Mini house

[PerfessorZ]

For me, the biggest drawback of these tiny homes is the utter lack of privacy. There's no way to live in those houses and not be acutely aware of exactly what everyone else is doing at that moment.

That said, I think tiny houses force you to really take a look at your needs vs. your wants. When I bought my house, I thought I wanted a big house so I could have lots of room to do lots of things. Instead, what I ended up with was a lot more clutter and things I don't really need or use because I wasn't forced to make the tough decisions about if the objects I brought in to my house really brought value to my life.

 

[LuvOrlando]

For me, the biggest drawback of these tiny homes is the utter lack of privacy. There's no way to live in those houses and not be acutely aware of exactly what everyone else is doing at that moment.

That said, I think tiny houses force you to really take a look at your needs vs. your wants. When I bought my house, I thought I wanted a big house so I could have lots of room to do lots of things. Instead, what I ended up with was a lot more clutter and things I don't really need or use because I wasn't forced to make the tough decisions about if the objects I brought in to my house really brought value to my life.

Same- we bought a normal sized house when we were 26. when our kids were little my husband started itching to get a bigger house and I just pushed to finish the basement, added a third of square footage to our house far less than buying a third of the house bigger and to be honest this is very useful for number of years when the kids were in middle school. As soon as kids drive they kind of vacate the household so the years of value were limited so I'm glad I didn't buy a bigger house. You're totally right that you tend to accumulate a lot of stuff when you have the space. I think it's too much because in reality I use my TV room my kitchen my bedroom and that's it, a vast majority of space in this house is never used by anyone ever and quite frankly now that I'm empty nesting all the space is a little bit depressing.

I kind a like the idea of the mini house because I kind of like the idea of being in a cozy little space but I do find it very curious that nobody who actually lives and one has commented. maybe the TV show over represents the number of people using them

 

[TwoMisfits]

Same- we bought a normal sized house when we were 26. when our kids were little my husband started itching to get a bigger house and I just pushed to finish the basement, added a third of square footage to our house far less than buying a third of the house bigger and to be honest this is very useful for number of years when the kids were in middle school. As soon as kids drive they kind of vacate the household so the years of value were limited so I'm glad I didn't buy a bigger house. You're totally right that you tend to accumulate a lot of stuff when you have the space. I think it's too much because in reality I use my TV room my kitchen my bedroom and that's it, a vast majority of space in this house is never used by anyone ever and quite frankly now that I'm empty nesting all the space is a little bit depressing.

I kind a like the idea of the mini house because I kind of like the idea of being in a cozy little space but I do find it very curious that nobody who actually lives and one has commented. maybe the TV show over represents the number of people using them

Here's a map of all self-reported tiny house livers - it's probably not all of them, but it's representative. Looking at the map, it's not many tiny home dwellars. It's definitely a very, very small segment of homeowners...https://www.tinyhomebuilders.com/map

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

Same- we bought a normal sized house when we were 26. when our kids were little my husband started itching to get a bigger house and I just pushed to finish the basement, added a third of square footage to our house far less than buying a third of the house bigger and to be honest this is very useful for number of years when the kids were in middle school. As soon as kids drive they kind of vacate the household so the years of value were limited so I'm glad I didn't buy a bigger house. You're totally right that you tend to accumulate a lot of stuff when you have the space. I think it's too much because in reality I use my TV room my kitchen my bedroom and that's it, a vast majority of space in this house is never used by anyone ever and quite frankly now that I'm empty nesting all the space is a little bit depressing.

I kind a like the idea of the mini house because I kind of like the idea of being in a cozy little space but I do find it very curious that nobody who actually lives and one has commented. maybe the TV show over represents the number of people using them

Honestly I don't think a lot of people live in them. There are some youtube channels about living in them, but the one I checked out they people only lasted a year and then they got a normal-sized apartment lol. They were honest that it was just too small. There was another one where they had a small child, and they were living in the tiny house to pay off debt (student loans?). They were enthusiastic to start off with, but you could tell the reality was wearing on the mom who had no space in there for her young child to get out energy.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Honestly I don't think a lot of people live in them. There are some youtube channels about living in them, but the one I checked out they people only lasted a year and then they got a normal-sized apartment lol. They were honest that it was just too small. There was another one where they had a small child, and they were living in the tiny house to pay off debt (student loans?). They were enthusiastic to start off with, but you could tell the reality was wearing on the mom who had no space in there for her young child to get out energy.

I'm thinking about it because it looks fun for me as an empty nester with my daughter who's a senior off to college in a few months but I cannot imagine the noise & mayhem of raising a family in a space quite that small. Family raising is stressful business a sick kid in a space like that would make me camp outside :/

 

[Novakm]

I suspect that most people who try his don't save any money

Most seem to live in a friend's backyard, so it must be very hard to sell when moving out. In addition, they seem to be customized for a very specific lifestyle and personality. Won't get much of the $20k to $60k buy in cost back. Plus it seems like many need a big pickup truck to move it. These aren't cheap either, even used.

I can imagine going out to eat more often when the kitchen is so limited, and going out for entertainment too. Utilities are going to cost more unless you can run lines to a friends house. Even with a composting toilet you need a place for your gray water to go, so there is probably expense there.

In order to save any money in the long run, compared to a small apartment, you would probably need to live in it at least 5 years. I bet it gets pretty old after the first long winter.

For paying off debts, or needing a traveling home, a large used travel trailer would be a much better alternative, since you could get most of your initial investment back when you can't take the lifestyle anymore. Sure it would cost more to heat in the winter, but not that much more for such a small space.