We all know and love Jay’s amazing design that truly sparked the imagination of thousands.  When most people say Tiny House, we see in our minds an image of a Fencl or a Lusby, but it is important to remember that Tiny House come in all shapes and sizes.  This is important because by choosing a Tiny House we are breaking out of a mold, but sometimes we find ourselves in a new mold.  The out-of-the-box thinking that started Tiny Houses must be continued to improve an already great idea.   I submit these five improvements of the Tumbleweed Houses, but the face of Tiny Houses isn’t limited to Tumbleweed by any means.

Radiant Heat Floors

The Tiny House is typically heated by a small boat fireplace, which can run close to $1000, must be vented (which means cutting a hole in the roof) and I don’t like the look of the chimney.  Now radiant floors for those of you who don’t know, are wires inlaid into the subfloor to heat from the bottom up.  This gives a nice cozy feeling for your feet and since heat rises, you are heating the space as a whole.  It has been successfully done in the PAD (portlandalternativedwellings.com)

The best part about this option is that it adds about ½ inch rise on your floor level, which is unnoticeable, while the boat fireplace takes up a lot more space.  The downside to this is you will need electricity.  At 50 square feet (remember you don’t heat areas you don’t walk on) running an hour will need around 6 amps at 120 volts for a total use of ~750 watts.  Most folks are going to have power, so this is pretty reasonable when combined with a programmable thermostat.

Lockers

I came upon this idea over at Jonathan’s blog (http://gungy.livejournal.com) and it just made sense.  Upstairs in the loft he has created small “lockers” that line the side of his bed.  This frames the mattress, adds storage and keeps things looking neat while still having access to it.  He did an excellent job at taking the existing structure and integrating the storage to match.  The added bonus of this is that your mattress will have less room to shift as you climb in and out of bed.  I would take this option one step further by adapting one of the “lockers” near the head end to have a power outlet inside of it with holes to run cables to the top, this would create a way to charge your cell phone and ipod etc. neatly.

On Demand Water Heater

This one will certainly take a bit more expertise and planning, but there is one thing I would miss after a long day in the garden is not having a hot shower.  These water heaters are really small, can fit just about anywhere and mean that you only expend energy when you are in need of hot water.  Take all that and top it off with tax credits and it sounds like a great idea.  What is the catch?  You will need electricity (albeit a small amount and propane), which I feel is something that most Tiny House people have, either solar or grid.  You certainly can design it so you can bypass this when you are running off the grid.

Integrated Jacks

One thing many people don’t realize is that if you are going to be setting up in one spot with a Tiny House on a trailer is that just letting it sit there can lead to tire shock, which will put flat spots on your tires or break down the walls faster.  It is probably a good idea to jack the trailer up and remove the tires, this way people can’t steal your house. With jacks you also have a more stable floor, it could be argued that it is safer too.

Integrated jacks aren’t anything new, look at trailers and popup campers, but for $100-200 you can get some nice looking jacks that can be integrated into the trailer so you are never without them.  Be sure to take into account what weight they will be holding, 4 tons per jack will be overkill, but you will never have to worry about it.  The added benefit of these are if you ever get a flat tire on the road, these are already in place and are safer because they are welded to the frame.

Flexible Shelves

This one is a bit of a stretch, but I decided to add it anyway.  Jay’s craftsmanship is nothing short of beauty, the quality is superb, which is why he is a premium brand.  I felt the need to have my storage in these to be a bit more flexible.  With moveable shelves, rolling shelves, etcetera you are able to accommodate a wider range of items and have them tucked away out of sight.  See my photo here and take a look around my blog for lots of ideas.

1. Use vertical space

After talking with lots of Tiny House folks, I have seen this as a trend: maximize the vertical. Everything above 8 feet is all dead air if you don’t use it, so capitalize on that. You could have a small chest that takes up 2 square feet of floor space. If it is 4 feet tall, you will have around 8 cubic feet of storage. Take that to the ceiling and suddenly you have doubled or tripled your volume, but haven’t given away any more floor space which is a scarcity in a Tiny House.

2. Everything has a place and is in its place

When working with a small space I know that everything needs a place. Without it, your house goes from quaint to cluttered. Make sure every item you have has its own resting place and be sure that it finds its way back once you’re done using it. One lady who lives in a 90 square foot apartment said to me “if it doesn’t have a place, do you really need it?” and that’s a good point. Things that matter and are used are important enough to demand a place.

