When we first moved out when we were 18, we moved into a very tiny house. Technically, it was not a “tiny home,” but to us it was.
It was extremely small home at around 400 square feet (less than that if you don’t count the basement), but it was cheap, had a backyard and was located very close to the college I was about to start attending.
Also, as a reminder, last year Jordann also posted about how she used to live in a 400 square foot house. I also recently published the interview I Live in a 175 Square Foot Tiny Home – Sailboat Living. I highly recommend you read these two posts!
I recently became interested in tiny homes again when I was watching a documentary on Netflix (we’re starting to find cable less and less worthwhile) called Tiny: A Story About Living Small. This documentary followed a man building his very own tiny home, and the documentary also showed others who lived in their own tiny homes.
I find tiny homes very interesting. They make great use of their space, they are usually very cute, and they are very affordable. Even with the positives below though, I don’t think it’s something I could do.
For me, the negatives greatly outweigh the positives. I think we could do something smaller than what we currently have, but a 200 square feet tiny home is just too extreme for me.
Below are the positives and negatives of living in a tiny house:
Pro: Your housing expenses will be cheaper with a tiny home.
The average tiny home costs less than $30,000 to build. You can also buy a tiny home for very cheap. That price before includes the exterior and interior of the home. That is very cheap! That is much cheaper than the average home.
However, I do think you have to remember about where you are going to place this tiny home. Yes, you can buy land for cheap, but land can also be very expensive in other areas.
Your home will also be cheaper in that your utility bills will be cheaper. It’s much cheaper to heat or cool down a 200 square foot house than a 2,000 square foot house.
Repairs, maintenance and replacements will also most likely be much cheaper in a tiny home.
Con: I think it would be difficult with children and pets.
We don’t have children yet, but we would like to have them in the future. With all of the people I’ve seen and read about who live in tiny homes, I don’t think there’s been a single one who had children or pets.
I think it would just be very difficult with a family. People need their space… Or, maybe that’s just me?
However, I think if it were just one or two people living in a tiny home, then it would probably be much more doable. When we lived in our 400 square foot house (let’s keep in mind that we haven’t lived there in a very long time), it wasn’t completely bad. The size didn’t really bother us at all at the time. I think it really helped that there were multiple small rooms to escape too, and there was also a front and backyard and porch.
Pro: You’ll spend less money on material items.
I am a bit of a hoarder. Just ask Wes and he will probably want to cry just thinking about how much stuff I have.
My closet is jam packed to the ceiling with stuff, and then I also have things in the guest bedroom and in our basement.
Moving into a tiny home would probably be a lifesaver in that I would be forced to think about each purchase I make. Since there’s only so much room in a tiny home, you will buy fewer items.
Con: Having guests over won’t be comfortable.
I remember watching in the documentary when the main person being filmed had guests over.
He invited his family over to see the home he just built and it was extremely cramped. It was almost like everyone had to bend over in order for their to be room for everyone.
Now, I’ll be honest, I don’t throw raging parties or anything, but I would like the option of having people over when I can. This is especially true since we plan on moving to a new state and we would like people to visit us occasionally.
Pro: You may be able to bring the tiny house when traveling.
Okay, this doesn’t apply to every single tiny house, but there are some that are small enough where you can actually travel with it.
You can bring your tiny home to where you want it to be, and you may even be able to do some road trips in it as well.
This makes the list of possible places to live pretty much endless.
Con: Not a lot of personal space.
This is no surprise. They are called tiny homes for a reason. According to the documentary, tiny homes are homes that are 200 square feet or less. That is extremely small.
That’s smaller than my bedroom, and my bedroom is not huge by any means.
Since I work from home 24/7 now, I would like to have more space since I’m at home more. I think I would get a little crazy if I was in the same exact room hour after hour, day after day.
Would you ever live in a tiny home? Why or why not? How small could you go? How big is your home currently?
Also, if you live in a tiny home (less than 250 square feet preferably), I’d love to hear from you and possibly conduct an interview for this blog. Please send me an email if you are interested.
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I also watched that documentary and was intrigued. I too think 200 square feet may be a bit too small for more than one person, but I like the idea of living smaller in general. Our last house was 830 square feet, and for two people, it was perfect. 🙂
Yes, I do like the idea of living smaller. I keep seeing homes that are 4,000 square feet and I just don’t see the need for that crazy amount of space.
I live in a 2500+ square foot house, but would LOVE to live in a tiny house, especially when I get my utility bills every month. Actually, once my son graduates from high school, me and hubby plan to downsize completely and live in something much smaller. We would rather travel and see other places than be tied to our home.
Sounds like a great plan Shannon!
I’ve written extensively about little and tiny homes. I love the idea as well, but actually living in a home under 200 square feet (or even 400 for that matter) is another matter. Plenty of people are doing it, but the downsizing aspect would be terribly difficult. We’re house browsing (too soon to say shopping) and looking at homes in the 1,200 sq. ft. ballpark. We’ll have to downsize a bit to move into a home that size (our couch is too big, I fear), so the idea of downsizing to an eighth of what I currently have makes my hair stand on end. 😉
Haha yes getting rid of everything I have would be very difficult!
I’m not sure I could live in a tiny *home*, since I want my almost-forever or forever place to be roomy. I like to mark carpet angels, after all. I could definitely live in a studio apartment or something like that. The cost savings on utilities would be worth it alone. You would just have to get creative with space-saving 🙂
Yes! Being creative is a must with a tiny home. Most of the tiny homes I have seen have been pretty great in this area. I have seen some crazy things so that they can fit everything in there!
