Tiny Houses

[TanksHill]

I know this topic has come up a few times before.... but I feel the need to ramble.

I want to move. Not to Mo. this time. I found a piece of land here about 5 acres for a reasonable price. My dh could keep his job, the kids could go to the same school with an inter district transfer. Good weather, growing season, keep the family happy, ect.

The thing is there's no house. I have been trying to explain to dh that life would be just so much easier without so much stuff. A smaller house and a bigger barn.

Well somethings I can't live without like my sewing and crochet supplies. Oh and my 3 kids. So the house can't be too small.

I see all these tiny house videos, 10 x 10 and such. Tiny Texas Houses are just adorable. Houses on wheels, sheds converted. The all have such unique character.

So I started looking for small house plans that would have a bedroom down and two up or a bedroom and a loft. some combination that will fit our family. I found some beautiful log cabin kits at pretty reasonable prices.

Dh squashed my idea.

Ca will still require all it's b.s. and red tape. Health department, septic, water electricity, wild bird study, traffic pattern study, fire sprinklers etc..

Why can't I just roll out a trailer and be happy? Throw in a composting toilet, dig a well. Add some solar and I would be a happy camper. But no there are too many rules and regulations.



I think I put the bug in his ear about downsizing. Selling this place and lightening our load. I love my hill and land but I know its not my final destination so why sit here and tread water?

blah, blah, blah.......

 

[Kala]

Yea. I've always really loved and been intrigued by those tiny houses too! I def think downsizing and just getting rid of STUFF would feel so much better. We got rid of a lot when we bought our house, but we still have boxes to unpack! That's my goal for this summer, get rid of as much as possible! I'd like to live bar. min. in this house.

And I would a composting toilet but DH shot that one down too...

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

We have been getting rid of A LOT of stuff that we haven't been using since moving from the old to the new trailer.

Some stuff we've given away, some we've bartered with, and some we hauled to auction and sold. And there's some stuff we'll take to the flea market to sell this summer.

I think the tiny houses are cute, but considering they are not much bigger than what I build for a chicken house......

 

[TanksHill]

I know Aly. I don't want to live in a 10 x 10 cube. But I do think the house I have now is too big. I can't keep up with it. Even when I try. Mostly these days I just ignore it.

 

[keljonma]

Smallest place we lived was 300 sq ft. We hated it and it was just the 2 of us. But it was built with ineffecient use of space. So maybe if we picked the build that would have been different.

However, we raised our 2 children in a 900 sq ft home. 3 bd/1bath/livrm/dinrm/kitchen with a laundry area at the end of kitchen. We were on 1/2 an acre, with most of the property behind us. We were within walking distance to library, elementary school, ice cream stand, community center with park, a state nature preserve and Lake Erie and Headlands beach. The only animals at the time 1 English Springer Spaniel and a grown mama cat. But we had a lots of gardens (flower and veg) and huge shed for storage, that now I can picture filled with chickens.

900 sq ft for 4 is a great size for keeping clean. But it wasn't easy, because ya gotta keep track of what is coming in if you want a small place to keep from looking just awful. Thankfully we had a full house attic for storing stuff like Christmas items.

And you don't get lots of requests for long term visitors... which with my sis in laws, is *not* a bad thing.

 

[Kala]

Smallest place we lived was 300 sq ft. We hated it and it was just the 2 of us. But it was built with ineffecient use of space. So maybe if we picked the build that would have been different.

However, we raised our 2 children in a 900 sq ft home. 3 bd/1bath/livrm/dinrm/kitchen with a laundry area at the end of kitchen. We were on 1/2 an acre, with most of the property behind us. We were within walking distance to library, elementary school, ice cream stand, community center with park, a state nature preserve and Lake Erie and Headlands beach. The only animals at the time 1 English Springer Spaniel and a grown mama cat. But we had a lots of gardens (flower and veg) and huge shed for storage, that now I can picture filled with chickens.

900 sq ft for 4 is a great size for keeping clean. But it wasn't easy, because ya gotta keep track of what is coming in if you want a small place to keep from looking just awful. Thankfully we had a full house attic for storing stuff like Christmas items.

And you don't get lots of requests for long term visitors... which with my sis in laws, is *not* a bad thing.

Throw in a composting toilet and you'd never have to worry about unexpected visitors again!

 

[lwheelr]

Those tiny houses seem about like an RV.

 

[keljonma]

We saw pics of one that looked smaller than our garden shed at a former house which was a 2000 sq ft home on 5 acres. I KNOW I can't live in a garden shed!

 

[Denim Deb]

My tack shed is 8 x 12, and if I had to, I could live in it. But, I much prefer NOT to. That's just a tad bit too small.

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

For now, would it not be better to downsize the stuff until you are able to take care of it all with ease?

I am thinking of asking DH if we could just go down to service for 8 in the kitchen, and keep a giant bag of paper on hand for company.