3. Double duty on items

There are those items which are by their nature, multi functional. You need to capitalize on these types of items. When you consider an item, you should always think if there is something else that can do it already. A perfect example of this is the end table, which transforms to a chair for extra seating. Check it out here.

4. Purpose built – built ins

Built-ins are nice, but built-ins with a purpose are even better. Think specifics. When paring down your possessions, you will identify the 100 or so items that will be contained in your house. Take stock of those items and let them dictate the form of your storage. If you are a ski patrol member, your closet should be able to fit your skis. If you live in colder climates, you will need more room for larger jackets than others might.

5. Go digital / paperless

As if being greener isn’t motivation enough, going digital, as I call it, means that you are able to reduce the tangible items you need. Digital files take up no space if you have them stored online, with the added advantage of being able to access them from anywhere. Combined with backing the files up, they become safer than real world things. The IRS officially accepts all scanned copies of receipts and bank statements. This extends beyond receipts: books on your Kindle, movies on your Roku, music on OpenTape, or recipes in a wiki. See my post about using some of these. Here

6. Less is more

At this point I am preaching to the choir but, the question is not how to organize all your stuff, but on how to reduce the stuff to organize. The mentality needed is the same as you had if/when you went to college. The dorm rooms were tiny and you were broke. You only had what you really needed. Studies have shown that more stuff does not lead to happiness, so focus on the important things in life.

7. One thing in, one thing out

One principle that I like to pull from the Zen/Fung Shui school of thought is this. If you want to add a new item, consider adopting the rule that for every item you bring in, you must give up something else. Now, no cheating – like giving up a pen for an arm chair, but you get the idea. 8. Be intentional Living with intention will have a profound impact on your life. Be thoughtful in your actions and choices. This extends to your organization and stuff. When you consider purchasing an item, you must first evaluate it and decide if you really need it. I often don’t buy it right then, but next time I am in that store (in a week or two). If I still want it then, I usually go for it if it makes sense.

9. Think inside the box

This is a technique that I use when I feel that a certain space is cluttered or if I start stacking stuff. Take a box, fill it up with everything. Then as you need the items pull them out of the box. Six weeks later, if you still have stuff in the box – no, let me rephrase that, you WILL have stuff in the box – you can evaluate what is left. There is rarely an item that I have that I don’t use within 6 weeks that’s worth keeping. Detailed box theory.

10. Most used items easy to access

This seems pretty obvious, but having the most used items in the front means you are able to access them quicker and without disturbing other things. This ties back to being intentional. You should be intense about organizing your items in this manner. If you notice that there are items in the back that haven’t been touched in a while, it’s time to evaluate whether you still need them.

One thing that I have got away from is talking about more is life simplification and strategies to make life more focused on what is important.  A side note, I did two posts today, this and another (see below) more Tiny House geared.

One of the important things about wanting a simple life is to know what your goals are and focus on them.   A Tiny House can help with this as it removes a lot of extra stuff.  To achieve this, it means  at times, saying no to things that fall outside of those goals. I find it useful to actually write them down, I have a little book I keep on hand that I have several “big picture” things, the first of which is life goals.

Today I wanted to ask this question.

If you died tomorrow, what would you wish you had done?

I will share my list, please feel free to list yours, it can be useful to hear people’s comments and suggestions about achieving them.  So here it goes, some are kinda odd, but if you read the most popular post of mine to date, Be Weird, you will understand.

1. Learn to Sail, cross the Gulf of Mexico to see the Giant Stingray Migration of 100,000+ stingrays
2. Learn to play the Banjo and Harmonica
3. Take a vacation in Costa Rica for 6 months
4. Write a book title: TBD
5. Build a Dune Buggy from scratch
6. Move into a Tiny House
7. Build a Tear Drop trailer and go for a road trip
8. Have a pet Capybara
9. Grow my own food (vegetable and meat)
10. Be with those I love

What are your goals?

Post your life goals in the comments section.

No the website hasn’t been taken over by Russian Hackers, they are trying though, No you haven’t entered into the twilight zone or some rift in the Space-Time continuum.  But I was answering an email of a reader who asked about Tiny Houses and hurricanes.  It got me thinking….

