A Tiny House In Our Future?

[Ultralight]

I think it takes a certain mindset and temperament to live in a tiny house forever.

[Ultralight]

I totaled up the space I use in my current house. It is about 210 square feet -- my room, my bathroom, and the portion of the garage where I keep my bicycle and my canoe/fishing gear. Having some open, vertical shelves saves me from going a little nutty. I once lived in a 100 square foot room with no shelving and no closet. Everything was on the floor. I had a little goat trail through my room to my bed. This was not optimal and aggravated me to no end!

[freshstart]

I could do it alone with dogs, on a very small lot. Agree on increased chance of homicide with a partner, I need alone, quiet, peaceful time. So if ESPN or Fox was on most of the day and there is absolutely no way to get away from that noise, I could not do it. Also, stairs are a big problem right now, so I would want a ranch in case this doesn't go away or I just get naturally old and cannot do them. I've never seen a one level house. If I did a tiny house, I'd be hoping it's my last house so I'd need to make sure it's adapted for me now or the way I'll be as an old person.

I actually really do not like having more space than what is needed or used. My town house was roughly 2000 sq ft if you counted two huge finished rooms in the walk out basement. me and two kids, two dogs. Made a beautiful family room in the basement totally tricked out for kids and friends. They never used it, same with the other large room that I stupidly furnished, cheaply but still. Very tiny fenced yard, perfect for dogs, very low maintenance for me. It was too big for 3 of us and my kids are close to launch, despite liking it and it was reasonable cost wise, all that unused space alone or with a partner would bug me to no end. Joined forces with parents on handicapped accessible ranch for both parties to save on bills, but mostly to make care of my terminally ill mom easier. 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, large open DR/LR. That seemed like plenty to me seeing as how my mom is rarely out of bed. Basement the size of the house, my dad chose to put in a family room/guest BR and a room for him to escape. Fine but I wouldn't have bothered. When they are gone, it is now ridiculously too big for me and a partner, it's paid for but the taxes are very high. Thought I was maybe in my last house since it's paid for but realize ultimately, I'm not. Too much waste

I'm hoping this movement takes off as boomers age and want less space, so when I'm ready to do it, the prices are lower, the lots small and maybe even neighborhoods exist. That it's an acceptable way of life, no longer a fringe movement.

[Ultralight]

I could do it alone with dogs, on a very small lot. Agree on increased chance of homicide with a partner, I need alone, quiet, peaceful time. So if ESPN or Fox was on most of the day and there is absolutely no way to get away from that noise, I could not do it. Also, stairs are a big problem right now, so I would want a ranch in case this doesn't go away or I just get naturally old and cannot do them. I've never seen a one level house. If I did a tiny house, I'd be hoping it's my last house so I'd need to make sure it's adapted for me now or the way I'll be as an old person.

I actually really do not like having more space than what is needed or used. My town house was roughly 2000 sq ft if you counted two huge finished rooms in the walk out basement. me and two kids, two dogs. Made a beautiful family room in the basement totally tricked out for kids and friends. They never used it, same with the other large room that I stupidly furnished, cheaply but still. Very tiny fenced yard, perfect for dogs, very low maintenance for me. It was too big for 3 of us and my kids are close to launch, despite liking it and it was reasonable cost wise, all that unused space alone or with a partner would bug me to no end. Joined forces with parents on handicapped accessible ranch for both parties to save on bills, but mostly to make care of my terminally ill mom easier. 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, large open DR/LR. That seemed like plenty to me seeing as how my mom is rarely out of bed. Basement the size of the house, my dad chose to put in a family room/guest BR and a room for him to escape. Fine but I wouldn't have bothered. When they are gone, it is now ridiculously too big for me and a partner, it's paid for but the taxes are very high. Thought I was maybe in my last house since it's paid for but realize ultimately, I'm not. Too much waste

I'm hoping this movement takes off as boomers age and want less space, so when I'm ready to do it, the prices are lower, the lots small and maybe even neighborhoods exist. That it's an acceptable way of life, no longer a fringe movement.