Nope nope nope.
I watched this documentary last week as well and I remember me and my wife living in a small 600sq ft apartment with our 3 cats and I hated every last bit of it. I don’t need a mcmansion or anything but I love my house and I love having rooms that I can retreat to and just relax when I need to get away.
I like the concept and understand why people do this but like you mentioned I just don’t see this working out when you have kids and if you have friends or family over you might as well hope the weather is good because that’s where the party is happening – outside.
I could see this being kind of a cool option if you’re retired or just really eccentric but definitely not something I’d be comfortable living in.
If I live in anything that’s mobile and has wheels it’s going to be a luxury line RV meant for traveling with the full amenities of a house! Well that’s my dream anyways lol!
Haha same here! I would want it to be a nice RV so that I could travel with it.
I admit, I am intrigued by Tiny Houses. If I was single and planned on staying that way, I would consider one. Alas, I am married with three girls. So It just isn’t an option. We have considered down-sizing to a much smaller house. But I think 1,000 Sq Ft would be the lower limit. I would also consider building a smaller house with some tiny house concepts. I also like just looking at the tiny houses available.
Yes, I like looking at tiny homes as well. I recently found a website that lists them and I love it!
No way no how!! I did 400 square feet along for five years. It was quite lovely at first until I started to go nuts. Then my husband lived with me for 6 months and it was HARD. I love the low cost but seriously. It is just not practical on any level for most people. I wasn’t meant to live in a shoebox. It’s like zoo animals being trapped in a habitat that’s too small!!
Haha yes it would be very hard to do it permanently. I don’t think I could go back to 400 square feet. It was doable at the time but not now.
I don’t think I could live in a house that small – we have quite a lot of stuff between us and there would be no room. Plus we have cats and we do want children someday so that wouldn’t work either! It would be interesting to try it for a bit though, just to see what it’s like 🙂
Haha yes I would be willing to give it a chance 🙂
I’m actually really wanting to do this in the future. The key, IMO, is that you have to spend more time OUT of the house, rather than in it. It’s like camping; socialize outside in beautiful nature rather than in the house. Or maybe more like a dorm room, since it isn’t as uncomfortable as a tent. But yes, I absolutely want this, at the very least for retirement.
Yes, most of the people in the documentary lived in a very beautiful place. That would be key.
I can do small(er), but not tiny. We have 2 kids and 3 dogs though, so I’m sure that factors into my opinion!
Haha yes that would be cramped!
For some holidays it would be nice! Otherwise living in a small house all the time might get a little bit tiring. And you can’t host your friends very well as you mentioned.
Yes, I think it would be okay for vacations, but permanently living in a tiny home would be difficult for me.
Uh…no…I could not do this. Not with a family of six. 🙂 I can’t imagine the resale value on these tiny homes is great. Very limited audience you would be marketing it to. Probably is gone to feel like trying to get rid of a timeshare.
I didn’t think about that. You are probably correct with it being hard to sell!
That’s not a house, it’s more like a shed. My brother has a pretty big shed and I asked if I could live there for free, but he didn’t like that idea because I would be too close to his food.
Hahahaha!
Michelle,
When R & I moved from Texas to Georgia, we moved from our first home of about 1500 sqft into a 300 sqft efficiency apartment. Most of our stuff ended up in storage. The apartment was 10′ wide, and 30′ deep. It came complete with a Murphy bed/book shelf wall unit, a dorm-sized fridge, and mini-stove.
I (somewhat) jokingly say the reason it was called an “efficiency” apartment was because I could open the fridge, cook dinner, wash the dishes, brush my teeth, flush the toilet, and answer the front door, all without getting out of bed. 🙂 We used to say if her friend came to visit, I had to go outside because “the place isn’t big enough for the three of us”. 🙂
I have watched some of the Tiny House videos, but as you say, I have never seen children discussed (or pets, other than a couple who had a cat). I can’t see having children in a place like that. Even if you lived in the country and they were outside playing all day, there will be rainy days when they will have “cabin fever”.
When we bought our first home in Georgia, we got a split level 2,700 sqft 3/2/2 with a tiny yard. We were both making good money and had no kids. We sold it a couple of years ago, and are currently renting an 800 sqft house, 3/2/2 with almost one acre. I’m now the breadwinner, and we have two kids. We got rid of a lot of stuff, and put the rest in the garage. It was pretty hard to downsize that much, but we felt it was the right thing to do for the family at the time.
Haha I love the joke about why it was called an efficiency apartment 🙂
I currently live in a 2300 sq house, but between the Husband and I, we only use probably 700 sq of the house. The rest of the house, we rarely venture into.
On a side note, my friend just bought an apartment in Hong Kong for 3.5 million HKD (about $500,000 CAD). The square footage of the apartment is 289 sq. Yup! It’s a 1 bedroom, 1 dining room, 1 bath and 1 kitchen place. When I saw the clip of the place, I had mistaken the kitchen for storage – it is so tiny that only 1 person can fit into the kitchen!
This makes me think that there is no way that I can afford housing in Hong Kong at all. However, it also makes me think that we probably don’t need as much space to live.
Wow that is insane about your friend who just bought that apartment! I have heard that housing in China is insanely small but still insanely expensive. That’s just crazy.