I am a very opinionated person, I love debate; What I love even more is debating an indefensible position.  I like to indulge the opposing view on strongly held beliefs, so that I can see if my stance needs adjustment or potentially, I could be wrong about it all.   The point is, I try not to only listen to people who agree with me on things.    It is like a Christian (let’s not get bogged down by the topic of religion on this example) talking with an Atheist about God, it allows both parties to test their views, to adjust their idea and bring new thoughts to both sides.  So here it goes!

Tiny Houses are completely impractical!  They are too small to be a viable option for a normal person’s needs.  From the get-go, you instantly outcast yourself because of social norms and influences.  Social norms, regardless of if they are right or wrong, still exist and to go against them, will be to your disadvantage.

There are tons of examples of how going against the grain with your tiny house can impact you in a negative way.   With your tiny house, you often have to live under the radar of building code and tax assessors.  This poses a big risk if you are discovered and turned in.  Potentially you could be removed from your own land; you could be charged fines/back taxes or at the very least, your neighbors could begrudge you.

Since you have to build your house and keep it on land where building codes prohibit it being there and you don’t pay your taxes because you haven’t been assessed, you are, by law, illegal.  You are no longer a law abiding citizen.  Your neighbors will never appreciate someone who doesn’t pay thousands of dollars in taxes, like they have to, but still uses all the services of the town/city.

Speaking of money, many people will see a tiny house as a cheapskate’s way to live.  In this world, unfortunately money talks, you have to have it and without it,  you can’t do much in this world.  Let’s say you are a single male, you met this great girl.  After a few dates, things are going well, which leads to you bringing her home.  What the hell is she going to think when your car is bigger then the house you live in?  Even if she goes with it, it’s possible at this point that you might have been drinking on your date, but now – as you make your way to the bed – you somehow have to navigate a tiny ladder and hope not to break your neck.

Even if she goes for it, even if she has a good time, what is she going to do the next morning?  Go tell her friends.  Now if you are in a hippy town, you might be able to capitalize on this, but for the majority of you, this will not be the case.   That girl is going to tell her friends who will then make a comment like “so he lives in a mobile home?”  or “is he so cheap he can’t afford a house?” or “he sounds immature, he needs to get his life in order”.  Regardless of how great of a time she had social norms will force her to never talk to you again.

Bigger IS better, bigger house, bigger bank account, more space to store things you just have to have, and a bigger rock on your fiancés finger.  If you can’t do all these things, your social and professional life will suffer.  If people at work find out that you live in a house on wheels, they will think of you as homeless, a transient, and most likely think that you live the way you do because you managed your money so poorly.

Why would a person making $70k a year live in a 100 square foot house unless they were so broke that they had to?  This will come back on you; your boss starts to wonder how well you can actually handle a budget, because in your personal life your finances are managed so you seem “poor”.  Even if you explain it, that it was a choice, it is from so far left field that no one will believe you.

Lacking of space for key things is a huge issue.  There are some things you simply have to have which take up a lot of space: a washer and Dryer, a real toilet, regular fridge.  All these things take up allot of space.  They are necessities and not having them is not practical.  Doing laundry at a laundry mat is a pain in the ass, it costs a chunk of change and undoubtedly there is that one really sketchy person who feels the need to talk your ear off!  A small fridge and no pantry means you have to make extra trips to the store for things you can’t fit, here’s to saving the environment.

The biggest concern is safety/liability.  Living in a tiny house means that it is very susceptible to high winds, severe weather and if a tree fall on your roof, you’re dead!  Fires can rip through the entire house in no time flat and being that it’s on a trailer; people can steal your whole house!  Take this and compound it with the fact that you can not insure it, you essentially have a $20k-$50k liability.

Of course all these things don’t matter unless you have a fat bank account, because you can’t get a loan to build it.  No bank will take on this loan; it is an unsecured loan because the house, in a normal market has literally no value.

So to sum it up.  Living in a tiny house means several things: You are cheap, you social and professional life will suffer, which means you seemed “poor” but you are now actually are poor.  Forget about getting married, because her family will never approve, and her friends will call you cheap.  Your house will be swept away in a flash flood and you didn’t have insurance on it so you are out 10’s of thousands of dollars.  All in all it doesn’t make a strong case for tiny houses.

Just Say No!:

This is your brain, this is your brain when you have so much stuff to do that you literally can’t do it all.  That where saying NO comes into play.  Saying no is harder than you might thing, try it.  Someone asks you to join in on some committee for a volunteer organization, your church needs a Sunday school teacher or you are asked any number of things which add strain to your life.

