By Joe Reavis
Staff Writer
A former Wylie couple, Shannon and Terra Mathers, is putting a new twist on the American Dream by building their own house, out of metal shipping containers.
The house is located on 20 acres of land near Blue Ridge they bought in 2014. The overriding goal of their project is to live debt free so that they will be able to travel and enjoy life to its fullest.
“We want to get away from the bank,” Shannon said. “We are building on cash flow.”
By that, he means that they are building their house as money is available instead of taking out a bank loan. Building on cash flow means they have to carefully budget and prioritize expenses.
“We have a goal in mind, but sometimes it gets frustrating,” Terra said.
The couple and their two youngest children, 14-year-old Garrett and 12-year-old Kylie, moved from a 2,600 square foot home with a swimming pool in Wylie to a 360 square foot home in the country while construction is underway on the shipping container house of about 1,300 square feet. Their oldest children, Tyler, 23, and Collin, 21, are both Wylie High School graduates and live on their own.
Their current abode is a shipping container with a built-on space, with the shower and toilet located in a recreational vehicle parked nearby. When the family first moved to the country, they did not have water or electricity. Until they got utilities, they utilized solar power and a generator, and hauled water to the site in a 250-gallon tank.
Instead of viewing the somewhat primitive living conditions as a hardship, the couple pointed out that they saved money that could go into the home project.
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Shannon and Terra Mathers are working on building their dream home out of shipping containers.
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