She Bangs

04/09/2026

Well, that was an experience! A horrible one, I have to say. Sleeping in my van was the easy part - in fact I had been sleeping in the for a week prior and it was cozy and comfy....and quiet! I was able to cook, bathe, change etc easily. Toilets were nearby.

Sleeping in a car park with hundreds of other people was a very different beast. I think in this way it mirrors the experience of living in your car in an urban environment - noisy people all around with no consideration of peace and quiet. Cars coming and going all hours. Slamming doors. Car alarms sounding repeatedly, like some US police drama series! People getting drunk, and talking loudly right outside your vehicle. It was....a lot. I barely slept at all, and woke up grumpy.

Two toilets were provided. They had clean water and no privacy, like 'Her' experience of public facilities. Accessing the food services available proved a challenge - just like the real world supposed 'safety net', there wasn't enough to go around and it was first in best dressed.

It was truly an awful experience. I wouldn't do it again. But that's the thing, isn't it? I don't have to. Tonight I'll go to an AirBnB, fitted with all mod cons, and have a safe, secure, private, quiet and comfortable place to lay my weary head. So I'll think about those older women who would have to repeat the whole thing again tonight - they'd probably look for another spot that's quieter and they won't be so exposed. But she'll still be in her car. That's what I will focus on as I grump my way through the day after.

03/09/2026

Imagine becoming homeless and having to live in your car. And yes, go to work each day. Where do you shower? P*e? Wash clothes? Is it safe?

I'm doing the Like Her Challenge tonight at Brisbane airport. I've raised about $1600 so far of my$2500 goal. Thank you to enrolment who donated from the She Bangs community. If you'd like to contribute, it's not too late!! Go to https://brisbane.livelikeherchallenge.com.au/page/SamKurikawa

26/08/2026

Gosh. I find this narrative so infuriating! It's not just me who hasn't been able to secure work in construction. I came across a thread the other day with loads of people saying work has slowed down. A mother whose son couldn't get an apprenticeship after dozens of applications. Current apprentices let go because they weren't needed. But somehow at the same time, Master Builders are advocating for a special visa class for foreign apprentices and tradies? Wtf???

I have absolutely no issue with migrants or foreign workers. But this is definitely a case of a lazy idea that deprioritises Australians who want work in favour of cheap, imported labour.

Seems employers will do anything before considering someone who isn't from the traditional talent pool.

You'd think if there really was a skills shortage and a need for more apprentices that a woman with qualifications, experience, skills and proven enthusiasm could get a damn job in the building industry!

23/08/2026

New YouTube vid and the weekly rolling RRRuTH blog are up (see link below). Plus, here's a photo from yesterday's Buy Nothing workshop! A fun afternoon together. :)

18/08/2026

GREAT NEWS!!! Toowoomba Region Council has voted to do some work to look at repealing the ordinance that means people can only live in a tiny house or caravan for 60 days!

Well done to the hard-working people behind the scenes who have been advocating for this sensible change. Hurrah! 👏🏼🎊

17/08/2026

A new update today about the progress on RRRuTH. I discuss the financial barriers to the project, challenges sourcing reclaimed materials, and some wins for tiny houses.

Check it out here >> https://www.shebangs.org/post/rrr-tiny-house-updates

16/08/2026

I'm $30 away from reaching $1000 in donations for the Live Like Her Challenge! It's just 3 weeks away, and though I may not reach my original goal of $2500, I'd love to crack $1000.

Reckon you can tip in??

https://brisbane.livelikeherchallenge.com.au/page/SamKurikawa

16/08/2026

I am fairly connected to the tiny house community, and have been for a good decade or so. It's an ever-evolving movement - it went a bit trendy for a while, it became a way to AirBnB for profit, and the latest thing is 'mini mansions'. Increasingly, people are looking at tiny houses as a solution to homelessness. I don't think it is - or not the way it's moving.

Did you know these 'mini mansions' are now aspirational? As in, tiny houses are becoming so unaffordable people aspire to own something the right size for themselves and their family. I guess $250K looks cheap compared to a million dollar mortgage. But how is this a solution, and not literally a replication of the same problems that got us to this housing crisis?

The question remains for me, why is housing - the right to safe, secure, long-term shelter - always a way for somebody else to make profit from our basic needs? The framing of a lux tiny house as an achievable goal (only) because a modest house on land is so extravagantly expensive, is the wrong framing in my mind.

It's fine to want pretty things. It's fine to need a lot of space. But if the goal posts keep shifting so that a tiny house has to be a mini mansion to be able to house someone appropriately, where does that leave people who don't have access to the capital to buy one? The problem is it pushes up the low end of the market too, and suddenly, tiny houses are a poor substitute for the adequate, comfortable, right-sized housing people actually need.

Tiny house living is meant for people who want to live minimally, with a tiny footprint, connected with the environment and having a low impact. It isn't a means to own a lux house at a more reasonable cost. This is not the solution to a housing crisis. I truly feel it just muddies the water and changes the incentives for a movement that started as a way to disconnect from the mainstream.

Welcome to the new Tiny House size chart: Micro, Tiny… and Mini Mansion.

Tiny Houses have become so popular, we now have categories within the category. 😏

And these are just the ones ON WHEELS.

🏡 THE MICRO HOME
Around 4–6m long, 2.4m wide and light enough to tow with a conventional vehicle. The grassroots tiny house. DIY-friendly, discreet, genuinely mobile and proof that you really don’t need much space to live well.

🏡 THE TINY HOUSE
The one most people picture. Around 7.2–9m long and up to 4.5 tonnes. Usually 2.4m wide, sometimes stretching to 3m. 1-2 bedrooms, single or double lofts, family layouts, decks… a LOT of house squeezed onto a trailer.

🏡 THE MINI MANSION
Tiny living apparently looked at the word 'tiny' and said, “Yeah… hold my beer....” 😂
The arrival of the 10-tonne, triple-axle, air-braked trailers has created a whole new beast. Often 10m+ x 3–3.2m wide, 3 separate bedrooms and enough weight capacity for double glazing, stone benchtops and higher-end materials throughout - the LUXURY has no limits!

And, despite a pretty hefty trailer cost that sends many of these creations into the $200k's - they are exploding in popularity, with major tiny house builders now offering their own bigger, bolder versions.

So which camp are you in?

MICRO — TINY — or MINI MANSION?

Come to a Tiny Home Expo and you’ll quickly discover there is no longer one definition of “tiny”. There’s a whole spectrum of it.

14/08/2026

Wow!!! This new Independent MP spoke about tiny houses in her inaugural speech in the Tasmanian Parliament! That's HUGE. How awesome to have an advocate at this level speaking publicly in favour of this as a solution. Good on you Glade-Wright

14/08/2026

My local library is FULL of books about building sheds! Ha! Helpful for the Shed Pod for sure.