Tiny House Living -- Could you do it?

[december-fire]

@OoohShiny ,
Good for you for taking steps to clear debt and save a deposit for your future home!

I'm sure you'll make the temporary, more limited, space work.
Its possible to adapt to many things on a temporary basis when it allows us to reach a valued objective.

Regarding larger homes, I think people are like goldfish; we grow until we reach the capacity of our container.

 

[elle_71125]

@OoohShiny ,
Good for you for taking steps to clear debt and save a deposit for your future home!

I'm sure you'll make the temporary, more limited, space work.
Its possible to adapt to many things on a temporary basis when it allows us to reach a valued objective.

Regarding larger homes, I think people are like goldfish; we grow until we reach the capacity of our container.

This is a perfect way to explain it! When we first bought our house, it felt so big. Now, eight years later, it seems so much smaller. Time for this goldfish to get a bigger pond.

 

[OoohShiny]

This is a perfect way to explain it! When we first bought our house, it felt so big. Now, eight years later, it seems so much smaller. Time for this goldfish to get a bigger pond.

This has prompted me to recall a conversation I once had with a friend (that I had forgotten about until just now!) who had spent (IIRC) several months in Malawi or a similarly 'impoverished' country in Africa (in terms of both numerical income and the ownership of 'stuff' that we'd associate with Western lifestyles).

If my memory serves me correctly, my friend related a story about how she was talking to a group of local adults/children about what she had back at her apartment at home. (She is a bit of a hoarder too, I think lol)

What I thought was really interesting was that (again, IIRC) rather than go 'oooh, we wish we had that', the people in question responded along the lines of 'What do you actually do with all this stuff? What's the point of it??' - their point of view seemingly being that it all sounded very expensive and unnecessary, and what use was stuff if you never really used it / it just took up space / it cost you money that could be spent on essentials? That, and surely having a really good community and a wide circle of proper friends was the point of life, rather than the collection of 'stuff'?


That's what I took away from the conversation, anyway - I thought it was really interesting to re-frame our lives from that point of view because, really, do we need all the stuff we collect as we go through life? Does any of it really matter when in X number of years we will be dead and our kids / family / executors of our estate will have to go through it all and go 'WTF was this for?? Throw it in the skip, it means nothing to me.'?

 

[soxfan]

OMG Dee Jay- your place is amazing. I love every inch of it!!

We have talked about selling our home when the kids go to college. DH is hella handy (does all of our renovations himself.) We would use the money to pay for college and get a small place to fix up. Right now our house is about 2300 square feet and we have two kids ages 10 and 12. My daughter is an artist and musician. Our finished basement is filled with instruments and I have an artists drawing table in my living room.

We have a huge pool, so we spend a lot of time outside in the summer so it's not that bad. I'd love more space until the kids go off to college, though.

 

[december-fire]

I have an artists drawing table in my living room.

Ha! Perfect! Your home is for you and your family.
A wonderful friend of mine is an artist and has her easel in her family room or kitchen (location changes due to changing light throughout the year).

I do have limits with 'kids stuff', though.
When I returned from being away on business when the kids were 18 and 20, I found the air hockey table in the living room. Thought 'Great. They've turned the house into a pub.'
It was returned to the basement.

 

[december-fire]

This has prompted me to recall a conversation I once had with a friend (that I had forgotten about until just now!) who had spent (IIRC) several months in Malawi or a similarly 'impoverished' country in Africa (in terms of both numerical income and the ownership of 'stuff' that we'd associate with Western lifestyles).

If my memory serves me correctly, my friend related a story about how she was talking to a group of local adults/children about what she had back at her apartment at home. (She is a bit of a hoarder too, I think lol)

What I thought was really interesting was that (again, IIRC) rather than go 'oooh, we wish we had that', the people in question responded along the lines of 'What do you actually do with all this stuff? What's the point of it??' - their point of view seemingly being that it all sounded very expensive and unnecessary, and what use was stuff if you never really used it / it just took up space / it cost you money that could be spent on essentials? That, and surely having a really good community and a wide circle of proper friends was the point of life, rather than the collection of 'stuff'?


That's what I took away from the conversation, anyway - I thought it was really interesting to re-frame our lives from that point of view because, really, do we need all the stuff we collect as we go through life? Does any of it really matter when in X number of years we will be dead and our kids / family / executors of our estate will have to go through it all and go 'WTF was this for?? Throw it in the skip, it means nothing to me.'?

This touches on the 'needs versus wants' aspect, and an assumption that one factor in a person's life somehow affects another factor.

If a person can afford all the essentials and has money for their 'wants', then they should make the choices that work for them. So a larger home, and the required furnishings and running costs, may be 'expensive', but if a person can afford that and want it, then great! Is it 'necessary' to have a larger home (defining that as larger than absolutely necessary)? Of course not! That's why this, in my mind, is about 'needs' being covered and making choices about 'wants'. I would never make any assumptions about a person based on their choice of home. What would make one think that the owner of a large home does not have a good sense of community or a wide circle of friends?

Of course, I understand the comments made by people living in a poorer country.

i just think that once 'needs' are taken care of and the discussion is really about 'wants', then each person should do want makes them happy. Want a larger home? Go for it!

There are limits, however.
Want a diamond? Heavens, no! Don't be so foolish, materialistic and high-and-mighty!

 

[kmarla]

No, I don't think I could ever live in a really tiny home. We had a 37ft trailer with 2 large slide-outs and I loved it as a summer escape. It was cozy and easy to manage, but I can't picture that for full time living. Our first house was about 600 sq ft. Our largest was 2400 sq ft (3600 sq ft including finished basement). We're empty nesters now and we don't need or use most of that 3600 sq ft of space anymore. We don't need to move at all, but I keep fantasizing about downsizing even though I love my home. I've been dragging DH out to look at smaller houses/townhouses. I think ideal would be around 1200 sq ft, 2 bedrooms, 2.5 baths. I'd love something we can just lock up and not have to worry about so that we can travel the world!

 

[blingmeupscotty]

My husband and I LOVE the idea. We just wouldn't "fit". I'm the lawn gnome at 5ft, he's the jolly green giant at 6'6. I need an office and he needs a man cave. We decided for retirement we'll sell everything and downsize to a 2br 2ba condo out west. That's about as small as we'll ever go. And even that is pushing it for us.