It’s not that you don’t want to do these things, it’s not that you are lazy, it is the simple fact that there are 24 hours in a day and at a point you are booked solid and you didn’t leave any time for you.

You need to factor in time for you, again it’s not selfish, its not greedy or lazy.  It is taking time for you to take a break and unwind a bit.  You aren’t any good to anyone if you can’t focus, you are always tired or you are running late to everything.

But how to determine what to say yes to and what to say no to?

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Goals:

Knowing where you are going can be an immensely freeing thing.  While you should always leave room for some spontaneity and sometimes we just need to let life take us where it leads us.  There are times where a plan is good.  We all have dreams and it’s never a bad thing to do our best to get to them. The empowering thing about goals is that from them we can determine what actions we need to take to get to them.  We can change our behavior now to get to the goal later.  It doesn’t mean that we drop everything, it doesn’t mean these goals can’t change or be replaced, but we only have so much time on this earth and its good to make it count.

How do you figure out your very top level, most important things to you?

If you were at the end of your life looking back, what would you want to have achieved?

What would make you a better person?

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So why embark on “the tiny life”?

The answer is found in stewardship– the wise use of one’s time, energy, fiscal and other resources.

Are you wisely using the space in which you live?  Which room or rooms do you live in the most?  What happens to the others?  Are you bothered by all the space within your dwelling that is least occupied?

“Tiny” is the efficient use of space.  Admittedly, there is much less space to “expand” one’s life—one’s possessions and one’s decorative sense are two examples.  Where do we really live, though—in our dwellings or in our hearts and relationship space?

But “tiny” also means less money expended to maintain a larger space that has become for many of us an idol.  In 1963, my parents took on a 25-year mortgage on a new, two-story house with four bedrooms that cost $17,500.  That same home today can sell for close to $300,000.

How scales of economy have changed!  “Tiny” addresses the buying power of present dollars as much as it reflects  the desire not to buy into the myth that bigger is better.

Bigger is not necessarily better.  For most of us fascinated by tiny living, the exploration of all things tiny imparts hope.

-Greg

Bigger is not necessarily better.  Bigger can certainly be beautiful!  And there is nothing inherently wrong in bigger.  But bigger can be quite costly in both the short and long term and can bring with it many headaches.

It’s important to be compassionate: many of us could not but help buy into the belief that as we grew up that we, too, could purchase the type of homes our parents did– homes just as “spacious” and stately– even if we were raised in a row home or semi-detached dwelling.

But for chiefly economic reasons– many of which readers of “The Tiny Life” are aware– the purchase (and sustaining) of long-term mortgages has become less likely, less possible, and fraught with more risk.

For the sake of example, let’s suppose you and I can purchase such a home.  My father worked for a corporation and was employed 33 consecutive years with that same employer before he retired.  In general, such job security today, let alone with a single employer, is not the norm nor the reality for the vast majority of us.

Therefore, taking on a 20-35 year mortgage brings with it the worries of what will happen if one or both incomes become imperiled.  What happens to our long-term investment if 23 years into our 25-year mortgage we lose either our jobs or our health?  What if savings and the help of family &/or friends is not enough to “save” our home?

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While I may have a Tiny Lifestyle blog, I have always been trying to really hone in on what the Tiny Lifestyle truly is.  It is more than just owning a tiny house; it is a culmination of many things which leads us to a life which addresses human needs that we find are absent in our lives.  It’s seeking more time, discovering ourselves and loved ones.  It’s getting back in touch with nature; I would even go as far as saying there is a spiritual side to it as well.

I feel that the course we are going on as humans isn’t sustainable in both ecological and psychological terms.  With so many humans on this earth we are feeling cramped, we lack room to roam, time to be and other needs of the human condition.  What does this all have to do with Urbanism?

Like I said the way we live today isn’t sustainable in many ways, we must rethink, reengineer and adjust our behaviors.  With 6.5+ billion people on this world urbanism will happen and we have to be smart about it.

So today I want to share these a few videos (if you only watch one, take time for the first it’s phenomenal) about building better.  There are many people who are part of the Tiny House Movement that do so in an urban setting.  For those of you whom are a bit more remote, while these things talk about cities and urban area, there are undoubtedly gems we can gleam.  Whether these ideas are used to develop your community, your own tract of land or a small community of tiny houses, these ideas are invaluable for the backwoods or cities alike.

More great videos after the link

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