributors, I found it interesting that this was the issue several of the regular writers found the most challenging to write.  Still giving some thought to why that might be the case.

Anyway, please come check out the latest issue and let us know your own plans and dreams!

Photo by Tammy of RowdyKittens.

Over the next week Coming Unmoored will be featuring a series of articles focused on shipping container homes…

There are a lot of architects and builders that are beginning to wake up to the idea of using cargo containers for building. There are a lot of reasons that this idea’s time has come. I thought I would take a moment and outline why I like cargo container construction.  Sure, I don’t exactly feel “girly” discussing this topic, but the more I learn about cargo container construction, the more I like it!

First, due to the current economic slowdown, there are a lot of cargo containers piling up.  By a lot, we are talking about tens of thousands of them just sitting at docks all across the world.  A very large percentage of them are in Asian ports.  It may now be possible to get a better deal than ever on a cargo container.

In terms of prices, cargo containers can be found as cheaply as $1,000, or may cost as much as $6,000 or more.  Using a cargo container that has already been manufactured and is currently on a dock somewhere getting rusty, seems like a great eco-friendly idea.

The second reason to consider building with cargo containers is that they are very strong and durable.  After all, these containers are designed to be stacked on top of one another, while full of goods.  This fact speaks volumes about the strength of these containers.

This durability translates into other benefits as well.  Insects, vermin and mold have a tough time with steel.  There are few insects that find steel worth the time. Therefore, if you live in a termite populated area, your termite problem is basically solved.

Safety is another major point in favor of using cargo containers.  Due to the material from which they are constructed, cargo containers are going to be very safe.  Since the cargo container is built out of steel, it gives a homeowner an additional layer of physical safety from storms (and potentially intrusions as well).  Replacing wood and brick with metal also makes container homes resistant to fire.

Transportation is a big plus in favor of cargo container construction.  The largest piece of your housing puzzle can be delivered on a truck directly to your housing site.  This compares nicely to having to bring out every single piece of wood and brick that you will use for your project.

If building with cargo containers sounds like something you might be interested in doing, we recommend that you find an architect that has already tackled a project in your area.  Every year more and more architects are “taking the plunge,” and building with this strong yet flexible building option.

The fourth issue of the Small Living Journal has just been released. This issue focuses on the topic of “Do-It-Yourself”.

My contribution to the issue is a 25-minute interview with Zoey of TogtherWeAreOne.com. Zoey is a single woman who’s building her own Tumbleweed Lusby.

The issue also includes fantastic tutorial on using Google Sketch-Up by Michael Janzen, a guest article by Anne Lupton of Small-House-Building.com, a guide on travel trailers by Kevin Rose, and details on how Greg Johnson built his Mobile Hermitage.

Come check out Issue #4!

Blatant self-promotion usually makes me cringe.  However, the Small Living Journal (and to a lesser extent me) received a really nice write-up in the latest Small House Society newsletter.  I just had to share it below.

If you’re not familiar with the SHS newsletter, I encourage you to take a look.  It comes out once a month and contains all sorts of information that is of interest to people who are fans of tiny homes.

Small Living Journal – An Update. The recent launch of the Small Living Journal at www.SmallLivingJournal.com was a huge success. The journal was launched on 23 March 2009 with it’s first issue, and since then thousands of people have visited the site and hundreds signed up for the RSS Feed. In the most recent edition, the SLJ began delivering video streams of news about the small living movement – which makes it the first (and only) online video broadcast channel dedicated to the small living movement. I believe the Small Living Journal is a significant development in the small house movement because it’s the first initiative that brings together the many voices of the movement in one unified and collaborative online publication. It represents a very necessary next step in the evolution of the movement. The Small Living Journal began as a simple idea put forth by Stephanie Reiley (of ComingUnmoored.com). Stephanie contacted many of the writers (and leading voices) within the small house movement; people who are regularly sharing their own small living experiences on blogs and websites. She brought these writers together, one by one, to join in a kind of collaborative writing project that would be the Small House Journal. Already admired and respected in the movement, it didn’t take Stephanie long to gather a significant base of support, and the dream became a reality. Please take a moment now to visit the Small Living Journal and subscribe to the RSS Feed

For those of you who are curious about the current state of my little floating home, I’ve included two videos in my latest article for the Small Living Journal.  The first video is a tour around my marina and the second video shows you the innards of my house.

I’ll warn you now that this is my first ever attempt at operating a camcorder so the production quality may be less than optimal.  (I promise in the future that I won’t rotate the camera for large objects.  I did it once in each of the videos not realizing how disorienting that might be for the viewer.)

Anyway, I encourage you to go take a peek at my little place along with the rest of the issue!