What is a tiny house?
It’s just that! Tiny house living is a craze that is sweeping the North. People are selling their large homes, downsizing to a tiny house and de-cluttering their lives to the bare minimum of life’s true essentials. Tiny homes come in a variety of different small sizes, from 100 square feet to 500 square feet and everything in between.
Why adapt this lifestyle?
Millions of people around the world live in modest sized homes that provide them with the proper amount of space to simply do the necessities. North America on the other hand, has a mindset that the bigger the home you live in, the better, but after the 2008 financial crisis, this mindset changed. Since society has changed so much, laws in Canada are being updated to meet this demand. The Tiny Home Alliance states you may be a tiny home person if:
1) You want to stop losing 30% or more of your income to housing.
2) You value the concept of consuming less.
3) You wish to be less dependent on the grid and the associated rising costs’ of energy.
4) You want to have ‘more life’, creating and maintaining stronger connections with family, friends and community.
Source: New Frontier Tiny Homes
Off The Grid Living
What do you think of when someone says ‘off-the-grid’? Do you picture a rundown home with little to no suburban life around? Think again! Off-the-grid living has become more popular, especially with retired couples and a handful of young families. This lifestyle is designed to help people function without the support of society’s electrical grid system. By using solar panels and a water collection system, a true off-the-grid house is able to operate completely independent of traditional utility services. Today, many tiny homes in Canada are adapting this lifestyle.
Source: New Frontier Tiny Homes
Make Everything Versatile
Since tiny homes are so small, items and spaces need to be reworked so they can fit into the home and sometimes repurposed so they can be used for multiple things. Kitchen tables can fold down into beds, bathrooms double as laundry rooms and stairs to the second level loft (if there is one) can be refurbished into shelving units to showcase mementos and memories.
Not Going Anywhere
With more and more people downsizing every day, the tiny house movement isn’t going anywhere. Tiny homes offer long-term sustainability solutions including the security of owning less debt and fewer possessions. Whether you’re looking to move entirely or create a home away from home, consider moving into a tiny home for a change of size and a change of pace.
Featured image source: Country Living
