The Tiny Life

I normally only post Monday to Friday, but since its a holiday I decided to do a quick post.

Check out Green Costumes for kids over at Inhabitat

I often talk of the downfall of society, consumerism, political injustice, McMansions and suburban sprawl.  But today I was taking a walk and thinking about things in life and what is really important to me.  I was reminded of a saying that a middle school teacher used to preach to us, but I never really hit home till much later

I then stumbled across this video and really liked the message so enjoy.

Freedom

Freedom from stuff, freedom from excess space, freedom of time, freedom from cleaning.  All of these things take time, energy, money, and resources, going smaller means these demands are reduced drastically.  You then have freedom to do what you want, what is important, what really matters in your life. 

Money

McMansions cost allot of money, I am sure you have noticed.  The average US house costs around $265,000.  But it doesn’t stop there!  In order for you to get into that big house, you have to get a mortgage, which by the time you pay for it; it will cost you two to three times that, so roughly $800,000.  Then add maintenance, insurance, furnishing such a large space, cleaning products, etc.

Then there is the risk that comes with a mortgage, even with buying a house that is conservative for your income, even if you save for 3-6 months of pay in case you get laid off (which 95% of Americans don’t budget for), you could still lose your home after paying it off for 28 out of the 30 years you have on it.  So factor the cost, plus risk, then consider the opportunity cost, you could be well in the hole close to 1.5 million dollars and then be left homeless.

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The tiny life is indeed freedom: freedom from long-term mortgages, freedom from unnecessary possessions, and freedom from the both the expected and unexpected headaches larger living brings.

But it is not only freedom from, it is also freedom for: freedom to have more discretionary income to use wisely or to save; freedom for economies of scale; freedom for more focused energy to harness one’s will and talents with less encumbrance.

Sometimes our possessions come in the way of our self-actualizing.

Just as sadly, have we reached a point where we have allowed our possessions and the size of our homes or dwellings or that of others to define who we are and determine our self-worth, let alone those of others?

Perhaps the tiny life will bring us more into contact with those who do not allow the amount or type or “size” of one’s possessions blind them to the inherent dignity and self-worth of everyone.

“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

-Greg

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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The Tiny Lifestyle affords us to living in the moment, to enjoy life unburdened by not having to vacuum 6000 square feet, to have to get a second job to make the mortgage payment this month.  You are able to focus on the two most important things:  your relationship with others and yourself.  Its about being able to take time for important things in your life, to do what matters most and pursue your passions.

For some time now I have been aware of “The Slow Movement” which touts taking time to savor whatever you are doing.  The two main groups that have really jumped on board with this are travel and food.

The Slow Food movement and the Slow Travel Movement are all about taking the time to really enjoy, living in the moment and developing connections with others.  Slow food movement was obviously a response to Fast Food.  In the US 1/3 of Americans eat Fast Food every single day.  The main reason is because its convenient and easy.  For those of you who don’t know I am 25, and I can easily say that 90% of everyone my age that I know don’t know how to cook a simple meal.  A friend of mine who had been living for several years on their own, I had to teach how to boil pasta…. No…..I’m not even kidding.

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There is obviously a strong case for having small house, its affordable, its simple, its well…allot of things.  But one thing that hadn’t occurred to me as of yet was that a Tiny home is ethical.  How so?  In a world of finite resources, we are using more and more of natural resources, well beyond our fair share and not accounting for generations to come.  In the past 10 years, Americans have consumed conservatively 25%  of the world’s natural resources!  Now do that math which means in 30 more years, we will be out of wood, coal, oil, minerals and folks, that’s something we are going to see in our lifetime.

So living Tiny means we use much less resources, thus reducing our impact on the world.  While I don’t expect so many people to selling off their mansions and living in 100 square feet, I foresee a strong trend to downsizing.

Tree Huger has a great article on this saying

When I hear the question, “Can large homes be green?,” I think the questioner is really asking, “Is it right for some people use more resources — live in big homes — when they could live in smaller homes like the rest of us?” That question is not really about green building; it’s more about moral or social equity

Check out the arcticle here