Motivation for living small

[catherine]

I've seen this video before, but not in a while. It was fun to watch it again. So inspirational. It was posted today on my FB feed from a site I enjoy, EcoSnippets under the title "How this Frugal Family of 4 Paid off $96k in Debt and Built a Custom Tiny House." It almost looked too staged it's so tidy and clutter-free, but I enjoyed the aspirations.

[Isabella]

We live in a 24'×24' square house with upstairs sleeping/bathroom/closet. Bunkroom and bath downstairs. Kitchen, dining, and living areas also downstairs.Downsized from three very modest homes so we have a lot of stuff we have not been able to let go yet. We are grandparents with four dogs and two cats. Tons of slipcovers and lots of vacuuming.

[Teacher Terry]

We live in 1400 sq ft and have gotten rid of a ton of stuff. Much easier to clean. Some items that were worth money I donated to silent auctions for good causes.

[organictex]

i like tiny houses but i've been checking on living in a van or rv lately. if i'm going to be in that small a quarters
i may as well be mobile

[Teacher Terry]

Tex, take a trial run before making the move. We wanted to travel for a year in our RV with our dogs. We found out the maximum we can handle is a month. 27 ft for 2 people and 4 dogs got to us. Only 1 dog was big. Ours is old so although we have a bedroom there is only the booth and 1 chair to sit in.

[organictex]

Tex, take a trial run before making the move. We wanted to travel for a year in our RV with our dogs. We found out the maximum we can handle is a month. 27 ft for 2 people and 4 dogs got to us. Only 1 dog was big. Ours is old so although we have a bedroom there is only the booth and 1 chair to sit in.

yes, a trial run in a rental rv is a great idea. thanks!

[Simplemind]

One thing I have noticed in tiny homes is that they are cute as a bug in a rug BUT the seating is a huge issue for me. I won't/can't sit on a bench seat with no back. I don't consider artfully placed throw pillows as a back. We bought an RV with a couch that was not comfortable for long. By long I mean more than half an hour. Out came the couch and in went to attached recliners. It has made a world of difference so I don't have to be in the dinette or bed to read or watch TV. I could maybe do a month in the RV if we were in a nice sunny/warm place where much of the living and relaxing was also done outside. With little storage warmer weather is a must because there isn't a lot of storage for coats, boots and all other cold weather necessities.

[Teacher Terry]

It’s hard to keep clean also and quickly dissolves into a mess. Because ours is old there is no living room so everything is off a narrow hallway. We go during good weather and then are only in it at night.

[sweetana3]

there are some good youtube videos about the downside of RV and tiny house living.

[jp1]

I think I would struggle with a van or rv, or even a really tiny house, unless I was always in a warm, dry climate so that outside was almost always an option. I might be able to do it if I was single (I did happily live for 12 years in a 250 sq foot apartment in manhattan), but definitely not with SO. While I'm a "place for every thing and everything in its place" kind of guy he's more of a "any flat surface is a good spot to set this" kind of guy. Getting him to put stuff away, or even routinely close cabinet doors (why bother? I'll just need to open it again the next time I need something in there...) just isn't going to happen. We successfully cohabitate because I use the second bedroom of our place as my "office" and can keep it as neat as I need to in order to feel relaxed. The living room is often unkempt but since I don't have anything in there other than our furniture I'm mostly able to ignore the mess.

On the other hand I had an uncle and aunt who spent their retirement living in an RV until health issues forced them to settle in an apartment in Tucson. They absolutely loved it. They would summer in some national park (Yellowstone/Glacier/Yosemite/etc) working part time as laundry facility managers (keep the place clean, vending machines for soap stocked, etc) in exchange for a little money and free rv parking and winter on a slab they owned in an rv resort in Benson AZ. Take maybe a month in the spring and in the fall to go places they wanted to see. They couldn't have been happier.