Oh... ESPN? Fox? Bless your heart... :/

[Kestra]

I totaled up the space I use in my current house. It is about 210 square feet -- my room, my bathroom, and the portion of the garage where I keep my bicycle and my canoe/fishing gear. Having some open, vertical shelves saves me from going a little nutty. I once lived in a 100 square foot room with no shelving and no closet. Everything was on the floor. I had a little goat trail through my room to my bed. This was not optimal and aggravated me to no end!

That seems a good amount. I measured my bedroom at 120 sq ft and it's mostly empty floor space. With some good storage solutions, a smallish kitchen, and quite small bathroom, plus going outside a lot, I think 200-300 would be tons. My 600 sq ft house was way too big for me.

[freshstart]

Oh... ESPN? Fox? Bless your heart... :/

I don't often admit to being this shallow but Fox News always, always on and the Rush Limbaugh magazine contributed to the death of my 7 yrs with the hoarder who had 187 Grateful Dead shirts. I admit, Rush and Fox broke me, they won the battle but not the war.

In this house, we ended up with too many TVs and tivos when we joined forces. So they are everywhere. I hooked up all the tivos and programmed them so that the Fox News channel just is not in the line up, oops! My father has had Time Warner here 3 times trying to get his Fox News, luckily so far, they don't get that I did that to the tivos, so they mess around for a while, tell my dad he should be getting it, they don't know why and leave. Pure heaven! Fox: 1 Me: 10

[Alan]

I don't often admit to being this shallow but Fox News always, always on and the Rush Limbaugh magazine contributed to the death of my 7 yrs with the hoarder who had 187 Grateful Dead shirts. I admit, Rush and Fox broke me, they won the battle but not the war.

In this house, we ended up with too many TVs and tivos when we joined forces. So they are everywhere. I hooked up all the tivos and programmed them so that the Fox News channel just is not in the line up, oops! My father has had Time Warner here 3 times trying to get his Fox News, luckily so far, they don't get that I did that to the tivos, so they mess around for a while, tell my dad he should be getting it, they don't know why and leave. Pure heaven! Fox: 1 Me: 10

Ok, I'm confused....who had trouble living with who????

[freshstart]

that didn't make much sense, sorry. I was with exBF for 7 yrs, we lived an hour apart and neither wanted to uproot our children, plan was to co-habitate when kids were launched. As time wore on, I realized he was a hoarder who did not feel he had a problem, so that was not going to go away, I can't live that way, so for that and many reasons I just let it die a natural death. We had a lot in common, good, kind man, but what we did not have in common, I could not have happily lived with, especially the hoarding and handling of money.

then two years ago, my kids were soon to be launched, I no longer wanted such a big townhouse, my mom is terminally ill. I joined forces with the folks on a handicapped accessible home, both save money, easier for me, a nurse, to care for my mom. My DD and I have rooms on one side, folks on the other so it was surprisingly not hard to co-habitate with them as an adult. My dad is hard of hearing, LR with big tv just outside of my room, disabling Fox News was a survival measure.

[sweetana3]

Mom got new hearing aids with bluetooth enabled she gets the tv sound thru her hearing aids and the receiver she wears (as well an answering the phone the same way.) Lovely. Got them at Costco.

[freshstart]

my dad is on his second set of expensive hearing aids, VA helped some. He will not wear them because they make his ears itch. When it was just him and my mom, she would call crying that she couldn't stand the tv for one more second. I got him those wireless headphones. which he will not wear, because of course, they make his delicate ears itch. So in this house she is far away from him so it's only my problem, it's kind of like being 10 all over again. As long as it's not Bill O and Ann Coulter, I can deal, lol. Now that I am not 10 and I own part of this house, I made a rule, watch all he wants, whenever he wants, whatever he wants but it is off during dinner. His wife is dying, talk to her at dinner, there is nothing more important on the damn tv!