★ The Tiny House Movement

What is Tiny Living in a Tiny House?

There is a growing trend where individuals, couples, and families are opting to considerably downsize the space they live in, to a dwelling of a much smaller size, low maintenance, and reduced overheads. In many cases, these tiny structures are relatively mobile but can be extremely functional, if built well.

The typical Western-style house is around 250 square meters ( 2,600 square feet ), whereas the typical Tiny House is between 9 to 40 square meters ( 100 to 400 square feet ). Tiny Houses come in all shapes, sizes, and forms, but they enable the occupants to live a simpler life in a smaller, more efficient space.

It’s easy to be deceived by the size of a Tiny House, in fact, most people that have never seen the inside a modern, full-equipped Tiny House could be forgiven for thinking a Tiny House was the poor man’s option. The truth is, a Tiny House is the smart man’s option.

Downsizing does not mean giving up all those mod-cons one has become accustomed to in a larger, furniture-filled urban house. One can retrofit a Tiny House with a spa bath and shower, queen sized beds and bunks for the kids, big-screen TV, oven for Sunday roasts, microwave for quick meals, a grill, washer and dryer, BBQ machine, and yes, even a gym. If you can dream it, then there is a very good chance you can down-scale your dream to accommodate it within your plan ( within reason, of course ).

More and more people are joining The Tiny House Movement for various reasons. The most popular reason being financial and environmental concerns, as well as the desire for more time and freedom. Seventy-percent of hard-working westerners will work paycheck to paycheck spending as much as one-third to one-half of their incomes toward the requirements of providing a roof over their heads. The large home you purchased to ‘keep up with the Jones’ next door’ may provide superficial comfort, but it also holds one captive in a controlling cycle of reliance and the never-ending pressure to keep it all afloat.

A Tiny House is an alternative consideration, a solution to live simpler than most and to rid one of an over-abundance of possessions that seem to addict one toward more and more of those possessions, the means to a financially independent life. Tiny Houses force one to function in a smaller space, to think wiser, to think more deeply about what one’s priorities are. Tiny Houses are not for everyone and it would be wise to research well, then make an informed commitment prior to leaping into the unknown.