The tiny house movement is growing. But, before you go off and purchase yourself a tiny home, there are a few matters to consider. Here are the best and worst things about tiny living.
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00:00The tiny house movement is booming, but before you go off and purchase yourself the smallest
00:05space you can squeeze your whole life into, there are a few items you might want to consider.
00:09Here are the best and worst things about tiny living.
00:12This is kind of awesome.
00:14How long are we here?
00:16Utah residents Meg and Dan Stevens live in a house that's just about 150 square feet.
00:21But homes that have a tiny footprint can have big impact on the environment.
00:25According to Deseret News, the Stevens family designed their home so that it can run on
00:29less than 20 amps of electricity, which, according to Dan, is a standard exterior outlet.
00:34Another tiny house owner, Ivor Berry, told the publication that he designed his 120-square-foot
00:39home to be completely self-sufficient for about a week and a half.
00:42No electricity, no power, no problem.
00:45At least for a week.
00:46And it actually runs on a biofuel made of 80% coffee grinds.
00:47This entire home is powered by coffee.
00:48Kind of like me.
00:54Even if you were to build a tiny home with conventional, non-green materials, it would
00:58still make less of an impact on the planet than traditional construction.
01:01Tiny homes require fewer building materials and are environmentally friendly compared
01:05to regular homes, simply because they are, you guessed it, tiny.
01:10While tiny home owner Susan Parrish ultimately feels that sharing her micro-home with her
01:14partner has made for a closer relationship, the experience hasn't always been fun.
01:18She admitted to HuffPost,
01:20Sometimes everyone needs a little personal space, and that's hard to find in 323 square
01:24feet.
01:25If my partner's watching a movie that I don't care to see, I go lay in bed and read.
01:29Even using the bathroom can be a challenge in a small space.
01:31The YouTubers behind the channel Live Light with Wildland Organics admitted that the,
01:35quote,
01:36"...pooping privacy," or the lack thereof, is one of the worst things about tiny living.
01:40Truth is, hearing each other's poop sounds is a daily affair.
01:45Poop sounds.
01:46Luckily, they've come up with a solution.
01:47Whenever one of us feels a rumble in the jungle, all we have to do is say,
01:51Hey Alexa, play the poop playlist."
01:55In an interview with Tiny House Crafters, Justin Gibbs revealed the reason why he and
01:58his partner Danielle chose to embrace the tiny house movement, citing,
02:02"...strides towards financial freedom with an understanding of fiscal responsibility.
02:06These elements blended with a desire for more independence in how we choose to live."
02:10But the couple aren't the only ones who have realized the financial freedom that comes
02:13with living small.
02:14Just six months after moving into her 250-square-foot tiny home, Alexa Nota recognized how much
02:20money she was saving, telling Travel Well,
02:22"...when comparing rent and utilities in our previous rental home to the equivalent
02:25expenses in a tiny house, we cut our costs more than in half."
02:29She also revealed that most additional expenses will be paid off in less than three years.
02:33Compare that to your traditional 30-year mortgage, and tiny house living is much easier on the
02:37wallet.
02:38"...tiny can definitely accommodate a simpler life, a much more curated life, where you
02:42actually have more freedom, more wealth, more money, to do whatever you want to do."
02:47Think about your future.
02:48If you plan to have children or think that you'll be caring for your parents someday,
02:51you might scour listings for homes with more bedrooms than you currently need.
02:55But tiny houses aren't exactly known for having extra space.
02:58Jenna Spezard revealed on her site,
02:59"...as I evolve in my life and start to think about having children, I just don't think
03:03I could do it in my current tiny house.
03:05In a regular foundation home, you could potentially expand.
03:07My house is limited by the size of my trailer."
03:10While she admitted that she knows other tiny house dwellers who have children, she recognizes
03:13that those families specifically designed their homes for that purpose.
03:17"...family time is 100 percent of the time."
03:20What is the plan for as they get older?
03:22"...put them in a tent."
03:26Hate cleaning your entire home?
03:27What if you were to shrink your house to, say, 250 square feet?
03:30Alexa Nota explained,
03:32"...it takes us about 20 to 30 minutes to organize, fold and put away laundry, sweep
03:36and do dishes, compared to two or so hours to complete the same tasks in our previous
03:40homes."
03:41And Susan Parrish revealed to HuffPost,
03:42"...cleaning the house takes minutes, and that makes more time for our adventures."
03:46But not all chores are such a breeze.
03:49Mobile tiny houses are designed to be used without tying into a waste management system,
03:52per AOL, and many tiny home owners rely on composting toilets.
03:56Since there's no sewer or septic system to whisk the contents away, homeowners are tasked
04:01with doing it themselves.
04:02Alan Johnson told Travel Well,
04:04"...emptying the toilet is of course not something I look forward to doing.
04:07You have to deal with a lot of s— in life, and sometimes it's actual s—."
04:10Jenna Spezard also revealed that composting toilets can lead to some awkward conversations.
04:14"...so when I have guests over, I have to explain how to use the toilet.
04:20What's the last thing you want to do at a dinner party?
04:22Discuss toilet matters."
04:23Despite tiny homes' growing popularity, it can be hard to find a legal place for such
04:27a house, according to PBS NewsHour.
04:30Some towns specify that homes must meet minimum square footage requirements, while others
04:34require the units to use public utilities.
04:36And it's not just city officials who fight the tiny house movement.
04:39After developer Kelvin Young mapped out a housing development of tiny houses in Charlotte,
04:43North Carolina, neighbors asked city council to interject, nervous that their property
04:47values would tank, according to the News & Observer.
04:50Young told Fox Business,
04:51"...you can't compare a house that's built in 1959 that's 1,500 square foot to a house
04:57that is 700 square foot new construction."
05:00For those who own tiny houses on wheels, it can be equally difficult.
05:03Alexa Nota revealed that zoning officials demanded she move her tiny home, which is
05:07classified as a recreational vehicle, after she appeared on an episode of Tiny House Nation.
05:12Although she claimed that it wasn't a big deal at the time, she added,
05:14"...what's more challenging, however, is that we won't always be classified as an RV as
05:18different municipalities' codes are all different."
05:21"...when people are thinking about going tiny, they really need to think about what's important
05:25to them, what they have to offer to the world, and what the world has to offer to them."