Living the Tiny Life

Tiny Life

Tiny Life is a beneficial way of life free from material obssession that allows you to live how you want. Living with 80 percent less than the average American has its pros and cons, yet more and more people are making the switch to Tiny Life, would you?

What is Tiny Living?

What is a Tiny Home?

Living tiny is a social movement that currently more and more people are joining. To live tiny is to downsize your home and possessions in order to simplify your life and live with less.

Living with less can bring a sense of freedom to your life— freedom from material and financial stress. Tiny houses can empower you to more directly choose how you want to live, and there are many choices about the design, the functionality, and the way your house runs via utilities. Downsizing allows you to have more of a grasp on how you live and what is necessary to have a good quality of life based on your own wants and needs. While tiny house living is not for everyone, many have joined this movement because of these features that are appealing to them.

A tiny home allows you the freedom to create a space that is completely designed for you because of the lower cost of building and owning. There are many companies dedicated to designing, building, and selling tiny houses, but the option of buying a diy kit or completely building a house on your own is available. A tiny house is any home under 400 square feet.

On average, they range from 100-400 square feet depending on your own preferences. The average American house is 2,600 square feet; the tiny house cuts that size down about 80 percent. A tiny house can be built on a structure or on a trailer, which would allow the owner the option of traveling or moving more frequently.

That decision then bring up the question to buy land, rent land, or rent a small parking area within a tiny house community or rv park.

Photo: Arched Cabins Canada

Living the

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“68% of people who own tiny homes have no mortgage.”

How Much Does a Tiny House Cost?

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mean that living in a efficient, tiny space can encourage you to make smarter decisions financially. The average single family home can cost $290,000 just to purchase. A tiny house can cost anywhere from $10,000 to $60,000 depending on whether you diy or purchase from a company and what you put into the home. This lower costs allows the owner(s) to pay off their house faster and easier. In 2014, the average household spent roughly $1,483 a month on housing costs, including mortgage related expenses. In contrast, 68 percent of people who own tiny homes have no mort-

gage. Another huge advantage to a tiny home is minimal use of utilities. Depending on how off-grid, meaning to living in a self-sufficient manner without reliance on one or more public utilities, you make your tiny home, you can save thousands of dollars. You will have to pay to rent or buy land or pay for a ‘parking’ fee to park your tiny home which can range from 300-500 a month. The advantage to living tiny is that you can be in more control of your bills and cut costs where you can.

When building or designing your own Tiny house, you really have the freedom to decide what you need, what you want, and what is not necessary. You can sit down and say, “I want to be able to wash my clothes easily so I need a washer/dryer combo” or, “I have a family of three so I need an apartment sized fridge.” You can fit all your needs and still have living space in a tiny house.

The key is to utilize every space there is. Often you will have

furniture or elements that perform multiple functions— like stairs that have storage inside or a couch that can turn into a bed but also has storage under the cushions. Another great option about tiny house living is the ability to use efficient items such as solar panels, which generate electricity from the power of the sun, or water efficient faucets, which control water flow in a less wasteful and more efficient way. These items can cut down

your cost of living and your impact on the earth. Ultimately, the decision of what you want inside of your tiny home and how you want your tiny home to run is up to you and this is the step to decide how you want to live.

Written and designed

by Aly Kaye

Photo: Decorathing

One third to one half of most Americans income is dedicated to their home whether it be mortgage, utilities, or repair, and this priority forces many people to live paycheck to paycheck. It has been reported that 55 percent of people who live in a tiny home have more savings in the bank, with a median savings of $10,972, than the average American. Also, 89 percent of tiny home owners have less credit card debt than the average American and 65 percent of tiny home owners have zero credit card debt. While this could be coincidence, it could also

What Can You Put Inside a Tiny House?

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