Before Falling in Love with a Tiny House
Ah, yurts, house trucks, cabins on wheels, and gypsy caravans. Something about them calls to some of us wanderlusting hearts and nearly compels us to throw everything away and follow them into the sunset.
But wait! Just before chucking all your possessions to the curb and delving headfirst into the simplified, streamlined life of a tiny house, why not pause and reflect on this amazing life transformation for what it is and what it means!
Especially concerning the many, many months of preparation and exhaustively hard work you will be going through if you commit . . . an irony to pursuing simplicity, but well worth it! And that goes for many other 180 degree life shifts as well.
As we considered a tiny house transformation, Big Country and I dreamed and hypothesized well into the night by oil lamp and solar jars (trying out non-electric off-grid life) on many occasions. Some of the following questions we pondered quite a bit, others not so much. But I think this list is a good thorough start toward crystallizing the vision and how to realize it.
Falling in Love with a tiny house
- What do I hope the house will add to my life, free up in my life?
- What do I hope to learn through the process of planning and building the house?
- Who are my core people, those who are there for consistent support, advice, or muscle? How am I going to respect these friends and loved ones enough not to take advantage of their kindness when the demands on me are the highest?
- How many years could I conceivably live in the tiny house? How could I design it in such a way that accommodates for the changes these years will bring?
- What are the essentials of my physical house design? How do my physical size and individual needs inform the design?
- How does my family status (present and possibly future) inform the design? If you don’t have kids but hope to in the future, spend some time talking with those who do, preferably with a similar philosophy as you. What do they think about stairs, ladders, lofts, wood stoves, play space, porches, mud rooms, bathtubs, toilets, child locks, and other design elements of a home?
- What are the essential activities in my life that deserve space in my home, and what are just nice-to-think-about hobbies, the accessories for which need to go?
- Begin assessing how many gallons of water you will use daily, how much wattage, and what this means for power needs, off grid/ on grid capabilities, and solar.
- Read books and blogs about tiny house design, lifestyle, construction.
- Research the local laws and have a specific plan as to where you want to live and what it looks like.
- Reach out to others who have lived in tiny houses or RVs.
- Visit and spend time in tiny homes, maybe renting one for a day or a week.
- Talk to people with construction, plumbing, or electrical expertise and ask about what the most important things are to know about ahead of time.
- Consider going to a convention, attending a workshop, and buying plans.
You can’t know it all, but the more deeply you look into what simplifying to this extent means, the better! It will be a hard road, but a rewarding adventure if you do it right.