Many of us follow the traditional life path that involves getting a job that we spend 40 or more hours per week just to afford a roof over our heads. Lulu, a single mom in California, decided that this was not the life for her and her daughter. She spent $4000 to build their very own shipping container home.
Single mom Lulu, who had recently gone back to school, knew that there was no way she could afford rent or a mortgage on top of her student loans. Unable to stay in their conventional house, she had to figure out where she and her daughter would live.
A friend of hers suggested that she build something. With no real building experience, Lulu decided to go for it, anyway. She got a used shipping container for free and got to work making a shipping container home for her little family of two.
“I think I’m a little claustrophobic so the storage container was a little daunting, but I got the container for free.” she laughs.
It took one month and just $4000 to have her shipping container move-in ready. Lulu spent that month doing various things to turn the 8 x 20 square-foot container into a house. These tasks included :
The kitchen is outfitted with kitchen cabinets, a propane-powered campfire stove, and an on-demand water heater. She also fit a bed, couch, and bookshelf inside the container.
After some time, she decided that they needed more space. She built a separate building on a used flatbed trailer to act as a bedroom for the two of them.
dows in it,” she explained.