Tiny homes, campervans, studio apartments… the whole “tiny living” thing is a fad that doesn’t seem to be going away. One of my favourite podcasts is called The RV Entrepreneur (content self explanatory from that title). Which begs the question…
Could You Live Tiny?
I actually think, for the most part, we live a life that is “tiniable” (totally a word, right?) quite easily. 99% of our meals are one-pot meals. We own two teaspoons. One set of sheets for the bed (plus one icky scratchy set we only ever use if we’ve been like sick in bed or the main set hasn’t dried after being washed). I wear the same 3 singlets and 2 pairs of shorts most of the year. I have a few extra items of clothing that I wear to work. Of course there would still be a lot to get rid of, but we’d have a good head start over many people. We don’t tend to keep a lot of lights on at night and just let the house go dark with the sun. We’ll turn a candle on before the light in our living room.
It sounds quite doable for us. We don’t know if this is something we actually want to do, but it is something we occasionally talk about and hasn’t been ruled out.
There are things that we’d have to adjust to. For one, I am a bulk shopper and love having an all fridge and a giant all freezer. Clearly that wouldn’t be possible in a tiny “whatever”. But that’s the sort of thing I think would just be a basic learning curve. There are a few things that I don’t know if I could adjust to/cope with/why isn’t there a solution for this already get with the times am I right:
Actual Bedroom
Ben & I have very different sleeping patterns. It’s not uncommon for one of us to be awake and the other asleep. There is no way on earth an open plan would work in a tiny “thing” for us. An actual door that stops actual noise and light is 100% critical. Because I am not a nice person if I don’t sleep.
And it seems that 99% of camper vans and other tiny options (especially the table-is-a-bed kind) assume everyone goes to bed at the same time. Or one person isn’t sick. Or you never get the flu and need a few days in bed. That kind of thing.
Camper van/caravan companies: build some damn doors, ok?
Close Proximity To Others
The open road. National and State Parks. Wide open spaces. Unless you want amenities, in which case you’re crammed in next to another person in a caravan park. Or tiny home lot. Or whatever your tiny is. I cannot reconcile this part of being tiny. I don’t like having neighbours. I’d live on acreage if I could a) afford it and b) maintain it. I don’t want to hear someone elses coughs, door slams, arguments and all of that. Take to the open road… to be close to others. I can’t justify that. I don’t want to do that.
If this was an American blog I guess what I’d be drawn to is “boondocking”. Basically, parking somewhere for free, off the grid. They might call it free camping here in Australia? But it also seems to be illegal 99% of places in Australia. You have to go be crammed up against other people in caravan parks, paying huge fees for the cramming.
If I could reconcile these two things, I think I’d give living some type of tiny a go. But they are two very huge things in reality.
Do you think you could live “tiny”? What type of tiny could you do?
Those two points would be critical for me. The only tiny living I think I would do is living in a granny flat at one of my kids houses someday. Out back. With a door lol.
If it weren’t for my beauty blogging I could live tiny! But my products to be reviewed would not be tiny friendly at all! #firstworldbeautybloggerproblems!
Ingrid
http://www.fabulousandfunlife.blogspot.com.au
I’m a shift worker so like you, we don’t sleep at the same time. We’d need a separate bedroom for sure!
I’m all about minimising and living small, but I don’t think I could do tiny. Like you, I like a bedroom with a door although having lived in apartments almost all my life, I’m quite used to being crammed in. I’d totally be happy to downsize to something slightly smaller because I think hubby and I have way more square footage (or metrage – is that even a word?) than we need. But if you are going to live tiny, I think it’s important to have the outside space because if you’re a homebody like me, after a while you’d be gripped by cabin fever!
I like my space.. I love the outdoors and to feel grounded but love having the entire house to myself when kids go to school. I am not sure how 6 of us would fit into a small space.
I think tiny living sounds nice for a holiday, but the realities of living life and going to work would be too difficult in the long term. I like the concept of minimalism, though.
I don’t think I could live tiny. For all of the reasons you’ve listed and then some! Maybe for a short period to travel around, but only if I can come back to my nice big house & yard and continue to mostly ignore my neighbours, lol!
I find the idea interesting but somehow think I need more space. I would need a bedroom, living/kitchen area and a bathroom. I would do this as a single. My hub and I have different bedrooms (different sleeping habits) and other spaces that are individually ours. But they are luxuries right now. We have to move later this year and ducted air con is our highest priority. I am still reeling from your 2 teaspoons. Sure I could wash mine I guess but the only implements I can eat with are teaspoons as they fit in my reconstructed mouth and offer the right amount for my mouth to deal with. Thoughtful post, V. Denyse #teamIBOT
Given it’s just me and the cats, I could do tiny living as long as it’s near the beach. And has good wifi! I would still need to get rid of a lot of stuff. Actually, I just realised, I couldn’t do tiny living — my 5 bookcases wouldn’t fit!
Oh my goodness, I love to THINK I could. But I don’t know. I’ve watched hours and hours of tiny house tours and van life videos on YouTube and while I love the idea of it, I love my space and sometimes my home feels too small (it’s 100% not).
And then, there’s the stuff. I dream of being a minimalist wonder but it never seems to stick. It sure as heck doesn’t stick for Kel. He’s a few collections of ‘things’ away from hoarder status. Sigh.
I couldn’t live tiny with someone else. I snore and while I have a CPAP machine, I can’t imagine it would be much fun for someone else to sleep next to or near me.
I also like my own company and being too near someone else for too long would drive me up the wall especially with my weird taste in TV.