My wife and I have been interested in the Tiny House concept for a few years now and have often wondered if it was something we could really do?
Tiny Houses are small houses on wheels but they do come in all shapes and sizes, generally anything under 46m2 is considered a Tiny House. They do not even need to be on wheels, there have been some amazing treehouses and boats created by creative people!
So we recently stayed for a weekend in a Tiny House on Wheels (THOW) that was listed on Airbnb. This was a much needed short getaway but was also an experiment to see if it was something we could do in the future, i.e. sell our place and live in a Tiny House instead.
We were super excited as before this we hadn’t even stepped foot into a Tiny house.
The THOW we stayed in seemed to pack a lot into a small area – it could potentially sleep 6 people, although I think that would be a squeeze!
There was a full sized bath, large kitchen with full fridge, even a wine fridge, dishwasher, comfy lounge with fold out table and 2 loft bedrooms. I was impressed that it could even fit in a large sized washing machine.
Outside was a fire pit as well as a pizza oven which we enthusiastically used on the first night.
The THOW was built by the owner himself and sits on a large piece of land with lovely views of trees, and meadows and the beach in the distance with lots of kangaroos to keep you company.
The concept of Tiny Houses really appeals to us as we have recently become minimalists (at heart but not necessarily in practice yet) and have always had an interest in environmental issues and living more sustainable.
Living in a standard house causes us allot of stress.
We often feel that we can't sit and relax if there are things to do around the house and there are always things to do around the house...so we never feel completely relaxed.
I felt like the THOW would be easy to keep clean and the less ‘stuff’ you have around the house the less you need to organise. In the Tiny House you can only have things around you that you need!
I love the idea of getting rid of 90% of your belongings and really simplifying and focusing on what is really important.
Tiny Houses can potentially mean less hours working. If you do not have a large mortgage you do not need to work as many hours... in theory!
I think Tiny House thinking has the potential to help solve homelessness and the current housing crisis that many people are facing right now.
Unfortunately it seems many councils in Australia are not welcoming the Tiny house movement and it remains largely illegal to live in a Tiny house as a permanent home.
Most people get around this issue by moving their Tiny House regularly so they are not living in any one place on a permanent basis, hence the popularity of building the houses on wheels. They are so much more than a caravans and are generally custom built to suit the person who is going to be living there.
Environmentally, there is less house to heat or keep cool. Many of them are being made from recycled timber. Many have solar panels, composting toilets and many are completely off the grid.
I think we would spend more time outdoors, which I miss living in a city.
...and of course, more time to post blogs likes this :)
Ideally we would buy a large piece of land and share it with a few other Tiny Houses, have some communal veggie patches and fruit trees and live a more sustainable, simple existence with less office work and more time to do the things you enjoy doing.
...It's nice to dream anyway!
