The very idea of a tiny house - amazing!

BY CLAIRE LYNCH

Whenever I scan the Internet for new stories and adventures, or simply to pass the time, I inevitably come across pictures and stories about tiny houses. These “tiny homes” are frequently 100 square feet but I’ve seen them as large as 500 square feet.

I once had an apartment that was roughly 500 square feet and that was small but I was out of the place a lot working full-time and I did things after work. Five hundred square feet of space is manageable since there are closets and other types of storage but the idea of 100 square feet seems awfully small. To live comfortably that way I think you’d have to declutter a lot and decluttering is tough for many people to do. There’s no doubt about the fact that it’s hard to part with things. They would rather save that old but favorite sweater for a cold or rainy day.

I’d have to give to charity many of my clothes, shoes, games and household appliances but they say the benefit is worth it. Living in a decluttered space makes the rooms feel bright and cheerful. That, indeed, is a wonderful world.

When it comes to getting rid of old files and piles of paper, many tiny home owners dispose of the mountains of papers by scanning the papers to their computers - or to the cloud. Those are good ways to keep the information but not have the papers such as receipts, tax returns, etc., taking up space. In my dreams, having a house with no clutter whatsoever would be perfect.

Those tiny houses are especially good for retirees who want to leave a large house and have the freedom to travel the country in a tiny house. I’ve seen them on wheels and I’ve seen them stationary - at least there is a choice.

Some of those portable tiny houses can be hitched to an SUV and moved to another location so the idea of moving around the country sounds appealing. It would be important to do some research ahead of time to see where tiny houses are allowed because you can’t park them anywhere you want but spending the time doing the homework would be worth it.

Tiny houses look awfully cute. Some are prefabricated tiny houses and others are renovations of existing vehicles such as old buses, vans, metal shipping containers, sheds, etc. Some people prefer DIY - they want to do the renovations themselves from the studs up and if you’re not particularly handy, other people choose to hire a professional contractor to do the conversion to create the kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms, optional porch, work space, etc.

Doors and windows are important because you decide how much natural light you want coming in. I’ve seen tiny houses with full size refrigerators and others have half-size refrigerators. I would definitely need a freezer, large or small, for freezing meat and vegetables and for getting some ice, too. Many of them have a washer/dryer combination to save space. Some people use hotplates to cook on but I’ve seen them with stoves. Good ventilation is important when cooking in a tiny home so careful thought needs to be given when planning for the various kitchen appliances. I would have wooden cabinets and flooring throughout because I like the natural look of wood.

Some people like these tiny homes and others prefer larger living. I guess it all comes down to how much space you need. Or how much space you and your family think you need.

Something about tiny houses has made me take an extra long look at the large vans I see on the road as I drive here and there - essentially it makes me think of housing in a very different way. My mind sees endless possibilities. And those yellow school buses that pick up kids at early morning hours and drop them back home in the afternoon also have possibilities. Rectangular in shape, they are ideal for renovating and turning into tiny homes. As a child I only thought of yellow school buses as modes of transportation but now that tiny house advertisements seem virtually everywhere, my eyes have been opened.

I was driving along the other day when I saw a tiny house being pulled by a truck. Wow, I thought. Imagine that! Slowing down to let it pass me, I got a good look at its exterior design. It looked like a beauty so naturally my mind started drifting toward how nice it would be to not live large but to live small - in a tiny home that is.

I’ve heard people talk about designing and building “a spacious” tiny house but I laugh long and hard because that always strikes me as a contradiction in terms. It makes no sense.

From everything I’ve read about tiny houses it seems the more people think about being “minimalistic” the better off they will be. Space is at a premium so the right planning always pays off. When you own a minimally equipped kitchen every appliance should be built to last. You want the time you spend cooking to be enjoyable and easy.

When it comes to having guests, I say it’s a great idea to have some visitors but after a few hours you can politely say goodbye because a tiny home is just that - tiny - so there is really no extra room for the friends and relatives who want to stay for a few days.

In the end, a home is really a home when it feels cozy and nice. When the renovations have been made and the color of the paint has been chosen, when the curtains have been hung and personalized family photos have been displayed, it’s time to have a celebratory dinner with a loved one and toast your new tiny home. It’s a house, sure, whether it’s on wheels or not, and it’s a home whenever you feel it’s “home.”

BY TOM MARGENAU

Sometimes people bug me. Today I’m going to share some recent email exchanges I had with two people who bothered me. They both were spouting the same “get the government off my back” and “the government is out to squeeze every last nickel out of us” rhetoric, but neither of them realized how hypocritical their complaints were. I’m going to call the first guy “Ungrateful Greedy Geezer.” Our email exchange went something like this. (Before I share the dialogue, I must point out that we were talking about the Medicare Part B program. There are two main parts to Medicare. Part A is hospital coverage. It’s paid for out of a payroll tax -- currently 1.45% -- so it is free once you reach age 65. Part B covers doctor’s visits, lab tests, etc., and is paid for by monthly premiums usually deducted from a Social Security recipient’s monthly benefits.)

UGG: I am 75 years old. I had a good year financially last year as some investments paid off in seven figures. So, imagine my shock when I learned that because I invested wisely, I will be paying much higher Medicare premiums this year. It just really ticks me off that the government has an unquenchable desire for more and more money. What can I do about this?

ME: I’ll answer your question in a minute, but first let me make this point. If the government has an “unquenchable desire for more and more money,” it’s because the American public has an unquenchable desire for more and more government programs and services that they are not willing to pay for (thus the annual federal budget deficit).

UGG: I agree. And as soon as we get rid of foreign aid and food stamps and all the welfare queens, we can get the country back on track!

ME: I wasn’t thinking about welfare queens, I was thinking about people like you.

UGG: (I can’t share what he wrote next, but it’s something you normally wouldn’t say in polite company!)

ME: Well, let me explain. For 10 years now, you’ve been riding for next to nothing on the government Medicare Part B gravy train. The premium was about a hundred bucks a month 10 years ago and is $164.90 in 2023. (And by the way, that’s about five bucks less than the 2022 premium.)

OK, so $164.90 per month is not really “next to nothing,” but when you hear the rest of my explanation, you’ll see that it was and still is a pretty good deal. Most senior citizens don’t realize this, but that monthly Part B premium only covers 25% of the costs of the program. The taxpayers pick up the other 75%. So, for 10 years now, you and other current seniors on Medicare have gotten quite a huge subsidy from the American taxpayer. (Actually, that subsidy has been