In the middle of California wine country, Jay Shaffer lives in a 100 square foot house.
So does Bill Kostrinos, but he says owning a tiny house is a trade off for living without debt.
"I'd say I'm living on less than 15,000 a year -- mortgage free," he said.
Shaffer says thousands are unloading clutter and joining the small house movement.
"I look around and I do see a lot of people who seem to be slaves to their homes," Shaffer said.
Living smaller has allowed him the freedom to walk away from a job he didn't want.
"I didn't want to pay rent or a mortgage forever. I did it to escape the rat race," he said.
Now he designs small homes for those who want a scaled down version of the American dream.
Kastrinos joined the movement out of necessity.
"We had a construction business in Southern California and things started slowing down with the economy," he explained.
So he started over, and now builds small houses.
The houses run between 15 and $45,000. You can park them anywhere that you can park an RV.
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