I’ve been a bit quiet on the tiny house content-production front as a few things in other life realms have been occupying my time. Despite having brushes in a few pots, I am still thankful for a flexible lifestyle that allows me to attend to other things when they come up. Honestly, I don’t know how people with families, 2 jobs and big mortgages do it and stay sane. So while this post feels like it digresses into other areas, I feel like it does dovetail full-circle with regards to minimalist living…

So, besides going through our slowest time of the year financially (Heidi and I are self-employed freelancers and the Australian summer season post-Christmas is a flat time where no one is spending money on what we do), I am making a trip overseas soon to help my ageing parents who have requested some help around medical-related issues. I have had to figure out more ways to bring home the vegan bacon so it has meant more gig work (UberEats) and returning back to my old career of filmmaking.

Well, I’m not quite cobbling the gear together and doing any video jobs (yet), I realised that my video production company, Red Earth Films, has a lot of quality material just lying around doing nothing. My business partner and I were trying to make a living on this over a decade ago, and YouTube plus streaming networks weren’t quite where they are now in terms of being a solid option for monetising indie films. While we did trial a digital platform, it was alongside DVD/BluRay releases and attempts at getting public broadcasters (SBS, ABC) or theatrical operators to show our stuff (and pay us for it!). So the idea came about to just release our offerings online for free with hopes that we might gain a following and drive eventual earnings through YouTube and the like. Until now, everything was locked up because we still thought we could get pay-per-view earnings.

So with that in mind, take a quick break and watch this short little Red Earth intro video I did yesterday to advertise this new direction. After this shameless plug, continue reading the post below! 😀

Thanks for watching. You did watch, right? 🤗

Life as a freelance creative is actually the perfect pairing with tiny house living. For the bulk of my life, being an independent creative has involved patchy earnings whilst still having the same bills to pay as everyone else. Sometimes you have a waterfall windfall job, and sometimes it is like the desert with not an oasis in sight. Worst then is when the latter happens (and you busily blew the excess of the windfall on travel and eating out rather than saving for a rainy day), and you need to plug the money gaps with work outside your skill area just to make ends meet.

I definitely find there are far less of those extremes lately with minimalist and tiny living. It’s obviously happening to us at the moment to a degree, but the pressure for other folks doing it tough is far more intense when inflation, soaring rent rates and so on keep biting you. If you are someone who has dedicated your life to creative pursuits, then you know how much harder again it is in this day and age.

Returning to my filmmaking material has been good to revisit as well, as it is like looking at a photo album and realising that you have actually done some good work in the past which informs the future you. My work revolved around compassionate human stories and so I feel like there is a tie-in with sustainable, minimalist and vegan living: compassion is at the heart of it all. Heidi and I live minimally as we believe that it is the healthy thing to do not only for our life-balance but for the planet. Choosing not to eat animal products is compassionate to animals, the planet and other people. We choose sustainable shopping options because we believe it is helping others. All this suggested altruism sounds like a lot of self back-patting but I honestly believe that there isn’t enough sacrifice in the lives of a typical westerner. Heidi and I are far from perfect in this regard, but I feel like there’s a strong desire in both of us to leave the planet as minimally scarred from our existence as possible once we are gone.

Thanks for reading my ramble and for following me along on our journey. I’ll be trying to produce some new content soon for Big Tiny Adventure, but if you are interested to take a peek into my Other World, please have a poke around on Red Earth Films’ YouTube channel as we continue to upload blasts from the past, like those mentioned in the video above. Peace!! ✌🏼💚🌱

PS. If you are looking for a talented graphic designer who has a impressive repertoire of working with NGOs and other honourable clients, please visit Heidi Rurade Design!